An Intro To Counting Macros

If you’re hearing the term “macros” more often and not sure what it means, you’re not alone. “Counting macros” and “meeting macros” has become popular in the last few years for people ranging from athletes to influencers to health-seeking adults. It’s a word that’s thrown around often in conversations about nutrition, food, and diets. Our registered dietitian Jessie shares an overview of what macros are and how people use tracking macros to meet their health goals.

 What Are Macronutrients?

The term “macros” is short for “macronutrients”. They are the main nutrients that fuel your body: protein, carbs, and fat. Of all the nutrients you get from foods, you consume macronutrients in the largest amounts, counted in grams. They’re different from micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that you also need, but in lesser amounts. Micronutrients are counted in milligrams and micrograms.

The macronutrients (or “macros”) in your everyday intake of foods are:

• Protein: you need this macronutrient to build and repair cells throughout your body, including muscles, bones, hair, nails, and enzymes. Protein comes from meats, poultry, seafood, dairy products, eggs, lentils and beans, nuts, and seeds.

• Carbohydrates: this macronutrient supplies the main source of energy for your muscles and brain. Carbs come from grains and other starches, beans and legumes, breads, baked goods, starchy vegetables, fruits, dairy, desserts, sweet drinks, and candy.
• Fats: an important macronutrient, fats help you absorb some nutrients, produce hormones, regulate temperature, and protect organs and nerves. Fats come from butter, oils, fatty meats and fatty fish, cheese and other dairy, avocados, nuts, and seeds (especially chia seeds and flax seeds).

Counting Macros For Beginners

In recent years, “counting macros” has become a way to track foods and make sure one’s intake of total calories is spread across the three different macronutrients. It is most often used as a strategy for weight loss, to gain muscle mass, or body sculpting for fitness goals.

Everyone’s macronutrient needs are slightly different, and people tend to set their macro goals based on activity level, preferences, health goals, and what’s realistic for them.

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends your total number of calories from macronutrients break down into these ranges:

• Carbs: 45% to 65% of total calories
• Protein: 10% to 35% of total calories
• Fats: 20% to 25% of total calories

For someone following a roughly 2,000 daily calorie intake, that macronutrient ratio would look like:

• Carbs: 900 to 1,300 calories from carbs, or 225 to 325 grams of carb daily
• Protein: 200 to 700 calories from protein, or 50 to 175 grams of protein daily
• Fats: 400 to 500 calories from fat, or 44 to 55 grams of fat daily

Depending on where your macros fall in the range, you may be eating a low-carb, high-fat (keto diet) or more of a moderate carb, high-protein, low-fat diet, or something in between.

People use various methods to count macros, including writing down their intake of protein, carb, and fat grams or recording them in a spreadsheet or an app. This requires time to read nutrition labels and track intake amounts. Typically, once someone tracks their macronutrient intake for a week or two, they get a good picture of where their macronutrients tend to fall and if any adjustments need to be made to fit within their desired ranges.

Does Macro Counting Matter? 

Yes and no. And the biggest factor will be your eating goal.

If your goal is simply to eat a healthy balanced diet, then it’s important to understand that you need an intake of all three macronutrients every day. However, it won’t be necessary to track macros for very long, if at all. Not only does your body use protein, carbs, and fats for different purposes, but getting a balance of macronutrients typically means you’re eating from a variety of food groups, which means you’re getting more micronutrients, too.

If someone has a goal of weight loss or increased muscle mass, on the other hand, then counting macros is typically an important piece of the strategy.

A registered dietitian-nutritionist (RDN) helps them create a macro intake plan that is part of an overall healthy diet. They do so by calculating TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). The TDEE is the total amount of calories a body uses up in a day. It’s based on basal metabolic rate, which is the amount of calories a body burns when it’s at rest.

If one’s total daily macros are equal to their daily caloric expenditure (TDEE), they will maintain their weight. If they consistently eat more calories than their TDEE, they will gain body weight. And if they eat fewer calories than their TDEE, they will create a caloric deficit, which results in weight loss.

Macros As Part Of A Healthy Eating Plan

It’s not only the amount of macronutrients that count, however. Choosing nutritious sources of each macronutrient is key to overall health. For example, not all carbs are created equal. It’s a healthful choice to pick carbs that provide important glucose, fiber, vitamins, and minerals (think whole-grain breads, quinoa, beans, veggies, and fruits) over carbs that lack nutrition (like sugary drinks, sweets, and candy).

It’s also important to pick healthy fats (like mono-unsaturated fats), from foods like fatty fish, nuts, and olive oil) over foods with large amounts of saturated or trans fats (like fast food), which are linked to heart disease.

And the sources of protein are important, too. High-protein and protein-rich foods break down into amino acids, which are the building blocks of cells. It’s important to pick ones that provide satiety and a variety of micronutrients, as well.

Finally, tracking macros isn’t a strategy that works for everyone. Some people feel empowered by seeing data, making adjustments based on numbers, and using guidelines to re-up their commitment to their own health. On the other hand, some people find that counting macros, especially long term, is too restrictive or could potentially even promote eating disorders.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Macronutrients (or “macros”) are dietary fats, protein, and carbs. Counting macros has become a popular way to track food intake and make adjustments based on numbers. People who count macros aim for their daily grams of protein, carbs, and fat to fall within certain ranges based on their activity level, preferences, and health goals (such as weight loss). Counting macros is preferred to generically counting calories, as it tends to result in a more balanced food intake. While the strategy is appealing and helpful for some, it’s typically not something that dieters do for the long term.

Written by Jessie Shafer. 

Jessie is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist living in Colorado where she splits her time among nearby playgrounds, typing away at her trusty laptop, and heating up her home kitchen with delicious experiments. A former magazine editor-in-chief, Jessie has a long career in food publishing and health writing. She is currently the editor at The Real Food Dietitians and a nutrition consultant through her business crdible.