Counting Calories and Tracking Macronutrients
Is it necessary?
Calorie counting is simply a method for tracking nutritional intake. Several benefits to counting calories are:
- The ability to determine that you are getting optimal protein intake for your goals.
- You can track and limit fat intake. This is helpful if you gain fat easily, as fat is the most easily stored nutrient.
- You can ensure that you are eating enough and/or not eating too much.
- You can tweak the amount of food you are eating based on results - ie. eat less if gaining too fast, or more if not gaining at all.
- You can try out different macronutrient ratios (ie. lower fat, higher protein, lower carbs) and see how it affects your gains.
However, many people make good gains without being strict and counting calories. If what you are doing is working for you, there is no need to start counting calories. On the other hand, if you are gaining too little lean body mass, or too much, tracking the diet can be a useful way to remedy the problem.
Macronutrients
The three macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates and fats. Protein has 4 calories per gram, carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, and fats have 9 calories per gram. Fiber contains between 0 and 2 calories per gram but we don't explicitly take this into account when doing ratios (just use total carbs, it will be close enough). Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram.
Macronutrient Ratios
A macronutrient ratio gives the percent of calories coming from carbohydrates, protein or fat. There is no need to be strict with a particular ratio, and the one you favour will be dependent on you. There is also no need to switch ratios when switching from cutting to bulking (although, you may wish to make changes for increased satiety when cutting, or decreased fullness when bulking). A macronutrient ratio gives you the percent of calories from each nutrient in your diet. Here are a few suggestions (again, no need to be strict):
- 50% carbs, 30% protein, and 20% fat
- 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat
- 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat
ExampleSuppose you need 3000 calories, and you are using a 50% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 20% fat ratio (often written 50c/30p/20f), then you calculate the grams of each by the following calculation:
Carb grams = 0.5 * 3000/4 = 375
Protein grams = 0.3 * 3000/4 = 225
Fat grams = 0.2 * 3000/9 = 67
So in this case, you would be aiming for 375 grams of carbohydrates, 225 grams of protein, and 67 grams of fat per day. Assuming you are aiming for 6 meals a day, the easiest way to determine approximately what to intake per meal, is by dividing these numbers by 6. Your average meal should then have:
500 calories
63 g carbs
38 g protein
11 g fat
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How to count calories
The simplest way to count calories and track macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) is through the use of free calorie tracking software such as Nutridiary.You simply add the foods in that you ate that day or, preferably, plan in advance by skipping ahead to the next day(s), and entering ahead of time.
I prefer Nutridiary for the ability to design meals that you can easily tweak to get desired nutritional amounts. Another website that is helpful is NutritionData. NutritionData is good for quick searching of nutrition info, and for calculating calories from recipes.
Advance Planning of Meals
Using Nutridiary you can plan meals based on your desired caloric and macronutrient content. Then you can either add the meals the day before, or you can use a word processor or spreadsheet program to write up week long meal plans in advance. Planning in advance will help with compliance to the meal plan as there are no "last minute" decisions to be made, and you can precook or tupperware meals in advance. Most meats last 3-4 days in the refrigerator, so advance cooking requires cooking twice per week or freezing of some meals.
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