How to Calculate Your Macros

I get asked a lot about macros. The main question that I get is "how much should I be eating of each?" The difficulty in answering this question is that this ratio is unique to every individual. It changes based on height, weight, goals, and your body's specific metabolism and nutritional needs. It took me a long time of playing around with different percentages before I got it dialed in just right, and even then, these percentages change daily based on my activity and energy levels.
I can however, provide a general overview that will serve as a starting point for those who are new to calculating their macros. Then once you get comfortable with the process, you can start tooling with different ratios and observing your body's response.

First of all, I would like to address exactly what a macro is. "Macros" (short for macronutrients) are made of the big three nutritional building blocks: Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat. Every food is made up of some ratio of these three nutrients. Foods are obviously also made up of other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals (known as MICROnutrients), but for now we are only interested in the macros.

A lot of people follow the diet philosophy of "IIFYM", also known as "If It Fits Your Macros".  These are the "flexible dieters" who overlook the nutrient density of foods when they calculate their ratios. On the IIFYM program, pizza and beer could be a regular meal staple. For our purposes I emphasize the consumption of primarily whole foods when calculating macros. That is not to say that you have to do the same, but I prefer to get the most nutritional "bang for my buck" when I'm fueling my body for workouts.

Doing The Math
Most nutrition programs recommend that everybody start out with a 40:30:30 ratio of carbs, proteins, and fats. That's 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fats. In order to calculate the number of grams of each, you want to start with your protein. Different programs will recommend different methods of calculating this number, but it generally goes off of your weight. I recommend that most people start with 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Honestly, most programs recommend less, I just find that this is the easiest way to get started. Weigh 130lbs? Eat 130 grams of protein. Weigh 200lbs? That's 200 grams of protein. Simple.

Once you have your protein calculated, it's easy to figure out how many grams of carbs and fats you should be eating. First you need to multiply your grams of protein by 4, since there are four calories per gram. Lets say you weigh 150lbs. 150x4=600, so that gives you a daily caloric intake of roughly 600 calories. You should ideally be taking in the same number of calories in fat. Each gram of fat contains 9 calories, so divide 600 by 9, and you get approximately 67 grams of (healthy) fat each day. The last piece of the puzzle is carbohydrates. You want to be eating 40% carbs each day. To calculate this, you take your 150 grams of protein and divide it by 0.3. This is the 30%. Then take that number and multiply it by 0.4 to get 40% carbohydrates. In our example, this works out to 200 grams of carbs each day, or 800 calories (since there are 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate). Next you can add all three together for your daily caloric intake. For this scenario it comes out to be 2,000 calories, with a macronutrient break down of 200/150/67.

This is just a starting point. These numbers will obviously vary based on the individual's body fat percentage, activity level, metabolism, and fitness goals. While ideally we would be balancing these ratios at every meal, that can be overwhelming when you're first starting out. I always tell people to first try to meet these goals with your overall daily food intake before you start stressing out every time you sit down to eat. Otherwise you find yourself worrying more about playing food tetris with your macro ratios, rather than enjoying a delicious meal with your family.

If at the end of the day your ratios are a little off, don't stress about it! Your health will not be destroyed because of one bad day. It is more a matter of making these things a habit over time which determines success.

Once you feel like you've gotten the hang of it (I recommend giving it a few weeks to see how your body responds), then you can start tweaking your numbers here and there. However, your protein should stay the same. Regardless of whether or not you worked out that day, whether you are cutting or bulking, protein should always stay constant. Playing around with your levels of carbohydrates and fats will produce the most changes in your body. But again, if you experiment with a new ratio you need to give your body a few weeks at that new percentage in order to see if you are putting on muscle, decreasing your body fat percentage, or maintaining your current build. If your body's response is not in line with your goals, then start adjusting.

The bottom line is that there is no magic ratio. Every person's body will react differently to different macro percentages. The key is to find what works for you, and to be patient. It can take a long time to get the hang of it in order to elicit the kind of physical response you're looking for. It can also get tedious weighing and measuring everything that you eat. Pay attention to your body's cues, and simply shoot for overall balance in the beginning. The best way to see results is to stick to real, whole foods, and avoid those foods that you know do not align with your health goals.