What You Need to Know about Counting Macros

The idea of counting macros has been around for years. But what do your macronutrients really tell you, and is tracking a path to healthier eating?

Trackers can include a host of macros, but in the nutrition, world there really are only three macronutrients: carbs, protein and fat. All else are micronutrients — things like vitamins and minerals (salt is an example) — or subsets of those macros, like fiber, really the undigestible parts of a carb, or sugar, also a carb.

What foods fall under these macros?

• Carbs can include grains, dairy, fruit and starchy vegetables.
• Protein includes meat, soy products like tofu, seafood, dairy and beans.
• Fats can include nuts, seeds and oils.

Getting Started

The first thing — and certainly the trickiest — is figuring how much of each macro you really need. This is highly personalized and depends on many health and lifestyle factors, which is why recommendations for macros come in broad ranges. The USDA sets an acceptable daily macronutrient recommendation — which is given as the percentage of daily calories that should come from that macro. To get there, you’ll have to do some math to translate percentages to grams of foods. Look for a tracker with a barcode scanner that can figure out a lot of this for you.

Recommendations range from 45 percent to 65 percent of daily calories from carbs, 10 percent to 35 percent from protein and 20 percent to 35 percent from fat. Remember that a healthy diet needs to include all of these things — if your diet cuts out an entire food group or macronutrient, that should be a red flag. You can’t get essential micronutrients or things like fiber if you exclude an entire macronutrient.

One suggestion is to shoot for the mid-range of the recommendation that most closely matches your age, gender, health status and activity level, then adjust from there as you get more experience with macro tracking.

Quality and Quantity

Knowing your macros can give you a lot of information about your diet, but you must look also at the content of the food. How much fiber are you getting from your carbs? How much added sugar? What’s your balance between saturated and unsaturated fat? Are you eating mostly whole foods?

 For micronutrients, are you getting too much sodium, or salt, in your diet? Are you consuming a good source of magnesium? Calcium? Potassium? Iron is also important for women of menstruating age. Vitamin D and fiber are important for everyone. You could hit your daily macros eating nothing but fast food, but that won’t count as a healthy diet, and you could be courting hypertension, diabetes and obesity.

Macros and Weight Loss

It’s strange to say, but one reason people struggle with weight loss is they aren’t eating enough. Getting a good set of macro ranges personalized to you can help — it gives you a way to see how your calories should break down daily, and can reveal if you are not taking in enough calories to begin with. First-time dieters can definitely lose weight slashing calories, but your body — to which this signals starvation and, ultimately, death — will quickly adapt by slowing your metabolism to protect itself.

It’s All About You

Recommended ranges are broad because the USDA is trying to cover all Americans. If you run marathons, you’re going to need a lot more carbs than the guys cheering you on from the curb. If you’re struggling to figure out what’s right for you, a registered dietitian can give you goals personalized to your health and lifestyle.

A couple of pro tips:

• Don’t go lower than 45 percent of your calories on carbs. Carbs give you quick energy: If you’re having brain fog or difficulty sustaining intense exercise, bump that up.
• Protein should be at least 20 percent of your calories; 10 percent is too low unless you have kidney disease. Are you trying to put on muscle? A body composition analysis like a skin fold test can help you assess progress.
• 50/20/30 (carbs/protein/fat) is an easy goal to remember — adjust as needed based on your profile.
• If you’re not feeling full after meals, you might need more fiber — carbs again — or protein.
• Trackers are only as good as the info you put in — accuracy is everything.
• Macro tracking doesn’t take away the importance of a balanced plate and eating the rainbow.

Macros are most useful if you strive to meet them every day, especially if you also are trying to lose weight. But not all days are created equal — if you work in a warehouse moving heavy goods Monday through Friday, you’re probably not doing that on Saturday and Sunday. Be realistic, and know that the energy you expend in a day can vary greatly. If you are consistently having trouble meeting your percentage goals, that might be a cue that you need to adjust those goals.