WAG Q&A with Adee Cazayoux: Episode 2, What Are Macros and How Do I Track Them?

In this episode of Q&A with Adee Cazayoux, founder of Working Against Gravity, she answers some of your nutritional questions, starting with the basics.

Q: What are macros?

A: Macros is just short for macronutrients. Your three main macros are carbs, fats and proteins. For carbohydrates you have vegetables, grains and fruits. For protein, you have animal meats, seafood or protein from vegetables as well. For fats, you have oils, nuts, avocados and seeds.

Q: How do you track macros?

A: We all know what calories are, macronutrients are a more specific way of differentiating where those calories are coming from. For example, if you eat a turkey sandwich with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, avocado and mustard, you’re going to have an idea of what types of macronutrients are coming from which ingredients. It helps you have a better understanding of what is being put into your body so you can know what helps you feel really awesome and what might make you feel awful at the same time.

Q: How does tracking provide balance?

A: Tracking macros also helps you see how balanced your diet is as a whole. For example, if I ask you to eat 3,000 calories, you can get those calories from anything like trail mix or tomatoes (even though you’d have to eat a ton!). When you’re tracking the macros in your food you’re making sure you have a different amount of carbs, protein and fats. There are 4 calories per gram from carbs as well as protein and 9 calories per gram of fat. This helps make sure you are getting a variety in your diet.

Q: How many macros do I need?

A: Of course this is really hard to answer, as everyone is so different. What works for one person and makes them feel great, might make me feel awful. Some of the things we take into consideration when creating a nutrition program for somebody includes: height, age, body weight, body composition, preferences, intensity style, type and frequency of exercise, as well as previous history with food and your current food practices. And this can change, what works for me at 27 years old, working out 5 times a week, may not work for me at 35 years old, pregnant with my second child and not doing the same type of exercise or same frequency. This is exactly why we created WAG. To have experts objectively helping you figure out what works best for you!

Don’t forget to check in next week for our Q&A, as we dive deeper into more specific nutritional questions! If you have any questions for Adee and the WAG team, leave them in the comments below and we’ll address them on a future Q&A episode.