If you want to hone a healthy lifestyle and make yourself fit, you need to curate a macro diet plan for your food intake.
Maybe you want to get rid of extra body fat or want to put on some fat. You might be thinking about where to start?
Some of your friends may go to a gym so you decide to join them or some people advised you to do yoga early in the morning to lead an exuberant life.
These all things are important but unless you hit the right spot, you won’t make yourself fit and sound. That one factor is counting your macronutrients intake while eating.
What are macronutrients?
Nutrients are those compounds necessary for our life and well-being. They are basic building blocks of our body and helps it grow and nourish by regulating chemical processes.
The Food we eat contains nutrients and nutrients provide us energy measured in calories and kilocalories. Micro and macro are two fundamental types of nutrients.
Macronutrients or macros are compounds found majorly inside our bodies and are a major part of our food intake. These are the biochemicals we need to take in large quantities.
Macronutrients play a pivotal role in our physical make-up. These are three in number and are known as:
- Proteins
- Fats
- Carbohydrates
What are carbs?
Carbohydrates are the biomolecules containing derivatives of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen commonly found in all types of foods. They are present in fruits, grains, legumes, and milk in the form of sugars, starch, and fibers.
What is the digestion process of Carbs?
The process of digestion starts from the mouth because the saliva contains an amylase enzyme that triggers the process of breaking down food.
After digestion, the carbohydrates are converted into glucose. This glucose is a source of energy and is used by different parts of the body for example your brain needs instant energy in the form of glucose.
With that said, you should keep Carbs intake in check because some unbalanced carbohydrates may cause diseases like diabetes.
A person with high blood sugar has hyperglycemia and a person with lower blood sugar leads to hypoglycemia.
What are fats?
These are some of the most vital parts of your diet. They are high storage of energy found inside our bodies. Fats are chemically lipids and oils formed by the esterification of glycerol and fatty acids.
Found as saturated and unsaturated fats inside the body. Being in a liquid state, unsaturated fats are good for health.
Saturated fats are solids at room temperature and are found in artificial or canned foods, margarine, cheese, butter, etc.
Fat intake greatly affects the cholesterol inside the body. Cholesterol is itself not a bad thing but bad cholesterol increases inside the body, clogs arteries, causes heart issues, increases blood pressure, and becomes a host of chronic diseases.
How fats are digested inside the body?
Fats eaten get dissolved with saliva where the process of digestion starts. Then it enters the stomach where the lipase enzyme acts as an emulsifier.
This emulsification is further increases the conversion of fats from triglycerides into diglycerides and simpler fats.
What are proteins?
Proteins are complex molecules formed by the polymerization of amino acids. Amino acids are building blocks of life as they combine to form almost all structures of the body from bones to hair.
They are commonly found in meat, seeds, nuts, seafood, and eggs.
There are 9 essential amino acids that we cannot produce inside our body so we need carbohydrates for proper synthesis.
Proteins help in the development of the body and cells and are responsible for recovery against any disease or accident.
How does our body digest protein?
Inside the stomach, protease an enzyme digests the protein. From there, HCL acid breaks it down into a large chain of polypeptides and amino acids.
The pancreas releases enzymes and bicarbonate buffers to further neutralize the amino acids and helps digestion.
What is the ideal amount of macronutrients?
There isn’t a standard ratio of carbs, proteins, and fats for a fit body because every person has different body make-up and different preferences from others. However, generally acceptable ranges are:
Carbohydrates: 45-65% daily calories
Fats: 20-35% daily calories
Proteins: 10-35% daily calories
How to calculate your macro diet plan?
There are two ways to calculate your required macros.
If you are not good at maths like me, you need a calculator for calculating macros. In this way, you will only give the required information and in return get your macro diet plan.
Manually, you can do calculations and get your required macros for a fitness diet plan as:
First of all, know the number of calories you should take daily to make yourself fit.
- Let’s say you have decided to take 2500 calories per day.
- Determine your carbs, proteins, and fats ratio.
- Let’s say you have decided to take 50% carbs, 25% proteins, and 25% fats.
- Multiply the percentages with total calories to get the specific calories for each macronutrient.
- Then, divide the calories obtained by the calories per gram.
- You will get your diet plan of macros.
Why calculating macros is better than calculating calories?
While you can cut the extra food intake and make your body fit by deducing or inducing calories in your diet but no specific food guarantee you the right calorie intake.
However, researches have shown that macros specify the right amount of calories and should be incorporated in place of calories.
A major advantage of counting your macros instead of calories is that it includes at least some essential foods that your body needs daily.
Therefore, it appears as a more direct approach to making yourself sound whether you want to lose weight or gain muscle.
Summing up:
The overriding routine and social media have kept us away from proper food and exercise. People are so engrossed in technology and office work that they have forgotten to take care of themselves.
If you want to become fit then you need to cut down your macros intake. You can do this by creating a macro diet plan.