How To Count Your Macros (A Comprehensive Guide)

This is a comprehensive guide that details how to count macronutrients.

The information is clear and simple. It is best suited for beginners, but it could also serve as a refresher for anyone.

In this article, we will cover the following:

What are macros?

How to really read a nutrition label (and sift through the BS)

Foods with and without Nutrition Facts

Macronutrients versus Calories

Measuring and Weighing

FAQs

“Macros” What are they?

There are three macronutrients, or Macros:

Proteins

Fats

Carbohydrates

And, technically, alcohol is a stand-in fourth

Protein

What’s it do?

Well, adequate protein intake will help build muscle and/or prevent muscle loss if you are in a calorie deficit. It controls appetite and staves off hunger better than fats or carbs as it causes you to feel full longer.

It also requires more energy than other macros for your body to digest, thus effectively burning more calories gram for gram through the digestion process.

All of these reasons make high-protein diets great for fat loss.

Where do I get it?

Meat, fish, eggs, dairy and protein shakes are all good sources.

There are many commonly cited “good” protein sources, like nuts or beans, that are actually terrible sources of protein. Only about 15-20% of the calories in these foods come from protein.

Almonds, for example, are 73% fat and only 14% protein. This is not to say you shouldn’t eat almonds, but it explains why “nuts are great protein!” is rarely coming from a credible source.

How much do I need?

It really depends on your weight, bodyfat % and goals – as low as 0.5 grams per pound of lean body mass (per day) and as high as 1.5-2 grams per pound of lean body mass.

Lean body mass is your total bodyweight minus your fat. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and are 20% bodyfat, your lean body mass is 160 pounds, or 200 – (200*20%).

So, if you weigh 200 pounds and have 160 pounds of lean body mass, 0.5 grams per day would be 160*0.5 = 80 grams of protein.

Fat

What’s it do?

Fat is an essential nutrient that our bodies require to live; it assists in vitamin absorption, hormone regulation, brain function, and more.

Where do I get it?

Meat, fatty fish, nuts, nut butters, oils and countless other sources.

How much do I need?

Again, it depends on your weight, bodyfat percentage and goal – probably somewhere between 15% and 45% of your total calories. However, it can vary based on your total calories consumed and whether you are in a caloric surplus or deficit. Somewhere between 0.35-0.7g per pound of lean body mass is a good range.

Carbohydrate

What’s it do?

Carbs are stored in the liver, brain, blood and muscles as glycogen. Our bodies use carbohydrates for energy.

Where do I get it?

Fruit, vegetables, grains, many processed foods/drinks, and seemingly everything you obsessively craved if you’ve ever tried a low-carb diet.

How much do I need?

It depends. Technically, you can live on zero carbs. But, bodybuilders or endurance athletes have consumed 700+ grams per day. So, the range is pretty wide.

0.5-2 grams per pound of lean body mass is probably a decent range, again, depending on activity level, weight, bodyfat percentage and goals.

Alcohol

What does it do?

Well, it can make you cooler, funnier and more social, or possibly louder, angrier and more violent; it can make you more confident or more dumber, better or worse at sex, euphoric or depressed — all depending on who you are and how much you drink, of course.

In all seriousness, alcohol is not an essential nutrient, but it does contain calories which is why it stands in as a fourth macro.

Where do I get it?

From teh booze, duh. Beer, wine, liquor and my personal favorite, mouthwash.

How much do I need?

As much as it takes to forget your problems, comfortably interact with the opposite sex, and pump your brain with enough dopamine to make barely tolerable co-workers new BFFs in a 90 minute Happy Hour.

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Remember, all calories come from macronutrients. . Vitamins, minerals, sodium, etc are micro-nutrients and do not contain calories. . ONLY proteins, fats, carbs and booze yield calories.

Can You Mathhszzz like him?

Let me introduce you to my man, Chunk.

If you can’t tell, Chunk obviously kills it at the maths, and he is only 10 years old. Which means that if you are older than ten, I expect you can also perform the basics: (+), (-), (x), (/).

What’s that? You can? Good. Then we can move forward.

Oh, and apparently Chunk used his arithmetic skillz, cuz look at him now:

Each macronutrient yields a certain number of calories.

One gram of protein yields 4 calories.

One gram of carbohydrate yields 4 calories.

One gram of fat yields 9 calories.

One gram of alcohol yields 7 calories.

If you would please take a peek at the nutrition label below, we uncover the relationship between macronutrients and calories.

Protein = 13 * 4 = 52

Carbohydrates: 36 * 4 = 144

Fat: 1 * 9 = 9

144+52+9 = 205 calories

Pretty close, outside of the unavoidable rounding error.

This should be easy for you. If it’s not, practice on a few items in your cupboard before we move forward.

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Food with a Nutrition Label

When counting macros, foods with a nutrition label are easy. Just take 30 seconds to look at the label, jot down your macros and move on with your day. They’re freebies.

Lay-ups.

No, they are easier than lay-ups.

They are breakaways on a pulled goalie.

.

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Patrik Stefan was a former first overall pick. He didn’t count his macros. Now he’s a European hockey agent.

Look at label, write down macros, don’t “blow it.”

In all seriousness, there is a lot of nonsense on a standard nutrition label that you can skip over which allows you to focus on what really matters: Proteins, Fats and Carbs.

And burying the puck.

Let’s breeze through the nutrition label.

Serving Size

The information listed on a nutrition label is for one serving. It is important to keep this in mind because many consumer products contain 2-3+ servings in a package.

For example, the macros listed on a bottle of mountain dew:

Fat: 0g

Protein: 0g

Carbs: 31g

However, there are 2.5 servings in a bottle.

So, the macros for a bottle of Mountain Dew are actually:

Fat: 0 grams (0g*2.5)

Carbs: 78 grams (31g*2.5)

Protein: 0 grams (0g*2.5)

Don’t get caught in the trap that gets the average, brainless consumer.

31 grams of sugar? 110 calories? That’s nothing. *Chugs bottle*

Calories

Calories provide us with energy, you probably know that. As we discussed earlier, all calories come from proteins, fats, carbs or alcohol. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) do not contain calories.

Should I Count It?

No.

Saturated Fat

Saturated fat has been painted as leading villain to heart disease and obesity for the past few decades. This is turning out to be not so true; in reality, a constant calorie surplus (eating more cals than you burn) fuels these diseases. Saturated fat does not.

Saturated fat has actually been shown to have some benefits: mainly, it is a precursor to testosterone production. It also improves brain functioning, nerve signaling and immunity.

Should I Count It?

Saturated fat, along with unsaturated fats (including trans fats) make up the total fat column. There is no need to count sat fat specifically.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol, like saturated fat, is produced naturally in the human body. Also like saturated fat, it has been vilified for years, but doctors and researchers alike seem to be coming around to the idea that it ain’t so bad.

Should I Count It?

Nope.

Sodium

Sodium is a mineral, so it does not contain any calories. Sodium gets a bad rap, and low-sodium diets have become increasingly popular. This is very faddish — sodium intake is irrelevant to long run bodyweight (I say long run because manipulating sodium intake can cause drastic fluctuation in short-term bodyweight).

Look, the human body needs sodium to function. So unless you have high blood pressure or another disease that requires a low sodium diet, I wouldn’t stress too much about this micronutrient.

Should I Count It?

Only if you have high blood pressure or another relevant disease.

Dietary Fiber

We discuss fiber more in the FAQs below, but for now, fiber is a carbohydrate. A carbohydrate with many benefits: it slows digestion, decreases blood cholesterol and increases satiety/fullness.

Should I Count It?

Nope, just count carbohydrates. That being said, it is important to get adequate fiber in your diet, so be sure to include plenty of fibrous veggies/fruits.

Sugar

We are going to skirt the endless is sugar bad and how much can you eat debate.

Here is what you need to know: Sugar is a carbohydrate. With regard to intake, moderation is probably best. All of your carbs should not come from sugar, but you certainly don’t need to ditch it completely.

Include a bunch of fruits and veggies in your diet, and feel free to mix in some sugary desserts as well to reach your total macros.

Should I Count It?

Nah.

% Daily Value

This is the government recommended daily intake of each nutrient based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

I would suggest completely ignoring it.

Seriously, pretend this column doesn’t exist.

It’s like everything else the government does: the food pyramid, or social security, or the outright theft of money via the federal reserve, or the manipulation of Pat Tillman’s death (friendly fire at best, probably murder) into war propaganda, OR that feeling when you realize your tax dollars are paying for two traffic cops to stand under a perfectly functional stoplight waving wands at cars…

Yeah, that’s basically % daily value.

The recommendations are wildly inaccurate and provide an unhealthy macronutrient distribution, making them a contributor to obesity.

Your parents thought they were doing the right thing feeding you 11 servings of bread per day. So did mine. Let’s forgive ‘em and move on.

Should I Count It?

Please, no. Don’t even acknowledge it.

Food without Nutrition Facts

Counting macros in food with a nutrition label is straightforward, but there will be many situations where the macros are not printed nicely on the package. Here is how to handle those times.

Fruits/Veggies

For produce, look up the nutrition facts online.

You may see a small amount of variance, but in general, each of these sites will give you accurate numbers.

Notice that you can adjust the serving size as follows:

Generic: One medium apple

Metric: 100 grams

US: 1 cup

While you can eyeball the size of fruits/vegetables to get a decent estimate – small, medium or large, for a more accurate number, you should use a food scale. You might be surprised what qualifies as “small” or “large” when eyeballing.

If you have never used a food scale, I made a good video for you further down in this guide.

Meat

You can search online for meat nutrition facts just like we did for produce. Remember to weigh your meat raw, as the meat’s weight will decrease when cooked and the nutrition label is representative of raw meat.

Actually, I wrote a fairly detailed post on measuring meat macros here.

Restaurants

Restaurants are getting pretty good at publishing their nutrition data online. Fast food restaurants usually have a pdf on their website. Some companies, like Chipotle, have macro calculators where you can build your own meal.

Not all restaurants have reached this level, and it poses a problem if you are counting your macros.

I don’t have any tips or shortcuts here. Cold guessing the macros on a plate is hard. The longer you count ’em, the better you’ll get at estimating any meal with relative ease.

Until then, let me do it for you. Seriously, tag me in a pic (@ontheregimen) and I will guess your macros. It’s basically my only God-given talent, so let me use it.

Measuring Food

Now that we have all the theory down, let’s put this into practice.

Food Scale

I suggest buying a food scale. They are cheap, absurdly simple to use and a great tool for your kitchen.

How to use a food scale:

Measuring Cups & Spoons

But Mike, weighing my food on a food scale seems kinda obsessive. Can I just use measuring cups or spoons?

Yes, you certainly can.

But here’s the thing:

The food scale isn’t obsessive. It’s actually an incredibly useful tool for your kitchen and saves you time scrubbing peanut butter and olive oil out of tablespoons. People are are really, really bad at measuring food by hand.

(Please excuse the dramatic audio and text)

Cliffs:

We overfill the cup or spoon

This leads to eating several hundred calories more than we think we are eating

we are eating Most or all weight loss progress will be eliminated

We get sad, frustrated and remain fat

Get a food scale and learn how to use it. At the very least, you will have it for the following situations:

You are just starting to learn how to track macros You are dedicated to a specific goal (lose 20 pounds by class reunion) and want an exact macro count You hate doing the dishes, inaccurate measurements, and the inability to lose weight

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Counting Macros versus 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. And if there was one thing we learned from the Twinkie study, it’s that the laws of thermodynamics (calories in – calories out) are for real.

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 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 in many instances.

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

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

Macro FAQs

Q: I often see lists of food that are “good protein sources.” For example, Chicken thighs and steak are listed, but they also contain fat. Do I just count the protein or do I count all of the macros?

Good question. The answer is that you count all of the macros even if a food is listed as a good protein or fat source. So, you would count both the protein and fat in the thigh.

A good fat, like nuts, will contain primarily fat, but it will also have some protein and carbs. You should count those too.

Q: What’s with the “free veggies” I see in some of your programs? Those have carbohydrates. Don’t I need to count those?

There are a few reasons that certain veggies (generally non-starches that have pretty high fiber) are “free”, as in, you don’t need to count the macros in them.

The micronutrients. These foods contain tons of good vitamins and minerals (which do not yield any calories, remember?). Most people don’t get enough micros, so veggies with no macro-debt incentivizes this. One word, fiber. Dietary fiber, though a carbohydrate, does not yield 4 calories per gram. Soluble fiber yields ~2 calories per gram, and insoluble fiber yields 0 calories per gram. Additionally, fiber decreases absorption of protein and fat, thus reducing the calories from these sources. You stay full and happier. These veggies help a ton with satiation while not adding many calories at all. This makes diet adherence more manageable and increases your rate of success by decreasing binges and diet failure.

So, between micronutrients and high fiber, the benefits of these free veggies far outweigh the cost of some additional calories.

Q: Alright, I climbed the learning curve. I’m pretty good at counting macros. But it still takes up more of my time than I’d like. I don’t really care enough to do this forever.

Yes! This is perfect. You shouldn’t feel the need to count your macros forever.

Having the ability to track your macronutrients is a weapon that you want in your arsenal. It is something you want to able to use if you need to. It is absolutely not required at all times.

Currently, I make broad estimates of my daily macro intake. But if I want to get serious about a goal, I can flip the switch at any time. I am in control of changing my body.

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Q: Okay, I’m going to count my macros. Should I keep track of my calories also?

Nope! There is really no need for you to track calories, as was previously mentioned. If you keep track of protein, fat and carbs – then whatever your goal macros are will hit your goal calories also. They are one in the same.

Closing

If you have any questions at all, please ask. Leave a comment below or get ahold of me on facebook, twitter or Michaelvacanti [@] gmail [.] com

Knowing how to track macronutrients is a skill imperative to having control over your body. So, if you are confused by anything at all, let me know and we’ll figure it out.

If you enjoyed this article, you might want my Free Beginner’s Fitness Guide. It is packed with more nutrition information, beginner training strategies and tons of fitness myth-busting.

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