6 Tips for Leveling Up Your Macronutrient Game

Last week, in case you missed it, we outlined WHAT macronutrients are, WHY macronutrients are important (in our opinion), and some of our tips on how to track your macros, once you’ve calculated your macros. Do yourself a solid and CLICK HERE to read last week's blog before this one - it’ll make this one make that much more sense, I promise!

So, Why are macronutrients important? Well, I guess you can say that we think they’re important because they’re food (more scientifically, they’re what your food is made up of), and food is extremely important to our existence. Without food, we will die, and nobody has time for that! Our belief is that learning about macros and tracking macros can set you up to truly understand what your food is made up of, and just how much of different foods throughout your day will make you feel the best, and make your body work the best, for you. Our bodies are machines, and we believe that macronutrients are the key to fueling our machines appropriately so that we can live a long, healthy, sustainable lifestyle full of good food, good times, and happy bodies. 

But how do you calculate macros? This is something that we covered in our last blog too! Figuring out what YOUR macros are is something that maybe takes a bit of knowledge (ask a professional or do some research if you’re wanting to do this on your own) but once you have your target - figuring out how to hit them should be something that you can get the hang of in a short amount of time. A little bit of trial and error, along with a willingness to never ever ever aim for perfection, and we think you’ll be on your way to a happier, healthier you.

Calculating macros can be simple, once you get the hang of it. 

If your goal is weight loss, your macros are going to be different (the target you’re trying to hit) than if your goal is to maintain your current weight or gain weight. Macros for weight loss is a very effective way to hit your weight loss goals, all while instilling healthy eating habits so that you’re never left feeling that you’ve done something wrong, or are a bad person for eating something you wanted to eat.

Following is a list of SIX TIPS that we think will help you, even more, when it comes to tracking your macros, with a goodie at the end which nicely puts all of this information together in video form. Want to skip the reading altogether (but potentially miss out on some good nuggets? Go ahead, I'm not judging you - simply CLICK HERE to watch all this instead. However, if you’ve got a few minutes, I’d love for you to read the rest of it - there's no point in me writing all of this if no one is going to read it

Okay, here we go! Our tips for really getting the most out of tracking macronutrients and keeping it as simple as possible. Ready?

TIP 1 - HAVE SINGLE SOURCE MACROS ON HAND

That all sounds wonderful but what the heck are those, you ask? Single source macros, in our minds, are different foods that you could eat that are PRIMARILY made up of one of the macros (which are protein, fat, and carbohydrate). For example, say you’re nearing the end of the day and you’re low on protein but pretty much spot on with your fats and carbs, you’d be looking for a single source macro of protein (something that is high in protein and very low in fats and carbs). It could also happen that you’re needing a portion of food that is high in fat and low in both carbs and protein (that would be a single source macro of fat). 

Make sense? 

Below you’ll find a list that lays out some of the different foods that fall into these categories. Having these foods on hand (if you can) for when you’re searching for ways to fill your macros will make hitting your macros that much easier - we promise you. There is nothing worse than spending fifteen minutes when you’re tired/hungry trying to figure out if a certain food or snack will fit nicely into your total macro count - we get it. You should want to be able to just grab what you need and feel confident that it's something that fits your macros AND tastes great all at the same time. 

*photo cred to one of our incredible Dunnebells clients, Amber

Being prepared for situations BEFORE they arise is really important.

TIP 2 - USE THE BARCODE SCAN FEATURE IN MYFITNESSPAL

One of our recommendations last week was to download the app MyFitnessPal for all your macro tracking needs. The app itself has a ton of different purposes, but we honestly only really use it to track our meals and our macros! Feel free to dive into the app more if that suits you but know that its a really great tool for this exact thing - tracking your macros! The database that MyFitnessPal has is something that I just don’t think can be beat at this moment in time. 

Last week we shared a video that walks you through how to use the app that hopefully you had a chance to watch. One of our favorite features of the app is the SCAN feature - which literally means instead of inputting all the nutritional information for something you’re eating (something that comes in a package for instance - a protein bar, a sauce, a beverage, a bag of chips, pasta, rice) you can just scan the barcode on that item and likely that specific item has already been added to the database! What a time saver?

After you use the scan feature, you just figure out how many portions you ate, and viola - that food is added to your day and your macros have been added.

You can also do the exact same thing with a URL. What this means is that if you find a recipe online (The most delicious Apple Crisp, for example, from Sally’s Baking Addiction - https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/gluten-free-apple-crisp/ ) you can insert the URL for this recipe and likely, MyFitnessPal will know what the macros are for that item - instead of having to add the flour and the sugar and the apples and whatnot. Another time saver.

Need a visual demonstration? CLICK HERE to watch about scanning barcodes in MyFitnessPal

CLICK HERE to watch about inputting custom recipes and recipes from a URL in MyFitnessPal

TIP 3 - USE YOUR HANDS TO MEASURE PORTIONS

As a general rule of thumb (pun, not intended) you can use your hands to guesstimate your portion sizes. Sure, having a scale is likely the MOST ACCURATE way you could figure your portion size but also a scale is likely a huge trigger for many people, and often its more time consuming - so please don’t rush and get yourself one…chances are you’ve already got at least one hand you can use, so why not?

A clenched fist is roughly equal to one cup - so, if you spoon some rice onto your plate and it looks similar to the size of your fist when it's clenched, then you can assume that it's roughly one cup.

Your fingertip is roughly equal to one teaspoon.

From the base of your thumb to the end of it, you’re looking at roughly one tablespoon.

Your palm is roughly the same size as ONE portion of meat (chicken, salmon, beef, pork, etc).

Now, I'm just as aware as you that this is not exact - and I think that's the point. Last week we talked a lot about not aiming to be perfect when it comes to macronutrients. Of course, you can focus on that if you want, but for long-term sustainability for most of us - doing good (or great) is often just as rewarding and successful as doing perfectly. 

So let's aim for that - and if you’re comfortable with it, if your portion size in MyFitnessPal says ONE CUP, go ahead and guestimate with your fist if you want - that’ll work just fine.’

TIP 4 - REGARDLESS OF YOUR MACROS - IF YOU’RE
HUNGRY, YOU SHOULD EAT

Once you decide that you’re doing all of this for yourself, your body, and your goals - you’ll get to a point where you learn to, not only listen to your body, but trust it, too.

If you’re legitimately hungry (and not just snacking for the sake of snacking) then guess what? Your body is likely telling you something. Something along the lines of “hey, you, yeah you, I'm a bit peckish and am wondering if it's possible you could throw something down the chute so I don't start eating the floorboards, please”. Your body is incredibly smart and it will tell you what it wants and needs when it needs it.

Sure, it might also ask you for potato chips before bed, but I urge you to really listen to it and see if it's a need, or a want - because that message is often a bit different. 

You are allowed to listen to both a need and a want, as well.

As long as you are listening, then you’re on the right track.

This tip I find is one of the most important. I think all too often we maybe get a hunger cue from our body and instead of listening, we do that thing where we try to push it away and convince ourselves that maybe it hasn’t been long enough since our last meal (news flash, you can eat something right after dinner if you’re still hungry), its an inappropriate time of day to eat (its actually never a bad time to eat if you’re hungry) or simply that we don’t deserve to eat (which is BS because you do deserve food, no matter what nonsense you’re telling yourself).

If you’re hungry - eat.

EVEN IF YOU GO OVER YOUR MACROS FOR THE DAY.

If you’re hungry - eat.

Also, because it's fresh on my mind - if you’re thirsty, go get water. Not coffee, water.

And if you haven't had water in a very long time - stop what you’re doing RIGHT NOW and have a drink (with me, because I don't think I’ve had any ALL day, and it's nearing 7 pm). The rest of the blog can wait.

Seriously. Go. 

TIP 5 - WORK WITH A COACH

Working with a coach is beneficial for MANY reasons. Not only can a coach accurately determine your macros for/with you based on a number of things, but they’re actually trained to help you succeed. If you hire a certified coach who has experience in what you’re hoping to achieve (both as a coach, but also as a person) then you’re likely going to really get your money's worth. Sure, your friend could maybe help you, but did you know that the education and qualification of a certified trainer/nutritionist actually says A LOT? 

A coach is also the best accountability partner that you can find (if you find a good coach, that is), and sometimes that's all it takes.

Looking for a coach? Look no further than yours truly (my wife who owns this incredible company is a fantastic coach). Want to ask some questions before committing? That's totally acceptable and more common than you think! Head on over to our website by CLICKING HERE or send us a DM on Instagram to start the conversation by CLICKING HERE

TIP 6 - USE THE ‘WHAT DO I EAT’ SPECTRUM

Instead of food either being ‘good’ or ‘bad’, food is simply food. The nutritional value of each food is different of course, but we’re huge fans of stopping the terms of ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

Imagine a spectrum (any will do). On the far left is a certain thing and on the far right is another certain thing. In this situation, when it comes to nutrition and ‘what do I eat’ one side is a portion of food that we encourage you to ‘eat more’ of, and on the other side, a portion of food we encourage you to ‘eat less’ of. The eat more/eat less spectrum.

Notice how one side isn’t ‘never eat again’ and one side is also not ‘only eat this’. This is not accidental and in fact, its intentional. No food is ever going to be considered bad again, okay? Instead, we’re just going to try to eat more of certain things and less of other things.

Lucy has created a video to cover this exact topic and I highly recommend that you check it out by CLICKING HERE. The whole video is informational and highly valuable however at minute 4:55 you’ll see her dive deep into this whole ‘what do I eat’ spectrum. She dives deep into it but also gives you a visual whack of foods that fit into different categories on the spectrum. Then, it’s actually up to YOU to play around with these things and figure out what YOUR spectrum is. You get to be the decider of foods you want more of and foods you want less of, and everything in between.

I highly recommend spending some time going through this little exercise and write out the list of foods you’re excited to try. Tape it to your fridge if you have to, and when you’re going out for your groceries, remember the different tips you learned in the video.

And there you have it. Nothing groundbreaking or jaw dropping.

Just simple things that make sense, because isn’t that what this is all about? Finding ways to make healthy choices for you, in a way that is sustainable long term?

I hope you get some value out of this blog, the last blog, and all the others before. If there is ever a topic you want covered, feel free to drop it in the comments below!

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Have a great week!