John10251's Journal, 27 February 2016

Macro is short for macro nutrient. Let's explain it from the Zone diet. The Zone requires you to get 30% of your calories from protein (a maconutrient), 30% from fats (another macro), and 40% from carbs (the last macro). The % is then converted to a gram ratio. For every gram of carb you eat a gram of protein (it's off just a bit in carbs favour) and roughly 1 gram of fat. (Micronutrients are different. They're vitamins and minerals, etc.) The Zone was laid out by a guy who's brilliant and it is the perfect diet for diabetics, though it has also shown amazing success with a pile of other diseases including heart disease. Of course, any diet will get the weight off and will help heart disease, but for diabetics, or pre-diabetics, the zone is exceptional. Anyway, for those of us who have moved beyond it we tend to start with a ballpark of a certain amount of one thing. In my case for lifting weights and trying to make gains, I look for 1 gr of protein minimum per pound of lean body weight. From that point I don't worry about it much. If my protein is good, the other calories I'm looking for can be either fat or carb as long as I don't go over my calories. This allows a lot of variety. Bulletproof coffee is in. I try to eat fresh and unprocessed, but I've been know to choke down a bag of Doritos or work my way through a roll of sweetarts. Be careful. Macro ratios can become an obsession. Zone is still my go to when I travel (don't look at yesterdays trip diet please :D ), because I can easily look at the foods and decide how much of each I need to stay fairly level in the process. Hope this helped. 

Thank you for the great explanation. I was wondering what a Macro was too! 

Me too!  

IF you log your food here on FS, you will see a circular pie chart at the bottom of the page. It shows percentages of fats, proteins and carbs. This is one way to control the quality of what we eat. for example, I go for 65-70% fat, 20-25% protein and carbs under 10%. It helps us choose foods that work. 

Good explanation! People are smart here! 

Thanks guys. My guess wasn't too far off... 

eating something when it requires more energy to digest that it provides.