Your first question might be: ‘what are you talking about, what are macro’s?’. I’m talking about macronutrients. Our food exists of three macronutrients – four actually, when you also count alcohol. Carbohydrates, fat and protein. When you are counting your macro’s, it means that you are making sure your food is balanced.
Most of the times when people are getting fit, they count calories. Truth is that calories aren’t what’s most important, macro’s are. You could eat 1600 kcal in mostly carbs and still feel hungry at the end of the day, because carbs get burned quickly and easily and when the blood sugar levels are lowering, you might crave a new meal. Even if you ate lots of calories.
Also, full packed plates with little macro’s won’t make you feel satisfied all day long. If you have a huge plate of vegetables, because you think full plates will get you through the day no matter what’s on it, you’ll get disappointed. Vegetables mostly contain water, so even though they are big in volume, after digesting it slinks down and your body will send out a signal there is something missing.
I recommend you to keep an eye on your macro’s. You don’t need to count every little bite you put into your mouth, a bit of common sense could already help a lot. My daily balance usually shifts around 30%-35%-35%.
Protein
People who work out a lot, eat extra protein. But it’s not only sports men who could benefit from this – you too! Protein makes you feel satisfied, with a meal high in protein you won’t crave for food as soon as with a meal high in carbs. Also, try to add protein to your snacks, so that you really feel that your snacks add importance to your meal plan. Protein are building stones of the body, your body uses protein to build new cells, but also muscles. When your meal plan consists of a high level of protein, it will build you more muscles. And having more muscle mass will boost the metabolism, which will make you burn more fat.
I recommend to eat at least 1,5 grams of protein per kilogram body weight.
Carbohydrates
Carbs are important for the brain and for energy. Carbohydrates are the easiest macro to burn, so the body uses carbs when you are moving or exercising. It is an important macro, but make sure you don’t eat too much of it. Foods rich in carbs can contain sugar, which causes the blood sugar to be unsteady. Normally I take approximately as much carbohydrates as I take protein.
Fats
It’s a fable lots of people still believe in, that you need to cut out fat to loose fat. Which kind of fat does matter though, unsaturated fats are good, saturated fats should be avoided. An easy way to make sure you don’t eat too much saturated fats, is to watch the kind of protein you eat. Protein coming from animals, like meat or dairy, usually contains a lot of saturated fat. Plant based protein contains more unsaturated fat. So it’s better to eat plant based protein. Try different kind of milks, like soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, etc., add nuts or exchange your meat at dinner for a vegetarian replacement.
