IIFYM - If It Fits Your Macros

The one thing I hate doing is doing something half way. I always try to do eveything on 100% and the same rule applies to my training and diet. Naturally in one point in my fitness journey the rule of clean eating wasnt sufficient anymore and I started to dig deeper. It was there when I've found out about macros and other cool stuff which I would like to share with you.

When it comes to health and fitness counting macros is probably the most important thing u need to know. Or in greater detail, you need to understand what they are, why they are important and how to count them.

What are the "Macros"??

Macros are simply the 3 macronutritients we need for living:

• Protein

• Carbohydrates

• Fats

Each Macronutrient contains calories per gram. It'a as follows:

• 1 Gram of Protein = 4 calories

• 1 Gram of Carbohydrate = 4 calories

• 1 Gram of Fat = 9 calories

What those are and where we find them most of you probably know. If not u do your lesson in google. Here I would like to focus on counting macros.

Counting DCN

Before we move to counting macros we need to know consider BMR and PAL.

Step #1

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories you burn at rest (to keep the heart beating, lungs breathing, maintain body temperature, and sustain bodily functions). BMR accounts for 60 to 75% of the calories you burn daily. Generally, men have a higher BMR than women.

As a rule of thumb, BMR uses 22 calories for every kilogram of a woman’s body weight and 24 calories per kilogram of a man’s body weight

• Female BMR = weight in kg x 22

• Male BMR = weight in kg x 24

Step #2

Physical Activity Level (PAL) is the ratio of your overall daily energy expenditure to BMR. Physical activity includes all activities from doing the housework to walking and working out in the gym. The number of calories you burn in any activity depends on body weight, type of activity and duration of that activity.

• Mostly inactive or sedentary (mainly sitting): 1.2

• Fairly active (includes walking and exercise 1-2 x week): 1.3

• Moderately active (exercise 2-3 x week): 1.4

• Active (intensive exercise more than 3 x week): 1.5

• Very active (intensive exercise daily): 1.7

Work out your Daily Caloric Need (DCN):

To calculate your daily caloric need (DCN), multiply the BMR number (from Step #1) by the PAL number (from Step #2):

Daily Caloric Needs (DCN) = BMR x PAL

This figure gives you a rough idea of yours daily calorie requirement to maintain the weight.

Counting Macronutritients

I would like to point out here that counting macros is not a straightforward thing. It all depends on activity level, weight, bodyfat and goals one person has.

#1. Proteins

In order to gain muscle, the body must be synthesizing more muscle protein than it is breaking down. In other words, there needs to be a net positive protein balance. For this reason, people who want a lot of muscle will need to eat greater amount of protein (and lift heavy, of course). More muscle means also less body fat as muscle tissue is metalobically active which means we burn more calories at rest and when we are active.

It is well documented that a higher protein intake helps build muscle, strength and lose excess body fat.

Higher protein intake targets for both strength and endurance athletes have been set at about 1.2-1.6 g/kg body mass per day (http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_833.pdf).

Me, personally I try to provide about 1.5g of protein per kg body mass:

weight in kg * 1.5g = grams of proteins per day

We know that 1g of protein yields 4 calories so:

grams of proteins per day * 4 = calories from proteins per day

DCN- calories from proteins = calories from carbs and fats

#2. Carbs

How much carbs we need? Technically , you can live on zero carbs. But bodybuilders or endurance athletes have cosumed 700+ grams per day. The range is wide. In International Olympic Committee report on nutrition we can read:

'The athlete’s carbohydrate needs are closely tied to muscle fuel costs of their training. The training load changes from day to day, over the various microcycles and macrocycles in the periodised training calendar, and at different points of the athlete’s career. Therefore, the new message is that rather than having a static dietary intake, athletes should vary their carbohydrate intake according to the rise and fall in muscle fuel needs. Some general targets are suggested, but should be fine

-tuned according to the athlete’s energy budget and feedback from how well they are training'

Simply speaking we should adjust carbs consumption to support the type of activity, sport or excercise programme we are undertaking, such as: endurance, power and strength, fat loss, muscle gain, competition etc.

weight in kg * 5g = grams of carbs per day

grams of carbs per day * 4 = calories from carbs per day

DCN- calories from proteins - calories from carbs = calories from fats

#3. Fats

Macronutritient for fats is remaing macronutrient from proteins and carbs

DCN - calories from fats - calories from carbs = calories from fats

calories from fats : 9 = grams of fats per day

For athletes and active people The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and American Dietetic Association recommend that fat provides 20 to 35% of calorie intake with the majority coming from unsaturated fatty acids (proportion of energy from saturated fatty acids be less than 11%).

Of course we can manipulate the presented formulas to count needed macros. If for example we want to consume given quantity of protein and fats, we derive their calories from DCN and this way we get remaining calories from carbs etc.

Yep thats it. A bit of simple maths ;)

Counting Macros vs Counting Calories

Alright, I get this macro stuff, but can’t I just count calories?

The truth is, yes, you will definitely lose weight if you focus solely on calories and consume fewer cals than you burn. That’s just plain old science. But the quality of your weight loss will suffer if you ignore the macronutrients.

For example, inadequate protein during a calorie deficit will cause you to lose hard gained muscle. Inadequate fat intake will negatively impact many of the hormones that help your continued weight loss. And inadequate carbohydrate intake can negatively impact training performance.

So, while you can drop weight by counting calories, we aren’t just interested in dropping weight. We want a good looking, athletic, healthy body, right?

For that, counting calories ain’t enough. You need to count your macros.

#diet #macros #cleaneating #protein #fat #carbs #calorieintake #weightloss #health