Having understood the basic concept of calorie nutrition, Macronutrients are next in the nutritional structure. These are actually, to a deeper level, the sources of calories and they have a high importance because they will bring balance to the diet.

Each one have been associated with positive and negative effects, that is not the purpose of this article so being as objective as possible the idea is to decide in a practical way the quantities that we should look for as physique athletes.

Proteins

1 gram = ~4Kcal

If there is something that most athletes agree on when they talk about nutrition is in the consumption of protein as a fundamental for any plan. The are various reasons, but the main one is that it’s the only macronutrient that provides the building blocks of tissue. This is why no one doubts or discusses the need to consume protein as part of a decent diet, much less if the purpose is to build some muscle.

Another reason is the satiety that provides a diet high in proteins. This is of particular interest in periods of calorie restriction, where hunger and cravings may be a problem to maintain adherence to you nutrition plan, as well as being the macronutrient with highest thermic effect.

Sources in general are from animal origin, although there are good choices for vegans and vegetarians. No matter where your proteins come from, the first consideration for choosing them is how lean they are, since almost all protein sources come with some fats, and they can possibly affect your daily fat budget without even realizing it. Now I’m not saying that fats are bad, or that the fats that come in proteins are bad either, I’m merely talking about the awareness that they are present. Some examples of lean proteins are:

• Chicken breast: The emblem of athletes and bodybuilders.

• Lean beef or pork meat: Some cuts are considerably low in fat.

• Fish: Some are low in fat, depending on your area and the variety that you can find.

• Protein powder: Either whey, casein, pea or other variety.

• Greek yogurt: Very versatile in its uses to increase daily protein, it’s used in salads, sweets, with fruits, among other things.

There are other sources that provide a significant amount of proteins, but they contain more fats proportionately such as cheeses, eggs, Deli cuts, and although they may be part of your main sources, you must pay attention to the fat content they have.

A frequent concern is if the source is considered to be a “complete” protein, and unless you don’t eat anything from animal sources, this is not relevant. Another thing is the debate on the speed of protein absorption (the classic study between whey and casein), once again in practical terms this is not of great relevance for the common athlete.

The golden rule with proteins is total daily consumption, the rest are small details that may have some impact, but only if you have your total under control, and I even dare say that the effect is minimal and not worth worrying about in the beginning.

Experienced advice: For those who have difficulty reaching their daily protein, this often happens because they don’t plan their meals ahead of time. The notion that I get across my clients is that when planning their daily meals they start by selecting a source of protein and the rest around that food, thus all meals will contain some portion of protein and the rest are “fillers” depending on the requirements of the individual.

A common problem when people start counting proteins is if they should weigh it before or after cooking. For example, 100gr of raw chicken breast have ~24gr of protein. Cooking it will make it lose some of its water contents , thus it’s going to weigh less, obviously depending on how you cook it, it will end up with a different weight. So always weigh the portion that you are going to eat raw, and no matter how you cook it you will know how much it contains.

If you are going to cook a lot, like many people do for the week, weigh everything raw so you know how much you have in total first. After you cook it all weigh it again and this new amount, which contains the same amount of protein, is the one you will use to divide your portions based on the previous total. For example:

• 1kg of raw chicken breast contains about 240gr of protein.

• Once cooked, the chicken will weigh less, say about 800gr but still contain the same 240gr of protein.

• This means that 100gr of this cooked chicken contain 30 g of protein (100 * 240 / 800).

Fats

1 gram = ~9Kcal

Demonized in the past and glorified in current times, the reality as always is around the middle of both ends, but we reasonably know that it depends on context rather than absolutes. Medium-chain triglycerides, grass fed butter, coconut oil, fish oil, and more varieties are spoken of in today’s media. Everybody seems to have their own preferences depending on their criteria of what’s healthy.

My answer is simple: choose your favorite sources, be sure to meet your daily needs, don’t overconsume, avoid trans fats, make an effort to eat balanced between saturated and unsaturated fats, and for the love of your body please don’t put butter on your coffee.

An important point to consider that I mentioned above is to be careful not to eat too much fat, this may happen inadvertently when we’re not aware of macronutrient content in foods, when cooking with oils without including them, and some dressings. Pay attention to everything you consume, fats can come masked in any food, especially in those wrapped and in packages.

Being the most calorie dense macronutrient it’s of special importance to keep it under control, but in some cases this may get out of control, and some people end up consuming not only very little fat, but their sources are traces of other foods.

As a general rule it’s recommended to be sure to eat a complete source, either something like olive oil, avocados, seeds, or what have you, but don’t fall into the trap of getting your daily needs from the traces contained in other foods such as bread, cereals, cheese, lean meats, etc.

Carbohydrates

1 gram = ~4Kcal

Glorified in the past and demonized today… sounds familiar right? Once again: context.

Far from wanting to delve into contemporary controversies, most carbohydrates should come from whole foods and not refined ones. This doesn’t mean that you can’t or should never eat something refined, this can be a trap that many with an “iron mindset” end up falling to, but the idea is that they don’t become most of your carbohydrate intake and refined ones should be occasional.

The first consideration when choosing your sources comes in the form of fruits and vegetables. Not only do they provide an excellent amount of micronutrients, but they also provide a good chunk of your daily fiber and consequently provide satiety in times of calorie restriction.

The rest should be any starches: pastas, rice, tubers, oats, grains or whatever you fancy, provided you meet your daily needs and it gives you the satisfaction and fullness you seek. Over time you will identify those that benefit you the most in a hypocaloric diet or a hypercaloric one.

Sugars are the most elusive in this macronutrition department, mainly for those who don’t know where or how they hide them in some prepacked foods. The problem with most of these foods is not that they are toxic (although some can debate this and perhaps with some compelling reasons), but that they are devoid of other nutrients generally, and to increase flavor of sugar content is sometimes excessive. Consider that:

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Clearly the choice here is obvious, the satiety that whole foods gives have no equal. In the same way the added sugar on many foods (mainly for flavor) could accumulate in our daily calories without us even noticing it in our palate.

Alcohol

1 gram = ~7Kcal

The polemic macronutrient, although evidently it’s not part of a prescribed diet it would be irresponsible not to talk about its calorie content and how to identify it. For those who drink, even occasionally, it would serve them as a reference.

The percentage shown in drinks represent the quantity of alcohol present in it for every 100ml, so the higher the percentage the more alcohol will be in your drink (I know, mind blowing). This is why you can drink pints of beer but not vodka.

Additionally many drinks contain carbs also, such as beers and wines, thus it’s important to note that calories will increase here. Here are some examples:

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Evidently the alcohol and carbohydrate content will vary depending on the type of drink you consume, and there is too much variety to give practical recommendations, but keep in mind the carbohydrate content and alcohol percentage to have a good idea, do your research!

Practical guidelines

When you are on a low calorie budget, smart decisions are common sense to ensure adherence to the protocol, you must create a manageable system that allows for occasional errors, the important thing is not being 100% with everything, but to have a goal to work towards every day and get as close as you can.

• First of all your selection should be mainly whole foods and home cooked for a better control over the quantities you consume and because of the satiety they offer.

• Use a digital scale to measure your portions, cups, tablespoons, and other volume measurements are not very accurate and may have an unacceptable margin of error.

• Be consistent with your foods, this will train your eye on the foods you are used to consume, something that in the future will give you the advantage of being able to estimate in moments you don’t (and shouldn’t) have your scale, identifying portions is one of the best lessons of learning how to count macronutrients.

• Familiarize yourself with Nutrition Facts labels, read all 3 macronutrients in what you eat and identify which of the 3 is predominant, this will create a mental database that will help you know which is the main macro in each one of your foods, as well as the existence of others in it.

Finally don’t fall in the trap of being extremely precise in reaching your daily macros, there will be some days where you’ll be slightly below o above your numbers, this is normal and in fact desired to create a flexibility inherent to our lifestyles, becoming a zealot of numbers creates too much unnecessary stress and may even lead you to feel you have ruined your diet when in reality it means nothing in the long term. Remember that consistency is what trumps over all other tools.

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