Speaker A [00:00:00]:
Hi, everyone. On today’s episode, I want to talk about the difference between calories and macros, and I really want to address why I am very much in favor of people with paralysis learning to count macros instead of just counting calories. So if you don’t know, macros are macronutrients, so proteins, carbs, and fats. Alcohol is also a macro and so is water. But in terms of what we eat every day, the three main macros are proteins, fats, and carbs. So let’s get into it. Welcome to the Paralysis Nutrition Podcast, where changing your eating habits is the key to losing weight, improving bowel health, and feeling your best. I’m your host, Fatima Fakouri.
Speaker A [00:00:53]:
I’m a registered dietitian who’s married to a quadriplegic and specializes in nutrition for paralysis. Get ready to be inspired, educated, and motivated so you can take control of your health using the power of food. Let’s get started. This is the Paralysis Nutrition Podcast. Why are macros important? Macros are important because if you want to be in a calorie deficit with paralysis, meaning you want to be eating less calories than your body burns, you need to make the most out of every calorie. So if you are just counting calories, let’s just say, for example, you need 1500 calories a day for weight loss. Right. How are you going to use those 1500 calories? I’m going to say one option.
Speaker A [00:01:50]:
If you’re counting calories, right, you could eat three slices of pizza and a bagel with cream cheese and have two lattes, okay. And that would be probably around 1500 calories. It would be mostly carbs. When you’re looking at the macro breakdown of three slices of pizza, two lattes, and a bagel with cream cheese, it’s mostly carbs, which is okay because carbs are good, but it’s not good if the majority of your calories for that day. You know, over 70% come from carbs. Right? And pizza has no fiber. It’s just carbs and bagels. Most bagels don’t have much fiber, so you’re not going to really feel full.
Speaker A [00:02:42]:
Also, there’s no protein. Protein is also a macro. So pizza has a little bit of protein from the cheese, but cheese is mostly fat. That’s another macro. So you could easily be counting calories and get to 1500 and be really hungry by dinnertime because you used all your calories for a bagel and three slices of pizza and two lattes. If you were counting macros, you could eat so much more volume of food, stay full and satisfied with those 1500 calories. So when you count macros, you are more looking into where your calories come from, not just focused on the total amount. Okay, so let’s say you’re counting macros, okay? And you have a percentage of your calories set within the 1500 that are going to be coming from protein.
Speaker A [00:03:49]:
You have a percentage of calories that are going to be coming from fat. And you have another, the third section, percentage of calories coming from carbs. Now, we can make smart choices to keep you full because we’re not just counting calories at breakfast. When you go to grab a bagel, if you were counting calories, you would say, oh, it’s 200 calories or something. I can have it because I’m staying within my number. But if you were counting macros and you put a bagel into your tracking app, such as MyFitnessPal or lose it or Chronometer, whichever one you want, they’re all fine. If you put in a bagel and you saw that the macro breakdown was 95% carbs of a bagel, you would say, oh, okay, so I need to add a protein. Okay, so I need a healthy fat.
Speaker A [00:04:43]:
So an example of someone doing macro counting with 1500 calories, you might have half a bagel with two scrambled eggs and half an avocado like spread on there. That’s more food, right? But it’s more balanced in terms of proteins, fats, and carbs. You’ve got your eggs. That’s protein and fat. And you’ve got your avocado, which is a good source of fiber and also a fat. And then you’ve got your half a bagel because you put it in your tracking app and you saw that a bagel was really high in carbs, so you decided to have half. You see what a difference that is? You will probably come out a little bit higher in calories when you have that breakfast versus the bagel and cream cheese. But you might not.
Speaker A [00:05:33]:
You know, you have to track it. How much cream cheese are you using? Cream cheese is just fat. There’s no protein, right? So the quality of your calories is really important if you want to be in a calorie deficit for paralysis. I say this all the time. Your calorie needs are less because you are a wheelchair user, because you have lower muscle mass, so you are burning less calories at rest, and you have a lower activity level. So you need less calories at rest. If you want to Lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. So say you need 1500 calories at rest.
Speaker A [00:06:15]:
You know, that’s to maintain your weight. If you want to lose weight, you might want to knock it down to like 1300, right? To be in a slight calorie deficit, how are you going to feel full on 1300 calories? How are you going to do that? You need to have adequate protein, adequate healthy fats and adequate complex carbs. Your complex carbs contain fiber. Fiber, protein and fat help keep you full. When you count calories, you might be eating a bunch of junk because it says 100 calorie pack. That stuff doesn’t keep you full. It’s all carbs. And a lot of it has added sugar.
Speaker A [00:06:54]:
A lot of it has artificial, you know, sweeteners. All kinds of stuff that we don’t want. So counting macros is the smarter, more nutritious way to lose weight versus just counting calories. I gave the example of a 1500 calorie day, right? You could have three slices of pizza, two lattes and a bagel. Or you could have. I’m making this up, by the way. This is just off the cuff. I know a lot of these numbers kind of intuitively.
Speaker A [00:07:24]:
Now you could have, if you were counting macros, it would look more like half a bagel, two scrambled eggs, half an avocado. Then for lunch, it would look like huge salad with, you know, six different veggies in there, maybe a chicken sausage for protein and nuts and seeds on top. Okay? So that’s your protein in there from the chicken sausage, ton of veggies. That’s your fiber, right? Your carb, your fiber. And then you get your healthy fats from your nuts and seeds. If you were, you know, on a diet just counting calories, you might just eat a green salad with like tomato and crouton and cucumber. Well, that’s not going to keep you full. It’s not going to give you protein to help maintain muscle mass.
Speaker A [00:08:13]:
It’s not enough, right? And for dinner, say you wanted to have stir fried veggies and some salmon. That’s your protein and your veggies. So that’s like your high fiber. And then maybe you want to have a serving of quinoa. So that’s your carb. You use olive oil. That’s your healthy fat. If you were just counting calories, you would say, oh, I’m going to have this hundred, you know, this 300 calorie frozen whatever.
Speaker A [00:08:45]:
Because you’re only counting calories, you’re not looking at quality of food. You’re not looking at how much protein is in that item that you are eating. Say it’s like a frozen meal, like a Lean Cuisine. You guys, I could eat like five of those. They’re so tiny because they’re just usually not balanced, right? They don’t have fiber. They tend to, you know, the ones that have protein, okay, good. But they have a lot of fat and they’re not enough. So you need to learn how to build satisfying, healthy meals that taste good.
Speaker A [00:09:18]:
Not, you know, cutting carbs, not cutting fat, not saying no to your favorite foods. And that’s what calorie counting kind of does, you know, because all you’re concerned about is the number, right? The top number that, that calorie goal. But you’re not looking at quality of food, right? You’re not looking at how much protein, how much fiber, how much, you know, nutrition is in this food. So this is why I really favor macro counting. And I actually have a Macros masterclass going on. It’s till February 15th. You can register, you can go to the link in my bio on Instagram or on Facebook and you can find the Macros Masterclass. It is going to teach you everything you need to know about first, how many calories do you need? And you’re going to calculate it yourself.
Speaker A [00:10:11]:
I’m going to show you how to do this. This is for people who really want to get started with weight loss, are not ready to invest in my three month coaching program, Longevity, and perhaps even people who have tried tracking for years and it’s just not working. I had somebody send me a DM the other day. They said they’ve been tracking for three, but they haven’t lost weight. So your numbers are wrong if you’re tracking for three years and not losing weight. So Macro’s masterclass is live on February 15, but if you register, you will get lifetime replay access. I’m also going to include some downloadable PDFs to help guide you. Macros Masterclass is available till February 15.
Speaker A [00:10:58]:
Learn how many calories and what breakdown of macros you should be eating, what percentage for from carbs, what percentage from protein, what percentage from fats so that you can finally lose weight with paralysis and keep it off without torturing yourself with this calorie counting that doesn’t give you the whole picture. Okay, so that’s my episode today on macros. If you are confused about macros, if you want to get started with weight loss, register for the Macros Masterclass. That’s our episode for today. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed it and that you learned something new. Remember, if you want to lose weight with paralysis, improve your bowel health and feel your best you can. It’s possible, you just have to change your eating habits.
Speaker A [00:11:47]:
If you need inspiration on how to get started, check out The Paralysis Nutrition Cookbook 101 Recipes to Help you lose weight and improve bowel health. The cookbook comes with a bonus 30 day meal plan and is the perfect way to start eating healthier. You can find it online at paralysisnutrition.com cookbook I’ll talk to you again soon.
