The health and fitness community are often abuzz with the term “macros.” You may even know people who organize their daily meals based on macros counts or ratios.
Facilities like personal training gyms and weight loss clinics often give clients a daily calorie goal as the key component of their nutrition plan, with counting, or tracking macros as a way of tracking and meeting that goal. But is this method a safe and effective way to maintain a well-balanced diet and a healthy relationship to food?
This article will explain what macros are and the functions they do for the body, the factors that go into following a macros diet, and the evidence for and against tracking macros as a dietary regimen.
Let’s start off by defining what macros are.
What are Macros?
In the nutrition context, macros is the abbreviation for macronutrients. The prefix comes from the Greek word makros, which means large.
Simply put, macronutrients are the kinds of nutrients your body needs daily in large amounts (think grams) to maintain optimum function. Meanwhile, micronutrients, or micros, are nutrients that the body also requires, but in smaller amounts (such as milligrams or micrograms).
A note that the term “macros” is not the same as the macrobiotic diet. Macrobiotic refers to an alternative or complementary lifestyle characterized by a largely vegetarian, whole foods diet and a goal of acquiring a natural and calm way of life.
These Are the 3 Primary Macronutrients:
There are three primary macronutrients: carbohydrates, fat, and protein. They each fuel the body with energy (in the form of calories) and help it metabolize and absorb nutrients.
1. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred source of energy and get broken down into glucose in the bloodstream. Glucose provides fuel for the brain, central nervous system, and red blood cells, and it can also be stored as glycogen in the liver for energy that the body can use at a later time.
There are simple carbs, like white bread and white rice, which are digested and used for energy quickly, and complex carbohydrates, like those in whole grains like whole wheat bread and quinoa and legumes like beans and lentils, which are metabolized more slowly.
Fiber, a complex carbohydrate found in many whole fruits, vegetables, and legumes, supports healthy digestion and helps lower cholesterol. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram.
2. Fats contribute to the membranes of the body’s cells, provide an energy reserve for the body, and aid in the absorption of Vitamins A, D, E, and K (which is why they are classified as fat-soluble vitamins). During digestion fats get broken down into fatty acids and glycerol, and there are certain fatty acids that cannot be made in the body and must be obtained through the diet, like omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
There are saturated fats, which have only single bonds between carbon and hydrogen atoms in their chemical structure, and unsaturated fats with at least one double bond between a carbon and hydrogen atom in the fatty acid. Saturated fats break down more easily (single bonds are easier to break) and are more readily used for storage in the liver, while unsaturated fats take longer to metabolize.
Saturated fats are primarily found in meat, poultry, egg yolks, dairy, and coconut products (like coconut milk and coconut oil), while unsaturated fats are commonly found in fatty fish (like salmon and tuna), nuts (like walnuts and almonds), nut butters (like peanut and almond butter), seeds (like pumpkin and sunflower), avocados, olives, and vegetable oils like olive oil and canola oil.
Omega-3 fatty acids are a well-known unsaturated fat which have many health benefits like reducing inflammation and supporting cognitive and neurological health. Fats contain 9 calories per gram.
Read: These Health Benefits of Omega-3s Will Surprise You
3. Proteins are digested into amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle and allow the body to build, maintain, and repair its tissues. They also help with the creation of enzymes and hormones which help the body function properly.
Similar to fatty acids, there are 9 amino acids that are considered essential because in order to be made in the body they must be consumed in the diet. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, and soy are considered complete proteins because they contain all 9 of the essential amino acids.
Other plant foods like seitan, nuts, nut butters, seeds and legumes can also contribute protein to the diet (and can provide all essential amino acids if a wide variety of these foods are consumed regularly). Proteins contain 4 calories per gram.
Many foods rich in macronutrients also contain micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. Plant-based foods like vegetables, nuts, and seeds are particularly rich in micros like magnesium.
Learn All About Mighty Magnesium and the Many Ways It Benefits You!
Because it is critical to get enough of each macronutrient in the diet, some fitness and nutrition practices recommend tracking macros in developing a healthy eating plan. Let’s explore what tracking macros looks like in more detail.
Tracking Macros: Here’s How It Works
The tracking macros approach starts with figuring out how many calories you need in a given day. Each person will have a different daily calorie need based on their height, weight, age, activity level, health status, and personal goals.
For example, a professional athlete who is looking to put on muscle will have different needs than a less active older adult who is trying to lower their cholesterol.
Once the daily calorie amount is determined, you will establish how many of each macro you need based on the percentages of the overall daily calories. The USDA recommends the following macronutrient ranges in the official Dietary Guidelines for Americans:
Carbs: 45-65% of total daily calories, with a recommended amount of at least 130 grams/day.
Protein: 10-35% of total daily calories
The recommendation for most people is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (1 kg is approximately 2.2 pounds), but studies have shown that adults age 65 and older would likely benefit from a higher amount of 1-1.2 g protein/kg body weight.
Fat: 20-35% of total daily calories
Once you’ve gotten each macro value in terms of calories, you then calculate how many grams of each macro you need. Remember, carbs and protein each have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9 calories per gram.
For a person needing 1800 calories per day, the macro breakdown looks like this:
- Carbohydrate (45-65%, 4 cal/gm): 810-1170 calories, 202-293 grams
- Fat (20-35%, 9 cal/gm): 360-630 calories, 40-70 grams
- Protein (10-35%, 4 cal/gm): 180-630 calories, 45-158 grams
This plan allows for some variance: The athlete may opt for the higher end of the protein percentage and need more carbs because of how much they’re exercising, while the older adult may decide to go for the lower percentage of calories from fat.
While it is recommended to work with a professional to determine a daily calorie goal and macros breakdown that is unique to your needs, it can be expensive and time-consuming. Some people opt to count macros on their own, following a diet pattern focused on macros breakdowns and may also use programs which track macros and calorie intake (like My Fitness Pal™).
Let’s take a closer look at the most well-known macros diets.
Examples of Common Macros Diets
There are multiple popular diets that center on following specific daily macronutrient ranges. However, the diets can drastically differ from one another in terms of the macro breakdown percentages and the types of foods that are allowed and not allowed.
1. If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM):
The IIFYM method is considered a more flexible diet as it doesn’t have any restrictions on the types of foods you can eat, so long as you maintain the appropriate ratio of carbs, fat, and protein per day. The official IIFYM website offers an individualized macros calculator which determines macros needs based on factors like a person’s age, height, weight, biological sex, body fat percentage, and activity level.
IIFYM is an approach that is well-regarded in many fitness communities, including powerlifters.
2. Ketogenic (Keto) Diets:
This diet is characterized by low amounts of carbohydrates (typically less than 50 grams per day) alongside high intakes of fat and protein. The standard keto diet has a usual macro breakdown of 70% calories from fat, 20% from protein, and 10% from carb, while the high-protein keto diet has a breakdown of 60% calories from fat, 35% from protein, and 5% from carb.
A note that the keto diet is designed to put the body in a state of ketosis, where the body’s fuel source switches from glucose to ketones produced from the breakdown of fats. It is a very restrictive diet and should be undertaken while under the care of a medical professional.
Read: A Closer Look at the Keto Diet: Is It Really All It’s Cracked Up to Be?
3. Paleo Diet:
The paleo diet is designed to resemble the foods eaten by hunter-gatherers in the Paleolithic Era, with a particular focus on whole, unprocessed foods.
Foods permitted on the paleo diet include unprocessed meats, fish, seafood, eggs, whole fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, and healthy oils (like extra virgin olive oil) while excluding dairy, grains, legumes, processed oils (like soybean, sunflower, and cottonseed oils), sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners.
While a typical Paleo diet doesn’t necessarily include specific percentages or ratios for each macro, a recent study in Cureus calculated a healthy, balanced paleo diet to be 37% protein, 41% carb, and 22% fat.
The Pros and Cons of Tracking Macros
Should you count macros? Short answer: it depends, and here are the factors to consider.
For some people, tracking macros provides a structured approach to eating that can be helpful for putting meals together. It can also be done in a flexible enough way so you don’t feel deprived of the foods you enjoy. In this sense, and for the above macro diets, tracking macros can be a helpful tool.
However, it is important not to neglect the quality of the nutrients in the diet, such as a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, and lean proteins in pursuit of specific macro and calorie ranges.
There are also concerns about macro tracking because it can involve a lot of tracking of what foods and how much of each are eaten. This has the potential to result in disordered eating, such as rigid beliefs about what foods are considered acceptable, fears about deviating from allowed foods and/or macros/calorie counts, and constant monitoring of weight.
A recent article in Body Image found that college-aged women who desired a “toned-muscular” appearance were more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors like excessive scrutiny of macronutrient content of food. There was also a study which found that more than 70% of undergraduate students with eating disorders who had used a calorie and food tracking software reported that it contributed to their eating disorder.
If you are considering tracking macros as part of your dietary regimen, make sure you work with a doctor or Registered Dietitian to set realistic goals and a diet pattern that is safe and balanced.
Macros and Their Role In Your Diet: The Takeaway
Macros are the macronutrients that you need in large amounts in your daily diet, which are carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Macros help with all sorts of essential functions, like fueling the body and brain and digesting and absorbing nutrients.
The USDA-recommended macronutrient ranges for adults are 45-65% for carbohydrates, 20-35% for fat, and 10-35% for protein. The ranges allow for customization amongst individual needs and goals, while certain macros-based diets have more fixed macros ratios.
Tracking macros can be an organized method for some people to meet their nutrition and fitness needs, and approaches like the IIFYM diet offer flexibility in the types of foods permitted to put together a balanced, sustainable diet. However, given that tracking macros is often a calorie-centric approach with constant tracking of food, it is likely not appropriate for those with a history of eating disorders and/or disordered eating.
At the end of the day, it is important to get a variety of quality macros at each meal such as fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, unsaturated fats, and lean proteins, whether macros are counted or not. Tracking macros can be a helpful starting place for your nutrition goals, but this approach may not be for everyone.
All included information is not intended to treat or diagnose. Always consult your healthcare provider for medical questions and before beginning or changing any dietary, supplementation, and/or exercise regimen.
