Okay. So you know how many calories you need to eat everyday. You know if you were to track calories that you would be focusing on reaching each macro limit. But, how do you reach those limits exactly? Follow with me:
You are not going to succeed at first. It will take a couple of weeks to understand the concept of tracking calories, because it’s not as simple as inputing each food and hopefully hitting the mark. In life sometimes you need to fail in order to succeed, so don’t give up when you get off track.
Not only will you understand how to eat to your limit in this article, but you will also come to realize how/why so many people gain weight.
There are so many types of foods out there. The thing is that most food contain a lot of carbohydrates or are mainly carbohydrate dominant. So when someone is constantly racking up carbohydrates, they are short selling their Fat and Protein while potentially causing weight gain. How? Let me explain.
Let’s say your Goal Limit is 1,700 calories coming from 200g of Carbs, 120g of Protein, and 50g of Fats.
Goal Limit: 1700 calories
Fats: 50 grams
Carbs: 200 grams
Protein: 120 grams
You know how I say weight gain is cause by eating over your limit? Well in order to eat over your limit, it takes eating over your macros.
Since most foods are carb dominant, one could easily go over that 200g of carbs. Let’s say you ate 500 grams of carbs. That’s 2,000 calories. That’s over your Goal Limit of 1700 calories. That’s weight gain. Not only did you go over your Goal Limit through going over your Carb Limit, you also short changed your Fat and Protein. If you were to constantly do this everyday, it would add up not to your liking.
Reaching your carb limit first and still needing to reach your Fat and Protein limit is why so many people experience weight gain. Why is that? Because its tough to avoid foods with zero carbs, if you aren’t aware of what food contains what, increasing your Fat and Protein content will be difficult. Point being: People majority of the time go over their carbohydrate limit which causes them to go over their Goal Limit which causes them to gain weight. It makes sense for that to happen to someone if they haven’t figured out their numbers. It’s very important from the start of the day that you consume the proper amount of Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fats before the day ends. Hiccuping on your calories anytime during the day will cost you. So what is the best way to make sure no hiccups occur?
The best thing to do as a beginner is to divide your macro contents by the number of meals you want per day.
Macro Content / # of meals per day = amount of calories per meal
You will hear and read so many different arguments of how many meals to eat per day. Well, let me tell you that IT DOESN’T MATTER, as long as you get in your numbers before the day ends. There are certain times of the day where it’s critical to prioritize your eating. That’s called Nutrient Timing, but for now lets focus on meals.
What do you mean divide my macro content by the number of meals I want?
Lets use the numbers from the example above:
Goal Limit: 1700 calories
Fats: 50 grams
Carbs: 200 grams
Protein: 120 grams
If you want to have 5 meals per day, you simply divide 5 by each of those numbers.
Calories Per Meal: Goal Limit: 1700/4 = 340 calories
Fats: 50/4 = 10g
Carbs: 200/4 = 40g
Protein: 120/4 = 25g
10g of Fat, 40g of Carbs, and 25g of Protein per meal for 5 meals a day will equal your total numbers by the end of the day. Separating your calories into meals is a great way to practice fitting in your macros. I started this way, overtime I now eat in a different way that still gets me to my limit. There are 2 things to be aware of though:
1. The amount you eat in a meal will depend on how many meal you eat per day. Those numbers would be a lot higher if it was divided into 3 meals instead of 5.
2. Eating the divided amount sometimes won’t be as easy as the math makes it. Sometimes you’ll eat over or under in a meal. If so, you compensate by eating more or less in the next meal.
There you have it! You now understand the best way to practice eating to your limit. Don’t hesitate to ask for any further questions.
Thank you!