37. “I Don’t Understand Macros”

Dec 29

Having some level of understanding when it comes to macronutrients is essential if you want to make any kind of body composition changes. In this episode, I’m breaking down what macros are and why each is important for your body. Fat, protein, and carbohydrates all have a unique role in our overall health and yes, you need to eat a balance of all of them!

Dr. Ali’s Food Classification System

Always Foods: Eat as much as you want
Sometimes Foods: Eat with moderation
Never Foods: Eat sparingly or not at all

Listen to Episode 37 Here

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The Chief Complaint: “I Don’t Understand Macros”

If your only goal is to watch the number on the scale drop, macros probably won’t matter much to you. But if you’re interested in your changing your overall body composition, you’ll want to know how to fit your macros into your diet plan.

What Exactly are Macros?

In brief, macronutrients are the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats contained in the foods you eat. To have a healthy diet and make body composition changes, you need to have a certain portion of all three macros. Yep, even carbs.

Protein is an essential macro for your muscle health. You’ll hear a lot of people saying that protein is the most important macro and your entire diet should revolve around it, but I don’t believe that’s true. Yes, it’s important and you need to eat enough to rebuild your muscle fibers, but it’s not the be-and-end-all of your diet.

Similarly, many in the wellness industry vilify carbohydrates - something completely unnecessary. Carbs are another important macro you can’t afford to remove completely from your diet. In fact, carbs are vital if you want to lose weight while maintaining your muscle mass.

How Much of Each Macro?

There is a lot of buzz around fat, especially high-fat diets, such as the Keto diet. There are four types of fat: polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, saturated, and trans fats. Our diets should mainly comprise of poly- and monounsaturated fats, with minimal or no saturated fats, and no trans fats if you can help it.

Fat is not created equal, so when you’re figuring out how many macros of fat you should be eating, I want you to keep that in mind. One way I like to do this is to have a list of “always” foods, “sometimes” foods, and “never” foods as this helps me keep track of my fat intake.

There are quite a few ways to figure out what your macro breakdown is. You can go to a trainer, nutritionist, or website to help you figure out your macro split and how many calories you should eat for your body goals.

But once you have these numbers, that usually involves some amount of calorie counting and weighing your food. I’ve developed my own method of tracking called Mindful Macros, which allows you to eyeball your food to know if you’re on target with your macros.

Homework for Women Physicians

Are you feeling more confident when it comes to your macronutrients? What are your favorite sources of protein? Let me know in the comments below!

In This Episode

What protein does to our body composition [4:00]
Why you need to eat carbohydrates if you want to lose weight and maintain your muscle mass [9:15]
Why fat is absolutely vital to your body [16:30]
How you should classify your foods [20:30]
What the mindful macro way of eating looks like in your everyday life [23:00]

Quotes

“If you just want to lose bodyweight on the scale, you just want the number to go down, macronutrient calculation is not necessarily going to be the most important thing for you. The truth is, we just need to create a deficit.” [7:08]

“It’s really thinking about how we can look at our food as our medicine and how it can fuel us versus this is a bad food.” [14:07]

“When you are eating in a way that is fueling your body, you are eating. So to make a body composition change by understanding macros, know that all macros are welcome.” [15:54]