Here are the results of your macro calculator entry:

Protein: grams
Fat: grams
Carbohydrate: grams
Calories: calories

What do these numbers mean?

“Macros” is short for macronutrients. These are nutrients that your body requires or consumes in large quantities.

The 3 main macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. If you’ve ever looked on the back of your food’s packaging, you’ll have seen the macronutrient breakdown listed. Each of the different macros is important for different reasons:

Protein

Fats

Carbs

Protein: Helps you keep muscle, feel fuller, and automatically makes you eat less! Protein is the chief macro when it comes to building muscle. Protein isn’t usually used by the body for fuel and provides the ‘building blocks’ for new muscle mass. When you’re trying to lose weight, protein can help you feel fuller (really useful!) and also helps you lose more fat and keep more muscle mass – making you look the way you want to! Research has also shown that higher-protein diets will automatically reduce your calorie intake, helping you lose weight and keep it off.

Fats: Fats have gotten a bad rap down the years. Saturated fats have been blamed for heart disease, the 80s saw the start of the low-fat craze when everyone decided that they just didn’t want to eat any fat at all… you get the picture. The truth? Fat is essential. Pretty much all of our body’s major hormones have fat as their backbone. Every single cell in your body needs fat for its structure and function. But it’s important to be mindful of your fat intake, because it’s so calorific.

Carbs: When you’re doing any sort of physical activity, carbs play a vital role. The more intense the exercise, the more important carbs are. This is why people’s carb intakes can vary so wildly. If you’re not doing a huge amount of exercise, you probably don’t need too much. If you’re doing loads, then you can afford to eat more! That’s why our macro calculator variations all contain a choice for whether you want a higher or lower carbohydrate intake.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Below are ways that you can get started one macro at a time.

We also sent you a copy of our Guide to Flexible dieting to your email that explains these in more detail.

Weighing Food

When starting to track macros, one thing you must-have for the best chance at success is a food scale. Without weighing, it is impossible to really know how much of a given food you are eating. People are notoriously bad at eyeballing or estimating how much food they are consuming. Even measuring foods with cups can be very inaccurate, because there is so much variability with how tightly packed and how full one might fill the measuring cup.

Tracking Macros

There are many different tracking apps and methods. My Macros+ (often referred to as MM+) is our recommended app due to ease of use, and so it is what we are recommending and giving instruction on using in this document. The first thing to note is that MM+ should be used to track your food intake and macros.

Calculate your macronutrient goals using your results, and then use the app to track your eating to hit those macros. MM+ is a one-time purchase ($2.99 USD) that unlocks all of the features needed to track your macros. There is also a Pro version of MM+ for $1.99 (USD) per month. This unlocks the desktop/web-based option as well as additional charting/graphing features.

FREE Coaching

Want to set the foundation for your macro journey?

We offer a 2-week FREE trial to get you started on the right track.

Your online nutrition coach will work with you week after week to set realistic targets and develop key lifestyle habits for your goals. Chat with your coach multiple times throughout the week, using the same messaging platforms you’d use with your friends. Our custom-built software allows you to share your successes with your coach, look back at your progress over time, and keep you on track.

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