Our Favorite Macro-Tracking Tips

We’ve been including some of the top tips and strategies from WAG coaches throughout this entire guide but we have a ton more that didn’t quite fit into a specific section.

You can download an extensive list of practices that our coaches and members live out every single day here. But, here is a sneak preview of 10 awesome tips we wanted you to see (and start using!) right away:

1. If dinner is your favorite meal, plug it into MyFitnessPal FIRST to plan the rest of your day around it and avoid Macro Tetris.
2. Find "go to" meals closest to the 3 places you spend the most time — often work, school, gym or home so that you’re never without a backup plan.
3. Don't graze. Sit down and eat a meal — picking at food throughout the day can quickly add up.
4. Never grocery shop hungry.
5. Drink lots of water as you eat and throughout the day. Aim for 1 oz. per pound of body weight and track your fluid intake — most people underestimate this!
6. Have one meal each day that you can easily manipulate like deli turkey wraps or soft chicken tacos. Add more meat for more protein, more avocado/mayo/guac for more fat, more veggies or a side for more carbs.
7. Friend someone on MyFitnessPal (make sure both of your privacy settings are public) so you can go into their diary and copy their meals if you eat together or want to borrow meal inspiration.
8. Try to evenly distribute your macros (including fiber) between each of your planned meals for the day. That way you know that you're getting a consistent flow of energy and by the end of the day you're not going over or falling short on any one particular macro.
9. Buy smaller serving sizes of foods that you tend to overindulge on — think mini ice cream sandwiches rather than pints or 100 calorie popcorn packs instead of the typical full-size bags.
10. Plan one day that fills your macros perfectly then just recreate those meals by copy and pasting to the next day rather than having to re-enter it or guess what portions work best.