The Keto Diet Vs. the Macro Diet: Which One is Better?
Valuable lessons learned by doing both
The topic of diets and nutrition is such a “barb wire” and controversial conversation. It’s a passion-filled topic as there are so many different “diets” available. Those who follow a specific dietary lifestyle with success are passionate creatures and want to share and declare their good news.
Selecting the dietary lifestyle that’s best suited for you can be challenging. We’ve all heard the stories of people declaring they’ve tried every diet under the sun, where some worked and some didn’t.
Sometimes, you just have to try a few different methods until you find the best one suited for your body.
In the last few years, I tried two. One was successful. One was sort of successful but left me feeling horrible. From this experience, I learned a lot about myself and how my body responds to certain foods.
Knowing and recognizing how your body responds to food is crucial information. Pay attention to the cues your body gives you. The signals are there for a reason.
Perhaps you're floating in the same boat; You’ve experimented with a few different methods to find your nutritional “thing.” If it’s an unconventional method, that’s okay too.
This article will break down two diets: Keto and Macro. I’ll share what worked and didn’t work, the one I’m going back to, and why.
The Ketogenic Diet
I tried the ketogenic diet as a last-ditch effort to get rid of my lifelong migraines. I started this journey during the Thanksgiving week of November 2019. I learned about the ketogenic diet through a documentary called “The Magic Pill.” Before this, I had never heard of it.
I gave keto a go and found it worked well for me.
What worked:
- Low carbohydrates — migraine brains are sensitive to carbs
- Cutting out all refined sugars and processed foods
- Getting my brain to be fat-adapted
- A significant decrease in my migraine days
- Increased energy
- Better cognitive functioning (clearer thoughts, no brain fog)
- Some extra pounds came off (without conscious effort)
I’m not writing to try and sell someone on the ketogenic diet. There are many different variations, as with most dietary options. You have to find the one that works best for you and your lifestyle.
If vegan works for you, great! If paleo or carnivore works best for you, have at it! If keto or the low-carb lifestyle works, keep going! Each diet has pros and cons. Find what works and dismiss the outside noise.
What didn’t work:
I can honestly say that I adapted well to a ketogenic diet. I was okay with cutting out most carbohydrates. So for me, there’s not any single thing that stood out that didn’t work. For me, keto just worked.
Most people struggle with the thought of cutting out carbohydrates. They can’t imagine life without bread, pasta, some sort of potato, and sugar.
Regardless of the results you’re trying to achieve, you have to find some substitutes. For example, find a lower-carb and less refined option if you want bread. They’re out there and available. The same is true for pasta; find a better option that’s less processed or find a substitute (zoodles are actually delicious). And there are far better options for refined cane sugar (like Stevia, Monk fruit, or Truvia).
Keto and athletes:
With the ketogenic diet, the goal is to consume more fats, a moderate amount of proteins, and keep carbohydrates at or below 50g daily. This is where people go off the rails… 50g of carbohydrates ‘seems’ too low.
The Standard American/Western diet is heavy in processed carbohydrates, fats, and sugar and low in proteins. It’s high in poor-quality foods in mass quantities. Yet sadly, this type of diet has been maintained and pushed for decades. The result of maintaining the Western Diet is poor health outcomes. This has been proven time and time again.
Recently, I’ve been looking at various athletes and their diets. Each one I’ve read about doesn’t follow any generalized diet, let alone the Western Diet. Instead, their diets are specific to the level of their training regimen. Depending on the type of sport and energy expenditure involved, their carbohydrate intake demands may be higher. But, not all athletes partake in consuming sick amounts of carbohydrates to meet their energy needs.
Fact: Carbohydrates are a fuel source for the body.
Also fact: so are fats.
What I found was that high-performing/elite athletes do follow a low-carb or ketogenic lifestyle. While they’re few, far, and in between, they exist. And their results speak for themselves.
These athletes have energy, are muscularly well defined, and perform at the top of their game.
So I argue and challenge the long-held and deeply ingrained belief that high carbohydrate intake alone is primarily needed for optimal energy performance and expenditure. You can do that with fat as your fuel source as well.
Keto and/or low-carb diets are viable options for athletic endeavors.
The Macro Diet
The macro diet uses tracking to see what you’re consuming daily. Specifically, you’re monitoring proteins, fats, and carbohydrates — the three primary macronutrients. These macronutrients are adjusted based on your overall fitness and health goals and can be adjusted accordingly to your energy demands.
There are many apps available that can help with tracking macros. Some of the most popular macro tracking apps are MyFitness Pal (what I used), Cronometer, MacrosFirst, and CarbManager.
The Macro diet is not a bad diet, per se. I gave it a good shot for eight months, but it didn’t sit well with me. Oddly enough, my intuition told me this was the wrong option for my body. Yet I continued to ignore that instinct.
I understand where tracking macros are good, especially when starting your journey. And I wrote about that topic when I first started the macro diet, and why it was important to track macros.
However, tracking gets tedious and regimented and can honestly take away from the simple pleasure of food itself. It’s a personal preference and is not mandatory to do regardless of what lifestyle you follow. It’s just another tool in the nutritional toolbox.
Over time, you get used to knowing what to eat for your body. The body adapts. It’s okay to let go of the tracking.
What worked:
- Seeing what I was eating throughout the day
- being accountable for how much I was putting in my body (a good lesson)
- Planning and prepping meals ahead of time (removes the guesswork)
- Learned to stay within my macro boundaries (+/- 5g in each category)
What didn’t work:
Because I weight lift, I was told to eat more carbs if I wanted muscle. So I did. I ignored the fact that my body was happy being fat-adapted, and I was building muscle while maintaining a keto lifestyle.
What didn’t work for me was the higher levels of carbohydrates. Over time, this didn’t abode well for my brain and body.
Come January 2022, my macro profile consisted of 243g of carbohydrates, 145g of proteins, and 69g of fat based on recommendations from coaches in a program I was involved in at that time. And over two months, I experienced massive brain fog and horrendous fatigue (luckily, no migraines).
Carbs are carbs. As far as I’m aware and have read, the body doesn’t distinguish between dried apricots, fresh apples, bread, or rice; it processes them all as carbohydrates. But my brain knew what was up.
I also gained some “fluff” back. This didn’t sit well with me. I was told, “you have to put on fat (‘bulk’) so you can later ‘cut’ and burn off the fat to reveal the lean muscle you built.”
I think this statement is just utter bullsh*t. This is straight-up old, archaic thinking. And yes, it’s highly debatable throughout the fitness industry.
I did some deep dives into the research based on that statement. As it turns out, you can do a “lean bulk” (aka clean bulk) while shedding unwanted fat. It can be done, and it’s healthier for your body. If weight lifting is your thing, continually cycling in and out of the bulk and cutting phases (aka “dirty bulking”) are not healthy options.
Just because it’s been done in the past doesn’t mean it’s right for you. Stay away from the “we’ve always done it that way” mentality. It’s toxic.
The Biggest Lesson Learned
Both these diets worked in their own ways. Neither one is right or wrong. However, one worked better for me than the other.
I switched from the keto diet to the macro diet without doing my due diligence and research, but instead listened to those who knew nothing about me and why I chose keto in the first place.
I did the macro-based diet because I was told that was the best option for building muscle, and I needed carbohydrates for fuel. I listened because I was second-guessing myself and thought I was learning from people who knew more than me. I discounted the fact that I know myself better than anyone else. I ignored my health-based training and strong capability to do sound evidence-based research.
I got caught up in all the bullsh*t that the fitness industry abundantly offers. I listened to people who were ego-driven and not science-driven. I did this for eight months.
In November 2021, I signed up for a “program” because I doubted myself. I thought I needed help to get the results I wanted. I questioned my ability to get results. I signed up for a program that provided information via online modules and with no personal training.
The “coaching” part of the program came by way of zoom meetings. You submitted your information online via a question-based form and submitted progress pictures. You selected which specific date and time you wanted to attend via zoom. During the coaching call, every participant had their audio and video muted and turned off by the two “VIP coaches,” who would field participants one at a time. You couldn’t see anyone, even the coaches, but only heard the conversations.
At first, I was okay with this style. But as time went on, I learned this is not an optimal way to “coach” people. It was super awkward. The very few coaching sessions I did attend ended in frustration and more questions.
After the last coaching session I attended in March, I said this is bullsh*t and not helping. It was just another fitness program that’s okay with taking someone’s money.
Of note here, if you wanted “one-on-one” with a said VIP coach, you had to pay even more money (ranging from $2K to $5K) to get that kind of coaching. There was no access to the individual who created the program.
The individual who created this program was a sworn hater of all things ketogenic. Yet I found it very odd that for someone who hated keto so much, there were keto-based food options on some of her training menus.
So while a diet filled with carbohydrates (bread, pasta, sugar, etc.) may work for some, it doesn’t abode well for my body or brain. This was a big lesson.
While I didn’t get a migraine when my carbohydrates were bumped up, I did experience massive brain fog and fatigue for months.
By the end of March, as I was finishing a 30-day “macro challenge” (just to say I could correctly track my macros), I looked at every possible angle as to why I felt like a dump truck ran me over. I traced it back to the high intake of carbs. This was an eye-opening moment. I wasn’t eating junk carbs, but it was at enough of a level to impact my brain and cognitive health.
I walked away from that “program” because it did more harm than good. I paid a lot of money for the program and faithfully stuck with it for four months. And in that short time, I realized my body and brain are different and have different requirements.
It was a hard, sort of expensive, and difficult lesson learned. But it was a much-needed lesson.
Find your tribe.
Surround yourself with like-minded fitness and nutrition people, even with the small details. Never ignore your body and the cues it sends.
Even though the female athlete I followed hated keto, I looked past that fact and tried to fit myself in her program. “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion,” I thought. However, it didn’t work.
The deeper I got into the program, this athlete’s true hate, for something I believed in, came to light as she spewed her detest for the ketogenic lifestyle all across her social media channels. It also started cropping up in the Facebook “support group,” where other people “tried and failed” the ketogenic diet. This only further fanned and fueled the keto-bashing fire.
Don’t let others pitch their negative beliefs to you. There’s already enough ignorance and disrespect in the world. You don’t need that kind of bullsh*t and stress when you’re already working hard to achieve a health goal.
If something works well for you, keep doing it and just walk away from the haters. They’re not your people.
For myself, keto worked best for my brain and body. I’m staying within the realms of a low-carb and ketogenic diet. I do have athletic endeavors and goals to reach and recognize that some healthy carbs need to be utilized. This may be an unconventional approach. But I’m also unconventional, and that’s okay.
Key Takeaways
Selecting the dietary lifestyle that’s best suited for you can be challenging. Knowing your body and what your health goals are can help you decide.
There’s no “right” or “wrong” diet plan. The one that works best for your body is what you should go with.
Don’t listen to the outside noises if something works well for you.
The macro and keto diets are different. The macro diet specifically tracks the three primary macros: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. The macro diet is relatively adjustable to individual needs and goals. The ketogenic diet focuses on nutrition that’s heavier in fats, moderate protein, and carbohydrate intake <50g.
Fats are also a fuel source, especially for the brain (carbohydrates can’t take all the credit).
Different apps are available and can help with your nutritional tracking needs (both for macros and keto).
Nutritional tracking is a personal preference.
Thank you for reading! I hope you find this information helpful in your health journey.
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