Guide
How to track macros without it taking over your life
Macro tracking has a reputation for being fiddly. It does not have to be. Here is what the numbers mean, how to work out your own, and how to log them without weighing every leaf of spinach.
What macros actually are
Macros are the three nutrients your body needs in large amounts: protein, carbohydrate and fat. Nearly every calorie you eat comes from one of them. Protein and carbohydrate carry about 4 kcal per gram. Fat carries about 9.
That is the whole idea. Counting calories tells you how much you ate. Counting macros tells you what it was made of. It is why two people eating the same calories can end up with very different bodies: one of them ate enough protein and lifted, and the other did not.
How to calculate your macros
Three steps, in order. Each one has a calculator here if you would rather not do the arithmetic.
1. Find your maintenance calories. This is your TDEE, the total you burn in a day including training and everything else. It is the number every other decision hangs off. Work it out with the TDEE calculator.
2. Decide your direction. To lose fat, take 15-20% off maintenance. To build muscle, add 5-10%. Bigger deficits do not make fat loss faster in any way that lasts. They just make you hungry and cost you muscle.
3. Split the calories into macros. Protein first, fat second, and carbohydrate fills whatever is left. The macro calculator does this split for you, or you can follow the numbers below.
What your macros should be
Protein. 1.6-2.2g per kg of bodyweight. This is the one that matters most, and the one most people under-eat. It protects muscle while you are in a deficit and it keeps you full. If you want the reasoning and your own number, the protein calculator covers it.
Fat. At least 0.6g per kg, and about 0.8-1g per kg is comfortable for most people. Going much lower is unpleasant and does nothing useful for your hormones.
Carbohydrate. Everything that is left. Carbs are not the enemy. They are what fuels hard training, and cutting them to nothing is the fastest way to make the gym feel awful.
For fat loss specifically, the split people land on most often is roughly 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat. Treat that as a starting point rather than a rule.
How to track them day to day
The habit matters more than the precision. A few things that make it stick:
Log it before you eat it, not after. Logging first means the number can still change your mind. Logging afterwards is just bookkeeping.
Build a short list of meals you actually repeat. Most people eat the same eight or nine things. Save them once and the daily logging takes under a minute.
Scan barcodes where you can. It is faster than searching and the numbers come off the packet rather than someone else's guess.
Log the bad days too. A blank day tells you nothing. A day you would rather not look at tells you exactly what happened.
Weighing against eyeballing
Weigh your food for the first two weeks. Not forever. The point is to calibrate your eye, and two weeks is enough to learn what 100g of rice or 30g of peanut butter actually looks like.
After that, most people keep weighing the calorie-dense things where a small error is a big number: oils, butter, nuts, cheese, and anything you pour. Vegetables and lean protein can be estimated without it costing you much.
What to do when you eat out
You will not get it exact, and that is fine. Find the closest chain entry, or log the components you can see, and round up rather than down. One rounded-up meal a week will not undo anything. Skipping the log entirely, then guessing at the end of the week, will.
Where people go wrong
Under-eating protein. The single most common mistake, and the one with the clearest cost.
Setting the deficit too aggressively. A 1,200 kcal target you abandon in nine days is worse than a 1,800 kcal target you keep for six months.
Forgetting drinks and cooking oil. Both are invisible and both add up quickly.
Treating a bad day as a failed week. It is an average. One day moves it barely at all.
Common questions
Do I have to hit my macros exactly?
No. Within about 5g of protein and fat, and 10g of carbs, is close enough to get the same result. Chasing the last gram is where people burn out.
Is it better to count macros or just calories?
Calories decide whether you lose or gain weight. Macros decide how much of that change is muscle rather than fat. If you only ever track one number, track calories. If you lift, track protein too.
What should my macros be to lose weight?
Start from your maintenance calories, take 15-20% off, set protein at 1.6-2.2g per kg of bodyweight, fat at about 0.8g per kg, and let carbohydrate fill whatever is left.
Do I need to weigh my food?
For the first fortnight, yes. It calibrates your eye. After that most people weigh the dense things (oils, nuts, cheese, rice) and estimate the rest without losing much accuracy.
What about alcohol?
Alcohol carries about 7 kcal per gram and fits none of the three macros. Most people log it against carbohydrate. It is not the end of the world, but it is calories your training does not get anything back from.
Related
Macro calculator · TDEE calculator · Protein calculator · Body recomposition guide · Import from MyFitnessPal · Glossary
Now log against it
A number is only useful if you can hit it. Whey to Go tracks food and training against targets like these, on your device, with no account and nothing sold.