How To Figure Out Your Macros

So you know your calorie needs.

Good!¹*rounding sound of applause*

…but knowing calories isn’t enough.

Yes, you’ll lose weight by consuming less calories than you burn and gain weight by taking in more. That’s just the first law of thermodynamics. But I take it that you just don’t want to gain or lose weight. What you want to do is burn fat and build muscle.

Wait, you say, aren’t those the same things?!

NO!!!

Weight loss and weight gain are not the same as fat loss and muscle building. Weight loss and weight gain refer to decreasing or increasing the sum weight of your body, which includes the bones, muscles, organs, body fat, fluids, stomach content, and excrement. What you’re really after is only altering the amount of fat or muscle that your body carries. This is known as body recomposition.

Ensuring that we actually burn fat and build muscle (or don’t lose it), requires the counting of macronutrients. Known as “macros” for short, protein, carbs, and fat all contain calories and play an integral role in developing a body to die for.²Macros are also critical to being healthy, if you’re into that sort of jazz.

So how do you figure out your macros?

It’s rather easy!

DAILY PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS

Protein is the building block of virtually every structure in the body. The amino acids broken down from protein are needed to help the body grow and rebuild itself. One example involves the muscles after a workout. See, when lifting weights, the muscle fibers get micro-tears in them. Protein repairs those micro-tears in the muscles to make them bigger and stronger to better withstand the stress when exposed to it again in the future. Protein also helps preserve muscle mass and makes you feel fuller between meals so you eat less. That’s just a few of the things protein does, all of which have to do with cosmetics because that’s all you care about.³Hey, I’m not knocking you. THAT’S ALL I CARE ABOUT, TOO!!!

To figure out how much protein you should eat, all you have to do is multiply 0.8 to 1.2 grams of protein times your body weight.⁴If you’re leaning out or incredibly active, you should aim on the high side. And depending on how active you are, you may actually want to consume even more protein. Aside from your goal and activity level, another determining factor in protein intake is gender. Men tend to have more lean body tissue than women, resulting in a higher protein demand to maintain muscle mass. Given the physiological differences, a man should consume slightly more protein than a woman though their goals and activity levels are exactly the same. These are things to keep in mind when determining your intake.

Now, as is always the case with protein, I’m expecting some pushback from motherfuckers, with them saying these protein recommendations are too high because there are all these bodies strewn all over the place of people dying from eating “too much” protein. I’ll then fake a look on my face that suggests they’ve raised a good point, only to then ask them to show me the published studies that fly in the face of research showing that people, especially active individuals, can handle high amounts of protein, to which they’ll offer none. Next, multiply by 4 because that’s how many calories there are in every gram of protein.

DAILY FAT REQUIREMENTS

Dietary fat in all of its different varieties performs a number of essential jobs. I won’t bore you by running down the full list, but some of the things fat does is help absorb vitamins, protect the organs, insulate the body, and supply long term energy when unused fatty acids get stored as adipose tissue.

To figure out how much fat you should eat, that’s easy too!

Fat should constitute 25 percent of your total daily calories.⁵General recommendations call for fat to make up 20 to 30 percent of your calorie needs. From that number, divide by 9 because that’s how many calories there are in every gram of fat.

DAILY CARBOHYDRATES REQUIREMENTS

Carbs are the body’s primary fuel source. What’s immediately used gets burned as glucose, with the remaining sugar stored as glycogen for later use, if not converted into fatty acids and stored as fat.⁶There’s a lot more to carbs than what’s written here, so click the link!

If you thought finding protein and fat was easy, boy do I got somethin’ for you that’s even easy-peasier!

For carbs, all we’ll do is add our protein and fat calories together then subtract the sum from our total daily calories. After, divide by 4 because that’s how many calories there are in every gram of carbs. Got it? Suuuuuure you do.

Unless you’re following a certain protocol like keto or Atkins that has certain macro ranges, then your macros should generally fall along what’s outlined above. And as is the case with figuring out your calories, macro calculations are nothing more than ballpark estimates of your needs. It’s incumbent on you, the dieter, to make the necessary adjustments to promote fat loss or muscle gain. If you find yourself experiencing discomfort or lethargy, for example, or time goes by and your body isn’t progressing as it should, then make a change! Once again, the numbers are just approximations!!!

And if my math is wrong somewhere, that will probably explain why I’m a trainer and not a fucking mathematician!

Glossary: adipose, calories, dietary fat, fat, fitness, muscle, personal trainer, workout

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.

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