BTY Training Lab: Setting Up Your Macros
June 24, 2018
By Bryce Wood Bryce Wood is the owner and lead coach of Better Than Yesterday Training Lab in Chicago. Registered D10 athletes can RSVP for complimentary spots at BTY's Saturday morning training sessions between now and The D10 Chicago 2018.
For an introduction to Bryce and his approach to training and nutrition, see Part 1 of this series.
Once you’ve established that the Macronutrients (Protein/Carbs/Fat) in your food choices should be the most important part of your overall caloric intake, the foods you choose to make up your diet become a matter of personal preference. You should still be aiming to get 80% of your food intake from meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts/seeds/oils, whole grains, dairy (if your stomach handles it), and then filling in up to 20% with food that you enjoy eating.
Instead of eliminating entire food groups to stay within your diet, finding foods to hit your Macros provides a sustainable way of life. It’s easy to get started. Download MyFitnessPal or another similar food tracking app, and you’ll want to buy a food scale and have measuring cups & spoons handy. For aesthetics, you’ll want to take pictures (front/back/side) and weigh yourself before you begin, and to track performance, establish a few easily repeatable athletic achievement baselines (max effort strict pull-ups/push-ups and short-to-medium run times, etc.).
Now you can set up your Macros in three simple steps.
Step 1 - Calculate Your Daily Calorie Goal
Step 2 - Calculate Your Optimal Protein Intake
Step 3 - Calculate Your Optimal Carb & Fat Intake
Setting up your daily calorie goal
Bodyweight x 10-11: Aggressive fat loss, relatively inactive daily schedule (works out less than 3x/week)
Bodyweight x 11-12: Aggressive fat loss, moderate day to day activity (works out 3 or more times/week)
Bodyweight x 13-15: Slower fat loss, relatively active day to day schedule (works out 4 or more times/week)
Bodyweight x 15-17: Maintenance/weight gain goal, very active day to day schedule (works out almost every day)
Setting up your daily protein goal
This is very person-to-person dependent. Again, since the goal is to keep this as a sustainable effort, research shows anywhere from Bodyweight x 0.8 - 1.5 for your daily gram goal can be beneficial. 0.8 may be on the conservative side, and 1.5 can be argued to be a little aggressive. Typically your best bet is to be somewhere around Bodyweight x 1 for your daily gram/day goal.
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
Setting up your daily fat goal
As a baseline for health reasons, I don’t like to set people up too low on their fat. While it may be OK short term, there can be some negative side effects from going too low for too long. So just to get people in a healthy range, set your fat goal as Bodyweight x 0.25 - 0.5 for your daily goal in grams.
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
Setting up your daily carbohydrate goal
To keep this as straightforward as possible, your carbs are the remainder of your calories. If you are someone who trains at higher frequency, studies show that you’re going to perform and recover more optimally on a higher carbohydrate diet. If you are more sedentary and work out with lower total volume, you may be better on a moderate to low carbohydrate diet with higher fat intake.
1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories
Putting it all together
With those simple formulas as a guide, here are two different examples of what Macros look like when you put it all together.
Example 1 - 5’5” - 145 pound female - sedentary job - works out 4x/week - with a focus on weight and fat loss
We’re going to start this person with a Bodyweight x 11 multiplier for approximately 1600 calories/day.
Protein goal (bodyweight x 1 grams/day) = 145 grams/day
4 calories/gram = 600 calories
Fat goal (bodyweight x 0.3 grams/day) = 43.5 grams/day
9 calories/gram = 391.5 calories
Carbohydrate goal: 1600 total calories/day - 600 (protein) - 391.5 (fat) = 608.5 remaining calories for carbs
-->608.5/4 calories per gram = 152 grams/day carb goal
Example 2 - 5’10” - 205 pound male - relatively active lifestyle - works out 5x/week - with a focus on maintenance and getting leaner
We’re going to give this person a Bodyweight x 15 multiplier for approximately 3075 calories/day.
Protein goal = 245 grams/day goal, for 980 calories
Fat goal = 72 grams/day goal, for 648 calories
Carbohydrate goal = 3075 - 980 - 648 = 1447 remaining calories for carbs
-->1447/4 = 361 grams/day carb goal
You can see how easy it is to set up Macros once you know the principles and the formulas. In the final installment of this series, I’ll talk about customizing this approach for your unique goals and lifestyle.