3 Reasons macro calculators aren’t helpful and why I never recommend them
Please never, ever, ever use a macro or calorie calculator. If you’ve ever been on a health or weight loss journey I can almost guarantee you’ve used a calculator to help you determine how much you should eat. And I can also almost guarantee that the calorie or macro goal the calculator gave you is the reason you didn’t hit your goals.
I can say this because not only have I used macro calculators and had them fail me, but I’ve talked to hundreds of women who have tried using them too! Most of the women who come to me tell me about trying to use calorie counters and no matter how well they stuck to the calories, they still didn’t see the results they wanted.
There are a lot of reasons I can’t stand macro calculators, but I want to address just three today because I believe these three reasons not only keep mamas like you stuck but they don’t teach you how to live a healthy life once you get to the point where you don’t want to track anymore.
Macro calculators don’t start you where you’re at
One of my biggest beefs with macro calculators, or any calorie counter, is that they give you numbers based on where you want to be but not where you’re at right now.
Think about the last time you used a macro calculator. You probably entered your current weight, goal weight, age and sex, and how much weight you wanted to lose a week. The macro calculator spat out some numbers and you started trying to hit those numbers.
That’s the way it works, right?
Well, that’s not how real macro tracking works.
Macro calculators give you numbers that you need to work towards, not where you need to start. Because calorie calculators don’t ask you where you’re at right now.
For example, if you’re eating 2,500 calories right now and then you say you want to drop 20 lbs, a calorie calculator is going to tell you to eat something crazy like 1,200 calories. That’s a huge jump. You can’t make that jump in a day, it needs to be done slowly over time so that you don’t mess up your metabolism - or your mindset around healthy eating.
Before you use a macro calculator to determine how much food you should eat to lose weight, you need to know how much you’re eating now. Then you can use that calculation as a goal and you can slowly decrease your calories so that you don’t go crazy making such a big jump!
Macro calculators don’t teach you how or when to change your macros
A huge misconception people have with macros and even calorie tracking is that there is a magic number that you’re supposed to be at all the time. However, the beauty of macro tracking is that your macro goals change throughout the year.
You shouldn’t be in cut numbers year-round, even if you’re trying to lose weight! If you’ve tried tracking your macros before and it didn’t work, I bet this is why! You thought you needed to stay in a deficit to lose or maintain your weight.
However, there are four different stages of macro tracking and you should move through those 4 stages throughout the year to optimize your results!
The coolest part is that you probably don’t even need to be in a deficit to lose weight! I start most of my clients with a reverse. In a reverse, we increase calories and most mamas end up losing weight during this time.
After you’ve reversed up into your maintenance calories, but if you still want to lose weight then you can go into a deficit. If you have other health goals, like building muscle, you can also go into a surplus. In a surplus, you are purposefully eating more calories than you burn so that you can put on weight.
However, you still are eating in a focused manner. I don’t want you to put on more fat than is necessary, so we focus on eating food that builds muscle and I like to make sure my clients are working out so they can build muscle instead of storing fat.
Long story short, macro tracking is about more than just counting macros. It’s about learning how to eat throughout the year so that you can hit any type of health goal you set for yourself.
Macro calculators are one-size-fits-all
I want to tell you a little bit about my weight loss journey and why macro calculators and other one-size-fits-all tools failed me.
When I was 27 years old and had just had my first baby (where I gained 65 pounds while growing her,) I didn’t have the first clue about how to get my body back.
In a desperate attempt to feel better, I tried any diet that promised me results. I went through,
HCG
17-day diet
Working out for 90 mins a day, 6 days a week
Juicing
Paleo
Low Carb
High Protein
Isagenix
None of it worked. I busted my, now 3x bigger, booty off and never got the results I wanted. They all left me feeling broken, desperate and worse off than before. I felt like a complete and total failure.
I kept trying these cookie-cutter diets because that’s what I had been taught to do. I kept trying to fit into those square molds, but it turns out I wasn’t a square. I was a star! I was never going to fit those molds.
My next "diet" was macro tracking! Where I wasn’t told that I had to do x,y, and z to lose weight. Instead, I got nutritional goals that fit my life, my likes and dislike and my health goals.
My coach taught me a new way to look at food. How to make good choices when I was at home or when I was out. I learned how to incorporate foods I liked into my diet and stopped eating the diet foods that made me gag! I started working out because I enjoyed it! Not because I had eaten something bad and needed to punish myself.
I learned how to be a healthy star-shaped mama because I gave up on trying to fit into a mold that was made for someone else.
As we’ve already discussed, a macro calculator doesn’t consider your whole wellness journey when it gives you macro goals. You’re just a number to it and it treats you like one.
Sweet mama, I want to help you reach your goals in a healthy, sustainable way. I want to give you your star-shaped mold that fits your goals, your needs and your likes and dislikes.
If you’re tired of feeling stuck in another diet that is making you miserable, then let’s chat. Schedule a free discovery call and we’ll work together to create a plan that is individualized to you and your weight goals.
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