Whether you’re focused on losing weight, maintaining your weight, or building muscle, diet plays a crucial role in your progress. Tracking your calories is a good place to start, but calories don’t tell the whole story.
Setting goals for your macros, the amounts of each macronutrient you eat each day, can help you tune up your diet. For example, increasing protein has been associated with better weight loss results.
Understanding Macros and Their Function
Macronutrients, aka “macros,” are the three major types of nutrients your body needs to function: carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
Importance of Each Macronutrient
Here’s a crash course on what each macronutrient does for your body.
Carbohydrates
Despite low-carb diet plans taking center stage in recent years, carbohydrates are integral to a balanced diet. The body turns carbs into glucose, which fuels physical activity.
But the type of carbohydrate makes a difference.
When you’re looking at your total grams of carbohydrates for the day, that number doesn’t distinguish between complex carbs and simple carbs. But there are major differences between the two from a health and weight management perspective.
Simple carbs—like refined sugars—have a lower nutritional value than complex carbs. A recent critical review found that overconsumption of refined carbs can contribute to higher rates of obesity, depression, and other chronic diseases.
On the other hand, complex carbs are a good source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They can promote gut health and may help enhance mood. Complex carbs in whole grains and vegetables digest slowly, making you feel fuller longer and promoting weight loss. Overall, healthy carbs can boost energy and prevent those mid-afternoon cravings.
If you want to tweak your diet to support weight loss, replacing simple carbs with complex carbs is a good place to start—even if it won’t change your macro ratio.
Protein
Proteins are made of amino acids, the building blocks of our bodies. A boost in protein can help build and repair bones and muscles, transport other nutrients throughout the body, and increase resting metabolism.
If you’re trying to lose weight and want to adjust your macro ratio, increasing your protein is one possible step to consider. Diets high in protein may reduce body weight and prevent weight regain by helping you feel full. Eating more protein can also lead to an increase in your lean body mass (muscle tissue) which helps you burn more calories during the day.
