What are Macros, and Should You Count Them?

You may have heard of macros before, especially in reference to the ketogenic diet—but what are macros? And, more importantly, why do macros in food matter? Though there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to macros, these food building blocks can help you reach your weight management goals and improve your overall health and wellness.

What are macros in food?

“Macros” is the shortened term for macronutrients—the fat, protein and carbohydrates that make up a food’s composition and help you create energy. You can find them listed on the nutrition facts panel of most foods, or by using calorie counting apps and calculators.

Macronutrients are not to be confused with micronutrients, the key vitamins and minerals your body needs in smaller quantities to do everything from regulating hormones to brain performance. Macros are also different from a macrobiotic diet, a fad diet with principles drawn from Zen Buddhism.

Gram for gram, macronutrients are responsible for the calorie count in your food. One gram of carbohydrates provides 4 calories, one gram of protein provides 4 calories and one gram of fat provides 9 calories. Alcohol is also considered a macronutrient and provides 7 calories per gram, but it adds no nutritional value to your body and is not included in most macro calculations.

When you follow a macro diet, you go beyond counting calories and focus on tracking macros in food. Depending on your health goals, you can adjust the ratios of macronutrients you consume to maintain a healthy weight, build muscle or even kick-start ketosis.

Is counting calories the same as counting macros?

Counting the number of calories you eat is not the same as tracking your macronutrients. The calories in, calories out approach (CICO) alone won’t tell you the balance of fat, carbohydrates and protein in the foods you eat.

Macros zero in on the composition of your daily calories so you can alter each one for the most healthful impact. For example, maybe you aren’t eating enough protein. Or you may unknowingly get 70% of your total calorie intake from carbs on CICO. You’ll feel radically different if that 70% comes from quality fats. With tracking, you can understand the source of the imbalance and adjust accordingly.

Some people count total calories so they can eat fewer calories overall and hit a lower calorie goal. The problem is that under-eating won’t lead to meaningful, sustainable results over time. If you want to track what you eat, counting macronutrients can be a more productive approach to achieving your health goals.

Plus, when you focus on the quality and ratio of your macros, you can increase your fat-burning potential (and even build muscle mass) while naturally regulating how many calories you consume.

What are the macros for keto?

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carb style of eating. Standard keto macros look like this: 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% net carbs daily.

But there are different approaches to keto, which is why you’ll get different answers to the question, “What are the macros for keto?” Get the details about various keto diet types.

Heads up: Regardless of the keto diet you follow, you’ll have to pay attention to net carbs as part of your macros to determine how many effective carbs you consume, or total carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols.

The good news is that you still have plenty of macro-friendly options, like a Bulletproof Collagen Protein Bar.

Counting macros: Key benefits

Learn more about your food

For anyone who has never tracked macros, learning the ratios of fat, protein and carbohydrates in what you eat can tell you a lot about your dietary habits and food choices.

After a few days, you may realize that you eat mostly carbohydrates or fewer grams of protein than you should—and that adjusting their levels can help you feel more energized throughout the day.

Flexibility and customization

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to macros. Depending on your unique health goals, you can manipulate them to achieve different effects. And when special occasions come around, you can plan around them so you can join in the festivities without running your diet off the rails. This kind of flexibility helps you stick to a long-term eating plan.

More balance in your diet

Unlike some diets, counting your macros does not force you to eliminate entire food groups. Instead, you can focus more on getting the best balance of nutrients to boost your performance.

When your macronutrients are balanced, you can also avoid some of the problems with overeating in one macro category (such as feeling fatigued after eating large amounts of carbs or feeling constipated from too much fat and not enough fiber).

Drawbacks of counting macros

Lower-quality food (maybe)

Some people who follow a macro-based approach to food intake adopt the philosophy that if it fits your macros (IIFYM), you can eat whatever you want (similar to dirty keto). However, this flexible dieting method may be counterproductive to developing solid eating habits and achieving long-term health goals.

With no set standard enforcing high-quality food, you might eat nutritious meals every day—or eat three donuts instead if it fits your macros. This approach could lead to micronutrient imbalances, food cravings and weight management issues.

Potentially stressful

While counting macronutrients works well for some people, it isn’t the best strategy for everyone. For example, if you find that it causes you stress or creates an unhealthy relationship with food, tracking macros may not be the best path forward for you.

It takes time

Since counting macros allows for so much flexibility, it may take time to experiment and find the ideal balance for your body. With no single recommended approach, you’ll have to tailor it to fit your health goals.

How to start tracking your macros

Tailor macros to your needs

As a starting point for tracking your macros, you need to understand which macro levels are right for you, which can vary based on your activity level, your weight management goals and your individual body composition.

To calculate your macros, work with a registered dietitian or nutritionist to create a customized plan that works for you. You can also use the macro ratios setting in many food tracker apps, or calculate your macros using an online macro calculator like those from Precision Nutrition or MAPS Fitness Products.

No matter which route you choose, you’ll input information about your gender, height, weight, activity levels and weight management goals to determine your ideal carb intake, fat intake and your ideal grams of protein.

Set yourself up for success with food choices

Make healthy eating part of your life by recognizing what foods make you feel good and what eating patterns work with your schedule.To more accurately calculate macros in food, scrutinize nutrition labels and use a food scale to help you measure foods that don’t come with a label.

It’s important to eat nutrient-dense whole foods and make food choices that can support your overall health and well-being, even if you’re strapped for time. Consider meal prep so you can calculate macros in food and portion out meals that fit your goals all at once. Meal prepping also ensures you always have healthy meals that fit your macros within reach.

Want to prepare for busy days? Stock your kitchen with ultra-convenient Bulletproof Original Coffee Pods or ready-to-go fuel like Bulletproof Cold Brew Latte.

Macro food list

Counting macros for beginners is a lot easier when you understand what certain foods bring to the table. Some will be high in protein and low in fat. Others may provide carbohydrates and little else.

This macronutrient food list gives a breakdown by category so you can make informed choices based on your diet.

Lean protein: Egg whites, chicken breast, turkey breast, white fish, lean cuts of beef

Moderate-fat protein: Chicken sausage, cod, haddock, snapper, ground beef

Higher-fat protein: Chicken thighs, ground beef (85% or less lean), ribeye, lamb, wild-caught salmon

Quality fats: Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, whole eggs, olives, certain nut butters, coconut, grass-fed butter or ghee

Carbohydrates: Brussels sprouts, spaghetti squash, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, sweet potatoes, fruits

Track macros

Most importantly, decide how you will track macros on a daily basis. Use a food tracking app, journal or note on your phone so you can log all the data in one place.

Food tracker apps like MyFitnessPal, My Macros+, CRON-O-meter and Keto Diet Tracker make tracking your macros easy, since you can just plug your food choices into your phone. Some even let you scan the barcodes of packaged foods and will automatically pull information from the nutrition label. Plus, if you want to fine-tune your macros for weight loss, you’ll be able to better understand how changes in your diet may have impacted your progress.

Adjust and experiment

Macros differ depending on all kinds of factors, including gender, chronic conditions, age, body weight, calorie needs and many more variables. If one range doesn’t work for you, keep experimenting until you find one that does.

To tailor your macros, listen to your body and notice how you feel. You may perform best when you eat fewer grams of carbs, build muscle when you eat a high-protein diet or realize that you have more energy when increase your the fat intake. Change one macro at a time to isolate an ideal level for each one. Remember, healthy eating is different for everyone (but you should still eat your veggies).

Don’t stress

Don’t feel obligated to perfectly hit your macros every day. Finding the right balance and sticking to it may take trial and error—and if it causes too much stress, remember that you can still achieve your health goals without it.

Should you count macros? The Bulletproof stance

The Bulletproof Diet takes a loose approach to tracking macros. As a general recommendation, you’ll get 50-70% of calories from quality fats, up to 20% from protein, up to 20% from vegetables and up to 5% from fruit or starch.

The range allows for more customization depending on your dietary needs and goals—you don’t need to force yourself to hit certain numbers or count calories.

Beyond the ratios, the Bulletproof Diet also recommends a range of food group servings so there is no counting or measuring required. If you follow the servings on the Bulletproof Diet Roadmap and stick to “green-zone” choices, you can still hit your goals while eating nutrient-rich foods that also taste delicious.

Unlike macro tracking alone, the Bulletproof Diet also recommends high-quality foods to fill your micro- and macronutrients without feeling foggy or inflamed. With clean meals, you can eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full and have the energy you need to conquer your to-do list.

Want to tailor your macros to build muscle on the keto diet? Check out keto bodybuilding diet tips from an expert.

This article has been updated with new content.