Counting Calories: How to measure your macros?

Most people aren't really sure exactly how many calories they should be eating. This is usually because most people don't have the correct information to base their calorie intake off of in the first place. This extends to how much fat, carbs, and protein they should be eating as well. Obviously this is going to be different depending on whether you want to lose weight or gain weight, but it will also be different depending on your metabolism, your body type, how much you move throughout the day, etc. As you can see, their are multiple factors that determine what will ideally work for you, however, I will present you with a general guideline that works for most people from which you can simply adjust and edit your intake depending on the results that you see over time (after a few weeks). DISCLAIMER: If you are significantly overweight or have a pre-existing medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any diet or exercise program.

Your macros for muscle gain will consist of the following:

Split- 20-50-30, which means 20% fat, 50% carbs, and 30% protein

• Calories: 16-20 kcal per pound of body-weight- Those individuals who have slow metabolisms might want to keep it on the low end, whereas, those individuals with a faster metabolism will want to keep it towards the upper end.
• Fat: break-down should consist of 30% of protein or 20% of total calories- some fats will come naturally with the food you eat, if you need to add more fat look for natural sources like nuts, oils, avocados, etc.
• Carbs: 2-3 grams of carbs per pound of body-weight or 50% of total calories- Keep it to 2g if you have a slow metabolism and up towards 3g if you have a faster metabolism.
• Protein: 1-1.5 grams per pound of body-weight or 30% of total calories- This is an absolute must to gain muscle. Depending on your training intensity you might want to shoot toward the upper end of 1.5g.

(For more information on what types of foods you should eat check out "Keep it Clean; What goes into a healthy diet")

For example if you are 200lbs and have a fast metabolism:

Calories- 3600
Fats- 80g
Carbs- 450g
Protein- 270g

For fat loss its going to change a little bit:

More trial and error comes into play here due to varying differences in the amount of cardio logged per week and your metabolism.

Split- 20-40-40, meaning 20% fat, 40% carbs, and 40% protein

• Calories: 15 kcal per pound of body-weight- Start here, although you may need to lower it depending on your progress. You will however, automatically lower your calorie intake when reducing carbs, which you will see later.
• Fats: break-down should consist of 30% of protein or 20% of total calories- This may be higher depending on whether you reduce carbs overtime.
• Carbs: 40% of total calories- If you are not seeing the results that you want, drop your intake by 30g of carbs for the following week.(Reducing by more than 30g at a time could result in negative side-effects, including muscle loss and fat gain.)
• Protein: 1-1.5 grams per bodyweight or 40% of total calories- This might become higher depending on how much you reduce your carb intake. 

For example lets use the same 200lb person (metabolism is NOT important at the beginning, I recommend everyone starting at this level)

Calories- 3000
Fat- 67g
Carbs- 300g
Protein- 300g

Now, if you do not see results, lower your carb intake and adjust your macros accordingly:

Calories-2880
Fat- 67g
Carbs- 270g
Protein- 300g

This type of dieting is often used by competitors to slowly lose stubborn belly fat without sacrificing too much muscle. This is a healthy and effective way to lose fat and will steer you away from gimmick weight-loss diets and keep on track.

We encourage our readers and members of the Fazoo Fitness community to always approach your diet in a healthy and natural way.

What are your goals? What diets have you tried/ have they worked?

-Fazoo FItness