We all know counting calories is so 2011. If you want to get serious about the food you put in your mouth and your training, you need to be counting your macronutrients. It’s all good to count cals and think you’re cruising along nicely, eating garbage and doing laps of the office to burn it off with your mobile phone app open in hand, but simple fact is, calorie counting is not guiding and encouraging a balance of the right foods. We’ll still need a calorie total to help set goals, as it will serve as a good overall indicator, however, we should get to that number through a healthy balance of macronutrients.
What are macronutrients?
You’ve all heard of them, now is the time to get to know them.
-Proteins: chicken, tuna, steak, eggs, dairy, protien shakes
-Fats: nuts, olive oil, avocado, fleshy fish, animal fats (meat)
-Carbohydrates: fruit, veges, grains, pasta, rice
Protein
Helps build muscle and prevents muscle loss. You will often hear of people being on ‘high protein’ diets when trying to lose body fat at the gym. This is because it is the perfect food product to counter a calorie deficit. (Look away vegetarians). Protein is a human’s best friend, they are generally low in fat and high in muscle/brain building qualities. They take a long time to digest making you feel full for longer and are a great energy source. Get them in ya!
Fat
Fat gets a bad wrap. Our body loves it, and requires it to function. Fat is required to assist with the absorption of vitamins, hormone regulation, brain function, muscle functions and much more. The key is to consume it in moderation, and to eat the right fats – not the ones you might find left puddled on a BBQ plate or in a deep fryer. Eat more of the ones in fish and nuts.
Carbohydrate
Again, carbs has become a ‘taboo food’ which is an incorrect notion as we need it for energy. Any healthy eating plan should involve plenty of good carbs, especially if you are training or playing lots of sport.
Examples of a healthy macro balance
Let’s meet somewhere in the middle. They say the average man should consume 2500 calories a day and a woman 2000 calories to maintain their weight. So for the sake of this exercise, let’s aim to display a healthy macro break down in grams for 2250 calories.
2250 calories breaks down to the following macronutrients at the following healthy levels:
Carbohydrates – 197g
Protein – 200g
Fat – 62g
Average day
This is what an average day would look like in order to hit these healthy targets, we are letting each of the macros determine our balance – something that is hard to do when just focusing on calories.
Breakfast
1 cup of oats
½ apple
½ banana
tsp honey
½ cup full cream milk w/ scoop protein powder
Carbs: 82g Protien: 40g Fat: 11g
Morning Snack
Tin tuna
Green smoothie
Carbs: 28g Protien: 21g Fat: 6g
Lunch
Whole grilled chicken breast w/ seasoning
1 cup of mixed veggies
1 cup of roast sweet potato
1 piece whole meal bread w/ butter
Carbs: 42g Protien: 67g Fat: 11g
Afternoon Snack
Protien shake
2 rice cakes with peanut butter
Carbs: 13g Protien: 26g Fat: 8g
Dinner
Salmon fillet
5 pieces of asparagus
1 cup vegan mash potato
1 piece whole meal bread w/ butter
Carbs: 35g Protien: 46g Fat: 18g
Implemention
Learn to read the back of your food packets; after a month or so you will get a feel for the average macros in your foods. You are better off eating 50g of carbs from sweet potato than 50g worth of carbs from bagel crisps. Get ‘My Fitness Pal’ and get your daily count on, this will help you stick to the plan and learn along the way.