Fitness Archives | Page 5 of 15

What Are Macros? — What To Know About Macronutrients

‘Macros’ are short for macronutrients on the internet amongst those who are concerned about strategically shaping their bodies through carefully crafted exercise and resistance training protocols.

Today, in this short article, we’re going to answer the question, ‘what are macros?’

What are macros?

Macros (macronutrients) are what makes up the food we eat each day in order to live and function. Macro means large, and micro means small.

If you’ve heard the term, micronutrients, you’ve probably heard the term, macronutrients.

Macronutrients are needed in large amounts by the body, while micronutrients are needed in much smaller amounts.

Macronutrients are made up of four categories: protein, carbohydrates, fat, and alcohol.

Micronutrients can be found inside of those macros above. These are also known as vitamins and minerals and there is a wide variety of these that are needed for proper function in the body.

Each macronutrient contains a certain amount of calories per gram.

1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories

Let’s get into each macronutrient and their importance.

How To Eat More Protein With 5 Simple Strategies

by JC Deen

Eating more protein can seem like a hurdle if you’re not used to eating the recommended amount that supports strength training and optimal fat loss. The recommended intake for the maximum amount of muscle and least amount of body fat is around 1 gram per pound of body weight.

So, if you weigh 150 pounds, that equates to 150 grams of protein.

If you’re not aware of how much protein you need, I’ve already got you covered on daily recommendations and requirements with this article: how much protein do you need?

The RDA (recommended dietary allowance) of protein is currently set at .8 grams per kilogram of body weight. To put that in imperial numbers, that’s about .36 grams of protein per pound.

So, if you weigh 150 pounds, that’s a recommended intake of about 54 grams of protein per day.

How To Implement A Practical Weight Loss Plan

by JC Deen

If you want to lose fat, having a weight loss plan to follow makes sense.

But what you might not realize is that while having a plan in place is great, it’s only the beginning. There are many factors that must be covered in order to be successful in your fat loss efforts, so I’m going to show you all the steps necessary.

Health Habits Guide: The How-To’s For Body Transformation

by JC Deen

In the last article about health habits, I made a point to help you see that not all health advice is the best advice, even when it’s backed by good intention. And that’s because it must come with some type of context for your personal needs.

We covered a bit about what habits are, how hard they are to change, and I even referenced some ideas from my book Stay Leaner, Longer.

In this article, I’m going to give you a framework to build health habits that stick.

At the end of the last article, I promised to tell you about the following:

Why everything you know about creating new habits and goal-setting is probably wrong.
The most powerful concept I know to help change your behavior (it all has to do with how you actually perceive yourself).
A simple, but powerful, 5-step habit creation framework you can implement immediately.

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