How to Track Macros to Lose Weight

There are so many (good!) reasons to follow a macro diet. Tracking your macros can help you to improve your energy throughout the day, become a faster runner, lift more weight at the gym, and even feel more comfortable in your body. Proper nutrition provides a whole host of benefits. But one of the most popular reasons to monitor daily nutrients is weight loss. Tracking macros for weight loss is so much healthier than following a restrictive diet because the whole premise of the eating plan is to provide balanced nutrition.

How to Calculate Your Macros for Weight Loss

Once you’ve decided to use the macro diet for weight loss, you’ll need to calculate your macronutrient targets. That is, you need to determine how much protein, fat, and carbohydrate to consume each day. Your numbers should be personalized for you. You definitely don’t want to just grab some numbers that you find on the web or on someone’s Instagram page. If you don’t personalize your targets, the diet is less likely to be sustainable.

Step one: Establish a starting point

First, you need to establish a starting point. To do so, keep a food journal for 5-7 days. Make sure you eat like you typically eat. You can use an app like LoseIt! or MyFitnessPal to jot down your food intake.

At the end of the week, you should have a good idea of the average number of calories you consume each day, and the typical nutrient breakdown. For example, maybe you find that your food intake varies, but you consume an average of 2200 calories per day, 60% carbs, 30% fat, and 10% protein.

Pro Tip: Using an app makes this process simple because it calculates your daily numbers for you. If you want to do it by hand, pick up a copy of Macro Diet for Dummies. In it, I explain how to manually calculate your numbers.

Step two: Create a deficit

For weight loss, you must create a calorie deficit. Usually, 500 calories per day is sufficient to encourage weight loss at a reasonable rate of about one pound per week. So, take your daily calorie average and subtract 500 calories. In the example, your new calorie target would be 1700 calories (2200 calories — 500 calories = 1700 calories).

Not a fan of math? No problem! You can also use the Body Weight Planner provided by the National Institutes of Health to get solid estimates of your calorie needs based on your activity levels.

Step 3: Calculate macros

Now, you need to decide how much of your calorie “budget” you will spend on protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Again, you’ll look at your daily targets to establish a starting point. Ultimately, your goal is to get each nutrient intake to align with recommendations set by health experts.

• 10% - 35% of your calories from protein

• 45% - 65% of your calories from carbohydrates

• 20% - 35% of your calories from fat

But before you get there, you want to look at your current daily diet pattern, My recommendation is to only adjust your macro intake by 10% to start. Changing your diet too drastically can end up backfiring.

Let’s look at the example again. The macro breakdown at the starting point was 60% carbs, 30% fat, and 10% protein. These numbers already fall within recommended guidelines, but when you are trying to lose weight, you want to bump up the protein a bit to preserve muscle mass. So, a macronutrient breakdown of 50% carbs, 25% fat, and 15% protein would be a great starting place.

You can track your macros using percentages. But most people figure out the number of grams of each nutrient to make things easier. To complete this step, you’ll do a little math. First, you figure out how many calories are allotted for each macro, then you translate that number into grams. To complete this step you’ll need to know that

• Protein provides 4 calories per gram

• Carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram

• Fat provides 9 calories per gram

Now, let’s do the math:

1700 calories x 50% of calories from carbs = 850 calories

Carbs have four calories per gram, so:

850 ÷ 4 = 212.5 grams of carbohydrate per day

You’ll follow this same process for protein and fat. Just remember that fat has 9 calories per gram, so in the final step you’ll divide by 9 instead of 4. In the example, the final macro targets would be 213 grams of carbs, 47 grams of fat, and 64 grams of protein per day.

How to Track Macros for Weight Loss

When trying to lose weight with any eating plan, consistency matters. So try to track your food intake regularly. Again, an app is a lifesaver here. If you eat a lot of packaged food, using an app that has a barcode scanner will make it even easier.

Don’t worry if your numbers don’t hit the targets exactly. Some variation is normal. Even food labels on packages are allowed by the FDA to be up to 20% off, so if you don’t hit your numbers precisely, it is not a huge deal. What does matter is that you stick to the calorie deficit. Sticking to the macro targets will help you to maintain energy and feel full and satisfied throughout the day.

Lastly, remember to make adjustments as needed. When tracking your macros for weight loss, give it about two weeks and then make changes if necessary. Feeling hungry throughout the day? Bump up the protein a bit and make sure you are choosing fiber-rich carbs. Feeling lethargic? Make sure you’re getting nutrient-rich carbs before that energy slump hits.

With a 500-calorie per-day deficit, you should start to see changes within a week or so. But after 3-4 weeks, you will see a greater impact.