Calories are measurements or units of energy we use to express the nutritional value of food.

Similar to our bodies, calories have composition too. They can be broken down into what we call macronutrients or macros.

The 3 macros are protein, fats, and carbohydrates (carbs).

Each one has a specific role in the body.

This isn’t a science lesson though so let’s skip on that for now.

The main thing you need to know is that protein is the most important for building and maintaining muscle mass (and is very important when trying to lose fat as well). You should focus on hitting your protein goal over hitting your carb or fat goal for the day as those can be more loosely tracked.

And no, I’m not saying that fats and carbs are not important because they also have a role in the body when it comes to hitting your goals, all I’m saying is let’s focus on protein over those two at the moment.

Should we track calories and macros or not?

Here is the deal –

From a scientific standpoint, energy balance is key to hitting your goals.

If you want to lose fat: eat in a calorie deficit meaning that you eat less calories than your body burns overall daily (TDEE).

If you want to gain muscle: eat in a calorie surplus meaning that you eat more calories than your body burns overall daily (TDEE).

If you want to maintain your current weight: eat at/around calorie maintenance level meaning that you eat about the same amount of calories that your body burns overall daily (TDEE).

And if you’re wondering what TDEE is or total daily energy expenditure, let’s break out the formula below –

TDEE = BMR + NEAT + EAT + TEF

Part 1. BMR – basal metabolic rate – the number of calories your body burns at rest without any additional movement. This is based on your height, weight, body composition, genetics, etc.

Part 2. EAT – exercise activity thermogenesis – the calories you burn from physical exercise such as going to the gym.

Part 3. NEAT – non-exercise activity thermogenesis – the calories you burn from movement that isn’t necessarily working out. Things such as walking place to place & cleaning the house.

Part 4. TEF – thermic effect of food – the calories you burn from eating and digesting food.

Let me be clear when I say the MAJORITY of the calories you burn each day come from your BMR which you have little control over. You can move it up and down slightly when you change weight or your body composition in a major way.

As a more left-brained person, I am inclined to use my logic here.

Numbers make a lot of sense to track to me.

This is the only way to truly know if you’re eating in a deficit, at maintenance or in a surplus.

How to track calories

I always suggest using an app such as MyFitnessPal to track your calories.

The only downside I find with it is that the calories/macros it returns back to you for your goal is generally really off.

I would suggest using my calorie calculator which will give you a more accurate representation. Click here to access it.

From there, I suggest a 40/30/30 split for your macros as a baseline.

40% protein, 30% fat, 30% carbs.

You should adjust the slider accordingly so that your protein goal (in grams) is somewhere between .8-1g per lb of current or goal body weight. If you’re on a journey to your goal weight, make sure to keep it in small increments. This may be a lot less than 40% which is totally fine.

For example, if you’re 200lbs right now and want to be 140, don’t use 140g as your goal. Use 10lb smaller goals until you reach your 140lb goal. The first goal would be 190lbs and therefore you would be using 8.-1g of 190.

As a general reference –

A good calorie deficit is 250-500 calories less than your TDEE or maintenance level (fat loss).

A good calorie surplus is 200 calories more than your TDEE or maintenance level (muscle gain).

A good body recomposition calorie goal is 100 less than your TDEE or maintenance level (to lose fat and gain muscle together very slowly).

Once you have that down, you can enter your custom calories and macros in the goals section of MyFitnessPal in settings. Again, as long as you have the calories and protein goal tightly entered, the fats and carbs can be more flexible. I’d recommend a balanced intake of each overall though.

The rest of the interface is very intuitive to use. Go to your diary, search a food, adjust the quantity & add. They have recently removed the bar scan code feature and made it a paid feature BUT luckily a friend showed me a hack to get it back. If you set your location to Canada or the UK, it will come back for free.

If you want more detail on how you should break out your calories and macros, what each macro is good for, lists of sources of each macro and meal ideas including pre and post workout nutrition, and how to set up a. meal plan for yourself, you can purchase my eBook here which goes into more depth with everything.

How to “track” calories without actually tracking them

As with everything, tracking isn’t necessarily the BEST option for everybody.

If you are someone who has previously suffered from an eating disorder or think you may be more prone to acquire an eating disorder from such vivid tracking then this is not a good route to go for you.

The last thing we want to do is trigger an eating disorder as they can be extremely taxing on your mental, emotional, and physical health (very counterproductive).

If you are unsure if you would fall into this category, I would suggest trying it out for a few weeks. If you find yourself constantly worrying or thinking about it, even obsessing over it, I would stop immediately.

I would default to a more intuitive style of eating or only eating when you feel true hunger opposed to boredom or stress.

A method I suggest trying would be plate portioning. With this method, you fill each plate with 50% fruits/vegetables, 25% carbs (things like rice and pasta), and 25% protein. If you’re wondering where the fats go in this equation, they can be added when cooking your vegetables in oil or by adding butter on top.

This way, you know you are eating 20-30g of protein each meal and you’re getting in your fruits and veggies.

If you’re trying to eat in a deficit, I’d suggest using smaller plates 3-4x a day.

If you’re trying to eat in a surplus, I’d suggest using larger plates 3-4x a day OR smaller plates 4-6x a day (some people enjoy that aspect of being able to eat more often so I encourage those of you to do so).

I would do your best to make all or most of your snacks protein based and make sure to drink enough water so that you stay full. If you’re filling your plate with half fruits/vegetables, you should be stacked up on fiber which will also help you stay full.

A good reference is to try to aim for half of your body weight in oz of water. So if you’re 150lbs, that would be 75 oz of water a day.

If we are talking KG’s – your weight in KG * .0333 = how many litres of water you should be drinking a day.

These are just minimums, if you are very active and/or losing a lot of sweat you should be drinking more. I highly suggest adding electrolytes in as well to replenish what you lose through sweat.

Basic suggestions would be Gatorade/Propel/Prime Drinks and Liquid IV.

To wrap it up

Whether you decide tracking or not tracking is the best route for you, the same concepts still apply.

Even if you are not physically tracking, you still need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat.

Even if you are not physically tracking, you still need to be in a calorie surplus to gain muscle.

Even if you are not physically tracking, you still need to be eating around calorie maintenance to maintain your current weight.

The ONLY exception is when you have just started lifting weights (within a years time frame). This is the “newbie” gains period where you can gain muscle while you are eating in a calorie deficit.

If you are in this position, I HIGHLY SUGGEST TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE OF IT as it will only get much challenging later on to gain muscle by having to eat in a surplus.

If you enjoyed this read, you will surely enjoy my eBook which takes a deeper dive into all of the topics discussed here.

If you want something a little more done for you, let’s work 1:1! I will provide you with set calories and macros to track in app as well as a SMART meal plan that will auto generate meals for you based on your preferences/allergies/goals. There is a massive base of recipes in the app so you can switch them out as wanted/needed as well.

Until next time,

Coach Emily