I sometimes have clients who freak out in the first week, sometimes even the first day of working with macros. “Everything is off!” “My fat is too high!” “I still have 60 grams of protein left!”
Oof, take a breath! It’s only the beginning and I don’t know about you but I don’t think there’s anything new I tried learning that I “got” right away. Everything took time to learn, and even longer to master. So why should learning macros be any different?
Think about a few things: If you want to make changes in your body and your health then what you are going to do MUST BE different from what you are currently doing or what you’ve tried in the past. If you’re used to “to lose weight I’m going to have to cut my calories drastically and be hungry. If I’m not hungry, I must not be losing weight”… get used to a change of perspective. To lose fat and not muscle, you might feel much less hungry than when you’ve “dieted” in the past, and you might even feel full. You’re welcome.
Be patient and give yourself some grace. Tracking macros takes work, but it will get you long-term results if you trust the process. Give yourself the time, patience, and grace to learn this new skill.
Start with calories and protein if possible. If it’s just too much to think about all the macros (carbs, protein, and fat), then start with just trying to hit your calorie and protein goals. If you do that and let the carbs and fat fall where they will, you will still see amazing progress.
Build your protein up slowly. One of the biggest challenges many clients face is reaching their protein goal. If that sounds like you, build up slowly. Say your goal is to get to 125 grams but you currently only eat 60 grams per day. In week 1, aim for 75 grams. In week 2, aim for 90 grams. Maybe that’s a big deal for you, so stay there for a couple of weeks. Then when you’re ready, increase to 105 grams, etc.
Build your carbs/fat down slowly. Same as the last tip, but different. One of the other struggles I see is clients having way too high carb or fat intake. If that’s you, do the same as the protein tip, but in reverse. If you’re at 100 grams of fat, and you need to get to 55 grams, try cutting back to 90 grams, then 80, then 70, etc, until you get to 55. Slowly but surely you’ll get there!
Above all, remember that you are learning a new skill, be patient with yourself, give yourself some grace, and whatever you do… don’t give up!
