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But do youreallyneed to keep track of your intake of these nutrients?
Spoiler: It’s not the best idea for everyone.
What Are Macros?
“Everything the body does, from exercise to breathing, requires carbohydrates,” says McDaniel."
These loose guidelines can help you decide roughly how much space on your plate to dedicate to each macronutrient.
(TheUSDA offers an online calculatorthat gives you an estimate of your daily caloric need to maintain body weight.
Just remember that your needs change based on your activity level.)
“Are they custom-tailored for you to suit your needs, or was it a cookie-cutter formula?”
Then they can also educate you on what these numbers look like in terms of food."
There, you’ll be able to log your meals and see their nutritional profiles.
(Thisguide will teach you how to properly read a nutrition labelif you don’t know already.)
“If you’re putting in half a cup of brown rice, is it really half a cup?
“I argue we [already] have enough on our plates to add macro counting to it!”
So, Should You Calculate Your Macros?
“You don’t need macro counting to eat well,” says McDaniel.
(You might want toconsider stopping counting caloriestoo.)
