Counting Macros: Where To Start

Calculating Macronutrient Percentages

                  Dialing in our macronutrients could be the lowest hanging fruit for maximizing performance, recovery, and injury prevention and rehab. Depending on our goals, we can calculate what should be our percentage calories from carbohydrate, protein, and fat from our total calorie target. Before diving into calculating targets for each macronutrient, we need to establish our total calorie goal that addresses our resting metabolic rate and physical activity level (we can factor thermal effect of food into this as well or ignore it, considering the margin for error already in place for these calculations). See the previous blog article for more on calculating this!

                  It is important to take time to consider your fitness and performance goals. This might change your calorie goals AND macronutrient percentages. Moving forward, let’s take a look at the general guidelines for macronutrient intake. The numbers you calculate should be fluid at first and slight adjustments are often needed to account for margin of error to find the best fit macronutrient levels.

Protein

                   The general spectrum for athletes and exercisers with goals of improving their performance is 1.2-2.4g per kg of body weight. Overall, we can cover our protein goals well by shooting for 1g of protein per pound of body weight (or 2.2g or kg of body weight). This can be difficult to achieve at first, but once we start measuring and tracking our macro’s, we can find strategies to get that protein number! Again, we will need to adjust this number weekly to find the correct fit for you.                 

A 160 lb CrossFitter might aim for 160g of protein and achieving on average 140g per day. This should adequately supply the athlete with enough protein for recovery, building muscle, and building other essential structures in the body. Total calories at 160g of protein is 640. The percentage of total calories based off this example goal (2650 calories) is 25% of calories from protein. Again, we will need to dial this number in based off our other macronutrient, health, and performance goals.

Fat 

                  Fat is an important nutrient for us. In general, we should not drop below 15% of calories from fat or risk the performance of vital bodily functions and deteriorating structures (such as cell membranes). General guidelines should be to aim for somewhere between .3g per pound of body weight and .5g per pound of bodyweight. In this case, .3g/lb of body weight will put us at 16% total calories from fat, right on that lower limit of daily needs. On the other hand, .5g/lb of body weight will add up to 27% of calories from fat (720 calories). In this case, we would want to aim closer to the 80g of fat a day (.5g/lb of body weight).

Carbohydrates

                   Generally speaking, the suggested carb intake falls within the range of 5-12g/kg of body weight. Remember, we find kg of body weight by dividing body weight in pounds by 2.2. Let’s dial this in a bit more. For general physical activity at 30-60min/day, 3-4 days per week, the low end is recommended of 3-5g/kg. Moderate exercise is recommended to aim for 5-7g/kg. Think 1 hour of exercise/day. Endurance athletes should consider 6-10g/kg as well as high intensity exercisers training 1-3 hours/day. Extreme athletes training 4-5 hours/day should aim for 8-12g/kg. These numbers are recommended by IOC (International Olympic Committee) research.

                  These numbers are not exact, so find a range and test it out, making adjustments week to week. For the 160lb CrossFitter, we will simply get the remaining calories left from protein and fats and subtract from the total goal for carbohydrates. So, 80g of fat (720 calories) and 160g of protein (640 calories) leaves us with a remaining 1,290 from the 2,650 goal. This breaks down into 322g and 48% calories from carbs.

Conclusion 

                  So, we have calculated our grams of carbs, protein, and fat needed to achieve our goals. Start with protein, calculating for grams and converting to calories, then the same for fat, and use the remaining calories for carbs. There are many guidelines for macronutrient and total calorie needs for different exercise and training modalities, so more detailed calculations can be made. This is a simple first stab at dialing in our calories and macronutrient goals. It is important to remember these are general guidelines and performance AND health goals need to be considered. We will certainly have to dial in the total calories as well as the calories from protein, fat, and carbs. These adjustments will be based on how performance, recovery, and other health and fitness goals are impacted.

There are also variables related to diet choice like veganism and food intolerances which can change the playing field dramatically. Reach out if you have any questions or want to work closely with a professional to finally leverage nutrition to your advantage and take the next step to achieving your goals!

Dr. Nick, DC

P.S. look forward to more on nutrient timing, hydration, and pre/post exercise nutrition!

Resources:

-Bytomski JR. Fueling for Performance. Sports Health. 2018;10(1):47-53. doi:10.1177/1941738117743913