Macros: Should You Stop Counting Them?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and you might be one of the people excited to feast and indulge in those savory meals at your dinner table. But for some people, occasions like thanksgiving is a nightmare, especially when they are on a diet and counting their macros. Well, to be fair, it is quite hard to lose weight, and grinding up in the gym while cutting your food intake can be exhausting. For some experts calculating your macro intake is a good move in losing weight. But for Garth Davis, M.D., a bariatric surgeon (weight loss surgeon) from mission health, it is not a good idea.

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According to Sukhi Singh, macros or macronutrients are big nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, and fats. They added that macronutrients make up the extensiveness of the food we eat. In counting them in your diet, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) said it requires a daily practice of counting both the calorie and macro intake, then decreasing or increasing the intake of each of them comes in the story. They added that most people use an app to monitor their macros. It has a lot of math when you eat. UPMC added that calculating an individual's overall calorie needs before calculating how many macros an individual should fill in. Using a fitness calculator, an individual should add how much energy is burned when doing activities to get the total daily expenditure or the number of calories needed daily.

In an interview with MBG Health, Dr. Davis said that counting your macro is not necessary. Quite intriguing for a weight loss surgeon, right? Dr. Davis said in the interview that macronutrients do not offer a big picture in terms of food. He added that food has got everything in it. He further said that people should start enjoying the food for its simplicity.

Dr. Davis mentioned blue zones in the interview with MBG Health which pertains to the areas in the world where people were shown to live the longest and healthiest lives. He added that the people from these countries do not meticulously count their macro intakes. He also emphasized that blue zone citizens neither focus on living longer nor putting too much focus on the macros.

Are Macros still important?

You might be having an idea to ditch those macros and live your life indulging in that gravy for your turkey, well, it doesn't go that way. According to MBG Health, it is still a good idea to get your protein, fats, and carbs balanced. Dr. Davis stressed that it is not difficult to incorporate the macronutrients in your daily diet even if an individual is not tracking or monitoring the numbers. He added that protein is very used in society, but according to him, protein is in every bite of the food people are eating. In the interview, he also mentioned that instead of focusing on protein, keep track of the fiber because he mentioned that this nutrient could hardly be found in the food that people eat. He added that fiber could hardly be gained through fruits and vegetables alone.

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