Introduction
If you’ve been on Instagram in the past 5 years you may have noticed a trend with brands sponsoring fitness women and male models. These people aren’t chosen at random, and they are not “blessed with great genes”. No, they worked their asses off and most importantly decided that what they put in their bodies and how they exercise would give them a better lifestyle. If you want to have a better body for whatever personal reason, you will have to do two things: 1) Work your butt off and 2) Track your macros. For that reason, in this article, we will be describing how to calculate and track your macros and will be giving you the best tool we have found for doing this.
How to Calculate and Track your Macros
Calculating macros can be a little frustrating, but just like any other habit, you will have to do it every day to get better. The way one calculates macros is a type of formula where you will have to know the following things:
- Carbohydrates give you 4 calories per gram
- Fats give you 9 calories per gram
- Protein gives you 4 calories per gram
Now that you know that, let’s talk about how to count/calculate your three macros. You can either do it yourself or make it easy by using a macros calculator which you can easily find online. The best one I have found is MyFitnessPal, which even allows you to scan the bar codes of certain foods so you can just take a picture and it does the rest for you. If you want to do it yourself, you can use the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation to find out your total caloric intake per day, which goes like this:
For men, multiply your weight in kilograms, times ten. Then multiply your height in centimeters by 6.25. Next, multiply your age times five and add 5. The fourth step is to add the first two numbers and subtract it by the third. So here’s how it would look like mathematically if you weighted 72kg, your height was 180cm, and you were 25 years old.
((72kg x 10)+(180cm x 6.25)) – ((25 x 5)+5)=
720 + 1,125 – 130 = 1,715
For women, multiply your weight in kilograms, times ten. Then multiply your height in centimeters by 6.25. Next, multiply your age times five and subtract 161. The fourth step is to add the first two numbers and subtract it by the third. So here’s how it would look like mathematically if you weighted 58kg, your height was 160cm, and you were 25 years old.
((58kg x 10)+(160cm x 6.25)) – ((25 x 5)-161)=
580 + 1,000 + 36 = 1,616
With these scenarios, your calories would be 1,715. Next, we want to decide what factor of activity you are at. If you are sedentary, with zero activity, multiply times 1.2. Lightly active, multiply times 1.375. Moderately active, multiply by 1.55. Very active, multiply by 1.725. Extra active, multiply by 1.9. This goes for both men and women.
Finally, to calculate each of the macros, do the following:
- CARBS: 45-65% of your total calories
- FATS: 20-35% of your total calories
- PROTEIN: 10-35% of your total calories
Conclusion
In conclusion in this article, we discussed the topic of how to calculate and track your macros effectively. We know it’s a pain to try and do it ourselves every single day so you may as well get an app with a macros calculator, just make sure that you record your macros every day to see your progress. Now get out there, sweat and put in the work, and reward yourself with healthy, tasty, balanced meals.