These two situations sound like the same but really they aren’t. For example, right now I am logging my food, I have an idea of where I would like to be and how those macros break down but at the end of the day if I’m hungry I am GOING to eat more. My goals right now are NOT weight loss or performance, just living life, growing our baby bear and trying to get through the day.
Counting macros is logging BEFORE you eat. As a coach, this is the FIRST advice I give but honestly, it’s probably the last thing the client complies with.
We have this idea that if we have GOOD food quality and we LOG the food then it works and that’s really not the case. You see if you’re trying to hit certain numbers you will need to pre-log and then juggle to make them work. This isn’t to discourage this is to set you up for success sooner than later.
It can feel very overwhelming to sit down and think MAN how do I even start? So this is what I always recommend.
Eat & log a few days, see where you end up. From there go back into your logger and add foods or climate foods, and then play with the qualities until you hit your numbers. Once you have done that, USE that day as a template. For some clients they like to write it out on paper for others they prefer to just transfer it to the day they plan to use it and then log it over. Either way have worked for myself.
When you log before you eat and you pre-plan again it will help you take the stress away of being SO hungry and then just eating and realizing you overate or you ate too much of one thing.
As you become aware of what makes your macros work you will be able to go through periods of knowing how much to roughly eat to hit your macros and then this will give you the freedom to eat/log as you go, remember learning a new skill is always a bit overwhelming but it does get easier and you’ll be hitting those targets and think back and wonder why you ever thought it was hard, to begin with!