Calorie Counting vs. Macro Counting: Which One is Right for You?
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Let’s chat about the differences between calorie and macro counting and also decide which one is beneficial for you to get started with when achieving your health and fitness goals.
When it comes to losing weight and getting in shape, there are a few different methods that people tend to gravitate towards. One popular approach is calorie counting, while another is macro counting. So, what's the difference between the two? And which one is right for you? I’m going to help you answer these questions in this episode!
If after listening to this episode you want to get your macros calculated, I have a free ebook that will help you figure out what your daily macros should be. And if you simply want to calorie count, you can use this free ebook to find that out as well, you will just ignore the macro breakdown and focus on the calorie number. Click here to get the free ebook.
But if you are ready to go straight into macro counting, then the best step for you would be to join my macro counting made simple online academy. Here, I help you select the macro phase that is right for your body right now, whether that’s maintenance, fat loss, muscle gain, or reverse dieting, and then help you calculate your macros plus give you all the tools you need for being successful.
It’s literally your one-stop shop for all things macro counting. If you sign up for the academy, you will develop yourself up for success to finally see the results you want.
To sign up, head over to macrocountingmadesimple.com
P.S: A few episodes ago, I chatted about a few issues that arise when someone focuses exclusively on calorie counting.If you didn't listen to that episode yet, I highly recommend tuning in if this is a topic you are interested in...
Episode 227: 5 Issues with Calorie Counting You Need to Know About.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey there beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real, with me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get in, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Embrace Your Real Podcast. I'm really excited about today's episode. We're going to be chatting about the differences between calorie and macro counting and kind of decide which one is more beneficial for you as they both do have pros and cons. And so when you're kind of figuring out what route to go when achieving your health and fitness goals, I wanted to just share this. I actually talked about five issues with calorie counting in a previous episode that I recently did, episode 227. So I will link that in the show notes so that you can easily go listen to that. And that is more specifically on calorie counting like a more in depth. But back to this episode, when it comes to losing weight and getting in shape, there are a few different methods that people tend to gravitate towards. And one popular approach is calorie counting, while another is macro counting.
So if you're curious about what the difference is between the two and why I recommend either one and which one is right for you, I'm going to help you answer those questions in today's episode. But before I do, I wanted to share this review. It is a five-star review. It comes from Devon M and she says:
"Thankful for Julie. I love the way that Julie so kindly and gently weaves biblical truths into issues as women struggle with daily. Such a sweet and empowering reminder. 10 out of 10 recommend."
Thank you so much for the reviews. I appreciate every single one of your guys' review. If you have found any value from this podcast episode or in this podcast in general, I just ask that you send, or in a review, you can go to Apple Podcast and that's on any Apple device. And then you can click the rating and review section there, and that will allow you to leave a rating and a review. It takes less than 30 seconds, but it really does help us out in terms of the podcast charts. And the only reason we really care about that is because that allows us to reach more women. That is the ultimate goal of this podcast. This is a free resource for you guys, and I hope that it is helpful for you. And so thank you in advance, if you do leave a rating and a review.
Let's first start by weighing the pros of calorie counting. First of all, calorie counting is tracking the number of calories that you're consuming each day, and that can be done by counting the number of calories in each food or using a calorie calculator to kind of estimate your daily calorie intake. Whichever approach you take, either way, you are exclusively looking at just the calories that you're counting.
So some of the pros of just strictly calorie counting, pro number one, it's a simple way to monitor your caloric intake. So calories in versus calories out. If you're consuming less calories than you're burning, you'll lose fat.
Pro number two, it can help you realize how many calories you're actually eating. I know many women think that they're eating a certain amount when in reality, when they start actually counting the calories, they are drastically overeating or drastically undereating. Which means by counting your calories, it will actually help you become aware of what your daily intake actually is.
And pro number three is that it's really simple to get started. All you need to worry about is your calories only. It doesn't feel super daunting just to track and pay attention to one number and one number only. So those are kind of some of the main pros when it comes to calorie counting.
Now let's weigh some of the pros of macro counting. So just a reminder, macro counting is when you focus on counting how many carbohydrates, fats and protein that you're eating daily. It's called macro counting because carbs, fats, and protein are classified as macronutrients or macros for short.
Pro number one, you get all the benefits of calorie counting right out of the gate, because when you are counting your macros, your calories automatically add up. Your macros will add up to a certain amount of calories daily. But here's the thing, macro counting not only allows you to lose fat, but it also allows you to get toned, build muscle, which can lead to a positive change in your body composition, while the pro of calorie counting is just losing fat. Losing fat alone doesn't and can't really make you look more toned or change your overall body composition, but I'll dive into that more in the cons of calorie counting.
Pro number two, a holistic way to track your food intake. So in macro counting, you're actually looking at the overall profile of the food that you're eating, instead of just looking only at one metric. When you macro count, you are ensuring that you are eating enough protein, carbs, and fats, and not depriving your body of a certain macronutrient, which means that it is ensuring that you're eating a balanced diet, giving your body exactly what it needs.
Pro number three, you can fit the foods that you love in moderation without deprivation. Now, I think that this is kind of my personal favorite about macro counting. I can personally eat pizza, Mexican, Texas Roadhouse, the dessert, anything that I want, and still be able to hit my protein, carbon, fats goals for the day, which means overall, I can still be on a certain phase. So if I'm in a muscle building phase, I can still build muscle, tone my arms, legs, booties, back, all the different parts of my body. Or if I'm in a body fat loss, I can get leaner. I can build the body that I want and maintain the body that I want because let's be real. Maintaining is honestly where the biggest struggle is, especially with the thousands of women that I've worked with over the last few years, because let's be real. Maintaining is really where the biggest struggle is, especially with working with thousands of women over the last almost decade. And so to be able to maintain and still eat all the foods that I love, that's my biggest pro when it comes to why I'm such a firm believer in macro counting.
Pro number four, it can be super helpful for people who are trying to lose fat and build muscles. I've kind of already hit on this a few times, but honestly, this is the biggest difference when it comes to calorie counting versus macro counting. You can count your calories and eat 1,800 calories a day and lose weight, or you can count your macros still eating 1,800 calories a day, but completely change your body composition. There is no difference between losing weight and changing your body composition. Losing weight does not always mean that you're going to get abs, killer legs, arms, whatever. It means that you're losing weight. The shape of your body will still stay the same, while changing your body composition on the other hand means changing the shape of your body in the way that you want to actually look. You'll look leaner, more toed, and you can honestly get the results that you've been looking for. And sometimes that even means that your weight stays the exact same or even goes up.
I know for me, I have personal transformation photos where I look a lot leaner in a photo, and yet I am 10, 15, 20 pounds heavier than the photo that I'm comparing it to. And that's simply just because I have changed my overall body composition.
Pro number five, macro counting teaches you how to eat enough from each macronutrient. Now, if you're only calorie counting, you may not eat enough carbs, which can lead to low energy levels, unable to exercise because you don't have energy. And it can honestly lead to hormonal imbalances when done for too long. Eating too little fat can mess up with your digestion and plus it can actually make it harder to burn fat because your body needs fat in order to burn fat. It's one of the key players in the body's process of burning fat. And then on the flip side, if you have too little protein, you actually cannot build muscle since protein is the building blocks of muscle. And if you're working out hard consistently, and you're not eating enough protein, then you can actually lose muscle even if you are working out, if you're not eating enough protein. So protein in and of itself is so vital to overall just reaching your goals. And when you are macro counting, it just really allows you and teaches you how to properly eat enough protein, carbs, and fats in the amount that your body needs based on where you're at and what your goals are.
Now that you have all the pros of calorie counting and macro counting, let's dive into the cons because I want to be real. I want to be transparent. And I want to give you all of the facts so that you can decide for yourself, which one you feel like would be best if you want to go this route in terms of reaching your health and fitness goals. Let's first chat about the cons of calorie counting.
Con number one, it actually may be hard to stick to a calorie goal if you're not seeing results, mainly if you don't track protein, carbs and fats. So if you are putting in the effort to track your calories daily, but aren't seeing results because your carbs, fats, and protein goals aren't being met daily, it's going to be hard for you to stay motivated to keep tracking your calories and you'll likely revert back to your old ways.
Con number two, like I said, calorie counting in and of itself, it can help you lose weight, but it will not actually help you change your body composition. If you want to get toned and leaned, calorie counting is likely not for you.
And con number three, you're likely not going to have a balanced approach to your nutrition because you're solely focused on calories. If you aren't eating enough protein, carbs and fats, you will likely develop deficiencies over time. You could mess up your metabolism for lack of a better term, because you're not fueling it optimally. You may have digestive issues, hormonal issues, and you can struggle to build lean muscle in and of itself because you may be way too focused on eating low calorie foods and not including enough nutrient dense foods that actually contain the macronutrients that you need.
And con number four, most of the time, from my experience when people are trying to count calories, they're trying to eat way too little calories. I really never heard of someone calorie counting and tracking the amount of calories their body actually needs. All the women that I've worked with who've calorie counted were aiming to eat an amount of calories that was way too little, and it was not healthy for their body.
Please remember that a thousand calories is not enough calories each day. 1,200 calories is not even enough calories a day. And I would even argue that 1,400, 1,500 calories is just simply not enough calories per day. Your body requires at least 1,400 calories to simply function. So eating anything less than that is going to give you more damage than good.
The solution to building the body that you want is not depriving your body of calories. And I will repeat that until every single one of you finally believes it. I know for me, for a decade of my life, I did not believe it. And it wasn't until I decided that I was just going to try it out. I had hit rock bottom and I said, "I really don't have anywhere else to go, but up. So I might as well just try it." And that's honestly the day that I made the decision in October 2013. For the first time I decided I am going to try this flexible dieting approach. I'm going to try to fuel my body optimally and see what my body really can do.
I can tell you just speaking from experience and now being here a little over eight years, eight or nine years later, I am so thankful that I did, because I have learned that... Right now I'm on a small cut and yet I'm still eating right around 2,100 calories on a body fat loss phase. And I could have never even imagined that that would be my story, but here we are. And it's because I've been intentional about really making sure number one, to fuel my body optimally, to educate my body with what it needs, and I've gone through the necessary phases.
I've done reverse diet. I've done a few reverse diets over the years that have really allowed my metabolism to be adapted to the higher amount of calories. I have taught my body that I'm going to fuel my body optimally. And so my body no longer thinks that it's in starvation mode and will try to hold onto everything because it doesn't know when it's going to be fed next, which was me for a decade of my life. All in high school, all throughout college and even a little bit after college, that was my story. So please remember that a thousand calories is not even close to even enough per day. I can't stress enough how important it is to just know how to properly fuel your body because you'll feel educated, and most importantly you'll feel empowered. Now let's go for the cons of macro counting.
Con number one, it can take time to track, but this is actually a con of calorie counting as well, not just macro counting. It can actually take sometimes around the same amount of time to track macros versus calories, simply because macros make up the majority of total calories. And to kind of counteract this con, the more that you track, I will say, the more you learn what foods contain and how much protein, carbs, and fats they have. And it's likely that you'll eat the same meals and snacks often, especially if there's something that you enjoy and makes you feel good and gives you energy. You already know what the macros are, so you can find a good rhythm with it and it honestly starts to become second nature. Plus, the way that you feel and the results that you see kind of do outweigh the time that it takes. And honestly, even more than that, just the education around food and the empowerment that you will have around food to me is very much worth it.
Con number two, it may feel rigid to count all three macros. And if you haven't counted your macros before, it could feel rigid. I know for me, it was definitely an adjustment, but once you actually do it, you'll realize that it's not rigid at all. It can actually be freeing. It's freeing to know that you can eat anything that you want and still build the body that you want. I think as a society, we've been so conditioned to think that we had to sacrifice our favorite foods in order to see results. And that's just not the case. When you educate yourself about food and about how much your body needs, and then actually do it, like put pen to paper, put your foot to the pavement and just start going for it. Because when you start to do that, you start to realize that it actually isn't as rigid as you may feel.
But if you do want to make it more flexible, and honestly, this could be a great approach if you're just starting out, focus on only hitting your protein goal. So your protein goal via grams, and then get as close as you can to your overall caloric intake. That way you're not having to count all three macronutrients. You can focus on reaching your protein goal and then your overall calorie goal. So your carbs and fats can kind of intermix. And once you feel comfortable, then you can dive into really counting carbs and fats, if you want.
Honestly, I know some people that just stay at this stage. They love knowing that they're hitting their overall caloric intake. And most importantly, that they're hitting their protein goal, because that can oftentimes be really hard for women to hit their protein goal. And yet that can be one of the most important macronutrients to hit. So it's totally up to you. That is definitely something that I have found much success in the clients that I've worked with over the years. Just seeing them being able to be successful there and be consistent. And that's the most important thing. You are not aiming for perfection. You are aiming for consistency.
So now that you have it all, you have all the pros and cons of both macro and calorie counting, in my personal opinion, I have found what works best for me. And that is personally macro counting. That's personally looking at the number of protein, carbs, and fats that I am eating. And that also allows me to really make sure that I'm eating a nutrient dense, getting whole foods into my daily intake so that my body can thrive, but also not feeling like I am sacrificing the foods that I love. So that's what works best for me. But again, like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, you have to figure out what works best for you. So now that you know the pros and cons, then you can decide ultimately what will work best for you.
If you want to learn more and kind of know, "Okay, I do think that macro counting might be the route that I want to go and I want to learn more about it," I do have a free ebook and this ebook is a newly revised ebook. We really try to make it as valuable as possible so that you can fully understand not just how to calculate your macros, like step by step like we teach you in the ebook, but also with the emails. Over the course of a week, I really just try to go through all of the major things that I wish I would've learned when I started this to really just give you a better understanding of macros and kind of a deep dive, but in a very simple approach so that you don't feel overwhelmed. So if you're interested in that, you can download that ebook by going to www.juliealedbetter.com/freeebook. I will go ahead and link that in the show notes.
If you are ready to just go straight into macro counting, you want to do a deep dive, you want to learn everything that you can possibly learn. The best step for you would be to join my Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy. Inside this program, we actually have you fill out a questionnaire form and you can go into this figuring out, "Okay, which macro phase would be best for me right now," whether that's maintenance, that's fat loss, that's muscle gain, reverse dieting, whatever it is, and we will actually help calculate your macros for you. And then you also gain access to the entire Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy, as well as the Facebook group, and just all the tips and tricks and modules and resources in there to help set you up for success. If you want to learn more about that and sign up for that program, you can go to macrocountingmadesimple.com. Again, that's macrocountingmadesimple.com, and that would be the best approach that I would recommend if you're ready to go straight into macro counting. I will link all of those things in the show notes below.
I hope that you found this helpful. Again, if you want a more deeper dive into the five issues with calorie counting that you need to know about that was in episode 227, I will go ahead and link that in the show notes below so that you can easily go listen to that. But I hope that this was helpful for you. Again, I think that we all need... I think the best approach that we can take when it comes to educating ourselves is just being presented with all of the facts and being presented with everything and then making the decision for ourselves, which one is the best for us. So I hope that this episode did that for you.
If you have a girlfriend or a friend or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. If you found this episode helpful and would love to share it with your community, you can screenshot this and post it up on your Instagram story or whatever social media platform. You could even link it. I know that so many people have been doing that. Now that Instagram has really allowed any account to add a link, that's been really helpful. So thank you in advance for doing that.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We are always here for you. You can even email me. The best approach, and I would say probably the fastest way to email me is just hello@julieledbetter.com. And I can point you in the right direction there if you have specific questions, but I appreciate you guys. I hope that this was helpful and I will talk to you in the next episode.
All right, sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, juliealedbetter, yes, it's with an A in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcast to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me, it means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.