My journey with tracking macros. How I became a believer in counting macros to help me reach my goals, perform my best in the gym, fuel my body properly, and find my food freedom.
If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, most of you know I track my macros. I also help others find food freedom and learn to eat more by tracking macros.
I’ve counted macros on and off (in some form or another) since 2015. In 2016 was when I was really like, shit tracking macros works.
Now, I am not saying counting macros is for everyone – it definitely is not. There are so many different tools and approaches that people use to achieve their goals, and that is the beauty of it. What works for me, might not work for you.
But counting macros has worked so well for me and as I continue to talk about them, I want to share how I got started with them. This is my journey with counting macros.
History with tracking macros
Before we get into it, let’s talk briefly about my history with macro tracking. It hasn’t always been rainbows and butterflies.
My first discovery of a macro-based approach was back in 2012-2013. I had started CrossFit and read about the zone diet. That didn’t go so well as I tried it and was starving, so I gave up pretty quickly. After that, I played around with tracking some in My Fitness Pal, but they give horrible recommendations as to how much food to eat.
In the past, I’ve worked with coaches that were drastically underfeeding me and I felt so restricted. I didn’t realize this at the time though.
I remember asking a coach I had at one point about getting more carbs because I was running a half marathon soon. She said I was fine and I didn’t need it anymore. I believe I was eating around 100 grams of carbs 😐
Knowing what I know now, that is no way to fuel your body, especially for a very active female who does CrossFit 5-6 times a week and is about to run a half marathon. I eat way more carbs than that now and I don’t do CrossFit anymore and rarely run.
I cycled on and off counting macros for a long time because of the numbers that were given to me at various points along my journey. Truthfully, I think a lot of people go through this as well too. But over the years, I’ve learned to use them to benefit me rather than hinder/restrict me.
What made me a believer in tracking macros?
It was the fall of 2016 and my friends and I had just signed up for a marathon (my first one!) and we set some lofty goals. We wanted to qualify for the Boston marathon. Looking back, that is a pretty ridiculous goal to set, but hey, go big or go home they say right?
If I was going to be serious, I knew I had to be serious about fueling myself. I had done all kinds of diets before – pescatarian, zone, paleo, Whole30, and macro counting. I lay out my history with diet and exercise and my health and fitness journey – it was a very bumpy road, to say the least.
In the summer of 2016, I just finished my second Whole30 and was eating mostly paleo. Deep down, I knew I needed more carbs to fuel myself.
I was lucky enough to have someone calculate my macros for free and gave me some numbers to hit while I was training. When I got them, I was blown away! I believe it was around 1850 or so calories and 185 grams of carbs!!!! Cue the, WOW, ALL THE FOOD feeling!!
The funny thing is, looking back I was drastically under fueling myself. I was training for a marathon, doing CrossFit, taking treadmill HIIT classes, and working various jobs around town on my feet. But this was so much food for someone that chronically undereat and restricted herself.
During that time, I finally made a connection about my eating habits and fueling myself and my training. I felt stronger, my runs felt great, and I was recovering better than before. Sure I still undereating, but it was more than I had ever eaten.
And you know what happened? I ran my first marathon in 3:33 and qualified for the Boston Marathon. Don’t ask me how, because I honestly have no idea, but I did it. Sure I put in the hard work of training, but this was the first time in my life where I was actually fueling myself for performance (even though I didn’t know I was still under fueling).
I don’t think I’ll ever run again run a marathon again but there’s always an inkling in the back of my head wondering how it would go knowing what I know now about fueling myself.
Tracking macros after my marathon
Although that experience showed me the importance of fueling myself, I still struggled. Sometimes you can just get caught up in some unrealistic goals.
I took a short break from tracking macros after that and then jumped full swing into them at the beginning of 2017. During that time I had my up and downs though. My only goal was to get leaner, I was restricting myself, and not eating enough. Although I did see some good results with body composition and performance, it was unsustainable in the long run.
I stopped in the fall of 2017. Did another Whole30 in the spring of 2018. Then started working with another coach in the spring of 2018. Can you see the cycle?
I wanted to stop trying all these diets and find food freedom. My period had been nonexistent for the past 10 years and I knew that was a huge problem too.
I was also getting married in the fall of 2018 and I would be lying if I didn’t say I wanted to look my best for that.
With working with another coach, I truly was able to find food freedom. She had me eating more than ever, scaling back on all the high-intensity workouts, listening to my body, and enjoying the journey.
Where I am now
And that’s where I am now. I tracked consistently from summer 2018-early spring 2019. I took a break and started back up again in fall 2019 as I felt myself not feeling my best. Turns out I was undereating again. I’ve tracked pretty consistently since. But I’m also not so strict and use my numbers as a goal and not an end-all-be-all as I have in the past.
Currently, I am tracking my macros (I’m doing a surplus to gain muscle!) and have the best relationship with food I’ve ever had! I am eating more than ever (2200+ calories), have no restrictions around foods, and fuel myself to feel my best. Most of my diet is whole nutrient-dense foods, but I eat everything in moderation.
I’ve had my period for 2 years now and am the happiest with how I feel and look than I have ever been.
Will I track macros forever? Hell no. But right now it feels good and is helping me achieve my goals. What I tell my clients is, the goal of macros is learning how to build a balanced plate, learning about portion sizes, and seeing that all foods can fit while we are working towards our goals.
We are learning habits to guide us in the long haul. And if we ever feel like we have fallen off track, we can come back to macros if needed.
If you have any questions on my journey or tracking macros, drop them below!
![My First Marathon [San Antonio 3:33] + Your Body is Capable of so Much More](https://eatthegains.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_9758-150x150.jpg)
Kirstin says
Thanks so much for this write up. My husband and I have been doing the macros thing for the past 2 months or so and it’s been amazing. I had no idea how underfeeding myself was the cause of my weight loss/body composition stagnation. My question is, how to you personally handle your day to day choices and especially eating out? We have a scale out constantly and weigh everything. I have to preload my dinner for the day and then work backwards for what to have for breakfast and lunch. I happy to do it because of the results I’ve seen but it gives me a lot of agita when we are out of town/away from our regular routine. Will we get to a place where we can “eyeball” stuff? Just looking for tips on making the day to day a little more simplified.
Kelly says
Hey Kirstin! So glad you are enjoying macros so far! It really is eye-opening when we learn how much we should be eating. For day-to-day at home, I don’t mind tracking things. In the beginning, I would recommend weighing and measuring a majority of the things you eat. As you go, you learn what serving sizes look like and can get good estimating amounts. Since I have been tracking for so long, I don’t weigh things like veggies and just focus on weighing bigger ticket items (proteins, potatoes, pasta, rice…). We want macros to fit in our lives and not feel stressed when going out to eat and not knowing the exact measurements. When I am out of town, I just continue to eat as I normally do. You can use cups and tablespoons as measurements to help. For example, when I make oats, I usually have around 50g of oats, which I know is about 1/2 a cup as I measured it that way too. So I can just use a 1/2 cup when not using a scale. It might not be 50g exactly, but close enough. Picking up food or guessing amounts before weighing it can help with learning serving sizes. I also focus on building a balanced plate of 1/4 protein, 1/2 veggies, and 1/4 of starchy carbs. I will add fat depending on what I used for cooking and the protein source too. This is an easy way to help with balancing macros when not weighing food. For eating out and tracking, you can search for a similar entry on Cronometer and scan over it to see if it makes sense. If needed, adjust the serving size so it seems accurate. The key is not perfection, but rather just getting an idea of what we are eating so we can plan the rest of the day appropriately. Estimating amounts will definitely get easier as you go and you will learn how much your body needs! Hope that helps!
Robin says
How do you figure out macros?!
Kelly says
Hey Robin! If not working with a coach, I suggest these two calculators and then taking the average. One is a little lower in estimating and one is a little higher. Try one set of numbers out for a few weeks and see what you are missing and how your body feels. If you feel hungry, add more, if you are craving more fats, adjust the numbers. While they are good starting places, it is just a computer and it’s important to listen to our bodies.
https://tdeecalculator.net
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/nutrition-calculator – pick improve health to find maintenance
Laura simons says
Love to know where you can find macros to cut fat and build muscle ! Any resources online would be great!
Kelly says
Hey Laura! Unfortunately, as much as I would like to tell you it’s easy to do those things at the same time (it can be done), building muscle requires us to be eating more than we need, and losing fat requires us to be eating less than we need. That being said, dialing in the macros can definitely help! I would suggest finding your maintenance calories and making sure you are getting enough protein (important for building muscle). Make sure you are lifting heavy (relative to you). You can see some great changes with lifting weights and eating enough at maintenance calories!
Hailey stark says
Great read, as always so relatable! It’s refreshing to have someone be so raw on social media. I have often feared that if I track macros I would become very restrictive (past history of restricting foods to lose weight quickly; yo-yo then binge) . So I guess the question is, how do you know how much is too little or too much ?? There is so much misinformation out there regarding macros and finding the appropriate caloric intake
Kelly says
Thank you, Hailey! I can totally relate to the restriction, but I found that happened a lot of the time when I wasn’t eating enough. When I started to actually feed myself way more food, and with tracking macros, those feelings went away and I could see how everything could fit into my diet in moderation. For the right amount of food, a lot of trial and error! I suggest these two calculators and then taking the average. One is a little lower in estimating and one is a little higher. Try one set of numbers out for a few weeks and see what you are missing and how your body feels. If you feel hungry, add more, if you are craving more fats, adjust the numbers. You might have to reverse diet to those numbers if you are undereating some. Our bodies are constantly changing and our needs will change too!
https://tdeecalculator.net
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/nutrition-calculator – pick improve health to find maintenance