Background of Counting Macronutrients
Macronutrients are what makes up the calorie content in food. The three kinds of macronutrients are fats, protein, and carbohydrates. The reason why counting your macronutrients are important is because it displays the total amount of calories you consume in a day, and shows you where your calories are coming from. If you are looking to lose or gain weight, tracking your macronutrients will help you reach your goal. As you all are busy individuals, this concept will help you manage both your time and weight.
In order to begin tracking your macronutrients, you first need to know the calorie breakdown of the macronutrients:
- CARBS: 1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories
- FAT: 1 gram of fat = 9 calories
- PROTEIN: 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
So, to further explain the numbers above, a food item with 24 grams of carbs, 8 g of fat and 8 g of protein, would have approximately 208 calories. The equation to determine that will appear like the following:
- CARBS: 24 g x 4 calories = 104 calories
- FAT: 8 g x 9 calories = 72 calories
- PROTEIN: 8 g x 4 calories = 32 calories
104 + 72 + 32 = 208 total calories
Tools to Track your Macronutrients
Several tools are available to help track your daily calories, including your macronutrients. One of the most popular tools is MyFitnessPal. This application allows you to scan in foods or search them, in order to determine the calorie breakdown. In addition, this application provides you with percentages to your daily macronutrients. If your goal is to maintain accurate tracking, I highly recommend this application.
Why Should I Track My Macronutrients?
There are several ways you can benefit from tracking your macronutrients. If any of these benefits seem to be an appropriate fit for you, then maybe you should consider tracking your macronutrients.
Help with Maintenance: One of the first benefits is tracking your macronutrients will help you adhere to your diet. Tracking your macronutrients will allow you to still enjoy yourself without over-restricting. If you’re going out for dinner you can go for that slice of pizza or a few pieces of chocolate without ruining your nutrition for the day.
Become More Educated: Tracking your macronutrients will provide you with more education on nutrition. You will become aware of how many calories you are consuming, what your macronutrients consist of, and what the calorie breakdown is of most foods. It can be a struggle to determine what a healthier choice is but after comfortably tracking your macronutrients, you will no longer find yourself struggling.
Save Your Money $$$: After starting to track your macronutrients, you will never consider trying a fad diet or diet product again. Tracking your macronutrients fits perfectly into your lifestyle and is free! Fad diets and products can become very expensive and typically do not show results. By tracking your macronutrients you will see results fast and you will be doing it without hopping onto some expensive diet.
I encourage you to give tracking your macronutrients a try. You will be able to enjoy your life without restricting yourself. I look forward to hearing your results and on how this blog post helped you!
Get Tracking!
Elizabeth
elizabethannfit 