What Are Macros? Asking for a Friend...

If you're already eating high quality, nutrient packed foods most of the time but are looking to take your physique to the next level — be that by gaining muscle or losing fat — counting macros is a solid strategy. Knowing what's on your plate (or in your shaker cup) can help fine tune your diet to match your goals.

Without numbers, even healthy eating can cause anxiety. Counting removes that anxiety by giving you a clear budget to work with. It also helps ensure you're eating enough to support health and muscle.

What are macros?

Macros, short for macronutrients, are the main components of food that provide energy. The three main macros are protein, carbohydrates, and fats, and alcohol is often considered a fourth macro (but doesn't offer any nutritional value). Each macro has a certain number of calories per gram:

• Protein: 4 calories per gram

• Carbohydrates: 4 calories per gram

• Fats: 9 calories per gram

• Alcohol: 7 calories per gram
  

Overall calories and calorie balance is the most crucial aspect for determining your weight. If your total energy in (what you eat and drink) vs total energy out (what you burn through bodily processes and movement) are matched, then your weight will stay stable. Eating more than you burn will increase weight, while burning more than you eat will decrease your weight.

Your macro ratio — how much protein vs carbs vs fats you eat — is what determines your body composition, which is how much muscle vs fat you have, and how you feel in terms of energy and recovery. 

Counting macros lets you look at food more analytically rather than emotionally. Instead of labeling foods as "good" or "bad," you can see them as data points. Of course, eating can and should be emotional sometimes, since it's a big part of celebrations, culture, and enjoying your life, but labeling food can backfire if it starts to mess with your self esteem or take over your thoughts.

How to count macros

Before you think about counting, you'll need to get a baseline of what you're eating now. So step one is to spend one to two weeks tracking your current intake without changing anything. It's also ideal if your goal is fat loss, since you won't have to learn to track while also stressing about hunger.

If you're new to tracking macros, using a scale rather than eyeballing it is best. Using a tool or macro meal planner like RP Diet App, MacroFactor, or MyFitnessPal makes it easy, but you can always use pen and paper.

Tips for tracking macros accurately:

• Scale: Use a scale that measures in grams for most accurate tracking. Cups and spoons are far less accurate.

• Raw vs cooked: Cooking changes water content and makes meat lighter (loses water) and foods like grains heavier (absorbs water). Tracking raw foods is most accurate, though tracking cooked food is more flexible. Whichever you choose, stick to it consistently. Consistency is more important than perfection

• Fiber: Track total carbs for the easiest and most accurate method. Some people track net carbs (carbs - fiber), but this overcomplicates things and isn't necessary for most people

• Apps: Beware of some apps like MyFitnessPal that have user inputted data, which can be way off. A tool that allows for label scanning and uses a reputable data base is best.

• Eyeballing: If you're more advanced at tracking macros with months or years under your belt, you can try eyeballing once you have a sense of what foods of certain weights look like. If progress stalls or hunger makes you lie to yourself, go back to the scale.

Macros for fat loss

If you're trying to lose fat, you'll need to create a caloric deficit to get into a hypocaloric state. Eating less is the best and easiest way to do this, but you don't want to go overboard. It's also ideal to increase your general activity levels and have a resistance training routine to preserve muscle.

Ideal macros for fat loss are: 

• Protein: 0.75g to 1.5g per pound of body weight. 

• Carbohydrates: 1g to 2g+ per pound of body weight, depending on activity

• Light activity = ~1g/lb

• Hard training: 2g+/lb

• Fats: Start around 0.4g per pound. Do not drop below 0.3g per pound long term to protect hormones.

How to adjust macros for fat loss over time

During the first week of fat loss, ignore your weight. Water weight loss and fluctuations in fluid balance will be all over the map. After that first week, monitoring your weekly average weight becomes key.

• Stalled Progress: If your weight loss stalls (which it likely will at some point), reduce your total calories by 5 to 10%.

• Protein: Keep this high. It is crucial because it preserves muscle tissue so you burn fat, not muscle, and helps keep you feeling full.

• Fats vs. Carbs: When making that 5-10% adjustment, lower your fats first. Carbs are anti-catabolic, fuel training intensity, and provide volume (veggies/fruits) for fullness. Only tweak carbs down if you absolutely need to after reducing fats.

Macros for muscle gain

To maximize muscle growth, you generally can't just stay at the same weight. While "main-gaining" — building muscle while maintaining weight — is possible, it is often incredibly slow. A more efficient strategy for lean, trained individuals is to intentionally eat in a calorie surplus to gain weight (bulk) for a specific period, then cut the extra fat later.

But contrary to what many-a-gym-bro might believe, a bulk isn't a license to eat everything in sight. Controlled weight gain is the key to adding muscle without adding unnecessary body fat that takes ages to shed afterward.

Commit to a gaining phase of 12 to 16 weeks, or stop sooner if your training performance starts to degrade.

Ideal targets for muscle gain are:

• Protein: 0.75g to 1.5g per pound. Eating more than this won't force your body to build more muscle, it just adds expensive calories.

• Carbohydrates: ~2g to 4g per pound (typically). Once you have set your protein and fat targets, all remaining calories in your budget should come from carbohydrates.

• Fats: 0.3g to 0.5g per pound. Aim for the lower end (0.3g) if you want to prioritize carbs for maximum performance. Aim for the higher end (0.5g) if you struggle to eat enough food and need the calorie density of fats to hit your surplus.

Read more: How to Use Protein Powder for Muscle Gains, According to A Sports Nutritionist

How to adjust macros for muscle gain over time

Just like with fat loss, you shouldn't react to daily scale fluctuations. Instead, monitor your weekly average weight to ensure you are staying within that target gain band. Aim to gain 0.5% to 1% of your body weight per week (roughly 0.5 to 1 lb). Gaining faster than this usually results in gaining fat, not muscle.

• On Track: If your weekly average weight gain is within the target band, do nothing. Don't change your macros even if you feel like you should be doing more.

• Too Slow: If weight gain stalls or falls below the band, add 10% to your daily calories. Ideally, this increase should come primarily from carbohydrates. Carbs are the primary lever for gaining because they drive anabolism (growth) and fuel the hard training required to actually build new tissue.

• Too Fast: If you are gaining weight too quickly (which likely means you are putting on too much body fat), subtract 5% from your daily calories, usually from fats or junk food.

FAQs

How do I figure out my macros? 

The most accurate way is to audit yourself by tracking exactly what you eat for a week to find your maintenance baseline, then adjusting up or down from there. If you want a quick estimate to start, you can multiply your body weight by 10 to 12 to find your starting calories, then split those numbers into protein, carbs, and fats based on your goals.

What are macros on a diet? 

Macros are the three specific nutrients that provide your body with energy: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. While counting calories tells you how much energy you are consuming, counting macros tells you where that energy comes from, which ultimately dictates whether you lose fat or muscle.

What are the best macros for fat loss? 

While being in a calorie deficit is the most important factor, a good rule of thumb is to eat around 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight to protect your muscles. You should generally aim for a minimum of 0.3 to 0.4 grams of fat per pound for hormonal health, and then fill the rest of your daily calorie budget with carbohydrates to fuel your workouts.

Rachel MacPherson is a certified strength and conditioning specialist with over a decade of coaching experience. She specializes in helping women build strength and confidence through evidence based training.

This article was reviewed by Ashley Boyer, ACE-CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, for accuracy.