Macro Counting Made Easy

Macro-nutrients are the three main food groups – protein, carbohydrates and fat. To put it very simply, they’re what your body runs off.

Many people like the idea of diets based around certain foods, such as high-protein or vegetarian diets, or meal plans that exclude certain food groups, like the paleo diet which bans grains and dairy, Atkins which excludes most carbohydrates, or the cabbage soup diet, which limits you to nothing but, well, cabbage soup, surprisingly.

The trouble is, all these diets are highly restrictive and your body doesn't work by processing particular foods, it works by breaking down protein, fat and carbohydrate.

This is why a macronutrient based approach is a far more practical and effective method of dieting.

On a macronutrient diet, you firstly need to work out your calorie intake (more on that in a while) then set a breakdown for your proteins, carbs and fats. This bit shouldn’t be too hard, so let’s look at that now.

There are a number of calculations that exist for working out your calorie needs, with the most common being the BMR and Harris Benedict equation. However, to keep things easy, let’s just do one simple sum. Take your bodyweight in pounds and multiply it by between 13 and 17.

This is a large range, but the trick is to work out how high or low you need your multiple to be. Those who are naturally larger and carry more fat should go with 13 or 14. If you’re lean and muscular, multiply your weight by 16 or 17, and if you’re somewhere in the middle, 14 to 16 should do. Be honest here – don’t be too kind and give yourself a bigger intake so you can eat more. Likewise going too low and thinking that you’ll lose fat faster can be just as detrimental, as your progress will soon stall.

After working out your calories you need to find your protein goals

The easiest way to do this is to shoot for one gram of protein per pound of body-weight.

Protein has four calories per gram, so multiply your grams by four to find how many calories you’re getting from protein.

Next up, you have fat and carbs

Ratios do matter here, but provided you’re not going ultra low carb and high fat, or consuming virtually no fat but a tonne of carbs, you’ll be fine. 

Carbs also have four calories per gram, so divide your carb calories by four to find the grams, while fat has nine calories per gram, so do the same sum but divide by nine.

Here’s an example for a 175 pound male of average build

Calories = 175 x15 = 2625

Protein = 175 grams
Protein Calories = 700

Calories from Carbs and Fat = 2625-700 = 1925
Divide by 2 = 962.5

Daily Carb Grams = 962.5 divided by 4 = 240 grams

Daily Fat Grams = 962.5 divided by 9 = 107 grams

Daily Totals

175 grams of protein
240 grams of carbs
107 grams of fat

That wasn’t so hard, was it? By doing that you’ve already done what most people fail to tackle, and have worked out a solid start to your macronutrient diet. Next up comes the bit that most folks panic over, counting these macros on a day to day basis.

Tips For Easy Macro Counting

Scales

You need food/kitchen scales. This is completely non-negotiable. There’s simply no way you can eyeball your food and guess how much it weighs. Weighing cups are unreliable too – use the scale and you won’t go wrong.

As you get used to portion sizes, you can just guesstimate low-calorie foods like dark green and brightly colored vegetables, or low-sugar fruits such as berries, and even lean meats – chicken breast, turkey, extra lean steak, etc. Putting in the small amount of extra effort to weigh everything to start with will pay dividends and make everything easier in the long run though.

Macro Counting Apps and Websites

Unless you have the technological skills of a 112 year old, using a website or an app on your phone or tablet is by far the easiest way to keep track on your macros. You can use a pen and paper, but if you’re eating lots of different foods throughout the day, this can become a real pain. Plus you may need to be a bit of a math whizz to go this route.

Eating Out

Eating out can be tricky, but they key is to pick simple dishes that you can guess. You don’t have to be 100 percent accurate on everything, unless you’re really following a strict plan and coming up to a photo shoot or bodybuilding show.

Choose meals that you can easily guess amounts and see all the ingredients in. A pie, lasagna, or meatloaf for instance will be almost impossible to guess accurately. A plain beef burger with a side salad and some potatoes, a chicken salad, or a salmon stir fry on the other hand should be a breeze to estimate.

Don’t forget too that many chain restaurants have nutrition and macronutrient information on their sites and on the calorie counting trackers.

Eat Set Meals

Variety is the spice of life, but for the sake of convenience, you’re better having a set few meals that you rotate when at home. Learn to cook 10 or so awesome macro-friendly meals and switch between these each evening. Most people eat very similar breakfasts and lunches every day, but evening meals can vary. By having the same dishes on a regular basis, you eliminate the chances of grossly over or underestimating macronutrients.

Leave Some Leeway

This is a personal preference tip, but you may find it easier to go 10 grams under on carbs and 5 grams under on fat every day. This them leaves you a little room for adding things like condiments, a dash of milk in your coffee, sweetener, diet drinks that contain minimal calories, and so on. Tracking all of these down to the precise gram can be a real pain, but provided you don’t go mad on them, leaving just a few calories left over is fine.