Everything You Need to Know About Fitness + Tips on Proper Nutrition

Health

When it comes to macros, everything is about the right balance.

What Is the Right Macro Ratio For Your Body?

The right balance and ratio of macronutrients really depends on the individual.

Generally speaking, endurance athletes tend to need more carbohydrates than weight lifters. For athletes, different parts of the competition cycle means different ratios of macros. Marathon runners tend to carboload a few days a week before their big race. Ultrarunners tend to focus on carbs pre-race and early in the race and then move onto more fats later in the competition. Though everyone needs fat for brain and hormonal health, healthy fats tend to be especially important for woman.

Start With Your Daily Calorie Needs

Calculating your basal metabolic rate (BMR) can be a helpful guide to figure out how much energy your body uses and therefore, how many calories you need just to stay alive. Then taking into consideration your activity level, you can figure out your daily calorie target. This is of course just a general guide, your body may need a bit more or less depending on your metabolism, health conditions and individual body in general.

To Calculate Your BMR Use The Mifflin St. Jeor Equation

For men: BMR = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) + 5
For women: BMR = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) – 161

To Calculate Your Daily Calorie Needs Use the Harris Benedict Formula

If you are sedentary (very little to no exercise): your daily calories = your BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active (light exercise/light movement 1-3 days/week): your daily calories = your BMR x 1.375
If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): your daily calorie needs = your BMR x 1.55
If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): you daily calories = your BMR x 1.725
If you are extremely active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job and/or training twice a day): your daily calories = your BMR x 1.9

If you don’t want to do the math, there are plenty of online calculators out there for you.

Break It Down To Macros

Once you’ve figured out your daily calorie target, you can break it down into macronutrient ratios. You don’t have to be a nutritionist or a math genius to do this. There are plenty of online calculators and apps out there to plug your daily food intake in to calculate your macro ratios. You can plug in individual ratios to check the data for unprocessed and simple foods.

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