Your Macros are Backwards = Why You Aren't Losing Weight
I get emails and IMs every day from people saying that they aren't losing weight. They're trying to make healthier choices and they work out every day, but they aren't losing weight.
My first question is, "What's your diet like right now?"
"Oh, it's pretty good."
Annnnnnnnnnnnnd pause scene.
That right there = I know that your diet is probably crap and you don't even know it.
And look, it's not your fault. Not entirely, anyways. There are so many misconceptions out there about what's healthy and what's not, it's ridiculous. I know because I was someone who struggled with weight and myths ALL THE TIME. So I'm just going to make a quick demonstration based on things I see daily in downtown Minneapolis and corporate America in general.
Calorie counting is probably the most common obsession that people fall prey to and it drives me bananas. Yes, calories matter to a certain degree but your macros are where you're getting messed up. Obsessing over fat content is also wrong, unless you already have insanely high cholesterol.
"Abby, what the hell are macros?"
I know, right? Foreign concept to many. Macros = macronutrient totals. Meaning, the ratio between your protein, carbs, and fat in your total calorie intake for the day. There are great tools out there to monitor these things (I used Fitday.com) and after a month or so, you'll barely need to utilize these tools. You'll be able to ballpark where you're at.
MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmkay, so let's take a peek at what I'm talking about. I looked up all this information online to get the nutritional info for everything.
Let's say take a peek at the average Joe or Jane. They roll out out bed, prepare for the day, and shuffle to work.
Okee dokee. So the Caribou Cooler alone is almost 600 calories and over 100g of carbs (95 of which are solid sugar, btw), first thing in the morning. Excellent! Add in the bagel and cream cheese, and this person has started their day with a breakfast of 940 calories, 170g carbs (let's keep in mind, 1 can of regular Mountain Dew has 46g sugar in them, so this person has had almost 3 cans of regular Mountain Dew's worth of sugar), and they've had only a measly 15g protein.
That healthy turkey wrap? 849 freaking calories with 56g highly processed carbs and 28g protein. At least the protein content was a bit higher.
The coveted Chobani that everyone is obsessed with as snacks? 20g carbs. Yes, protein but the sugar value is stupid high.
Finally, the Chipotle burrito alone is over 1200 calories, 121g carbs, and 64g protein.
Let's look at this a different way (and again, this automatically comes up on Fitday).
So ideally to drop fat, you need to be at 45-50% protein for the average person, and then the split for your carbs and fat content depends on the person's needs. Generally when people are brand new to losing weight, I recommend 50% protein, 25% carbs, 25% fats.
This person is at 47% carbs, 37% fats, 15% proteins. Their macros are completely backwards.
And when your macros are completely backwards, your fat loss is going to be zilch. The calorie count actually wouldn't be a big deal to someone who is extremely active and their base metabolic rate is 1500-2000 a day just as they're sitting there ALIVE, but if you're inactive with those calories AND if your macros are backwards, you're going to be completely stagnant.
Take a week. Count your macros because TRUST ME, you'd be shocked at how quickly these get out of whack. Once you get these aligned at get the right nutrients in your body, you'll start seeing changes. If you don't know what to do or want ideas, feel free to hit me up. Isagenix fills the gaps in beautifully for these kinds of problems and makes your life way easier, btw.
Helpful tips for a Tuesday.
xo
Abs
My first question is, "What's your diet like right now?"
"Oh, it's pretty good."
Annnnnnnnnnnnnd pause scene.
That right there = I know that your diet is probably crap and you don't even know it.
And look, it's not your fault. Not entirely, anyways. There are so many misconceptions out there about what's healthy and what's not, it's ridiculous. I know because I was someone who struggled with weight and myths ALL THE TIME. So I'm just going to make a quick demonstration based on things I see daily in downtown Minneapolis and corporate America in general.
Calorie counting is probably the most common obsession that people fall prey to and it drives me bananas. Yes, calories matter to a certain degree but your macros are where you're getting messed up. Obsessing over fat content is also wrong, unless you already have insanely high cholesterol.
"Abby, what the hell are macros?"
I know, right? Foreign concept to many. Macros = macronutrient totals. Meaning, the ratio between your protein, carbs, and fat in your total calorie intake for the day. There are great tools out there to monitor these things (I used Fitday.com) and after a month or so, you'll barely need to utilize these tools. You'll be able to ballpark where you're at.
MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmkay, so let's take a peek at what I'm talking about. I looked up all this information online to get the nutritional info for everything.
Let's say take a peek at the average Joe or Jane. They roll out out bed, prepare for the day, and shuffle to work.
- They hit Caribou on the way for their daily Caribou Cooler and swing by Brueggers for a cinnamon raisin bagel with light cream cheese to start their morning.
- Later that day, they hit D'Brains for a healthy wrap. It's turkey and craisins in a whole wheat wrap with some veggies.
- That afternoon, they have a Chobani yogurt for lunch.
- After a night of running errands and getting stuff done, Joe or Jane is starving and swings by Chipotle for a burrito.
This is pretty typical of the average person, especially for the people I work with downtown.
So let's plug this into Fitday.
Okee dokee. So the Caribou Cooler alone is almost 600 calories and over 100g of carbs (95 of which are solid sugar, btw), first thing in the morning. Excellent! Add in the bagel and cream cheese, and this person has started their day with a breakfast of 940 calories, 170g carbs (let's keep in mind, 1 can of regular Mountain Dew has 46g sugar in them, so this person has had almost 3 cans of regular Mountain Dew's worth of sugar), and they've had only a measly 15g protein.
That healthy turkey wrap? 849 freaking calories with 56g highly processed carbs and 28g protein. At least the protein content was a bit higher.
The coveted Chobani that everyone is obsessed with as snacks? 20g carbs. Yes, protein but the sugar value is stupid high.
Finally, the Chipotle burrito alone is over 1200 calories, 121g carbs, and 64g protein.
Let's look at this a different way (and again, this automatically comes up on Fitday).
So ideally to drop fat, you need to be at 45-50% protein for the average person, and then the split for your carbs and fat content depends on the person's needs. Generally when people are brand new to losing weight, I recommend 50% protein, 25% carbs, 25% fats.
This person is at 47% carbs, 37% fats, 15% proteins. Their macros are completely backwards.
And when your macros are completely backwards, your fat loss is going to be zilch. The calorie count actually wouldn't be a big deal to someone who is extremely active and their base metabolic rate is 1500-2000 a day just as they're sitting there ALIVE, but if you're inactive with those calories AND if your macros are backwards, you're going to be completely stagnant.
Take a week. Count your macros because TRUST ME, you'd be shocked at how quickly these get out of whack. Once you get these aligned at get the right nutrients in your body, you'll start seeing changes. If you don't know what to do or want ideas, feel free to hit me up. Isagenix fills the gaps in beautifully for these kinds of problems and makes your life way easier, btw.
Helpful tips for a Tuesday.
xo
Abs
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