What is a Macronutrient Calculator?
Welcome to one of the most accurate macronutrient calculators you will find anywhere.
If you are like most people who work out, your goals may include fat loss, muscle building, performance improvements, or all the above. Your workout exercises along with the rep ranges being used, and the overall workout programming is extremely important.
But is it.....
A totally perfect workout program is only HALF of the equation. The other half, which is equally as important, is your diet. What you eat can either make you progress consistently regardless of your goals, or it can keep you right in the same place with zero progress. In a worst-case scenario, a diet that is not appropriate for your body or your goals can even cause your progress to go backwards!
There are thousands of books on diets all promising results. With so much information on the market, you would think figuring out what to eat on your own would be easy, but that is not the case. Much of the existing published information on diets contradicts from the next book you grab. There are books that hail low carb diets while others promote low fat. Some books demonize whole food groups like grains, while others say grains are healthy and instead shun animal-based products. To make matter worse, most of these books have real studies supporting them, and accolades stating their truths.
How is this possible?
There is a wide individual variance with how each of us reacts and responds to different foods. People have more success eating certain foods vs other foods depending on their body. There are some general rules when it comes to diet that apply to everyone. In fact, ANY diet that results in fat loss or muscle gain regardless of the type of diet it is, follows these rules.
Rules:
- Rule 1: Law of physics. Energy can NOT be created nor destroyed, and this directly applies to CALORIES. Simply put, if you gained weight (other than water weight) it was because you consumed MORE calories than you burned; if you lost weight (besides water weight), it was because LESS calories were consumed than you burned. Regardless of your goal, it makes a HUGE difference to know how many calories you burn so that you can understand how many calories to eat.
- Rule 2: what is your food made of. There are three main components of all foods, commonly known as MACRONUTRIENTS. They are fats, proteins and carbs. Fats and proteins are essential. You MUST consume them, or your health will suffer and, in extreme cases under consumption could even cause death. Carbs are not essential but many people (especially athletes), find that consuming them improves performance and supports their fat loss or muscle gain goals.
This macro calculator will help you to determine what your caloric goals (including proteins, fats and carbs), should be based on your body, activity level and fitness ambitions.
This calculator takes in important information like your gender, activity levels and goals, and uses an advanced tested algorithm to give protein, fat and carbohydrate targets. Hit these targets and the odds that you will see beneficial progress towards your specific goal greatly increase. Missing these targets either by going over or under them will result in subpar results.
Understanding macronutrients is extremely important to any fitness or health goal. Too much or too little consumption of protein, fat or carbs can make you gain fat when you don’t want to or make muscle gain feel all but impossible.
Now that I have made the case for understanding macro targets, I want to be crystal clear. Hitting your macro targets is a huge piece of the diet puzzle but it’s not perfect. There are ways of using macros that are very effective, and there are ways that can make macro target hitting very ineffective.
All foods contain either proteins, fats or carbs. Some people use macro targets as excuses to eat junk food. You can get creative and fit all kinds of unhealthy foods into your specific macro targets, but this is a terrible long-term approach. Junk food is unhealthy even if it falls within your targets.
You can also become obsessed with your macro targets by measuring and counting every single morsel you put into your mouth. Doing this will get you to your physical goal, but it’s no way to live long term. Also, consider your mental and emotional health. What good is it to hit physical goals if you develop food relationship problems? I have seen my share of fitness professionals with six-pack abs who have destroyed close friendships because they are completely obsessed with their food intake. None of them were happy.
Are YOU ready??
Table of Contents
- What is a Macronutrient Calculator?
- The Macronutrient Calculator
- What are Macronutrients and why are they important?
- How to use Macronutrient guidelines to get leaner, build muscle and improve performance
- Transitioning out of using the Macronutrient calculator
- What if Macronutrient counting is too hard?
If you are experienced with tracking food and with healthy eating and you feel confident moving forward, you are ready to go.
If you want to learn more about macros,food and how to make this work better and faster for your individual body keep reading.
What are Macronutrients and Why are they Important?
The macronutrients fat, protein and carbs all have specific roles in your body. Proteins are essential, meaning you need to eat them to live. Among many things, proteins are important for muscle recovery and muscle growth.
Carbohydrates are mainly used for energy for the entire body. Your body converts carbs into fast burning, useful forms of energy, that give you stamina, strength and power. Although they are not essential for survival, studies have consistently shown that they are beneficial for maximal performance.
Dietary fats are essential to give your body energy and to support cell growth. They also help protect your organs and help keep your body warm. Fats help your body absorb some nutrients and produce important hormones, too.
Now that I have convinced you of the importance of understanding what the right amount of proteins, fats and carbs is for your body, you are probably wondering what YOUR specific macro targets should be. We have made this part very simple for you.
Just enter the information needed, and our macro calculator will give you your targets.
Although these targets are among the most accurate you will find anywhere, they may still not be perfect. Since every person’s body is unique, you may want to slightly modify these goals throughout your tracking journey. But, before you change anything, we recommend you take the following steps first.
Steps to Success:
1. Hit the targets CONSISTENTLY for at least 3 weeks. It can take time for the body to change. It is almost impossible to determine if your macro targets are working for you if you don’t give the process some time.
2. Check your workout. An ineffective workout can make any goal almost impossible to attain. Regardless of your goals, your workout should include some form of effective and well-planned resistance training. A quality resistance training program will prevent muscle loss if you are eating for weight loss, which makes fat loss occur faster. For weight gain goals, a good resistance training program is even more important. You need to send an adaptation signal to the body that says, “we need to build muscle!” There are a lot of good resistance training programs out there, but the best we have seen are the MAPS programs.
If you have been consistent for at least 3 weeks with hitting your macro targets and your workouts are effective and appropriate for your body, but are still not seeing progress, you can try employing the following steps.
If your goal is fat loss, try cutting your overall calorie intake down by another 150-250 calories. Stick to this new calorie regimen for another 3 weeks. You can cut calories by reducing any of your macro targets, but we recommend keeping protein high and instead cutting either fats, carbs or both. To figure this out for yourself read more here.
How to "Undulate" your calories for fast weight loss
If your goal is muscle and weight gain, try increasing your overall calories by 150-250 calories, and stick to this new calorie goal for 3 weeks. You can bump calories by increasing any of your macro targets.
Read: How to Achieve a Flat Tummy
Once you have mastered hitting your macro targets and accomplished your fitness goals, you may wonder if you should track your macros for the rest of your life.
The short answer is NO.
In fact, counting and consciously hitting macro targets forever is a stressful, obsessive way to live. When you have hit your goals, it is imperative that you transition to a more relaxed, long-term way of eating. At this stage, you can maintain your fitness and accomplish new goals without having to count macros. I call this next phase of your diet, “intuitive eating.” Intuitive eating is a more natural way to diet.
It allows you to listen to your body and recognize the signals that tell you to eat more, eat less or to manipulate your macros. In this article I explain how intuitive eating works, and how to transition from macro counting to intuitive eating.
Some people find that tracking and counting macros is too large a first step. For this to be successful, it must be something you can do consistently.
If following the macro targets you were given with our calculator is daunting don’t worry, there are easier, effective steps you can take which should still give you results. Once you have mastered these smaller “pre macro counting” steps, you can advance to macro target hitting to see your progress really take off.
Don't panic, start here:
- Don't take away food, add healthy food.
- Avoid heavily processed foods.
- Create space between you and eating impulses
Now your ready to start your new journey!
Let us coach you for 30 days
…so we can show you how muscular adaptation programming is the best way to gain muscle, lose fat, and achieve all of your fitness goals.
The MAPS philosophy was first born with the creation of our foundational program - MAPS Anabolic. Designed to help ANYONE use resistance training as their main form of exercise to reach their fitness goals.