Macros

Jennifer0878
Jennifer0878 Posts: 94 Member
edited November 11 in Food and Nutrition
I suck at hitting my macros. Other than telling me not to eat junk (which I know I should limit), how do all of you reach your macros? Do you calculate them for every meal and snack or just the overall day? Thanks!

Replies

  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    I suck at hitting my macros. Other than telling me not to eat junk (which I know I should limit), how do all of you reach your macros? Do you calculate them for every meal and snack or just the overall day? Thanks!

    End of day only.

    The general strategy for me is to look at the ratio of protein to calories. I will try to select foods that are high in protein and hopefully not too calorie dense, and eat lots of them.

    As I near the end of the day, I assess what I have left for calorie intake and I check to see if I am deficient in either protein or fat. If I AM deficient, I fill that immediately. If I'm not, I eat whatever the hell I want.

    In closing, my priority is

    Kcals>Protein>Fat>Carbs as it pertains to importance of accuracy.
  • Jennifer0878
    Jennifer0878 Posts: 94 Member
    Thanks, Sidesteal! I was hoping you'd reply!:flowerforyou:
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    Thanks, Sidesteal! I was hoping you'd reply!:flowerforyou:

    I should add that, this process gets much, much less tedious as time goes on and you become familiar with macro content of the foods you eat, and the general "strategy" of how to hit your macros.

    For me, it just works out easier to focus on hitting the minimums in fat/pro early in my calorie budget so that as I near the end of the day, my mins are hit and the leftover calories are "free", so to speak.

    This isn't the only way to do it -- this is just the strategy I use, so to speak.
  • ruthjulia
    ruthjulia Posts: 15
    Hey Jen - I've been super focused on hitting my protein number since I started lifting heavy. So I try to roughly plan out my protein for the day - I'll log the major protein I'm planning to have at each meal / snack and then see where that gets me. If it leaves me way off I might swap out my protein at a meal (e.g., sub turkey breast for fish as it has more protein) or add more protein into a snack or something to get me closer. Once I do that, everything else seems to fall into place more or less, assuming I stay within my calorie goal. I also aim for 2 fruits and 2 milk servings (the milk helps with the protein too) per day. Add in a bunch of veggies and for me there's not room for a whole lot more (I'm trying to stay around 1300 cals and get 120-140 grams of protein a day). I've been told that to really build muscle I need to eat 200 g of protein a day and stop eating at a deficit, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet : ).
  • Jennifer0878
    Jennifer0878 Posts: 94 Member
    Thanks, Ruth. My main goal today is to hit my protein goal, which I don't know if I've ever done. I guess I will start there and see how everything else goes. Thanks again for the thoughtful replies! I really appreciate them!
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
    The general strategy for me is to look at the ratio of protein to calories. I will try to select foods that are high in protein and hopefully not too calorie dense, and eat lots of them.

    As I near the end of the day, I assess what I have left for calorie intake and I check to see if I am deficient in either protein or fat. If I AM deficient, I fill that immediately. If I'm not, I eat whatever the hell I want.

    In closing, my priority is

    Kcals>Protein>Fat>Carbs as it pertains to importance of accuracy.

    thats pretty much how I do it too...
    Its automatic now though....
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