What are Macros?

 Welcome! My name is Anthony Trobeck. I am a certified macro nutrition and fitness coach. Well….Let’s talk about MACROS!

Macros or macronutrients are the three main nutrients found in your food: Protein, Fat, and Carbs. Each one of these nutrients affects your body in a different way. The three main macros make up all of the calories in the food that you are eating. For example, 1 gram of protein is 4 calories, 1 gram of carbs is 4 calories, and 1 gram of fat is 9 calories. Take a second to find a nutrition label and take a look.

Tracking macros is not exactly like tracking calories it is more in depth. It's not just how much do you eat but it's also shaping what you are eating during the day. We do this because 3000 calories of Snickers is going to affect your body much more differently than 3000 calories of whole grains and chicken. No, I'm not saying that you must eat whole grains and chicken on this program my hope is to help you see that you can still have donuts and have chicken and that they can exist together as well as enjoying your life and reaching your goals.

What do each of these macros do?

 CARBS:

Carbs get villainized by a lot of diets and are typically being dragged through the mud. I however love carbs. Carbs are your body's main source of energy!  Your body prefers to use carbs for energy. There are two different kinds of Carbs: Complex and Simple.

Simple Carbs are found in foods that have either processed sugar or naturally occurring sugar. These foods are typically the foods that have a lot of sugar in them so things like candy or pop but also found in naturally occurring sugars like fruits and milk.

Complex carbs are found in things like whole grains starches breads and pasta. Complex carbohydrates contain longer chain of sugar molecules than simple carbs, this causes your body to break complex carbs down at a much slower rate than simple carbs. The body breaks down simple carbs 30x faster than complex carbs causing a short burst of energy. Complex carbs offer a more sustained long-lasting source of energy. Both are technically carbs, but both play very different effects on the body. This doesn’t mean simple carbs are bad by any means, especially if they are being eaten as fruit or a milk byproduct. Carbs are your body's preferred method of energy offering a higher ratio of complex carbs is going to give you longer lasting energy and typically we'll leave you feeling fuller for a longer period.

 FATS:

Fats are the nutrient that typically makes food taste the best! It's no secret that foods that have a higher fat content are very tasty I'm not saying that foods with low fat are not good, but you can tell when somebody's used butter in the cookies and when they use a substitute. Fats are essential to give your body energy and to support your cell function in your body. They also help protect your organs and keep your body warm. Fats help your body absorb some nutrients and produce important hormones as well. They also help keep cholesterol and blood pressure under control. Fats are found in any food but foods like oil/oils, nut butters, nuts, cheese/dairy, eggs, avocado are great sources of Fats.

It is important to have a solid balance in your macro calculation between carbs and fats! BUT I want to really focus on protein because given the average American diet getting an adequate amount of carbs and fats is typically not very hard to do.

Now it's time to talk about the king of Macros: Protein.

Protein:

Protein is easily the most glorified macronutrient out of all of them. This is because it plays such a helpful role in body recomposition (building muscle while losing fat). Protein makes you feel fuller and effects your physical appearance more directly than Fats and Carbs. Protein’s role is to build, sustain, and repair muscle. Our goal is to build muscle while losing fat, our body will need the right amount of protein to maintain, repair, and build the muscle that it needs. Protein is usually the biggest challenge for all my clients. It feels difficult to get the recommended amount in especially at the beginning but that is what I am here to help with. Protein is found in many foods: Beef, Pork, Fish, Chicken, Turkey, Beans/ legumes, Dairy, Eggs, cottage cheese to name some.

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