Macro Diet For Dummies (eBook)

Malia Frey (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-394-21621-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Lose weight, build lean muscle, and boost daily energy levels without giving up your favorite foods.

Macro Diet For Dummies teaches you everything you need to know to master the popular meal plan that has helped athletes, celebrities, and people just like you build lean muscle and lose fat for good. On the macro diet, you track macronutrients instead of calories, so you know you're giving your body the correct balance of daily nutrients to feel energized, strong, and healthy. And the great thing is that, as long as you balance your macros and meet your daily goals, you can eat whatever you want. You'll reach your weight and health goals without feeling deprived of your favorite foods.

Macro Diet For Dummies is a jargon-free guide that provides all the tips and tools you need to develop your own macro-based dietary plan and maintain it for life. Learn to find the best macro balance for you and prep delicious and satisfying meals that will help you get where you want to be.

• Read about macronutrients and why they're so important for weight loss, better body composition, and optimal health
• Learn how to determine the macro balance that works best for your body and how to calculate the precise amount of carbs, protein, and fat that you need each day
• Use free tracking tools to monitor your daily intake and keep your program going strong
• Get 30+ delicious recipes that will put you on the path to macro success

Thanks to this easy-to-follow Dummies guide, you can lose weight, make your fitness goals easier to reach, and lead a healthier life.

Autor

Malia Frey is a sought-after health and fitness writer. She has written for Verywell Fit, Muscle and Fitness, MyFitnessPal, and beyond. She is an American Council on Exercise (ACE) certified health coach and personal trainer with additional ACE credentials in fitness nutrition, weight management, behavior change, and functional aging.

Inhalt

Introduction 1

Part 1: Getting Started with the Macro Diet 5

Chapter 1: Looking at the Big Picture of the Macro Diet 7

Chapter 2: Understanding the Building Blocks: Macronutrients 21

Chapter 3: Enjoying the Benefits of a Macro Diet 39

Chapter 4: Deciding if the Macro Diet Is Right for You 55

Part 2: Tracking Your Macros 67

Chapter 5: Setting Goals for Success 69

Chapter 6: Finding Your Optimal Macro Numbers 77

Chapter 7: Choosing the Best Macro Tracking Method for You 97

Part 3: Making the Macro Diet Work for You 113

Chapter 8: Planning for Success 115

Chapter 9: Monitoring Your Progress and Making Changes 139

Chapter 10: Creating Your Daily Menus 157

Part 4: Overcoming Obstacles 167

Chapter 11: Finding Support and Motivation 169

Chapter 12: Sticking to the Macro Diet When Eating Away from Home 181

Chapter 13: Consuming Alcohol on the Macro Diet 189

Part 5: Whipping Up Macro Diet Recipes 199

Chapter 14: Protein-Packed Smoothies 201

Chapter 15: Balanced Breakfasts to Fuel Your Day 215

Chapter 16: Savory Lunches and Dinners 227

Chapter 17: Desserts, Snacks, and Treats 247

Chapter 18: Make-Ahead Meal Prep Ideas 257

Part 6: The Part of Tens 273

Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Add Flavor to Protein (without Added Fat or Carbs!) 275

Chapter 20: Ten Grocery Shopping Tips for Macro Trackers 283

Chapter 21: Ten Macro-Balanced Snacks to Carry On-the-Go 289

Chapter 22: Ten Unexpected Benefits of Being on the Macro Diet 295

Metric Conversion Guide 301

Index 305

Textauszug

Chapter 1

Looking at the Big Picture of the Macro Diet

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding the basic concepts of macro tracking

Comparing the macro diet to other popular eating plans and diets

Understanding the role of calories and food choices in the macro diet

Seeing how the macro diet is here to stay

The macro diet is an approach to daily nutrition that helps you reach the goals that are important to you. It is a personalized system that allows you to reach both short- and long-term fitness, health, or weight-loss targets without the restriction required on many traditional diets.

Instead of imposing random calorie limits or eliminating certain types of food (or even entire food groups), this method allows you to build meals around the foods you enjoy — all of them.

If you have a type-A personality and you are a person who likes to be very specific in their eating plan, you can set up the diet so that every nutrient and calorie is measured and accounted for. You’ll be satisfied knowing that you are meeting very accurate and important targets each day.

But if you prefer a more laid-back approach to eating, you can still set and reach goals on this plan to enjoy more energy and balance throughout the day.

In this chapter, I explain the most basic concepts of the diet so that you can get a bird’s-eye view of the macro diet approach. I illustrate how this nutritional strategy compares to other weight-loss and diet plans so that you can make an informed choice about choosing the program. Finally, I address common questions about calories and food choices and show you how this program is grounded in well-tested nutritional science. After reading this chapter, my hope is that you will feel excited and energized about investing in a healthier new you.

Foundational Concepts of the Macro Diet

The macro diet isn’t one specific nutritional prescription but rather an approach to eating that can be customized for each individual. You may notice that the diet goes by different names when people in the media refer to it.

The macro diet is sometimes called “macro tracking” or “tracking your macros.” It has also been referred to as “the flexible diet” or “flexible dieting” because there are so many different ways to adapt the plan to align with your goals and lifestyle. Some people also call this the “IIFYM diet,” which stands for “if it fits your macros” or “IIMYM” which stands for “if it meets your macros.” All of these names refer to the same program of counting or tracking the macronutrients that you consume in the food that you eat.

The word “macro” is short for macronutrient. Macronutrients are nutritive components of food that your body needs to function. You might think of macros as the large foundational building blocks of nutrition.

MACRO VERSUS MICRONUTRIENTS

Macronutrients are the large building blocks of nutrition. But smaller building blocks are also important. These are called “micronutrients.” Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that your body also needs. For example, vitamin C, found in citrus fruit, is a micronutrient.

This book doesn’t cover the topic of micronutrients in great detail. But if you are interested in learning more about vitamins and minerals, I go over the basics in Chapter 2, which includes a list of important micronutrients along with a list of good sources.

What is most important for you to know is that eating a balanced macronutrient diet that includes a wide range of foods, especially fruits and vegetables, can help you to get the micronutrients that you need to stay healthy.

Three macronutrients exist, and you’ve probably heard of them. They are protein, carbohydrate, and fat. All three macros play an important — but different — role in your body’s daily processes.

• Protein provides your body with amino acids to help build and repair muscle and other tissues.
• Carbohydrates (also called “carbs”) are your body’s preferred energy source and help you to stay active and alert throughout the day.
• Fat provides insulation and protection for your organs and helps to support healthy cells.

Each gram of protein, fat, or carbohydrate has a specific function. (For more detail, see Chapter 2.) Each macronutrient gram also supplies the body with calories.

Calories are simply a unit of energy. Each one of us has a different caloric requirement based on factors like body size and activity level. Because macros provide calories, when you count your macros, you could say that you are counting calories. But what makes this program different is that the macro diet puts the emphasis on the type of calories that you consume. The later section “Considering Calories” explains this in more detail.

On the macro diet, you try to achieve specific intakes (in grams) for protein, fat, and carbohydrates rather than just counting the number of calories that you consume.

Different health and nutrition organizations provide guidelines for how much protein, fat, and carbs you should consume. But those recommendations are fairly broad. On the macro diet, you fine-tune the numbers according to your personalized needs.

The cornerstone of macro tracking is refining the percentages to get the optimal balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrate for your body. This allows you to function at your best to achieve whatever goals you’ve set, whether they are weight-loss goals, athletic goals, fitness goals, or general health and wellness goals.

Types of Macro Diets and Variations

A few different variations of the macro diet have become known in their own right, including the ketogenic diet and the Zone diet. You might be familiar with them. I don’t detail these macro diet variations in this book simply because each one requires that you follow a specific pre-designated ratio of nutrients. In this book, I show you how to figure out your own macro balance rather than following one that is already established.

Ketogenic diet

Also known as the keto diet or “going keto,” this variation of the macro diet puts the emphasis on fat consumption.

If you follow a ketogenic diet, you track your macronutrient intake, but you eat far more fat than protein or carbohydrates to put your body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis occurs when your body burns fat, rather than glucose, for fuel.

For many people, this eating plan sounds appealing because many desirable foods are high in fat, like french fries or ice cream. But many of those foods also contain high amounts of sugar or starch, which are carbohydrates. So, you’re not able to eat most of the foods that you might want to eat because they prevent you from getting into or maintaining ketosis.

On the keto diet, you consume macronutrients in proportions that fall outside of the guidelines recommended by health organizations like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). So while this eating program has a history of use in medical settings, inconsistent evidence supports its use for long-term weight loss, athletic performance, or overall wellness.

The Zone diet or 40-30-30

Dr. Barry Sears developed this eating plan that became popular in the 1990s. It is an eating plan based on counting macronutrients rather than counting calories. The diet has maintained a significant following since the ’90s and is now sold as a commercial diet plan. But many people use general zone principles as the basis for an eating program rather than signing up for the commercial plan.

On the Zone diet, you consume a 40-30-30 macro balance where 40 percent of your calories come from carbohydrates (like colorful veggies and fruit), 30 percent of your calories come from lean proteins (think fish, lean beef, or poultry), and 30 percent comes from healthy fats such as nuts, olive oil, or avocado.

The Zone diet differs from the macro diet described in this book because everyone on the Zone follows the same macro ratio. Whereas in this book, I show you how to base your ratios on your own personal needs.

IS THE MACRO DIET THE SAME AS THE MACROBIOTIC DIET?

Even though their names are similar, the macro diet and the macrobiotic diet are two different programs. The macro diet is based on the fact that you need to consume a balanced diet of three macronutrients. You tailor those macros to meet your own personalized needs.

On the macrobiotic diet you consume unprocessed organic foods. You avoid foods that are high in fat, processed, salty, or sugary, including dairy, meat, and eggs. Fans of the diet believe that this helps to achieve balance and harmony while removing toxins from the body.

The macrobiotic diet is considered to be a very stringent diet. The list of non-compliant foods is fairly substantial. On the macro diet, you’ll have much more leeway to make food choices that align with your goals.

While the Zone diet remains popular, it falls (slightly) short compared to recommended nutrition guidelines. USDA guidelines suggest that you consume at least 45 percent of your total daily calories from carbohydrates, whereas on this plan, you consume only 40...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.12.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Ernährung / Diät / Fasten
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Schlagworte: 40 30 30 plan • books about macronutrients • build muscle • diet book • diet guide • Gesundheit, Ernährung u. Diät • Gesundheits- u. Sozialwesen • Health & Social Care • Health, Diet & Nutrition • If It Fits Your Macros • IIFYM • macro diet • macro diet cookbook • macronutrient diet • Macronutrients • macronutrient tracking • macro recipes • Makro-Diät • Makronährstoff • weight loss • weight loss book
• ISBN-10: 1-394-21621-1 / 1394216211
• ISBN-13: 978-1-394-21621-5 / 9781394216215