If you are trying to learn how to lose weight and keep it off, then chances are you have already stumbled across the importance of counting your macronutrients each day.
It is the new trend in the fitness industry.
But will counting macronutrients give you better weight loss results than counting your calories?
Today we'll run through the facts and get to the bottom of this issue.
Most first-time dieters have no idea what macronutrients actually are. Despite sounding like a technical term, it simply refers to the categories of food you consume each day. These are limited to protein, fat and carbs.
1. What Does Protein Do?
Protein serves a very important purpose if you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle. It's responsible for new muscle growth, making it a top priority macronutrient if you have started going to the gym. But protein will also help you to retain the muscle tissue you already have, as well as curbing your hunger cravings more than either fat and carbohydrates.
This makes protein your macronutrient of choice when it comes to snacks.
2. Why Do We Eat Fat?
Fat still suffers from the bad reputation it was unfairly given back in the 1980's. Back then, it was believed that eating fat caused us to store fat. After all, it shares the same name as the ugly thing you don't want sitting on top of your abs, right? However, research has since conclusively proven that fat - even the once dreaded saturated fat - has several key benefits and should definitely be a part of your daily diet. It will help regulate the release of key muscle building hormones like testosterone and cortisol.
3. What Do Carbs Do?
In the early part of the 21st century, celebrity culture made carbohydrates the new bad guy of the nutrition world. As fads like the Adkins diet took off, people all over the world were misled into believing that the human body stores excess fat every time we eat bread. Of course, this is untrue. Not only that, but carbohydrates play a vital role in any fitness routine, because without them you will have no energy to train!
So do not fall for the old hype of carbs being bad for you, nor the myth that suggests we should never eat carbohydrates in the evening time. Both of these have been disproven by science.
Now that you have a grasp on the jobs performed by each macronutrient, is simply counting your macros enough to guarantee you will lose weight?
Actually, calories are still king when it comes to weight loss.
Yes, optimizing your daily split of protein, fat and carbohydrates will lead to a superior diet and you will certainly enjoy better performance thanks to the roles played by each food group. But calories will still determine whether you are going to lose weight or gain weight.
Losing weight is all about calorie intake. While making changes to your macronutrient split will help your weight loss results, those results won't happen if you are still consuming too many calories per day.
It is the new trend in the fitness industry.
But will counting macronutrients give you better weight loss results than counting your calories?
Today we'll run through the facts and get to the bottom of this issue.
Most first-time dieters have no idea what macronutrients actually are. Despite sounding like a technical term, it simply refers to the categories of food you consume each day. These are limited to protein, fat and carbs.
1. What Does Protein Do?
Protein serves a very important purpose if you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle. It's responsible for new muscle growth, making it a top priority macronutrient if you have started going to the gym. But protein will also help you to retain the muscle tissue you already have, as well as curbing your hunger cravings more than either fat and carbohydrates.
This makes protein your macronutrient of choice when it comes to snacks.
2. Why Do We Eat Fat?
Fat still suffers from the bad reputation it was unfairly given back in the 1980's. Back then, it was believed that eating fat caused us to store fat. After all, it shares the same name as the ugly thing you don't want sitting on top of your abs, right? However, research has since conclusively proven that fat - even the once dreaded saturated fat - has several key benefits and should definitely be a part of your daily diet. It will help regulate the release of key muscle building hormones like testosterone and cortisol.
3. What Do Carbs Do?
In the early part of the 21st century, celebrity culture made carbohydrates the new bad guy of the nutrition world. As fads like the Adkins diet took off, people all over the world were misled into believing that the human body stores excess fat every time we eat bread. Of course, this is untrue. Not only that, but carbohydrates play a vital role in any fitness routine, because without them you will have no energy to train!
So do not fall for the old hype of carbs being bad for you, nor the myth that suggests we should never eat carbohydrates in the evening time. Both of these have been disproven by science.
Now that you have a grasp on the jobs performed by each macronutrient, is simply counting your macros enough to guarantee you will lose weight?
Actually, calories are still king when it comes to weight loss.
Yes, optimizing your daily split of protein, fat and carbohydrates will lead to a superior diet and you will certainly enjoy better performance thanks to the roles played by each food group. But calories will still determine whether you are going to lose weight or gain weight.
Losing weight is all about calorie intake. While making changes to your macronutrient split will help your weight loss results, those results won't happen if you are still consuming too many calories per day.
About the Author:
Ahead of starting your next weight loss plan, take some time to check out Russ Howe PTI's easy to follow guide on how to lose weight. By applying these tips, you will have your fitness performance improving very quickly indeed.
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