TRACKING MACRONUTRIENTS
Tracking your macronutrient intake is an effective method to help achieve your fitness goals and ensure overall good health. This method can offer a better understanding and a breakdown of what exactly your daily calorie intake may be consisting of. The macronutrients consist of carbohydrates, protein, and fats. By keeping track of your macronutrients you will be able to see exactly where you might be under or over consuming certain nutrients, and then can make dietary adjustments accordingly.
WHAT ARE MACRONUTRIENTS
The macronutrients are the nutrients that your body needs to obtain through the diet in larger quantities. They provide calories and energy so that the body can function properly. Each macronutrient has a different purpose and provides a specific amount of energy to the body.
Carbohydrates: The body’s primary source for energy
- 1 gram of carbohydrates provides 4 calories
Protein: Aids in muscle growth and repair
- 1 gram of protein provides 4 calories
Fat: Helps with nutrient absorption and hormone production
- 1 gram of fat provides 9 calories
To calculate how many calories per macronutrient you are consuming you will multiple the calories the nutrient provides by how many grams you are consuming. For example if you are consuming an item that contains 20g of carbohydrates you will multiply that number by 4. This would mean that 80 calories of that food item is coming from carbohydrates.
KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR MACRONUTRIENTS
One quick and simple way to start tracking your macronutrients is to write down what you eat throughout the day. With packaged food, you will be able to look at the nutrition facts labels and record the amount of grams per macronutrient you are consuming. There are also apps and websites that are great tools to use as dietary journals. Some examples would be Cronometer, MyFitness Pal, or MacroFactor.
You can decide how much of each nutrient you would like to consume depending on your goals. For example, if you are looking to build muscles you may want to increase your protein intake to aid in increasing muscle mass. You can take the recommended daily % intakes depending on your goals.
Recommended daily % intake of each macronutrient in relation to daily total calories:
- Carbohydrates 45 – 65% of total calories
- Protein 10 – 35% of total calories
- Fat 20 – 35% of total calories
Grams based off a standard 2,000 calories diet:
- Carbohydrates 225g – 325g
- Protein 50g – 175g
- Fat 44g – 48g
