3 Reasons You Need to Track Macros

The keys to unlocking your nutrition powerhouse for hypertrophy

Photo by logan jeffrey on Unsplash

What you don’t know truly can hurt you. But on the other hand, sometimes you honestly don’t know what you really don’t know.

As a female weight lifter, I didn’t know the missing key ingredient in my workout routine. As it turns out gaining muscle is more than just protein shakes alone. Add to the fact that I didn’t have good people teaching me either. I didn’t have positive role models. I had bad trainers at retail-chain gyms who also didn’t have the proper knowledge. The struggles to get results were real.

I heard things like “eat whatever you want but don’t forget your protein” or “ just grab a protein shake and you’re good to go”. To the gym rats where I was a member, protein was the holy grail of hypertrophy. To a certain extent, it is. But, it’s not THE only component of building strong, lean muscle.

But what’s this “hypertrophy” word you talk about? Glad you asked! Muscle hypertrophy is the increase in muscle fiber accompanied by an increase in muscle volume and mass. Hypertrophy occurs in response to a higher load on muscles, usually through weight lifting.

Needless to say, after years of floundering and struggles, I walked away from my athletic dreams. Nothing was working. I completely stopped weight lifting. That was back in 2013.

Fast forward to today, the year 2021, I picked up my weights again and went back to weight lifting. Only this time, I was in the comfort of my home and not at a gym. As I relaunched my athletic endeavors, I started researching more about nutrition and how to properly fuel an athlete’s body. After all, this is what my younger and former self wanted but couldn’t achieve.

Through sifting of the endless sea of information on the world wide web, there was a new word I never heard of before. Macros.

As I started following other female weight lifters who had the results I’ve always wanted, they all said that word. Macros.

As I wondered why this one word was so important, I rummaged through the vault of my brain. I recalled that even in my nutrition class as an undergraduate in nursing, I never heard the word “macro” mentioned. Strange.

Turns out, macros are comprised of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Proteins build, while carbs and fats provide energy and fuel. In my previous workout life, my world revolved around carbohydrates because I was told by “experts” to eat whatever I wanted (enter head slap here).

But regardless, macros were the missing key of information I never knew until April of this year. The next phase was to better understand this term and how to apply it to my weight lifting endeavors.

But why are they called “macronutrients”? Glad you asked! Because they’re the nutrient sources of foods needed in the largest quantities to maintain all proper body systems and functions.

And yes, you need to track macros. Intuitive eating doesn’t work. Eating whatever you want doesn’t work. I have learned that in order to achieve great results in terms of hypertrophy, the foods you eat need to be tracked and accounted for. By not tracking your food, you are sabotaging your goals and results.

No, it’s not easy. Yes, it’s a pain in the ass. But what results do you want? Anything worth doing is never easy.

“Fitness is like a relationship. You can’t cheat and expect it to work” — Unknown

The three reasons you need to track your macros (proteins, carbs, and fats)so you can unlock the nutritional potential towards hypertrophy include:

Reason #1 — Improved Body Composition

There are many reasons why people work out and exercise. For me, it’s hypertrophy — to build muscle, to transform into an athletic body. And no, muscle doesn’t grow overnight; to my dismay. If you want to improve your body composition and are serious about your results, you’re going to need to track your food and macros.

But what is body composition? Simply put, it’s what makes up your body. Most commonly, it’s fat-mass (all the fat tissue in your body) and fat-free mass (everything else, muscle, organs, bone, and fluid). The overall goal, for most people including those chasing hypertrophy, is to decrease fat mass and increase muscle mass. And to my further dismay, this is also not a cut-and-dry process.

While protein really is the most important of the three macros, all three work in tandem to properly fuel your body for optimal results. All three are needed, regardless of your particular eating plan. Protein is needed to build muscle, while carbs and fats are required for energy and fuel.

Can body composition be tracked, like tracking macros? I do believe so, but it’s not exactly the same. You can take progress pictures along your transformation journey. And yes, it’s uncomfortable AF! I personally hate taking progress pictures. But it does provide a clear snapshot of what and where visible progress is being made.

You can also take measurements. Measure your body metrics. This means as your muscles grow, measure them. Measure your waist. Measure your biceps. Measure your hips and thighs. Measure the girth of your chest. No, this is not vain or ignorant, or even egotistical as some people might imagine. This is quantified and helpful data when it comes to transforming your body composition to see the progress being made.

And if you really want to add fuel to the fire, post your progress journey on your social media page! I do this as well, and it’s also awkward AF (especially if you’re introverted, like me). But comfort is the enemy of growth.

By documenting progress and posting online, it does a few things:

1. It shows you’re a real person with a goal.
2. It keeps you motivated because you might silently be helping someone else.
3. It’s sharing with the rest of the world that anyone with no special talents, but has a dream, can do it!

There is no special talent or magic pill that will change your body composition (if there was, I’d probably be taking that pill by now). It DOES require dedication, focus, and perseverance. None of which are easy. And as I previously stated, nothing worth doing is every easy.

But as you track your progress through pictures and see your results, that will fuel your fire to keep moving the needle forward.

Reason #2 — Quality vs Quantity

It’s not about how much you eat, but rather what you eat. The quality of food you consume matters greatly in order to properly fuel your body before, during, and post-workout.

I’ll use carbs as my example in this section. There are good quality carbs and bad quality carbs. Both are readily available anywhere (albeit I’ll argue that poor quality carbs are more ‘in your face’ today than high-quality carbs, but that’s a different story for a different day).

High-quality and complex carbs will get you better results than poor-quality carbs. You will feel a difference in your body. As you become more accountable for what you consume, your body will change and react accordingly.

What are some quick examples of each? Glad you asked!

High-quality carbs include things like fruits and vegetables (apples, bananas, sweet potatoes), 100% whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, oats), unsweetened dairy products (greek yogurt).

Poor-quality carbs (aka “simple carbs”) are foods that are high in calories, low in essential nutrients, and are both processed and refined. Think mass-produced and manufactured foods. These foods will not help you achieve your healthiest body or hypertrophy goals.

The best carbs you can possibly choose for your health and hypertrophy endeavors are the ones you’ll eat in their ‘closest-to-nature’ state. People who aren’t used to eating high-quality foods will always chase the quantity. Let that sink in.

When you track your macros, you can see both the quality and quantity of the foods you are consuming with each meal.

Reason #3 — Accountability

Accountability is another word for responsibility. Simply put, you’re responsible for what you are putting in and fueling your body for your workouts. You can’t “eat whatever you want” in order to build lean, healthy muscle. As I’ve learned, it doesn’t work that way. Poptarts and processed foods aren’t healthy options when building healthy, lean muscle. But whole foods and overnight oats are. There’s a big difference.

Being accountable allows you to have a plan for better results. It helps you to see what you’re putting in your mouth by being able to go back and look at your tracking program. Tracking can be accomplished in different ways. The two basic things you can do are to either keep a food log or journal, or track in an app (which is what I do).

If you‘re tracking on an app, find one that is suitable for your planning and organizational needs. There are so many options today that it’s almost an excuse not to find one suitable to your needs.

Logging and meal planning food ahead of time also helps greatly to get your results and remain on track. This way, you’re not guessing each day what you’re going to eat and you can plan to stay within the confines of your planned macros and calories.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” — Ben Franklin

Funny enough, I completely resisted tracking my food when I went back to lifting weights. I thought, “this is ridiculous. Who does this shit? I have OCD, and tracking food will drive me crazy”. I didn’t track my food for four months. By late August, I started slowly tracking my foods to see if there really would be a difference. Sure enough, there was.

At that point, I took it more seriously. And it didn’t drive me crazy. In fact, my OCD embraced it. I am having great success in staying on target and seeing what I eat on a daily basis.

When you use a food tracking app and plug in your specific macro ratios, your daily caloric intake will automatically be calculated. It’s that simple.

I’ll use myself as an example:

This is a snapshot of my personal macro and caloric intake per day, so I can reach my hypertrophy goals. I plugged in my macro numbers, and the caloric intake was automatically calculated. It really is that simple.

Please know that these numbers are based on working with a certified nutrition coach, my current weight, and my fitness goals. They’re not random numbers, but intentional.

The good news is… it’s working!

Key Takeaways

• Success in fitness and nutrition is long-term. It requires a lifestyle change and a mental shift. Hypertrophy doesn’t occur overnight or in a vacuum.
• Nutrition is a key component of any successful fitness regimen, regardless of your goals. There’s that saying “abs are made in the kitchen”. It’s true.
• Macros are comprised of protein, fats, and carbohydrates.
• It’s important to track macros when you have fitness and weight training goals. By tracking macros, you are setting yourself up for success to achieve the results you desire.
• Tracking macros does three things:

1. Helps provide a framework for improved body composition
2. Shows the various foods you are eating… you can see if you are eating bad foods versus whole foods, and make appropriate adjustments
3. Provides accountability

• As you incorporate macro tracking into your health and fitness lifestyle, it becomes automatic. You’ll find you have more control over what you eat which will help you achieve the results you desire.

You just read another post from In Fitness And In Health: a health and fitness community dedicated to sharing knowledge, lessons, and suggestions to living happier, healthier lives.

If you’d like to join our newsletter and receive more stories like this one, tap here.