Macronutrients

Primer on what macronutrients are and how you can use them to build an optimal diet plan.

When I first began my quest in cleaning up my diet, I tried to follow an If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) or flexible dieting approach. Figuring out IIFYM helped me understand how to categorize foods and count calories, which gave me the foundational knowledge I needed to build and test different diet strategies and determine what approach works best for me.

IIFYM is centered on the macronutrients of food: Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats.

Here’s an incomplete list of macro sources to give you a better idea:

• Protein: fish, chicken, beef, eggs, lentils, tofu
• Carbs:
  • Simple (usually processed/packaged foods): cookies, pastries, bagels, crackers, cereal, candy
  • Complex: fruit, sweet potatoes, rice, oatmeal
• Fats: avocado, olive oil, salmon, nuts, cooking oils

Every gram of macronutrients is equivalent to a certain amount of calories:

• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories