Ok, so you’ve heard about macros, you tried it and it was entirely too overwhelming so you gave up. Wait, don’t go anywhere! The following blog is going to show you step-by-step how to make a macro meal plan so you can ensure that you easily hit your macros without feeling discouraged.
As with anything, you have to make a plan. Tracking macros is great because you can be flexible with the foods that you eat. You do not have to cut out things other diets (like the ketogenic diet) tend to encourage like carbs, sugars, or dining out. With all that being said, it does require commitment and hard work, especially if you are just getting started.
Let’s begin with what macros are. Macronutrients are broken down into three categories, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. As humans, we need to consume adequate amounts of each to yield energy, aka calories. So to put it simply, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are in all of the foods we eat, and depending on how many grams of each will determine how many calories the food item is.
Let’s go into an example, if you look at the back of a food item and analyze the food label, you will probably see something along the lines of:
370 calories
10 g fat
50 g carbs
20 g protein
So you may be asking, okay, but how does this pertain to me if I am looking to achieve weight loss or build muscle? Because dependant on your goals, your macro breakdown will look different.
If you are interested in figuring out your macros you can use this macro calculator here. I also offer custom macro assessments that can be purchased here, and you can find more info on them here. When calculating your macros your age, height, current weight, activity level, and goals will determine what your macro needs should be.
For example, if you want to lose fat, you will be spending time in a calorie deficit, this is also known as a negative energy balance because you are exerting more energy than you are consuming.
Building muscle looks a bit different, your macros will likely be much higher than someone in a calorie deficit, and you will be in something called a negative energy balance because you are consuming more energy than you are expending.
Suppose you are happy with how you look but want to improve your eating habits and get the health benefits of tracking macros you can spend time in “maintenanceâ€, also known as an energy balance. In that case, you are exerting the same amount of energy you are consuming.
What are the other benefits of tracking macros?
As I discussed above, a lot of other diets encourage the elimination of certain foods, but tracking macros allow you to enjoy your favorite foods and still see results. As long as the food “fits within your macros†you can have it. It is quite eye-opening for some to realize that they can have a cookie, or a pop-tart and see results. That is why another name for tracking macros is flexible dieting because it is a lot less restrictive than other diet plans.
So now that we have explained a bit about what macros are and how your goals could differ, let’s talk about an example and why knowing how to make a macro meal plan can be beneficial.
Let’s say your macronutrient targets are:
120 g protein
220 g carbohydrates
55 g fats
This also equates to 1855 calories. Tracking macros is a bit different than calorie counting because you are paying more attention to the quality of your food, but if you are overwhelmed by all three macros I recommend tracking protein and calories and adding in carbs and fats when you feel comfortable.
The reason I suggest that, is because protein and calories are the two most important things to focus on and people often struggle with getting in enough protein to begin with.
When it comes to getting in enough protein in your diet, it is super helpful to focus on the number of meals you eat each day, because if you are only eating 2 meals it is going to be much more difficult to eat 120 grams of protein then if you were to eat 4-5 meals.
Some of my favorite protein sources are:
- Chicken breast
- Ground turkey
- Non-fat Greek yogurt
- Egg Whites
- Fat-free Cheese
- Macro-friendly desserts/treats
Some of my favorite carbohydrate sources:
- Rice, brown rice, or white white
- Oatmeal
- Cereal
- Pasta
- Rice cakes
- Pretzels or popcorn
- Fruit
- Veggies
- Candy
- Sweet potatoes and regular potatoes
Some of my favorite fat sources:
- Avocados are a great healthy fat
- Oils; olive oil, avocado oil, vegetable oil
- Cheese
- Nuts and seeds
- Nut butter, I love American Dream Nut Butter
- Olives
The other way to ensure you hit your macro targets is going into each week with a plan, making a shopping list, and meal-prepping for your week. Yet, coming up with ideas can be difficult, and knowing what meals and portions fit within your macros can be a tedious and frustrating process, so that is why this custom macro meal plan generator is the perfect solution.
Meal Plan Generator
Generate New Meal Plan
Calories
Macronutrients
Select Recipes
Allergies
Exclude Foods
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Nutrition
Ingredients
- {{ing.Name}} ({{ing.Amount}} {{ing.Unit}})
Instructions
- {{instruction}}
Grocery List
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- {{grocery.Name}} ({{grocery.Amount}} {{grocery.Unit}})
How to use the custom macro meal plan generator:
- Enter your macros
- Select the recipes you would like to include in your meal plan
- Check off any allergies and foods you wish to exclude
- Agree to the terms of service and generate your meal plan
- You will receive a full custom week of meal plans and you will have the ability to customize it based on your goals. For example, if there is a snack suggested that you do not want that week you can swap it out for something else that will still fit within your macros.
- After you finalize your list you can download your full week of custom meals, and a custom grocery list will also be made for you
Why this custom macro meal plan generator is the best:
This meal plan calculator takes out all of the guesswork to finding the meals that fit within your macros which means no more playing macro Tetris. You do not have to go into your food tracking app and play around with all of your meals, adding in more carbs here, and taking away fats here, this calculator does it all for you!
What if I want to include a recipe that is not from Haley Nicole Fit?
If there is a recipe that you know you want to include in your meal plan that is not on my website I highly encourage you to download the Prospre app by clicking here or in the app store. Within the app you can:
- Create your own recipes
- Create your own foods
- Choose how many meals a day you want to consume
- Access recipes from other content creators
- Log when you have eaten a meal so you can keep track
- Edit each individual element of each meal
- Schedule recurring meals for the week to save even more time
What is the best way to meal prep?
So you have your entire week planned out, but you still have to prep all of the food, unless you have a private chef, which would be nice.. But most of us do not. So how do you efficiently prep all of the food? Here are my top tips for an easy and efficient meal prep:
- Be okay with leftovers: They are actually quite good if you make the right meals. Sure plain chicken and rice is not the best warmed up, but if you make delicious recipes like my Pumpkin Rigatoni, it is arguably even better warmed up in the microwave.
- Batch prep your protein: If you know you are making chicken wraps, and chicken enchiladas, make a huge batch of chicken for the week so you can just add the chicken to your meals when you need it
- Keep it simple, as I said above, accept leftovers, you do not have to make a different breakfast, lunch, and dinner for everyday of the week. Rather, make a pancake bake for breakfast, prepare crock pot chicken to make salads, enchiladas, and buffalo chicken bake, and make apple blondies for dessert. All in all you are making 3 main things to set yourself up for all 7 days of the week! Keep it simple and you will see success.
Can you track macros on a vegan diet?
A lot of people who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet shy away from tracking macros because of the high protein intake typically associated with the diet, but it is very possible to track macros, and hit your protein goals, all while following a vegan diet plan. Pro tip, utilize the same protein sources as stated above just the vegan version. Luckily these days there are a ton of foods out there that are high in protein and have no attachment to meat or animals at all, here are some of my recommendations:
Is it beneficial to track macros if you have dealt with an eating disorder in the past?
This is a tricky question, it is dependent on the person and their past as well as current behaviors. Personally, I found tracking macros to be a great tool and allow me to recover from many food rules and disordered eating habits, but it also lead to a few OCD habits that I had to work to get rid of post-tracking. If you find that you are obsessive when it comes to numbers, perfection, and severely struggling with body image and food rules you may be better suited for intuitive eating, but as I said, it helped me and has helped many others introduce more food groups into my daily diet!
At the end of the day, what is going to work for you is what is the most sustainable and enjoyable. If you are unable to stick to your deficit macros then maybe it is not the right time for you, try spending some time in maintenance. Or if you are struggling to put on muscle, maybe you need to evaluate your macros and possibly increase them to yield better results.
If you are dedicated, consistent, and kind to yourself along the way you will see results! Hopefully, you now understand what macros are, and how to make a macro meal plan, and you can get started on achieving your fitness goals. If you are still extremely confused, make sure to check out my custom macro assessments.
If you are in search of macro friendly recipes here are some of my favorites: