You have reduced your calorie intake, you have lost some weight, your body fat percentage is down 5%, your happy with the results... but... you want more and the scales will just not shift. Sound familiar...read on!

 

Fact is, you cannot simply focus on calories if you want to achieve a great physique, you must also consider the macronutrients that make up your daily calories.

 

There are three essential macronutrients, these are (includes their calories per gram);

 

 

Each macronutrient serves a different but essential purposes within the body and in order for your body to work and function optimally (yes this includes fat loss), you must consider the amounts of each in your diet.

 

Every food item you ingest will contain a combination of all three macronutrients and every diet known has its own unique distribution of macronutrients. This is especially true for diet plans that prohibit or limit intake on one macronutrient, an example of which is the Atkins Diet.

 

For the vast majority of individual's a good macronutrient ratio to start from is either a 40:40:20 or 40:30:30 split of carbohydrates to protein to fat. Next time you are looking at your daily/weekly/monthly calorie intake (a good app we suggest is "My Fitness Pal") have a look at your macronutrient ratios.

 

How do you figure out your own macronutrient ratio? Once you know the amount of calories you need to consume (say 2000 calories) and for instance if you were going use the 40:40:20 ratio. This means you should eat 200 grams of carbohydrates (200g x 4 calories p/g = 800 calories), 200 grams of protein (200g x 4 calories p/g = 800 calories) and finally 44.5 grams of fat (44.5g x 9 calories p/g = 600 calories). The total calories therefore (800+800+600) making 2000 calories from the macronutrients ingested in those amounts.

 

Examples of popular diet macronutrient ratios:

 

 

Many people believe that to simply lose weight you just remove carbohydrates from the diet! In fact, studies have shown that low-carbohydrate diets are not better than diets following the 40:40:20 or 40:30:30 macronutrient split for long-term weight loss. Yes your body can copy with lowered or zero carbohydrates, however, your body with not function optimally if they are removed for extended periods of time. There is nothing inherent about carbohydrates that will make you gain or lose weight.

In focus: Fat

Fat is a very misunderstood macronutrient! Lets get this out of the way... FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT! Consuming more total calories than you burn will make you fat. Fat is essential, much more so than carbohydrate, in many bodily functions... growth, repair, hormones to name just a few. Make sure that you are getting good sources of fat in your diet daily!

Protein consumption helps repair and maintain body tissues that naturally break down daily. In general most people meet their dietary protein needs on a daily basis. Many studies have proven that high-protein diets are better for fat loss and maintaining muscle mass, whilst keeping you feeling fuller for longer periods of time (less snacking is always a good thing).