Mastering Macronutrients: The Key to Improving Performance, Health and Body Composition

‘Is it really as simple as calories in vs calories out?’

‘Should I track macros?’

‘How much protein do I need?’

‘Is meal timing important?’

It can be confusing knowing where to start with nutritional changes - with so many areas you could change, it’s important to prioritize the areas that will have the most impact - then you can fine-tune the finer details later down the line.

This blog post is designed to help you learn what to prioritize when it comes to your nutrition, and more importantly, why. I want to help you build a long-term understanding of exactly how your diet can help you feel, look, and perform your best. Let’s start with the most important factor…

Calorie Balance

Calories serve as the currency of energy within our bodies. The equation is simple: consume more than you expend, and you'll gain weight; expend more than you consume, and you'll lose weight; maintain equilibrium between intake and expenditure, and your weight remains stable.

When a calorie deficit is present, weight loss inevitably follows. While certain health conditions may complicate the process of consuming fewer calories or burning more (for example, an underactive thyroid results in lower energy expenditure), the fundamental principle remains: anyone who consumes less energy than they expend will lose weight, regardless of hormonal or other factors. Thus, creating a calorie deficit is an essential component of weight loss.

However, understanding calorie balance isn’t solely about weight loss. Some individuals seek to gain or maintain weight, particularly those focused on performance goals and intense training regimes. In such cases, ensuring adequate calorie intake to fuel training sessions is paramount. 

Understanding calorie balance can help us maintain a healthy weight range, as our bodies and metabolic rates change throughout our lives. Maintaining a healthy weight range (which is highly individual) is linked to a reduction in health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

You can manipulate your calorie intake through various methods, including direct tracking of food consumption or indirect approaches like mindful eating, portion control, and substituting high-calorie foods with lower-calorie alternatives. By mastering calorie balance, you lay the groundwork for achieving your health, aesthetic, and performance-related goals.

Next stop: protein

Macronutrients are the next pillar of nutrition, and the foundation of this pillar is protein.
Understanding this begins with recognizing that each macronutrient - carbs, fats, and protein - contains calories. Specifically, protein and carbs provide 4 calories per gram, while fats offer 9 calories per gram. Consequently, our total calorie intake is directly influenced by the grams of each macronutrient we consume.

Often when you start tracking for the first time, trying to stick to specific protein, carbohydrate and fat targets (also known as a ‘macronutrient split’) can be overwhelming. Simplifying this by starting off with just a calorie and protein goal can be extremely helpful. By setting a target for protein intake, you can allocate the remaining calories to a combination of carbs and fats that suits your preferences and current eating habits. This approach provides flexibility in meal planning while ensuring you meet your nutritional targets.

Now, why prioritize protein?

Health: Protein plays numerous essential roles within the body beyond just muscle building: from aiding in immune function and hormone regulation, to regulating gene expression, to catalysing all chemical reactions in the body, and comprising most structural elements of cells and organs. Protein is indispensable for optimal bodily function. 

Muscle gain: when we digest protein, we break it down into its building blocks - amino acids - which our bodies can then use as building blocks for muscle tissue, which means that consuming enough high-quality protein is essential for promoting muscle growth and strength.

Performance: protein is essential for recovering from training - it plays an essential role not only in repairing muscle tissue, but also strengthening tendons, ligaments, and other structures that are put under physical stress during training. This recovery process is what allows you to adapt to training stimuli and improved athletic performance.

Supporting a calorie deficit: Protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs and fats, meaning that the body expends more energy digesting and metabolizing protein. This can contribute to increased calorie expenditure and enhanced fat loss over time. Furthermore, protein is more filling than the carbs and fats, calorie-for-calorie, meaning consuming plenty of protein can help keep you fuller for longer, enabling you to stick to a calorie deficit. 

Fat loss: Pursuing a calorie deficit with high protein intake increases your muscle maintenance, and allows you to maximise your chances of losing weight as fat. This results in a healthier, stronger physique, with a more ‘toned’ appearance. Higher muscle mass also supports metabolism, making fat loss easier to maintain!

Whether your goals are health-, performance-, aesthetic-based, or a combination, prioritizing protein in your diet is essential.

Next up: carb:fat ratios

Before diving into these ratios, I want to stress that fixating on how many grams of carbs and fats you’re consuming becomes futile if you're either exceeding your calorie intake, or falling short on protein. Dialling in your carb:fat ratio is only a logical step to take IF you’ve covered the steps before that - otherwise you’d be better putting your efforts towards getting consistent with calories and protein!

Why do carb:fat ratios matter? 

By understanding the roles of both fats and carbs in the body, we can see why striking the right balance is essential. Carbs and fats both provide energy. Carbs are the body’s preferred source of energy during high intensity activities - such as strength training - since they provide large amounts of energy quickly.

Fats, on the other hand, are a slow-burning energy source, meaning we can’t get as much energy from them as quickly as we can from carbs, meaning we can’t perform at such high intensities whilst relying solely on fats for fuel. Does this mean we should neglect fats and just eat carbs and protein if we’re training hard? Absolutely not! Beyond being an energy source, fats are integral to hormone production, vitamin absorption, nervous system function, and tissue protection. 

So, whilst carbs and fats each have their own essential roles and benefits, determining the optimal ratio of fats to carbs hinges on several factors, including individual needs, preferences, and goals. 

Calculating your minimum fat and protein requirements serves as a foundational step. There are various calculations to do this, based on bodyweight. The remaining calories can then be allocated to carbs. This approach means that if you’re increasing or decreasing your calories, you’ll typically make the most changes from your carbs. 

Preference should also come into consideration when determining nutrient ratios  - if you consistently struggle to hit targets because you prefer higher-fat foods, adjusting your ratio to accommodate this preference can enhance adherence to your nutritional plan.

At Performance Macro Coaching, my approach goes beyond prescribing arbitrary macros. Upon signing up, you'll complete a comprehensive intake form, enabling me to tailor your plan to your unique needs and preferences. I make ongoing adjustments based on your progress and feedback, ensuring your plan remains aligned with your goals. For instance, if I observe a consistent imbalance in your fat and carb intake, I’ll make targeted adjustments to strike a balance that supports your performance whilst ensuring the targets are realistic and sustainable for you long-term. 

I’ve mastered macronutrients - what’s next?

Once you've dialed in your calorie intake and mastered the balance of protein, carbs, and fats, the next steps to take - should you want to - could be:

Nutrient Timing: strategically planning when to consume your nutrients will optimize energy levels, performance, and recovery. 

Composition: getting your macronutrients from high quality, varied, nutrient-dense sources is essential for health (which is a prerequisite for big performance goals!). You’ll be getting all the vitamins, minerals and fibre you need, plus you’ll likely have more stable energy levels, and feel full for longer.

Hydration: every cell in your body, from your muscles to your brain, needs water to function. Poor hydration affects concentration, performance, recovery, and overall health. Hydration can often be looked at whilst you’re dialling in calories, macros, or nutrient timings.

Supplements: certain supplements have evidence to demonstrate their efficacy, but should still be viewed as an optional "cherry on top" rather than the first place to focus your efforts. It's crucial to prioritize foundational elements such as calorie intake, macronutrient balance, nutrient timing, and hydration before considering supplementation. Neglecting these foundational areas while focusing solely on supplements will result in minimal benefit from those supplements.

The bottom line: it doesn’t matter what you prioritise unless you’re consistent

If you’re not consistent with a calorie intake that aligns with your goals, you’re wasting time and energy stressing over whether X food is ‘bad’ or what meal timings you should stick to. Achieving your goals requires more than occasional bursts of effort; it demands a sustained commitment to balanced nutrition. Look at what you can do consistently first. Once you’ve nailed that, move onto the next step. 

Performance Macro Coaching shows you WHAT to do, whilst offering the support you need to be consistent

With an individualised macronutrient plan, adjustments based on your feedback and progress, progression to nutrient timing, plus check-ins and a group to help you stay accountable and on track, PMC is here to equip you with the tools and motivation needed to make nutrition work for you.

Ready to unlock the power of macronutrients? 

Guarantee your spot when PMC opens its doors again in April by joining the Performance Macro Coaching Waitlist NOW. With limited spots available to secure individualised macro coaching from just £49/month, don't miss the chance to elevate your nutrition game and make lasting changes for a healthier, happier you.

Want to find out more about the programme? Read all about it here!

Plus, stay tuned and make sure you’re signed up to my newsletter to get next week’s blog delivered directly to your inbox. We’ll be looking at diet breaks - can taking a break from trying to lose weight actually propel you toward your goals? Get ready to uncover the secrets behind incorporating strategic breaks into your nutrition plan!