Let’s talk macronutrients! \u00a0What are they?<\/p>\n
Colleagues, friends, family and absolute strangers in the gym approach me frequently and ask what do I eat on a daily basis to stay lean and how do I lose weight. \u00a0My response is that I hit my macros and am consistent with training and nutrition.<\/p>\n
“Do you know your macros? \u00a0Have you ever thought about weighing your food?” \u00a0I get a blank stare from folks when I ask these questions similar to when I ask my patients do you have any questions after I have given them way too much information about how a dental implant works!<\/p>\n
Today, I would like to explain how we figure out macros and NO! \u00a0You do not have to weigh your food to lose weight but you do need to have a good estimate of how many calories your taking in on a daily basis!<\/p>\n
Macronutrients are essentially three sources of calories that we consume in the form of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. \u00a0Look at the nutrition labels on foods you buy in the grocery store and you will find them. \u00a0What is important to know is that:<\/p>\n
As you can see, fats are the most caloric dense of the macronutrients at 9 calories per gram. \u00a0Based on the amounts of each macronutrient we consume in grams per day determines our total daily calories.<\/p>\n
For those of you who calculated your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) after reading my previous blog titled: What to lose weight, figure out your daily caloric needs! \u00a0http:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/?p=32, you are now ready to figure out how much of each of the above macronutrients you should be consuming. \u00a0For those of you who didn’t, please go back and make those calculations! \u00a0(If you need any help, feel free to comment below with any questions and I will answer them!)<\/p>\n
There will be some variability among individuals on the percentages of macronutrients they should consume daily which we will dive into in another blog but for now, let us assume the average percentages for an active 180lb male with a TDEE of 2000 calories per day. \u00a0The most common percentages of macronutrients are 35% protein, 45% carbohydrates, and 20% fats.<\/p>\n
Based on these percentages, we would calculate the total grams of macros needed as follows:<\/p>\n
Protein<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n 2000 daily calories x 35% (protein) = 700 calories<\/p>\n 700 cal\/4 cal per gram of protein=175 grams of protein<\/strong><\/p>\n 2000 daily calories x 45% (carbohydrates) = 900 calories<\/p>\n Carbs<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n 900 cal\/4 cal per gram of carbs= 225 grams of carbohydrates<\/strong><\/p>\n Fats<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n 2000 daily calories x 20% (fats) = 200 calories<\/p>\n 200 cal\/9 cal per gram of fat= 22.2= rounded to 22 grams of fat<\/strong><\/p>\n Macro Summary<\/u>:<\/strong> \u00a0Below are the daily macros for the person above to consume in order to maintain body weight?<\/p>\n 175 grams of protein<\/p>\n 225 grams of carbs<\/p>\n 22 grams of fats<\/p>\n Now that you know you what macros are and how to calculate the average daily percentages based on your TDEE to consume, it is essentially as simple as using an app like https:\/\/www.myfitnesspal.com\u00a0<\/a>to enter all foods eaten during the day via meals or snacks. \u00a0This app is perfect to help you organize! \u00a0It has an enormous library of basically any foods you can imagine and breaks their macros down. \u00a0It even includes many restaurant foods. \u00a0Take Starbucks for example. \u00a0You go have a cafe latte (non-fat of course) and a breakfast sandwich, enter them into My Fitness Pal for that day and like magic, the calories and breakdown of macros for each will be provided!<\/p>\n I realize this is work! \u00a0Having to understand TDEEs, \u00a0macros and entering food you eat into My Fitness Pal but as they say, Rome was not built in day! \u00a0It will take time and some effort but once you “know your macros” and are consistent in hitting those numbers each day, you will be armed with the knowledge that can absolutely help you reach your weight loss, gain or maintenance goals! \u00a0I am here to help you along the way! \u00a0If you’re overwhelmed, please feel free to comment, ask questions and please subscribe to the blog!<\/p>\n Until next time,<\/p>\n Be fit!<\/p>\n Brian<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let’s talk macronutrients! \u00a0What are they? Colleagues, friends, family and absolute strangers in the gym approach me frequently and ask what do I eat on a daily basis to stay lean and how do I lose weight. \u00a0My response is that I hit my macros and am consistent with training and nutrition. “Do you know … Continue reading “Macronutrients: What are they?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nutrition"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MsJq-M","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49,"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drbrianevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}