What are macros? Macronutrients are the proteins, carbohydrates, fats and total calories that make up your diet! Everything falls into one of those categories; sure, some things have a combination in them. For example, Chicken is a protein right, it still has some fat. Broccoli is a carbohydrate, but it has protein and even trace amounts of fat. In balancing your macros, first you need to know where everything falls.
Protein: Meat, poultry, eggs, cheese, greek yogurt, fish, quinoa, soy
Carbohydrates: fruits, veggies, sugars, grains
Fats: Nuts, avocado, nut butters, half & half, mayo, olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, other oils
*Dairy like milk, yogurt, soy milk are combo items.
So....balancing your macros can be super strategic and very in-depth or a little more simplistic! It all depends on how deep you want to get! Everybody requires a different amount or combination of fuel. This is all determined by body type, body weight, activity level, gender, the phase that you are in (weight loss, muscle gain, maintain).
For example, a 130 lb. female who has a sedentary job/lifestyle would require less fuel for her body than a 130 lb. very active female who lifts weights 3 times per week and integrates HIIT 3 times per week. And, of course we all know that in order to lose fat, your caloric burn must exceed your caloric intake.
But, how do you know how much protein, carbohydrates, fat your body requires? Everyone is different, some people find their sweet spot in a (protein/carbohydrates/fat) 30/40/30 ratio while others feel better at 50/20/30. If you are in a phase where you are trying to lose fat, your requirements will be very different from that if you are trying to gain muscle.
Because this post is catered to a Challenge Group of people who are all trying to lose body fat, I am going to focus more on balancing macros for that goal.
How the body burns fat - When the body reaches for energy, the easiest thing for it to burn; hence, what it burns through first, are carbohydrates or sugar. All carbohydrates are converted to sugar within the body, for it's most easily used energy source. As long as carbohydrates are available that is what the body will burn, keeping it from tapping into it's fat stores. Once all carbs in the bloodstream have been used up, the body begins to burn glycogen or sugar stores from your muscles and liver. These glycogen stores are what your muscles use for energy, that is why your energy levels decrease when you reduce carbs in your diet. It is once these stores have been burned and the presence of insulin is low, that your body is triggered to release fatty acids into the blood stream for energy - fat burning. Insulin is directly impacted by the presence of carbs. It's main role is to regulate blood sugar, by telling you body what to do with it - use it or store it. So, when blood sugar is high, insulin tells your body to send it to your fat stores, when blood sugar is low insulin tells it to release. But, here's the catch, this hormone is also is required to send carbohydrates and protein to your muscles for repair and growth. Insulin is why understanding your carbs and their (blood sugar) glycemic impact is so important. Keeping your body at even blood sugar levels is key, except at strategic times when you want an insulin spike to repair muscles (post workout).
All carbs, fat and even protein are NOT created equal!
Way too often I see people showing pictures of their meals, meals that are awesome examples of great choices, but the ratios are off simply because of the glycemic response associated with veggies or the lack of understanding just how much you actually can have of some things! For example, you can have way more shrimp to reach your protein goal than you can have steak! Or a plate full of broccoli is about the same caloric value as a half of a sweet potato! Being able to place real values on many of your food items helps to balance your diet tremendously!
Back when I started trying to recover from my triplet pregnancy and found myself with afternoon slump, headaches, slowed digestive function, etc. I realized that I was suffering from hypoglycemia, or carb crash. Because my husband had practiced a Zone Paleo Diet for years in conjunction with Crossfit, he talked me into trying it to see if it would help.
A brief explanation: Paleo Diet is eating exclusively non-processed foods; meat, vegetables, fruits and tree nuts. Zone is the consumption or portioning of your macros in a 30/40/30 (protein/carbohydrates/fat) ratio.
With respect to the Zone, nothing is off limits, it simply places a value on all foods to help guide you in terms of portioning them and helps you to pair them in the 30/40/30 ratio! So, Paleo limits the foods you consume, Zone portions them!
**I am not saying that I necessarily believe in eating Zone Diet or Zone portions!!! But, understanding portions in terms of blocks of each macro is very helpful in properly portioning your caloric intake!**
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| It's very easy to say fill your plate like this, but all proteins, carbs and fat are not the same! Understanding that is a huge move in the battle of understanding how to build a snack or meal! |
The Zone tells you to eat 3 meals per day, and 2 snacks. The number of blocks each meal/snack should contain varies based on your gender, activity level and lean muscle mass. For example, based on my BMI, exercise habits, etc., the Zone would say that I need to consume about 14 blocks per day, so 3x4 block meals and 2x1 block snacks or 3x3 block meals and 2x2 block snacks. You can move your blocks around based on your exercise habits, etc. This one will do all the calculations for you and tell you the suggested number of blocks, it's free but you do have to register.
What makes a block?
For most proteins, 1 oz. = 1 block. so for a 4 block meal you would have 4oz. of meat, same goes for eggs, 1 egg = 1 block. So, for a chicken sausage that contains 14g of protein, you would know that it is worth 2 block because for protein 7 grams = 1 block. There are some outliers, like seafood and ground turkey! You can have 1.5oz. of those per block!
For fat and carbohydrates it isn't nearly as clear cut. Fat sources are listed above and most are used for cooking or otherwise incorporated into the meal. (You can find all fats on the chart below)
Carbs are a whole different ball game! The variety of carbohydrates is far and wide!
1 block of iceberg lettuce = 1 whole head
1 block of fence fries = 5 fries
1 block of broccoli = 2 cups
1 block strawberries = 1 cup
This is why I keep food charts and a scale! I know it sounds crazy, but it makes it so much easier! When I first started, I weighed EVERYTHING, to the gram, in order to get a good sense of all the things we eat regularly and how to put a meal together. Now, I know so many of my values by heart and can get them spot on almost all the time. But...those amounts can get bigger a little at a time. So, I weigh a meal or 2 a week to keep myself in check. I always weigh all of our snacks assembly line style!
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| my food scale and charts |
Once you know your how much actually makes a good portion, you can play with your blocks per meal. I generally do not eat 3 blocks protein, 3 blocks carbs, 3 blocks fat anymore, but I can manipulate based on those block values. For example, I might eat a 4 block protein, 2 block carbs, 4 block fat meal to get my day started and then eat a 3 block protein, 4 block carbs, 1 block fat meal post workout to drive the protein to my muscles! You just want to aim for the total number of blocks in a day, because that amount is based on the protein needs of your body to support your lean muscle mass.
I think the #1thing is to know your portions for your carbohydrates because it's really easy to get way under or way over. I remember starting out and being totally overwhelmed when I tried to make a salad. You can actually have a ton of veggies to achieve 3-4 blocks, but when you get into grains, the portion dwindles FAST! And #2 is to not shortchange yourself on fat and protein because too many people definitely do!!! Any nutritionist can tell you how to count calories or how many grams of fat there is in a serving of something, but optimizing your health and your body's processes is based on understand the many hormonal responses that your body goes through each time you open your mouth. Food is the most powerful drug, learning how to use it to control your hormonal responses is the key to achieving results!
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| Zone 3 Block Breakfast |
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| 2 Block Snack - 180 calories |
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| 2 blocks Protein/2 blocks Ca |
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| Zone 2 Block Snack |
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| 4 block dinner salad w/ chicken, beets, strawberries & feta |
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| 4 block Tex-Mex Cauliflower Rice w/ Chicken |
Easy Options we keep on hand!
Protein: Grilled chicken, tuna/mayo, cooked ground turkey, hard boiled eggs, egg muffins, chicken sausage
Carbs: apples, berries, roasted asparagus, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, baby spinach, cherry tomatoes (we eat a ton of tomatoes), salsa, cucumbers, broccoli
Fats: almonds, avocado, other nuts, nuts butters, mayo, olive oil, coconut oil, ghee (I sauté/roast all my veggies in olive oil or coconut oil and count that as the fat in my snacks)
To create a snack or meal: I grab my scale and a container or plate. Sometimes I use cut and dry blocks to create a meal; 1 egg, 1 link of chicken sausage, 102 grams of baked sweet potato and 12 spears of asparagus sautéed in coconut oil for a 3 block meal. And then other times I use half blocks and whole blocks, portions of blocks to accumulate to my goal. I might add 1/2 a block of spinach, then zero the scale and add half a block of apples, zero again and add 1 block of strawberries, zero add 1 block of raisins, zero add 3 oz. of chicken, 9 almonds and top it with sugar free dressing = a 3 block lunch. It didn't take long before I understood it in a way that allows me to put together recipes quickly and easily! For us OCD people it's actually quite comfy. ;)
TIP *It's easy to open the fridge and grab and apple or some strawberries, spinach and dressing! But, protein is more complicated! It has to be prepped and ready! This is exactly why I always say, as long as you have a lean protein option on hand, you can build a meal!*
Where My Girls At???? Women and Fat
Because of the estrogen production in women, women tend to require more fat and less carbs to lose fat. Again, all body types are different and have varying requirements; however, Women are more efficient at burning fat than men are, where men burn through their glycogen stores more efficiently.
Estrogen causes a larger production of epinephrine which stimulates fatty acid breakdown; however, women are LESS efficient at burning through glycogen stores in their muscles to get there. Because of this, women looking to lose fat could possibly benefit from a lower carb ratio in order to get through the less efficient stage of burning through glycogen faster, and end up in the more efficient fat burning stage during exercise. Once we can get there, we have a higher rate of flood flow to our fat tissue, we have more Growth Hormone, we have more epinephrine which all give us an edge when in fat burning mode! Lastly, women have a higher fat concentration in their muscle tissue than men. Think of women as a ribeye and men as a tenderloin (sorry ladies but this is the easiest way for me to explain). While women have lean muscle, there is more fat interspersed within the muscle tissue and men have less fat in their muscles, so leaner muscle. Because of this, and the efficiency of fat burning, women tend to be able to have more endurance during high intensity exercise than men!
TIP *It's easy to open the fridge and grab and apple or some strawberries, spinach and dressing! But, protein is more complicated! It has to be prepped and ready! This is exactly why I always say, as long as you have a lean protein option on hand, you can build a meal!*
Where My Girls At???? Women and Fat
Because of the estrogen production in women, women tend to require more fat and less carbs to lose fat. Again, all body types are different and have varying requirements; however, Women are more efficient at burning fat than men are, where men burn through their glycogen stores more efficiently.
Estrogen causes a larger production of epinephrine which stimulates fatty acid breakdown; however, women are LESS efficient at burning through glycogen stores in their muscles to get there. Because of this, women looking to lose fat could possibly benefit from a lower carb ratio in order to get through the less efficient stage of burning through glycogen faster, and end up in the more efficient fat burning stage during exercise. Once we can get there, we have a higher rate of flood flow to our fat tissue, we have more Growth Hormone, we have more epinephrine which all give us an edge when in fat burning mode! Lastly, women have a higher fat concentration in their muscle tissue than men. Think of women as a ribeye and men as a tenderloin (sorry ladies but this is the easiest way for me to explain). While women have lean muscle, there is more fat interspersed within the muscle tissue and men have less fat in their muscles, so leaner muscle. Because of this, and the efficiency of fat burning, women tend to be able to have more endurance during high intensity exercise than men!
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