Hello! Also, PLS SIR, WAT R MACROS?
Everybody's got their own FAQ on macros and calorie-counting, so here's mine.
Hello, and welcome to my newsletter! RBSSJOFANS began as a bit of a joke, but it also seemed like a good idea to have all the fitness- and nutrition-related things I opine about archived in one place. To start: a 3-part FAQ on macros and CICO.
For those of you who’ve seen an earlier iteration of this post, it’s been updated to include relevant citations. For those who are new to how Rachel writes about fitness, welcome to Caveat City.
For my full list of disclaimers, please click here.
1. What are Macros?
‘Macros’ is short for macronutrients. All calories in your food or drinks can be further broken down into 4 macronutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fats and alcohol. 1g of protein = 4 cal, 1g of carb = 4 cal, 1g of fat = 9 cal, and 1g of alcohol = 7 cal. For the purposes of this post, we’re gonna ignore alcohol.
In the realm of effecting a change in overall mass, thermodynamics reigns supreme. The Ein - Eout equation is a very simplistic way to look at things, but it’s a better starting point than most.
If you think of Calories In/Calories Out (CICO) as the bazooka’s way to effect a change in your body’s mass (i.e. energy deficit = get smaller, energy surplus = get bigger), counting macros is more akin to a sniper rifle. By managing not just your energy balance but where your calories come from, you can potentially get faster results (because different bodies react differently to different stimuli), and be more optimal with the changes to your body’s composition (vs just its mass).
2. What is IIFYM? Is that different from ‘Flexible Dieting’?
IIFYM stands for ‘If It Fits Your Macros’ — this method has gotten some flak because of a tendency for dumb humans to push everything to its limits and always seek out the worst way to abuse a system, so we have a lot of ‘gymbros’ who go, “imma live on Pop-Tarts and protein shakes and get thicc/shredded AF 'cos nothing else matters!” Wrong. Everything else still matters. Hydration, quantity of sleep, getting some regular physical activity in, quality of your protein sources, and eating your greens all matter if you want to lead any semblance of a healthy life. ‘Flexible Dieting’ (the term I prefer) implies that you get the majority of your nutrients from wholesome, minimally processed, nutritious produce and lean protein sources, but as long as you’re hitting your intake goals, ‘spending’ 10-20% of your daily caloric intake on nutritionally-void ‘treat’ foods hasn’t hurt anyone and certainly isn’t likely to hurt you.
In fact, I’d argue that it will often help you, because said treat foods, while lacking in micronutrients, are not void of joy, and if you can find a way to make your eating plan one which brings you pleasure, you’re much more likely to be able to stick with it.
Equating IIFYM-style diet strategies with Pop-Tarts and protein shakes is kind of like people who do paleo but use it as an excuse to eat a bunch of gluten-free brownies and almond butter-coconut fat bombs, ignore their vegetables and only eat the fattiest of pork belly (because grass fed protein duh). Or the Intermittent Fasting types who have a 4-hour feeding window in which they slam thousands of calories, then wonder why they’re getting fluffy. Bit silly, innit?
3. What about vegetables?
Dietary fibre is an incompletely-digested carbohydrate, and therefore doesn’t add the full amount (that other digestible carbohydrates would) to your caloric intake. It’s difficult to say exactly how much energy a gram of non-digestible carbohydrates (dietary fibre inclusive) provides, since there are many different types, each with their own energy content, but the FDA has recently proposed this new system. Fibre also decreases the metabolisable energy of other foods consumed alongside.
I personally enjoy not being glued to a calculator and driving myself insane, so I don’t count ‘free veg’, i.e. nutrient-dense, fibrous, non-starchy, non-calorie-dense vegetables (and some fruit and fungi), and I also don’t subtract fibre to calculate ‘net carbs’ from the other foods I eat. It roughly evens out in the long run and helps with satiety and incentivising consumption of fibre and micros (see Q4). Unless you’re literally eating buckets of broccoli, it is unlikely to have a negative effect on your overall energy balance, especially if the amount of vegetables you consume per day remains fairly stable.
Starchy vegetables like corn, carrots, (all types of) potatoes, legumes, and most fruit, should probably be counted. If you wanna track the free stuff too? Go ahead.
4. Wait, what’s that about micros?
‘Micros’, as in micronutrients, are your vitamins and minerals. Generally speaking, they're not caloric. Yes, they still matter. No, I don’t track them. If you’re getting a wide variety of fresh produce, you’re probably fine. If you’re not, you probably should increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. And perhaps consider getting regular blood work done.
5. Do I need to count my calories as well as macros?
No. You don’t actually need to count either. If you are interested in effecting a change on your body’s mass (whether that goal is to reduce fat and/or increase muscle), you’re going to need to be aware of thermodynamics and energy balance, but there are many ways to achieve this result. Tracking rough portions and ‘intuitive eating’ is sufficient for many, others (who aren’t very attuned to their bodies’ hunger cues, or who may be seeking more targeted results and/or results in a more specific time frame) might benefit from it.
If you are tracking macros, you are already automatically tracking calories as well. That’s right, if you hit your macros, you’ll also hit your calories. There is no need to do CICO and IIFYM. Some people who have issues with calorie-counting triggering disordered eating patterns have had better success with focusing on macros instead of just calories. Others do not. Don’t do something which will trigger detrimental responses.