Nutrition: Tracking Calories Versus Macros

Nutrition is one of the most important parts of transforming your body. Workouts are important as well, but nutrition really accounts for around 90% of your efforts.

When you think about nutrition, you want to make sure -- if your goal is weight loss -- that you're in a calorie deficit, which means you're taking in less calories than you're burning. That is how you lose weight, regardless of what diet you follow, whether it's Paleo, vegan, Whole 30, whatever diet you follow, you want to make sure you're taking in less calories than you're burning. That's how you lose weight. But it's also super important to track your calories and your macros.

Macronutrients are essentially what make up your calories. MacrOnutrients -- or macros for short -- are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. When you track macros, that is how you change your body composition, depending on your goal. If you're trying to build muscle, protein is going to be super important. If you're running a marathon, carbohydrates are going to be your priority.

The first step is to know what your goal is, and then figure out the appropriate macronutrient ratio for you. One way to do that is through myFitnessPal. So if you download the myFitnessPal app, it's completely free, and it is a great option for tracking. However, if you do set your goal to weight loss, don't follow the automatic calories set by MyFitnessPal. It will automatically default to 1,200 calories, which is not enough for an average person. Just put maintenance as your goal and then track your food and see where it's at, and then you'll see if you need to make changes.

If you do need to make changes and you're not sure where to go, please feel free to contact me at www.allisonjacksonfitness.com. Shoot me an email or a DM, I'm happy to help you figure out what your goals are as well as what your macros should be for those goals.