When it comes to counting macros, many of us need a good solid reason to start. But before you do though ask yourself the following: Are you looking to slim down towards your ideal weight? Or maybe you have more advanced physique goals? Regardless of which, you probably all share one thing in common: The desire to maintain balance when reaching that weight range.
This can be tough to do with regular diets as they aren’t always geared towards long term sustainability. And this is where learning to count your macros can be such an invaluable skill. Helping you understand your bodies needs for transforming and sustaining your new physique long-term.
So here are my five top reasons to learn about counting macros.
1. Build Muscle Without Packing on the fat
None of us want to gain heaps of fat when training hard to pack on muscle mass. Hiding all that work we’ve put in and making us look larger than we are. Unfortunately, it’s really something we can’t get away from when gaining strength in a calorie surplus. But, we can actually maintain muscle growth with little fat gain. Achieving this requires a bit of patience in monitoring your macros closely with a moderate calorie surplus. Eventually finding that sweet spot where you can pack on your muscle with little fat gain. Letting your muscle definition shine through.
2. Drop fat Without Losing Muscle Mass
With any calorie restricted dieting you’re going to lose weight, no doubt about it. But generally speaking, not all the weight loss is coming from fat. The trouble is that without properly dialed in macros towards your weight loss goals you increase the risk of losing muscle. Maintaining your muscle will not only make your physique more aesthetic, it will also:
- Help with averting loose skin
- Preserve your strength
- Keep your metabolism running higher (which will drop as a result of being lighter)
3. Counting Macros Creates Awareness & Accountability
You don’t need a coach to learn how to count your macros and get results. Though, being accountable to yourself will be the challenging part. This is where a great reward comes in through the discipline that you develop. Counting macros can help you grow a new level of awareness regarding the food you nourish yourself with. Just think about how many times we’ve mindlessly stuffed food into our mouths. Not realizing how easily an entire day’s calorie deficit can be neutralized.
When tracking your macros this really helps to put into perspective how easily weight gain can happen. Allowing us to take responsibility instead of playing it off as genetics or something else ridiculous. Believe me, I know this all too well as I used to be the one saying: “My body just gains weight so easily” And “My genetic ancestors were definitely masters of survival with how easily they stored fat.” It wasn’t until I started counting macros that my awareness increased and realized my calories were always hovering at or above maintenance. So I was the only one to blame.
4. Reduces Steep Plateaus
When dieting, if you’re not tracking your macros and your calorie deficit is too large, an imminent roadblock awaits you. Of course, you’ll be feeling great about the rapid weight loss, but you’re accelerating the inevitable plateau from metabolic adaptation. This means that when you do plateau and your weight isn’t dropping, increasing your calorie deficit further is one of the few options. This is NOT sustainable. And what’s worse is that as soon as you go back to “maintenance calories” that number will much higher than your actual (new) maintenance calories. All resulting in rapid weight gain and a hard hit to our self-esteem.
When you count your macros, you have a very solid idea of where your caloric intake is and can make small calorie adjustments to gauge how your body responds. This allows you to be more strategic about your plateaus and lose fat on the largest amount of calories possible. Moreover, this will provide an easier transition upward towards your maintenance calories minimizing weight gain.
5. Counting Macros Saves Time
While it does take time to build this skill and stay consistent with counting your macros. There is nothing worse than committing our precious time and energy to losing weight on a diet just to get mediocre results and possibly gain it back. We all want to get the most from our efforts to avoid frustration and giving up.
The reality is that losing weight takes time. And what most diets lack is having the solid data points of the macros that are working for steady fat loss and preserving muscle mass.
By counting your macros, you can save yourself time and headaches that may come about from regular diets when they stop working and you don’t know what direction to go in.
All these tips really tie into one unifying benefit that tracking your macros will develop for you. Accountability and awareness of how your body reacts, learning what works and eventually being intuitive to your body’s needs. So if your weight jumps up to high, you’ll know exactly what to do to bring it back.
Obviously This will require the time and effort to learn, but what skill doesn’t?
Check out the video I made for this on Youtube.