Nutrition 101: Macronutrients

Before I get into the nitty gritty of muscle specific workouts and workout programs, I want to make it known to all that nutrition is easily 85% of the battle. If you want to make a transformation, be it lose weight and tone up, lean out, or to pack muscle, whatever your goals are, you’re nutrition has to be spot on, I CANNOT stress this enough. Having a sound nutrition plan and staying consistent with it is a KEY ingredient (see what I did there) in the recipe for success. It’s said that failing to plan is planning to fail and I agree completely. So now that thats out of the way, let me get into the nitty gritty of nutrition and show you that it doesn’t have to be as difficult as people make it. There are many ways people go about nutrition and food prep, but the most successful people are those that plan ahead and are always prepared. Being prepared allows for  consistency and ensures that your body is receiving enough nutrients to recover and grow. Don’t think of this as a diet!   You’re changing your lifestyle here, this isn’t something that you follow strictly for said amount of weeks and then you go back to eating junk food. This is a change for the better. You’re doing your body good with this and trust me, its not as hard as people make it out to be.

Okay, so now we know that nutrition is vital for a successful transformation and preparation is the best way to ensure consistency of this nutrition.

Now let me break this down for you. Grab something in your kitchen with nutritional info on the package and have a look. This will be your new bestfriend. On the label you have total calories, then the chart breaks down into FAT, cholesterol, sodium, CARBOHYDRATE and PROTEIN. See the letters in caps? Those are what we call macronutrients. There are three and as you can see above, they are:

1. PROTEINS

2. CARBOHYDRATES [ Two types: (1) Hi-Glycemic Simple Carbs: quickly digested and cause a insulin spike in the blood (2) Low-Glycemic Complex Carbs: slow and steady insulin release]

3. FATS

These three macronutrients provide the calories that you see listed on as the total amount of calories on your label. These guys are important so pay attention!

Proteins have 4 calories per gram.

Carbs also have 4 calories per gram.

Fats have 9 calories per gram.

What does this mean? Well, take you’re calculator and multiply the amount of fat shown on the label, in grams, by 9. Next, multiply the total carbohydrates by 4 and the total proteins by 4. Add them all up and you should receive the total calorie amount shown on the label. This means that proteins, carbs and fats are what we must feed our body with for it to be able to recover and grow from your intense training sessions. Now every food has its own macronutrient profile, some foods are build mainly of carbs (e.g brown rice and oats), some of mainly proteins (e.g turkey, chicken, fish), and some of mainly fats (e.g coconut oil, nuts, flax).

The goal of proper nutrition is to manipulate the numbers of proteins, carbs and fats into a macro ratio, which will be planned according to your goals. Most people use the 30 P/40 C/30 F ratio, meaning 30 percent of your calories will come from protein and another 30 percent will come from fats, and the remaining 40 percent will come from carbohydrates. I will make a post in this series about different macro ratios and describe what goal each will help attain, as for now read on!

Here are some basic examples of foods that fit into each macronutrient profile:

Proteins –  Chicken, Fish, Turkey, Whey Protein, Eggs, Beef, Poultry, Lamb, etc.

Carbs –  Hi-Glycemic Simple Carbs: Fruits, Honey, Maple Syrup, Agave Syrup

Low- Glycemic Complex Carbs: Brown Rice, Oats, Grits, Whole Grain Pasta, Whole Grain Bread, Quinoa, Couscous

Fats –  Coconut Oil, Nuts, Flax Seeds, Fish, etc.

At this point, I’ll explain how your body uses these macronutrients, so play close attention, this is important!

Protein:  Your body uses protein to help rebuild and repair muscle tissue. When you workout, you rip muscle tissue, thats why you feel sore the day after. By getting in enough protein, you will be able to help your body repair the ripped tissue and grow.

Carbs: Carbs are your bodies preferred source of energy and they are required for you to function. The brain needs carbs to work and the body uses them for energy.

Fats: Help promote good health, brain function and help protect your limbs and joints from damage.

Okay cool!  So we’ve covered what macros are, how your body uses them and I’ve given some examples of foods that fit in each category of macro. What now? Well head over here to find out how to prepare your nutrition battle plan.

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!