Calculating Macros for Weight Loss
Math. One of the scariest words in the dictionary IMO.
Calculating things has never sounded like a super fun time for me. When I got started with my fitness and nutrition journey, I didn't expect to calculate things too much...but then I learned about macros!
In short: macros = macronutrients = proteins, carbs and fats. The three categories of nutrients you eat the most and provide you with most of your energy.
When you eat the perfect amount of each of the 3 macros for YOUR unique body, lifestyle and activity level, your body basically thrives. And your bodies way of saying "thank you for giving me the perfect amount of food!!" is by:
🤍 Helping you finally escape the nasty cycle of dieting, food anxiety and binge eating
🤍 Showing off all your hard work at the gym by giving your muscles the nutrients they need to grow
🤍 Burning fat naturally and keeping it off while you eat all your favorite foods — making tracking macros a super sustainable method of losing weight
When it comes to starting your macros journey: you need to know the right macros to follow!
Calculating your personalized macros is a big deal, because our bodies are unique and thrive off of different macronutrient ratios. Some people require more carbs than others. The same goes for proteins and fats!
And if you start tracking macros with the wrong macros for YOU...well, you might have a hard time seeing why it's the best way to lose fat, keep it off, and feel full and satisfied all day long.
How to calculate your custom macros:
Figure out your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR is the amount of calories your body burns while resting aka the calories your body needs to keep you alive. This is the bare minimum. Imagine you were in a coma — that's the base level we're talking about here. There are lots of online calculators for figuring this out, but I’m going to give you the good old-fashioned formula:
655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
Example: So, I’m 130 pounds, 5'3", and 27, so my BMR is 665 + (4.35 x 130) + (4.7 x 63) – (4.7 x 27) = 1,399.7 calories. This is what my body needs strictly to survive — you should never eat less than your BMR.
Next, you need to calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). This is an estimation of how many calories you burn, INCLUDING physical activity. The way you calculate your TDEE is by multiplying your BMR by 1.2-1.9 based on your activity level. Depending on how much you exercise, use one of the numbers below and multiply your BMR with said number.
If you rarely exercise, multiply your BMR by 1.2
If you exercise on 1 to 3 days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.375
If you exercise on 3 to 5 days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.55
If you exercise 6 to 7 days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.725
If you exercise every day and have a physical job or if you often exercise twice a day, multiply your BMR by 1.9
Using my example from above, I exercise 4x/week, so my TDEE is roughly 1,399.7 x 1.55 = 2,169.5 calories.
What is your goal — gain, maintain, or lose weight? For someone who is training to gain weight, you want to be in a caloric surplus of about 100-200 calories. If your goal is to maintain your weight, your calories should be equal to your TDEE. If your goal is to lose weight, I recommend a deficit of 300-500 calories. So using my example, my deficit could be anywhere from 1670 to 1870 calories. Once you have distinguished your goal, you can calculate your macros. For the sake of this post, I’m just going to be talking about WEIGHT LOSS MACROS.
Calculate your weight loss macros. We are going to use me as an example again. So, let’s use 1870 as my caloric deficit. What we need to do now is figure out how much protein, carbs, and fat are going to make up this total caloric intake. For your knowledge:
1g protein = 4 cals
1g carbs = 4 cals
1g fat = 9 cals
Protein: a good rule of thumb for calculating your protein intake is approximately 0.7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
Fat: for most, keeping your fat intake around 20% to 30% of your calories will support good health and provide an ideal macro ratio for fat loss.
Carbs: you will want to eat roughly 30 to 60% of your calories from carbohydrates.
My advice is to calculate your protein first, then your fat, and fill the rest of your calories with carbs.
EXAMPLE: 130lb Maddie is using 1870 calories for her weight loss deficit. First, she decides she wants her protein to be on the higher end of the spectrum at 130g. Next, she calculates her fat to be at the higher end as well at 30% of 1870, which is 561 cals. She divides that by 9 (because 1g of fat = 9 cals), and she ends up with 62g of fat. Lastly, she needs to figure out her carbs.
calories from carbs = 1870 - [(130x4) + (62x9)] = 1870 - 1081 = 789 calories. Divide this by 4 to get grams of carbs, and Maddie ends up with 197g.
Maddie’s weight loss macros:
1870 cals, 130g protein, 62g fat, and 197g carbs
Still confused?
Don't feel bad if you're lost. Reach out to me and I would love to help you! You definitely want to get your custom macros correct when first starting off so that you can really see how effective tracking can be.
Message me with ANY questions you have.
Happy tracking!
