Thread by @Rob_NBF

Calorie and macro calculators are useful.

But if you're getting fixated on the numbers they give you you're doing it wrong.

Here's why (thread) 👇

Calculators give you PRECISE numbers based off of GUESSES. You put in stuff like:

- Age (precise)

- Height (precise)

- Weight (somewhat imprecise - it fluctuates)

- Body fat percentage (a guess for 99% of people)

- Activity level (e.g. "lightly active" - very subjective)

That last one is a huge problem. It's so vague.

Your idea of "lightly active" could be someone else's idea of active.

"But don't you base it off number of workouts per week?"

You factor that in, but it says nothing about the type, intensity and duration of those workouts.

Your 5 sessions where you amble around the machines for 20 minutes isn't the same as someone else's 3 HARD sessions of squats, deadlifts, bench press and overhead press.

And what if your job has you walking 15k steps per day vs. someone else doing 1 more workout but driving to work and sitting at a desk all day?

You could have two physically identical people who do the same number of workouts & have the same job, but but have massively different energy expenditures.

If one trains differently, walks around more at work chatting to different people, takes the stairs, commutes to work in a different way and is more active around the house doing chores, cooking, washing up etc. then they will use more energy.

Then there's food:

Food isn't this perfectly uniform stuff that is perfectly manufactured in an ultra controlled way...

Especially if you're eating mostly whole foods with a lot of animal products (which you should be)

Do you think every cow has the same amount of fat on it?

Is it every cow's fat distributed in exactly the same way?

Every steak you eat has a different amount of protein & fat in it, even if it weighs the exact same. Yet the nutritional info will always have the same numbers.

The same goes for salmon, eggs, everything.

Some stuff is more uniform - like things that are pretty much all one macro like tuna, fruit, oil, etc.

But no one eats only single macronutrient foods, so you really don't need to obsess over your numbers.

And if you're not precisely measuring how much of each food you're eating but you ARE precisely tracking how much of each macro is left in your budget then you're really wasting your time.

Why try to be precise in one place but not everywhere else?

Some people will actually regularly eat from places like Subway, Pizza Hut etc. then look up the macros online to meticulously factor into their day, even though 17 year old Gertrude made their lunch and threw the ingredients on it willy nilly.

Hopefully now you can see how it's madness to worry about finding a food with 11g protein, 4g fat and 9g carbs to hit your numbers for the day.

Especially if you've eaten a sandwich or a pizza made by someone else who didn't weigh out the ingredients....

Here's what to do instead:

- Get your macros from a calculator & understand it's an estimate.
- Round the numbers (e.g. 2,200 calories instead of 2,226, 150g protein instead of 154)
- Track accurately.
- Watch what happens after a few weeks.
- Adjust based on the result.

This whole thing is dealing with ballpark numbers. It doesn't matter if what you think is your maintenance is 10% out if your tracking is also 10% out in the same direction.

Just keep adjusting until its working. Eventually it will.