Can anyone else relate to the feeling that you’ve been on some sort of weight loss plan for basically the last decade, if not longer? Maybe it just comes with the territory of being a mom.
2020 was unkind to my weight loss efforts. I started the year with a goal to lose 20 pounds. Instead, I gained about 10 – which meant that my Jan. 1, 2021 goal was now to lose 30 pounds, instead of the original 20. Big sigh.
I’ve tried Weight Watchers, Noom, Whole 30, and a brief stint with Intermittent Fasting. I’ve had varying success with these programs over the years, but as of late, nothing was sticking or motivating me. Nothing was clicking. I needed something totally different to change my mindset and my lifestyle surrounding my diet.
At the recommendation of a few friends, I started a program that was entirely based on counting macronutrients, rather than calories.
If you aren’t familiar with the term, macronutrients, (often referred to as simply “macros”) are the basic components of every diet: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Every food we consume is made up of some combination of these macronutrients.
For the program that I’ve been following, I was assigned a daily “budget” for each of my macros. Rather than counting calories, I shifted my focus to the macros in my foods. I’ve been logging my diet religiously in My Fitness Pal but not really paying attention to the calorie count. Instead, I’ve been looking at the nutrition feature and seeing how my macros break down.
For some reason, counting macros makes sense to my mind.
As a runner and a fitness fanatic, examining the macros in the foods that I’m eating is helping me shift my mindset to seeing food as fuel to help my body accomplish the workouts that I ask it to pursue. This change in my thought process surrounding food has made all the difference in my willingness and desire to follow this plan.
Better yet, no food is off-limits when it comes to counting macros. I just have to plan ahead and figure out how to fit things into my daily budget. If I want to end the day with a high-fat treat like ice cream, or a couple of glasses of wine, I need to focus on hitting my protein goal earlier in the day and leave room in the budget for the fats or carbs later in the evening.
After eight weeks of counting my macros, I’ve lost about 15 pounds. Best of all, I haven’t felt deprived or missed out on anything in the process. If you’ve been looking for a new weight loss plan to try, I encourage you to look into macro counting, too. It might change your life – I know it is changing mine!
