Macronutrients, IIFYM?? Fat loss

Is Flexible Dieting for YOU?

What is a "Macro" and why should I eat them?

 *scroll to the bottom for a cheat sheet!

A "macro" is a short term for Macro-nutrient.  Macro-nutrients are protein, fat and carbohydrates.  These three macro-nutrients make up the calorie content of all foods.  Any type of food will have a combo of protein, fat and/or carbs or it can be just one of these macros; oil, for example, is just fat. Peanut butter is fat, protein and carbs.  All three of these macros have a caloric value assigned to them and however many grams of each macro a food has determines the total calories in the food.  By reaching for macros during your day rather than just overall calories you will be eating for optimal fat-loss and body composition. All three are very important for overall health.  Note, ALL three, we do not cut out a nutrient (i.e. carbs- because vegetables and fruit are carbs, we need those!) for weight loss.

This way of eating and constructing your meals is not a new concept but one that is well proven by science.  It is a way to construct your daily intake of calories and nutrients that, as long as you stick to it, will give you the best results and body composition (muscle to fat ratio).  It is not "calorie counting" but rather "macro tracking."      

It is a way to eat the foods you like while still hitting the weight-loss or health goals you are shooting for.  As long as you get foods to fit into the numbers calculated for your specific body, activity and goals then you can eat it...if it fits into your calculated macros for the day, it's fine!  This is a wonderfully flexible way of eating that will make your life easier and make reaching your goals a sustainable lifestyle, because you get to eat what is enjoyable.  It is also important to reach for healthy foods but this lifestyle makes it so you get your treats every now and then and are less likely to "fall off the wagon" or binge.

How do I track them?

First you need to know what they are for you, this is done by getting them calculated for you at your current fitness state (I can do that for you!).  The best way to track is to measure what you eat, by cups, tablespoons or, ideally, grams on a kitchen food sale.  Make sure you get the right amount that you are eating then plug them into an app and start logging your food. You will eventually learn what are great choices that help you hit your daily goals.

There are many great apps out there:

MyFitnessPal.com (free- but the paid version will let you track specific macros)

Macros by calorie count (android- free)

Macros+ (Iphone)

fatSecret.com

sparkpeople.com

 **If this sounds scary or confusing and leaves you wondering how to even begin, I can help you with that.  Nutrition counseling is fast and easy and you'll get step by step help, by phone or email assistance along the way....my priority is simply to guide you to a healthier lifestyle.  You won't weigh and track forever, it's a learning tool!

So, macros are the building blocks of food, which is the building block of your body.  You eat them every single day without even thinking about it. You can choose which foods of each macro you want to eat and how to arrange them or which way of eating you prefer, I.e. vegetarian, vegan, paleo or simply "normal", it all contains macros!  If you eat them in the right proportions, right amounts of each for your fat-loss or body-reshaping journey then you will see much greater success.

Macro cheat sheet, what goes into what category?!

 

Eating for fat-loss! High protein family dinner(no short - order cooking)

Shrimp pasta and omelet..but first, have you heard of "Flexible dieting"? or "IIFYM"? how about simply eating for fat-loss?

As we've talked about before, it's hard to know what to cook and how to eat when you don't need the same amount of food that your growing kids or man-sized husband need.  I definitely don't need the same amount of calories my husband does just to keep meat on his bones, and my 3 year old is a good eater but still a picker, she'll eat anything but she's still 3 and randomly picky. If you don't want to know about eating or fat-loss skip down to the recipe... (but it's pretty interesting info, if you ask me!)

I need more protein and fats than I do carbs, as many women with hormone issues/imbalances find they do. This is found by knowing your body (blood work from doctors helps) and trial and error. Carbs are awesome, and I eat them, but there are times when I'd rather eat mine for things other than just pasta and plain breads or there are times when my body just doesn't need 200 grams... though I do have those days too.

I guess I will take this minute to talk about carbs, just to clarify how I organize macro nutrients (fat, protein and carbs).  As we are taught in college nutrition classes, there is a balanced way to eat your nutrients and every individual has a different need. This need can be calculated out based on many factors. Once calculated based on body composition and activity level it is truly trial and error over time... Eat what we calculate, see how your body responds then adjust accordingly.

These days, the days of needing to name diets and put Fancy titles to trends, people call this flexible dieting or "iifym" if it fits your macros. But calling it a diet is annoying to me because it's just how you should eat based on what you body needs....for life, as a lifestyle, not a diet. But if you need to tell yourself you're following a cool trend then go right ahead, because it works. But I've been calculating these things since 2002 (and many other have for many more years than I). **And for the general population, It's not about weighing your apple pieces or weighing minuscule crumbs of protein powder, but it's about knowing how much you need, how much that looks like and eating within what your body is requiring, but not being tied to a measuring cup or scale.

So I eat within what my body needs, and so do my clients. We track the food for and little bit so they can get to know their body and the fuel it needs and then they can wean off the numbers so they can learn to make appropriate choices to stay healthy and fit. 

When my thyroid was off kilter (as diagnosed by a sports doc) I had to eat lower carb, higher good fat, high protein.  Many women with PCOS or other hormone related issues (think pre, peri and post menopause) will realize that lower carb, higher fat eating will just make their body respond better to their fat-loss efforts.  And the cool part is that if you can get your body back to where it should be,  like I was able to do through diet (eating more) and minimal cardio, then carbs can come back with minimal negative effects. Though some with PCOS will always be insulin resistant and carbs will need to be low to keep fat off. 

So, yes, women and men are the same as we can eat similar but there are unique things that may change what and how we need to eat to reach fat loss and health goals.

On to the food recipe!!!....

Ok, so that being laid out there. I don't eat low carb anymore because things are going well but as it pertains to the meal in question I had delved into a bag of pretzels and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast (those that know me know that when I say "a bowl of cereal" just double or triple it). So needless to say I had loaded on carbs for the day and by dinner I was out of my allotted amount. I needed some fats and protein! But the rest of the family wanted pasta.  So here's what we did:

I had frozen shrimp, gluten free pasta, tomatoes and eggs. 

-I thawed the shrimp while boiling the pasta. 

-When that was boiling away I had my 3 egg omelet cooking in a pan (I had 3 whole eggs for the fat and protein, if I was limiting fat I would have done 4 egg whites),  tossed in some shrimp, flipped, and let it cook.

-While the omelet was cooking I mixed the stewed tomatoes with the drained pasta and shrimp in the hot pot. Picture ----->

- Plated the pasta/shrimp and sauce up for the hubs and the kid. 

- By then my omelet was done I sprinkled some pesto on top and plated that.  <-----picture p="">

- We all sat down to eat.

Oh and since we require something GREEN at every meal I heated up some frozen green beans...1 minute in the microwave. No biggie. 

This is what I call an overlapping meal...

3 people eating the same foods, different amounts with different nutrient needs.

We also watch our added sugars so instead of pasta sauce I made it with stewed basil and garlic tomatoes. This gave great flavor, less sugar, 1/2 the sodium and it stretched the serving size. My main focus is lowering sugars not total carbs or fat or anything, but it comes along with it sometimes. You can see the nutrition differences here:

Stewed tomatoes, Store brand