Understanding Macros: How to Optimize Your Nutrition for Weight Loss

Macros is a short form for the term macronutrients. Macronutrients are the three main nutrients that make up most of our diets and provide us with the most energy; proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. No matter how much you try to avoid it, in order for successful and consistent weight loss, which is also sustained, you need to understand macros. Not only that, but you also need to learn how to count them whenever you have food intake, to make better-informed decisions for your body’s health and well-being. In this article, we will be teaching you how to optimize your nutrition when it comes to macros for your weight loss journey.

The first step towards achieving a balanced macro diet is to determine what your caloric needs are. Your caloric needs depend on a number of factors like your age, gender, weight, lifestyle, etc. After that, you must figure out what your current macronutrient ratio is and compare it to what it should be in accordance with the variables stated above. At this stage, you become eligible to track your macro intake on a daily basis. When you regularly start tracking your macro intake, you can also change and mend it according to your body’s needs for healthy weight loss.

Once you start counting your macros, you need to ensure that a little over a quarter of your diet consists of lean proteins. These include foods like chicken, beans, peas, yogurt, etc. another quarter should consist of starchy vegetables like corn and sweet potatoes. The rest of your plate needs to be filled with non-starchy vegetables, which are technically considered carbohydrates. This makes up a 30:30:40 ratio which is the optimal macronutrient intake. However, many times, especially at the beginning days of your macro diet you might still feel hungry. In such a case you may fill up on more vegetables. 

If you do fill up on extra vegetables then this will disturb your optimal ratio but it is essential in order to avoid binging at the end of the day. And if you diminish the extra hunger by filling up on vegetables then it will not increase your calorie intake by too much. At the end of the day, a macro diet is all about portion control. It promotes the allowance to eat everything and anything you want, just in controlled quantities. Portion control stands at the center of a macro diet and if you understand macros then you can have ultimate control over your portion control tactics. 

All in all, you can manipulate your macro intake ratios according to the amount of weight you wish to lose and the amount of time you have given yourself to lose it. Being skilled in this manipulation will be much easier if you increase your knowledge on different food items and which ones fall under which categories under macros. Hence, understanding macros is essential for a healthy weight loss journey and for ensuring that whatever efforts you put in are sustainable.