Credit: Frank Nguyen

When we talk about “macros,” what we are referring to are macronutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrates.

They are nutrients we need in large quantities (“macro”) that provide our bodies with energy or help with physical processes within our bodies.

Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals we need in smaller amounts.

We need protein, fat, and carbs for a variety of reasons:

• Protein promotes muscle growth and development.
• Fat helps create and regulate hormones, form cell membranes, and provide energy.
• Carbohydrates are used primarily for energy creation.

High Volume Versus Low Volume Foods

If you view food strictly through a “macros” lens, it can be easy to focus on simply hitting those numbers any way you want.

• While that is certainly a valid way of following a structured plan, it’s also important to be aware of how calorie-dense a food is, how palatable it is, and how satisfied it makes you feel after eating.

We call foods that have a lower calorie value for a large amount “high volume foods” and the opposite (higher calorie value for a small amount) “low volume foods.”

• A basic example of a typical high-volume food is broccoli, while a typical low-volume food is cookies.

Depending on your nutrition goals, you may need to focus more on one type than the other – if you have weight loss goals, high-volume foods will take up a lot of room in your stomach and can help you feel full longer.

• If you are an athlete who needs to eat a lot of calories daily, low-volume foods can help you achieve that without a lot of digestive stress.

Neither food is “better” than the other – your food choices need to be goal-dependent and focused on what will help you easily reach your goal.

Why Mindful Eating is Important

Mindful eating simply means being aware of your hunger.

The feeling of hunger can come from many things that have nothing to do with food, so it’s important to become aware of your own habits and behaviors around food choices.

• Our eating habits are developed throughout our entire lives, and the patterns we fall into are usually so ingrained that we don’t even notice or think about why we do what we do when it comes to food.

Being mindful of your hunger is an attempt to remove the initial, emotional response you might have from feeling:

• Tired
• Overwhelmed
• Lonely
• Bored
• Stressed 

Any one of those feelings may make you think you’re hungry or want to snack or turn to food as comfort. Being able to recognize this is something you do is the first step to changing that behavior – IF it’s something you want to change.

What Is a “Complete Meal”?

To make a complete meal, we are aiming to incorporate five to five different things on each plate: protein, carbs, fat, fruit, and veggies.

As a starting point, we recommend women try:

• One palm-sized protein serving, two thumbs of fat, one to two handfuls of carbs, one piece of fruit, and one fistful of veggies for each meal.

For men, we recommend starting with:

• Two palm-sized protein servings, three thumbs of fat, two to three handfuls of carbs, one piece of fruit, and one fistful of veggies for each meal.

The amount you need varies depending on your activity level, metabolism, daily movement, and goals.

So, if you feel that this is not enough food, increase the portion sizes by one at each meal based on your hunger cues. You can increase one category (just carbs) or increase multiple (protein, carbs, and fat).

Complete Breakfast Ideas

In the table below, choose 1one to two items from each column working down.

• Each meal should consist of a protein, complex carbohydrate, fat, fruit, and veggie (fruits and veggies have carbs, but we are separating them to make sure you eat a variety of food to get more vitamins and minerals).

Building all your meals around protein is essential, and breakfast is no exception.

We believe having a high-protein breakfast will set you up for a great day as it increases satiety early in the day and leaves you feeling satiated longer.

• Ideally, we would incorporate veggies in breakfast but don’t stress if this doesn’t appeal to you.

Here are some great options to build your complete breakfast:

Complete Lunch and Dinner Ideas

In the table below, choose one to two items from each column working down.

Each meal should consist of protein, complex carbohydrates, fat, fruit, and veggies (fruits and veggies DO have carbs, but we separate them to make sure you eat a variety of food to get more vitamins and minerals).

Basic Nutrient Timing Suggestions:

Nutrient timing received a lot of focus a few years ago, and while I don’t want to focus too deeply on it in this introductory article, here are a few basic guidelines:

• Two to three hours before training: Complete meal with carbs/ protein/ fat (see complete meal recommendations).
• Thirty to 60 minutes before training or during training: easily digestible carbs (banana, dates, graham crackers, apple sauce, carb drink, gummies, dried mango, etc).
• Thirty to 60 minutes after training: Easily digestible carbs and protein (same carbs as above with whey protein isolate, pea protein isolate, or low fat greek yogurt—we want to keep fat low around training to optimize digestion).
• Two to three hours after training: Complete meal with carbs/protein/fat (see complete meal recommendations).
• Three-plus hours after: Space out other meals after your post-training meal by two to four hours to optimize protein digestion.

Signs You Aren’t Eating Enough

Lots of factors come into play here, but most importantly, you want to make sure you are sleeping enough and managing stress well to start.

If you feel like both of those things are in check, some general signs that you might not be fueling properly (not eating enough!) are:

• Persistent hunger, either increasing as the day goes on or increasing from one day to the next, enough where you are almost fixating on when you can eat next.
• Poor recovery from training.
• Lack of desire to train.
• Difficulty sleeping.
• Never feeling hungry at all.
• Infrequent bowel movements.
• Feeling cold constantly.
• Hormonal problems.

This list is kind of in order from early symptoms to later more serious symptoms if the problem isn’t addressed.

The Bottom Line – Why Slow, Sustainable Progress is Better Than a Quick Fix

My goal with your nutrition is to find something you can follow for life.

There may be times when you need to be more accurate and precise with your food and times when it’s ok to be more relaxed, and I want to teach you how to navigate all of those periods in your life. 

• In the long term, the way you eat should be something that fits into your life easily and doesn’t cause extra stress, and if you want to make changes to your current diet, the best way to make those changes stick is to do it slowly. 

Small steps at a time will add up to big changes, which will not seem overwhelming at first. This approach will result in sustainable progress rather than a fast change that you can’t maintain.

The name of the game is patience. I want you to do it right the first time so you don’t have to keep repeating the same mistakes.

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