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Chapter 6: What are Macros?

June 25, 2018 3 min read

Chapter 6: What are Macros?

Macros are short for macronutrients. They consist of three big nutrients namely fats, protein, and carbs. These three energy sources impact ketosis in your body.

As far as the keto diet goes, fats play the most important role. The keto diet requires you to consume fat instead of carbs. That’s the main thing.

To some extent, proteins are keto-friendly. While you can include foods that contain protein in your diet, make sure you keep it at moderate levels.

 

Why Should You Limit Your protein intake?

Some people think that the keto diet contains foods rich in protein, which is not true. Although Atkins give you the liberty to consume protein, make sure you stay within the limit. The reason is that too much protein can make it harder for you to shed weight. On the other hand, lack of it can trigger your appetite and muscle loss.

Your keto diet shouldn’t have too many carbohydrates. Similarly, you should say goodbye to sugars and processed carbs.

 

What You Should do:

  • You must restrict your carbs intake
  • You must restrict your protein intake

The keto diet contains a lot of fat, low amount of protein and carbs.

 

Your daily calories breakdown:

  • Your 60 to 70% of calories should come from fat
  • Your 15 to 30% of calories should come from protein
  • Your 5 to 10% of calories should come from carbohydrates.

 

Types of Fats

Keto diet contains foods that are rich in fat, but not all fats are equal. Make sure you read up on 4 types of fat.

You may include saturated fats in your diet. Some rich sources of these fats include red meat, whole milk, coconut oil, and butter. People think that all types of saturated fat are bad for health, but this is not always true.

The important thing is to read up on different sources that the saturated fat comes from. If the sources are healthy, such as grass-fed beef and coconuts, you are good to go.

It’s good to include monounsaturated fats in your keto diet. Some rich sources include nut oils, nuts, avocados, and olive oil, just to name a few. As a matter of fact, monounsaturated fats can be used to supplement or replace saturated fat. Plus, there will be no risk of harmful cholesterol.

You should be aware of Trans fats. They are produced when healthy oils are transformed into solids in order to increase their shelf lives. Many health diseases can occur because of the consumption of trans fats, such as diabetes, stroke, heart diseases, high cholesterol and many chronic conditions. The good news is that you can exclude them from your keto diet plan without any problem.

Essential fatty acids, such as omega-3 and omega-6 are important for cell membranes as they control the inflammatory responses and blood pressure. If you want to get omega 3 fatty acids, you should eat fish. As an alternative, you can have fish oil supplements. For omega-6s, you can consume nuts and seeds.

Now, let’s find out how you can monitor your ketones, carbs, and macros.

 

Tracking Macros

Understanding macros are not enough, you also need to maintain a balance of macros. How can you do that?

If you want to track macros in an effective manner, you may want to identify your goals. For instance, ask yourself if you want to shed some extra pounds, look better, develop muscle mass or look healthier. No matter what your goal may be. Make sure it’s clearly defined.

If you are looking for an easy way of tracking macros, you can try a keto calculator. Each aspect of the keto calculator is customizable based on your activity level, goals, and the amount of it you want to eat. The calculator is easy to use and can be customized based on your body type.

 


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