Calories and macronutrients (macros) are crucial to achieving your goals. In simple terms, to lose weight, consume fewer calories than you burn; to gain weight, consume more; to maintain, balance them out. Make sense?

But what about Macros? Macros are a bit more nuanced and not quite so critical to track, but monitoring them can have some great benefits and you want to make sure you are at least in the right ballpark.

First and foremost, you want to make sure you are getting enough protein. This will help you build or maintain muscle and will also help to control hunger. Keep in mind, too much protein isn’t necessarily great either so don't go crazy with it. Next are fats. There is a daily minimum you need in order to keep the body healthy and functioning. You want to make sure you are at least getting that amount and ideally these come from healthy food sources. After that, the rest of your calories you can fill with carbohydrates.

Some general rules of thumb being used here, but these numbers will give you a starting point to modify according to what you like. Finding your calorie intake depends on many factors and varies from person to person. We all start somewhere. Use this as a general guide and modify to your preferences.

After punching in your info and getting your starting point, my suggestion is to try it out for a couple of weeks. See how you feel, what your energy levels are, and note how your weight fluctuates. If you aren’t currently following a similar plan you may see some pretty massive weight swings during the first couple of weeks. That's okay! Water weight has a large impact on the scale and there can be major fluctuations from a single meal or a prior day of heavy activity. Stay patient and stick with it; consistency is key. You can always adjust along the way.

For simplicity, I prefer eating the same meals throughout the week. By prepping a week's worth of meals (6 days, really) based on the number of daily calories and macro portions for me, I save time and don’t need to track everything every day. I do it once at the beginning of the week and it is done.  

If that feels overwhelming, start by prepping one meal for the week–perhaps dinner–so you can relax after work without worrying about cooking every other night. Maybe it's lunch, allowing you to avoid eating out, or worse, eating employer cafeteria meals 😵. Prepping meals can potentially save you time, effort, and money, all the while supporting your fitness goals.

If you want to see some of my meal-prepping weekly guides and how I structure my week, check them out at the link below.