Ok!
So this post is well overdue...
Many of you have asked, "How do
you eat what you eat and get lean," "how do I work out my macros to lose
weight or cut"....And sometimes..."What are macros?" None of those are
dumb questions, and they are all relativity easy to answer!
Before
we can talk macros, we first have to understand a little physics and
biology (yeh yeh I know, but trust me it will make sense)...Energy is
primarily measured in kilojoules/joules and calories (mainly US calories
= kj/4.2)... "Energy can neither be created or destroyed", it is simply
re-dispersed or reused. And lastly....net energy = energy in - energy
out! Pretty simple huh? So instead of thinking of your body as spiritual
possession, start thinking of it as a energy using machine, the more
active you are or the more muscle you have, then the more energy
expensive your body is! Now biology is smart, the body will be quick to
change to perform an activity in a less expensive way, thats why it
important to mix your training up and keep it guessing...But thats
getting side tracked.
Our goal is usually to either lose fat
or gain muscle ok. To do this you need to understand the energy needs of
your body, this is called your "Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)", this is
what your body requires to simply function in your current physical
state. Ill use mine as a example, when I first started prepping for comp
it was 1600 calories. How did I work that out? Well i went to a site
called freedieting.com, that used information from height, sex, weight
and age to give a relatively accurate figure on my BMR, otherwise you
can go to a dietetic or health management centre and have properly done.
Once you have done that you have to then work out your activity level,
between 1 - 2, 1 being a inactive person and 2 being a crossfit athlete
or olympian etc, I said 1.5, I train from 1 to 3 times a day as I have
mentioned in my last blog entry on training; im fairly active. You then times your BMR by your activity level,
this gave me a calorie intake of about 2400...this is my maintenance
calories...To maintain the muscle i have at the activity level im at the
moment. To then make your body burn fat for energy, you need to consume
less then your maintenance, lots of people say less then by 500, but I
think that extreme, I would take about 2 to 300 at first and slowly
increase it over time. Thus consuming a total of 2100 calores and then
you can cycle a higher carb day every few days to top up your glycogen,
this is usually an extra 50-100 calories.
I have said carbs a
lot... What is a carb? A carbohydrate is any food that the body then
converts to a sugar, there are two main types of carbs, a low glycemic
index (GI) and a high (GI). Vegetables, oats, brown rice and
roots/legumes are low GI, they are a slow digesting sugar that takes the
body a long time to burn (due to its molecular structure and functional
groups and your bodies ability to break it down), therefore giving you
long term energy and the added advantage is they also contain necessary
micro nutrients and fibre. High GI foods are burnt quickly and spike
your insulin and blood sugar levels and of course not a sustainable
source of energy, a lot of white foods are HIGH GI (wheat, potato, white
rice etc) and also fruits (however they also contain fiber and micros,
SO EAT FRUIT..in recommended moderation) and processed foods. GOOD CARBS
ARE YOUR FRIEND PEOPLE!
The other main Macros are
Protein and Fats (As far as calories go..Carbs contain 4 calories per
1g, as does protein, and fats contain 9 calories per 1g)...For some
reason people think that when they go on a diet, it has to be high
protein and low carb, but this isnt the case, a lot of protein sources
high in fats (in a lot of cases saturated animals fats). Carbs on the
other hand contain very little fats, and this matters if you are trying
to reach a macro goal each day! Back on track...What is a Macro nutrient
goal/split and how do you determine what you should be on. Well
honestly, It depends on your body type and what it responds to best,
some bodies do well of a high fat macro ratio, because at 9calories per
1g, fats are very nutrient dense, others such as my self do better of a
high carb macro ratio as my body is more efficient at turning carbs into
a energy then fat, it depends on your genes.
To work out
how many grams of each your should be having based on your cutting
calories is pretty simple. Once you have your Maintenance calories,
which you have then subtracted 2-3-500 calories from. In my case giving
me 2100 calories, you than have to divide that into your three macros,
at the moment I am on a 45% carbs/35% protein/20% fat split (like I said
you may have to play around with the split to find what works for you).
If there 4 calories in 1g of protein/carbs, then that means 0.45 (my
carb%) x 2100 = 945 cals (total calories you need to consume in carbs)To
convert that into grams you simply divide 945 calories by total energy
per gram which is 4 = 236.25 grams of carbs. Ill repeat this process for
the Protein and Fat also. Protein - 0.35 x 2100 = 735 calories/ 4 =
183.75 g ProteinAnd Fat should be the remainder so - 0.20 x 2100 = 420
calories/ 9 = 46.6g Fat! This is the long complicated way to do it, you
can just jump on freedieting.com and enter your cutting calories and
configure your macro split and grams of each will pop out the other
side. But I think it helps to understand the actual value of each. I use
an app. called myfitnesspal on my phone and online to track my macros
and make sure I hit my goals for the day, and that's how I eat what I
eat and still can prep for a comp...because it fits my macros!
Hope this is useful!
Nikita ox
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