Food Tip Friday

Counting Macros Week #4

Minor Adjustments

What do you do if the calories and macros you are following aren’t leading to results or you hit a plateau?

First, let’s establish what a “healthy” rate of progress is after a few weeks of following your plan.

For fat loss:

0.5-1lb per week for women.
0.75-1.25lb per week for men.

For muscle gain:

0.25-0.5% of your bodyweight in lbs of muscle gained per month.
Weight gain should be at about 1lb per week.

For performance: (tough one to measure because of different variables, ex: stress, overtraining, not sleeping well)

Are you recovering from exercise?
How are your energy levels for exercise? At work?

Next, there are many considerations when making adjustments. If you are using a coach use the their recommended adjustments. If you’re taking a DIY approach here is the simplest approach you can take to find what works for you:

If you aren’t losing weight, drop your food intake by 100 calories. Keep your protein constant and remove some carb and fat. If you are losing weight too quickly, add 100 calories from protein and carbohydrate. If you aren’t gaining mass add 100 calories from carb and protein. If you aren’t feeling recovered, try adding in 25g of carbohydrates. After making a minor adjustment, observe for at least 10 days to see whether your weight trend begins moving at the correct speed. You can adjust in 100 calorie intervals until you are progressing at the right speed.