Lesson 12

Macro Building Blocks

Welcome to Lesson 12! Yeah!

Alright, yesterday we learned how to calculate and set our macros. If you missed yesterday that’s ok! just head back and set your macros - we’ll need them for tomorrow! Today we will be learning about some foods that are particularly high in certain macros. This will come in handy when we start planning our or food!

tl;dr - Fats are your, well fat and oils. Carbs are your sugars, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Proteins are your lean cuts of meat, eggs, whey, and other isolated protein sources.

This lesson is just a quick introduction of different ingredients we can use as building blocks to easily hit our macros. You will truly become good at hitting your macros when you start looking at the breakdowns of individual ingredients yourself.

Fats 🥑

Fat can be found in most animal products. That makes sense since animals use fat to store energy (including us, but don’t eat us.) However, all oils are fat as well! Actually, the definition of oil is fat that is liquid at room temperature. Oh a little PSA, since fat is the densest at 9cals/g, fat makes a terrible snack if you’re watching your calories. I’m looking at you peanut butter! However, this is not a problem if you’ve set your macros and plan to hit them daily.

Below are some good sources of fat:

• Fatty Fish

  • Tuna

  • Salmon

  • Anchovies

• Fatty Cuts of Meat

  • Steak

  • Bacon

  • Ground Beef

• Oil - of any kind

• Avocados

• Nuts and Nut Butters

Yay Fats!

Carbohydrates 🍚

Carbs are basically found in all plant products. Simple carbs are sweet sugar. Complex carbs are grains and wheat. Carbs give us quick energy. A PSA - stay away from juices as a carb source - the juicing process gets rid of all of the fiber, and you are left with sugar water. Lots of calories with very little satiation. Also, let’s get away from good carbs bad carbs - they are all just carbs. As long as you stay within your macro window you can fill your carb requirements with whatever you want. However, some carbs may be more satiating than others. The more satiating the more dietary bang for your buck. That’s why people eat vegetables to lose weight… Try to overeat on vegetables, I dare you! Oh, and you have to do that without dips or dressings, those are usually pretty calorically dense!

Below are some good sources of carbs:

• Simple

  • Any whole fruit

  • Vegetables of any kind

  • Sugary Cereal (ok maybe not this one, but it’s my favorite 😍)

• Complex

  • Rice

  • Wheat

  • Potatoes

Yay Carbs!

Proteins 🍗

Proteins are found in all living things, plants and animals. However, not all proteins are made equally. Proteins are made up of 20 amino acids and our body produces 11 of them, the other 9 we need to get from food sources. Proteins that cover those for us are considered complete proteins. To learn more here is a good article: complete proteins. Some of the best complete proteins are from animals, however, some plants are complete. But don’t worry too much about that now, if you eat non-processed, whole foods you should be just fine! A PSA - eating enough protein can be tough, remember it is the most satiating of the three macronutrients. Some people prefer to supplement with protein powders, that’s fine, just try to make sure that’s not your only source of protein.

Below are some good sources of protein:

• Eggs

  • These are considered the ‘Perfect Protein’ however, they also have quite of bit of fat in them as well!

• Lean Meats

  • Chicken

  • Turkey

  • Cod

• Soybeans

• Whey

Yay Proteins!

Again, if you haven’t set your macros from yesterday’s lesson - do that today, we need them to be set for tomorrow!

TODOs

• ☑️ Log your weight

• ☑️ Log your food

• ☑️ Log your habit

• ☑️ If you haven’t: calculate and set your macros

Complete TODOs Below