How to Track Your Macros

If you’re new to fitness and you’re keen on making a profound change in either how much body fat you have or how much muscle you have, chances are you’ve probably heard the phrase “track your macros” pop up here and there.

Tracking macros refers to keeping tabs on how many calories you consume along with how much protein, fats, and carbohydrates you intake as well. 

And while the process is somewhat tedious at first, it is a necessary step you need to take in order to maximize your fat loss or muscle gain potential. 

The reason why tracking your macros is so important is for a few reasons

• #1 Most people have no idea how much they're actually consuming

• #2 Most people greatly under consume protein

• #3 Most people are simply not aware of what types of foods they consume

If I'm trying to lose weight and I'm not seeing any progress but I'm also not tracking my caloric intake, can I really be upset? How do I know if I'm truly in a deficit if I'm not paying attention to what I'm shoveling down my throat? 

Most people greatly underestimate just how much they're actually consuming let alone know how much protein or fiber they’re getting.

Which is why tracking is so damn important. 

But rest assured that tracking isn't meant to be a forever thing. The end goal is to get to the point where you don't need to closely monitor what goes in. The goal is to have more of an intuitive approach. 

Call it loosely tracking. This is where you'll have the knowledge & experience to, with some accuracy, know what 25 grams of a protein from various sources looks like, or what 4oz of a carb source looks like, or what foods trigger certain cravings, and what foods give you the best energy. 

This is the ideal destination as it allows you to both live your life as you'll know how to fit in the occasional treat while maintaining a healthy body weight. 

There is one problem though. Most people quickly jump to “intuitive eating” without going through the tracking process. They're told to listen to their hunger cues and eat when they're truly hungry. 

While this is a good idea in theory, the truth is most people's hunger cues are janked up beyond belief. 

We live in a land of abundance. At any point I can grab a super tasty, high calorie treat. Due to always consuming something every 1-2 hours, most people lose their true sense of physiological hunger and instead resort to feeding emotional hunger. 

When they're slightly stressed or uncomfortable, they eat. When they're bored, they eat. Even when they're not even fucking hungry, they'll still eat just because the food is available. 

Tracking is a must because it'll show you point blank what your eating patterns look like. Are you eating solid meals throughout the day or just casually grazing? Are you consuming nutritious whole foods like lean meats, fruits, and veggies, or are you leaning towards packaged foods? Do you gravitate towards sweet or salty snacks when you get stressed? And do you lack any major nutrients such as fiber and protein?

You have to earn the right to properly intuitively eat or else you’ll run the risk of gaining additional body fat. This process will take time, but it's not a forever deal. How long it takes depends from person to person, but I'd say expect several months of diligent tracking to get a good sense of your eating habits and what food portions look like.

HOW TO TRACK YOUR MACROS?

Without wasting any more time, let's get into it

For tracking your food intake, download a free food logger onto your phone via app store. Some apps will feature paid options but you don't need to worry about those.

Tracking with an app will make your life easier by telling you exactly what's in the food you're eating via carbs, fats, protein, sugars, calories, etc. You won't have to individually research each food you consume.

And not a direct shoutout, but my personal favorite tracking app is definitely Chronometer. This is a free app that includes a barcode scanner, fact checked nutritional information, and an in depth breakdown of certain vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and macro nutrients. 

But just know that when making your account, most food apps will give you a standardized calorie goal and usually it’s gonna be far too low. I recommend either tracking for your maintenance or at the very least using a calculator to get an idea of where your calories should be. 

When first tracking, eat as you normally do without any change to your diet and do so for at least one to two weeks. The only catch is you’ll log in any food you consume that contains calories. This is meant to give you a clear picture of what your eating habits look like and give you insight on what types of foods you regularly consume.

After the period of tracking (which includes the weekends), you should also be able to see what your average caloric intake is and what your average macronutrient breakdown looks like.

If you see that you're only averaging 40 grams of protein everyday and you need at least 140, then that's an area to focus on. Lean meats, cottage cheese, yogurt, eggs, & protein supplements such as powders & bars are all great lean sources of protein without much added calories. 

To be the most accurate with your entries, I highly recommend investing in a food scale. You can easily get one off Amazon for $20-$30. Weighing your food down to the gram is going to open you up to what portion sizes really look like which is imperative in the transition from tracking to intuitive eating.

Remember that the ultimate goal is to know with some accuracy, know what 6oz of chicken looks like or what a cup of vegetables looks like. 

You should be paying close attention to what the portion sizes look like while tracking and a good way to make that easier is by using the hand portioning method. 

Known as the Zimbabwe Hand Jive, this method of tracking was developed to assist in managing Diabetes by teaching portion control. 

It goes as follows

• 1 Palm = 1 serving of Protein (meat/fish/poultry)

• 1 Closed Fist = 1 serving of carbohydrates (grains & starches)

• 2 Cupped Hands = 1 serving of fruits or vegetables

• 1 Thumb = 1 Tablespoon of fat (butter/oil/peanut butter)

Precision Nutrition made a solid guide simplifying this that you can refer to

The hand jive is optional, but I think it's a great reference to use alongside tracking to get a good sense of what portion sizes look like.

Let's say 1 palm for you equates to 4oz of chicken (25g protein). If you then want 50g of protein, have two palms worth. 

HOW DO I WEIGH MY FOOD?

Weighing your food is a humbling experience. You'd be surprised by how much you might be over consuming. 

The day I weighed out a serving of peanut butter was a huge wake up call. 

What I thought was two tablespoons was actually four. 

And what I thought was a 6 oz potato was actually a 10oz. 

Those extra untracked two tablespoons of peanut butter along with the extra four ounces of potatoes added up to be an extra 280 calories per day I wasn't tracking! Add that up over the week and that's an extra 1,960 calories I'm consuming without knowing. 

How you weigh your food will vary in what kind of food you're having.

Things like vegetables, nuts, cereal, & grains can be placed into a cup. Place an empty cup on the food scale before lightly pressing the “zero” button or power button. This should “zero” out the scale, meaning it will set itself to zero grams and will be ready to take measurements. 

Foods like meat can be a little complex. Whether you weigh your meat raw vs cooked is ultimately up to you. Just know that if weighing raw, the cooking process will evaporate a bit of water, thus causing the meat to weigh less after cooking. 

If weighing cooked meat, place a little plate on the scale & weigh the meat. If weighing raw, place a paper towel or plate on the food scale prior to weighing. Zero out the scale before placing down the meat. 

For measuring foods like peanut butter, maple syrup, & butter, here's a cool hack I've learned. 

Place the item on the already powered on food scale. Lightly tap the power button to zero it out. After that, take a little bit of let's say peanut butter out of the jar. You'll notice that the scale number will go up. This is because the scale can recognize any weight that's been subtracted which would equate to you adding weight.

After all that, simply add the data (food & its weight) into the app and it'll do the rest for you in detailing out your nutrition. 

WHAT YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON

If you've found that you largely lack protein, you should focus on prioritizing foods such as lean meats, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and eggs. Or vegetarian options such as tofu, seitan, lentils, and edamame.

If lacking in fiber (<15-30g per day), beans, legumes, spinach, green peas, wheat bran, oatmeal, and chickpeas are solid choices.

If lacking quality fats, whole eggs, full fat dairy, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, dark chocolate, chia seeds, salmon, and avocados are all healthy sources. 

And for carbohydrates, so long as calories, protein, fats and fiber are accounted for, you don't need to worry about how many carbs you consume. 

Carbs won't make you fat, long term overconsumption of calories will. 

But for most people, I believe that just tracking calories, protein & fiber are all you need to focus on. Unless you're only eating skinless chicken breast & steamed broccoli, fats will usually take care of themselves. 

If you need inspiration on what kind of foods you can add to your diet, I do have a grocery list available here

HOW TO STOP TRACKING 

You can't track for just a week and think you're ready for intuitive eating.

The process of being able to properly visualize portion sizes along with understanding your REAL hunger cues can take several months at the very least. 

A big part of intuitive eating is first knowing when to eat based on hunger cues & when to stop eating based on satiety. 

But like mentioned earlier, most people have fucked up hunger cues. Most people don't go more than 3 hours without shoveling something down their throat. 

Part of tracking is to see what your eating patterns look like. Do you find yourself consuming when stressed? Are you a grazer? Do you find yourself eating something without even being hungry? 

If during the tracking period you found that you consume a lot of sweets due to cravings onset by work or boredom. Then step 1 would be to start the day with a bare minimum of 25g of protein and at least 10g of fiber. 

Yes, I'm asking you to start your day with protein & fiber. You don't need the frosted streusel muffin with the 900 calorie unicorn piss flavored iced coffee to start your day. 

Protein & fiber will keep you full. Protein itself takes a long time to digest and fiber along with protein reduces blood sugar response.

You'll have steady blood sugar levels meaning you won't have that sudden drop later in the day, resulting in not only fatigue but cravings for more sweets. 

Once you go unicorn piss, it's hard to come back, but it is possible. 

Ideally, you should be modifying your overall diet to include mostly nutrient rich whole foods. When you're not constantly shoving down ultra processed foods, you will unlock your body's proper hunger cues. 

The feeling of hunger by itself isn't a bad thing and it doesn't always mean your body wants food. Stress and dehydration will promote a similar feeling of hunger. You'll get this low level sharp pain in your stomach like hunger pain and you might even get that feeling in your jaw like you need to bite down on something.

And when eating, you don't have to finish everything on your plate. If you're comfortably full (not stuffed), put the rest away, save it for later. Maybe pair it with some eggs for a quick breakfast?

There's no reason to eat past satiety. Again this is a lesson that takes a while to truly learn. 

• Spend a few months tracking your intake while using the hand jive method to monitor portions. How many servings is up to you and your nutritional needs. 

• Focus on having protein and fiber being the forefront of your diet. Slowly incorporate more nutrient rich foods and slowly wean out anything ultra processed that isn't serving you. 

Be an adult, eat your fucking veggies. 

You don't need to cut everything processed out cold turkey. But if processed foods are taking up most of your daily calories, that should be a red flag. 

At every meal, chew your food well and eat until you're comfortably satisfied, not stuffed. 

• Stick with it, and you will eventually build a lifestyle where you don’t need to diligently track everything. Maybe keep tabs every once in a while to just see where you're at. But this outcome is deserved, not given. You have to earn the right to intuitively eat.

Hope this article helps you out! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Have a great day!

- Randy