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    • Dec 18, 2020
    • 9 min read

Demystifying Macro Counting

Have you ever thought about counting macros, or plan on starting in 2021? Read this today.

Disclaimer:

If you've never thought about it and are in general triggered by diet culture, skip this. Your mental health is more important. Please note that I completely understand how detrimental diet culture is to society - In fact, I loathe it. I am in no way trying to further it’s agenda.


One of the reasons that I loathe diet culture is because it revolves so heavily on seemingly exclusive information. Nonetheless, twelve weeks ago I decided to try the one thing that seemed the most out of reach - i.e., the most intimidating diet/lifestyle in FitFam culture - I tried counting macros.


Disclaimers:

I am no expert! That said, in the past 16 years I’ve done Paleo, Whole 30, Prolon Mimic-Fasting, Intermittent Fasting, and for the past five years I’ve avoided carbohydrates in general. Each of these worked to varying degrees and for different reasons. Now, as a mom of two toddler-boys, my commitment to dieting and exercise has gone through an ebb and flow if you will. One day I would be convinced that my body just looked differently post-pregnancies, and the next day I would become so frustrated I would try and revisit old diets, with little to no success. One thing was certain, I needed to try something new.



In the past twelve weeks I counted macros. If you can relate to my experience at all, a mom frustrated with the scale and in need of an overall kick-start, you’ll appreciate my journey below. Included in this article are the steps I took to achieve my weight loss goal. I’ve included a PROS and CONS list, and a quick guide towards the bottom.


First things first,

I found a macro-coach named Dennis Spadaro, through a friend, and he calculated what I should be eating based on several factors. Here is a simple calculation I found on Healthline.com. I used a coach because I’m terrible at math, and I wasn’t sure how to add exercise into my equation. Try it on your own if you’re math savvy:

  • Men: calories/day = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) + 5

  • Women: calories/day = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) – 161

After you solve this you should have, a macronutrient goal that looks like this: an x amount of carbohydrates, x amount of fats, and x amount of proteins, totaling a certain amount of calories for the day. Plug these numbers into MyFitnessPal.com and use the macro-breakdown to track and count.


These are the questions that Spadaro asked me when we started that made all of the difference between having a coach and not: