I constantly hear people bitch about not gaining or losing weight when they aren't doing things right to make that goal happen. Now I can understand why and maybe I'm being a little harsh or stuck upo on my high horse of informed knowledge but that still doesn't give anyone an excuse to willingly be ignorant and uninformed. So let me inform you if you're currently uninformed what your priorities should be for dieting and if you already know here's a short refresher and some other people to look into if you haven't already.
First off there's this pyramid I saw Eric Helms post on instagram and I think it's really useful because it gets across the message I want to reiterate here and that's the fact CALORIES and MACROS are the priority and that means equating for calories expended so the net calorie goal lines up with what you want, namely gain/lose/maintain weight. I think that's where everyone goes wrong first is not having any idea what amount of calories they're expending on a daily basis and just how much that can fluctuate. The next biggest error people make is not accurately measuring calories and before you think "there's no point in counting since food labels are inaccurate" according to this study done posted on PUBmed the discrepancy the found for 25 different American snack foods only "exceeded label statements by 1.2%" (Jumpertz, Venti, Son Le, Michaels, Parrington, Krakof and Votruba, Food Label Accuracy of Common Snack Foods, 2014). Anyways yeah in the states I believe label guidelines from the FDA allow for a 25% discrepancy but don't quote me on that and also there's no telling how accurate they are unless more studies like this one are done. Anyways point is count your calories, and if you have a fitbit or similar calorie counting device then adjust your calories to meet your goal based on your weekly average needs to gain/lose/maintain weight.
Macros are just about as important I guess that's why it's number two... but ensuring enough protein, fat and carbs to fuel your body and give it the right mix of these energy sources is pretty crucial thankfully it's a lot more negotiable based on what each person enjoys. Quick guideline though is most people recommend 1.2g-2.2g/kg of bodyweight for protein intake and 5g-12g/kg of bodyweight or according to the food and nutrition board of the institute of medicine the macro ratio recommendations were 45%-65% for energy from carbs, 10%-35% for energy from proteins and 20%-35% for energy from fats. If you just got more confused then starting with 2g/kg protein, 5g/kg carbs and the rest of your calories in fat making sure to get at least 0.5g/kg of fat. Well hopefully that defines how to get the first priority started because if it fits your macros (yup like IIFYM the diet) you'll probably adhere to the diet a hell of a lot easier and adherence is the way to achieving your goals.
Good Luck, Eat Smart and See you next time
-Mr Wolf
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