Counting Calories Vs Macronutrients
Before going into the discussion of calories vs macronutrients, you need to understand what both are. Calories are a measure of energy or heat, whose definition has changed over the years. You don’t need to know the exact definition to understand that if you eat too many calories, you’ll gain weight and to lose weight you have to eat less. Macronutrients are carbohydrates, protein, and fat, which are the building blocks for your body and all food you consume.
When you focus on macros, you’re focusing on eating healthy and the quality of the food.
It’s different with calories, that only focuses on the amount you eat based on the energy they contain. Counting just calories doesn’t mean you’ll eat your healthiest. An order of large fries from McDonalds has 510 calories, but you wouldn’t be healthy if you ate three orders of fries on a 1500 calorie diet, just as you wouldn’t be healthy eating 21 double stuffed Oreos as your diet, which is almost 1500 calories. Instead, focusing on the ratio of macronutrients wouldn’t allow you to overeat sugary treats that are primarily carbs or go for only greasy snacks.
The Food and Nutrition Board of Institutes of Medicine—IOM—ratios may differ from your goal.
The IOM suggests that the ratios should be approximately 45 to 65 percent of your calories should come from carbs, with 20 to 35 percent from fat and 10 to 35 percent from protein. As you can tell, there’s quite a range. That’s because modifying the amount of each macros will result in achieving different goals.
The more information you have, the better your results.
You still have to know the calorie count when you track macros, but also need to know the amount of each macronutrient. If you want to lose weight, increasing your protein intake can help you feel full faster and aid you in reaching your goal. For building muscles, you need a balance that’s 50% carbs, 20% fat and 30 % protein. You’ll have the energy you need for a tough workout.
- If the process sounds difficult, it is far more difficult than just counting calories, but gets better results. It is made easier when you use our app that has everything, including menus designed to meet your needs.
- When you eat makes a difference, especially if you’re trying to build muscle. A quick carb snack within an hour after a workout can help your body use the protein for building muscle and get the best results.
- Eating healthy often follows the macronutrient diet. If you have plenty of fruits and vegetables each meal with a healthy source of protein and fat, most of the time you fall within the recommended allowances.
- Counting macros doesn’t mean you’ll never get to eat any sugary treats. You can, but just not as much and not as often.
For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training
It does take time to come to the gym and workout, but it’s worth it. However, there are times when you’re busy that it might seem impossible. For those times, you don’t have to skip exercising entirely, just supplement it with workouts that fit into your schedule. You can start by breaking down your workout into sections that last ten to fifteen minutes each and do them throughout the day when you get a few minutes. Studies show that it doesn’t matter how many sessions you have as long as they’re about ten to fifteen minutes long, if you get at least 150 minutes a week.
While many clients come regularly to the gym for their workout, there are those that for a variety of reasons, never go to the gym at all. Even those that attend regularly often find they cut corners avoiding other exercise outside the gym. In fact, they may even circle a store parking lot several times trying to find the closest spot, rather than doing the extra walk. Whether you workout regularly or are completely sedentary, increasing how much you walk can be a huge benefit to your overall health.
You can actually watch people’s faces change from stressed to more relaxed as they workout at Body Sculptors in Louisville, KY. When you workout, you not only burn calories, you also boost your mood. The recent stay at home order caused many people to become sedentary and there was an increase awareness of depression on a national level. Society wasn’t getting the exercise they needed to chase the blues away and often mild depression became even worse. While there are medications for this mental health issue, one of the best ways to help is strength building exercises. You’ll get a benefit for the body and the mind.
Going to Disneyland, taking a vacation or enjoying the latest nightspot may not be what you need to be your happiest. Sometimes, you can improve your happiness by stepping back and taking a short break. Wearing the latest fashions, being in with the in-crowd and having the latest iPhone isn’t going to make it either. Being happy is a state of mind. Nobody can make you happy but you. Sometimes, all it takes is carving out a few minutes each day to count your blessings and looking at the things that truly make you happy.
How can I say your weight doesn’t really matter when I’m helping people in Louisville, KY, shed extra pounds? It’s easy because it’s true. Too often people focus too much on weight. It means you’re on results, rather than process, and just one result. Getting into shape isn’t all about weight loss. If you’re eating healthy and working out regularly, getting to a healthy weight is one of the outcomes, but so is increased strength, endurance, flexibility and better health.
For some reason, it has become noble to work yourself to a frazzle and simply take care of other people’s needs. It shouldn’t be that way. In fact, it’s not just an unhealthy stance to take, it’s also dangerous and counterproductive. You should take care of yourself so you have the energy to help others and the good health not require others to take care of you. There are some emergencies where that doesn’t hold true, but for the day-to-day schedule, you deserve to be number one.
When time was available, did you find that you didn’t get all those things done you thought you would if you just had a little more time? It’s been the same experience for most people that I’ve talked to recently. They found that it was just as hard to stay physically and mentally healthy when you’re stuck at home, as it is when you’re busy with work and running everywhere. Most people give tips on how to make time, but ignore the fact that too much time leaves us all open to procrastinating. It all starts by taking the first step toward a healthy lifestyle. We have provided online help to make it easier.
If you’ve read much about eating healthy, you’ll probably notice that salmon is often recommended. There are good reasons that nutrition experts recommend salmon. Let’s start with it as a source of healthy Omega3 fatty acid. There’s a recommended ratio of omega6 fatty acid to omega3. The average American diet contains somewhere between a 10 parts Omega6 to 1 part Omega3 all the way to a fifty to one ratio. It should be closer to a four to one ratio and that’s where salmon can help. According to the Heart Association and Mayo Clinic, boosting your Omega3 is one of the best ways to improve your heart health. It protects blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, prevents clots and lowers triglycerides. Replacing meat with salmon can lower cholesterol levels.