The biggest problem with transforming your body starts and ends with your diet. Yes, exercise plays an important role in changing your body composition. However, even the “best diet” won’t offset a lack of physical activity.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions and irrational fear when it comes to dieting.

At some point, I can guarantee you heard one of these statements:

Carbs are evil, don’t eat them!
You need carbs for energy!
Fat will make you fat!
Good fats are good for you!
Protein helps you lose weight!
Too much protein is bad for your kidneys!

It’s no wonder many of us are left confused and feel helpless about what we can do to look and feel our best! Between the fears of high protein diets, Keto diets, and carbs in general, eating has become an overcomplicated mess that creates more stress than needed.

This is why I’m writing this guide to help you understand what your body needs and why you don’t have to avoid certain foods that you want as part of your healthy nutrition plan. I want to clear up some of the most common misconceptions surrounding nutrition and arm you with the necessary information to make good nutritional decisions in the future.

In this article, I’m going to discuss:

What exactly are macros and their importance
The 80/20 Rule of Healthy Eating
The Healthy Lifestyle Eating Guidelines

Understanding “Macros”

In fitness circles, you’ll often hear protein, carbohydrates, and fats being referred to as “macros” which is short for “macronutrients.”

Yet, what exactly are macronutrients anyways?

Macronutrients - A type of food (e.i. protein, carbohydrates, fats) required in large amounts in the human diet.

In other words, it’s the nutrients that build up our calories. Macronutrients contain calories, and when we add them up, they equal our total daily intake

All foods are made up of some combination of the following macronutrients (aka macros):

Protein has 4 calories per gram
Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram
Fats have 9 calories per gram

Macronutrients are important because they heavily influence your body composition, training performance, and overall health and well-being. Each macronutrient plays a critical role in the previously mentioned components of creating a healthy lifestyle.

Carbohydrates: Your Misunderstood Best Friend.

Without question, Carbs almost always seem to be the center of focus for the majority of diets, so let’s start here.

Carbohydrates are always the center of hate for dieters. They are constantly labeled as “evil,” “bad,” and responsible as the sole reason why people gain weight.

Carbs have a bad reputation, a far worst one than they truly deserve. Yet, do carbs actually deserve this label??

Carbs are your body’s preferred energy source. Sugar, starches, and fibers are all primary forms of carbohydrates and can be broken down into two categories.

Carbs 101: Simple vs Complex:

Let’s begin with simple carbs, which are usually loaded with sugar and syrup or sugary drinks (i.e., soda and fruit juice.). Other examples of these foods are candy, cake, beer, and cookies, aka the stuff you shouldn’t be prioritizing.

While these foods are absolutely delicious, they hardly do anything for your body. This doesn’t mean these carbs are “evil”, rather, we should enjoy them in small daily indulgences. These highly processed foods are loaded with sugar and highly palatable, which causes people to overeat and overdo on their calories.

On the other hand, we have complex carbs, which include oatmeal, potatoes, rice, fruits, veggies, yams, legumes, etc. Complex carbs are better than their simple carb counterparts as they provide more vitamins, minerals, and fiber while aiding digestion and training performance.

Neither low carb diets nor low GI diets are the magic pills for weight loss. The main driver for weight loss is always calories in vs. calories out.

The critical thing to remember is that your body needs carbs, especially if you’re looking to improve your body composition. Without carbohydrates, your body will begin to break down your muscle tissue for energy, which will self-sabotage your efforts.

Here are some different carb categories and examples and how often they should be included in your diet.

Fibrous/leafy carbs: Eat these as often s you’d like in large quantities. The easiest solution is to have one big-ass salad daily. Some other examples include spinach, broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, celery, mushrooms, peppers, and cucumbers. Remember that if you increase your fibrous vegetable content too quickly, you may experience some digestive issues.
Fruit/Sugary Vegetable carbs: Aim to eat 1-2 servings of these per day as they tend to be higher in sugar per serving than fibrous or leafy carbs. A serving size is typically ⅓ to 3/4th cup. Some examples include all types of berries, apples, oranges, grapefruit, carrots, beets, cherries, and peaches. Since they are higher in good sugar, make sure to eat some protein and fat along with these carbs to stabilize your blood sugar levels.
Starchy Carbs: Aim to eat 1-2 servings of these daily (especially after weight training or intense workouts) to help replenish muscle glycogen. Some examples include rice, oats, all varieties of potatoes, and quinoa. A serving size of carbs is typically around 1 cup cooked.

Eating Tip:

Ensure you’re providing your body with enough energy (i.e. calories and carbs) to fuel your training performance adequately. Minimize your simple carb intake (i.e., soda, fruit juice) while prioritizing complex carbs and eating a variety of vegetables (i.e. eat the rainbow) and fruit.

Fats: From Zero to Hero

Just like carbs, fats were blamed as the reason everyone got fat. For years, dietary fats were demonized, and everyone, from doctors to nutritionists, told us it would make us fat. This makes sense on the surface since fats are the most calorie-dense macronutrient (9 calories per gram) compared to carbs and protein (4 calories per gram).

However, fats are a necessary macronutrient as our body needs fats in order to survive and strive. This means our bodies literally cannot survive without it.

So why are fats so important?

Fat is crucial for hormonal health, which is the biggest and most recognized reason to consume an adequate amount of fat. This is one of the reasons why this is an essential nutrient - you literally cannot live without it.
Fat is a primer for the nervous system and the axon, the literal building blocks for your nerves. The axon is responsible for transmitting electrical signals from the brain throughout the body to initiate all functions. The axon is made up of 80% lipids (fats).
Fats are our body's secondary energy source. When we look at low-intensity activities (i.e. walking, cooking, etc.) fat is our fuel source. It’s not great for explosive energy, but it’s excellent for daily energy needs.

Now that you know why fats are essential in your diet, here’s what you need to know about the different types of fats and why each is necessary within your diet

Monounsaturated Fats:

Monounsaturated fats are found primarily in high-fat fruits, such as avocados, and nuts like pistachios, almonds, walnuts, and cashews. Olive oil is also an excellent source.

Monounsaturated fats help lower the bad cholesterol (LDLs) while raising the good cholesterol (HDL). They’ve also been shown to fight weight gain and even help reduce body fat levels.

Polyunsaturated Fats:

Similar to monounsaturated fats, these fats help lower the bad cholesterol while raising the good cholesterol. You can find polyunsaturated fats in foods like salmon, fish oils, seeds, and sunflower oils. These fats contain omega-3 and omega 6’s fatty acids.

Omega 3’s and Omega 6’s are important and often referred to as essential fatty acids or EFAs. These EFA’s cannot be made within our body, so it’s essential we eat adequate amounts.

Saturated Fats:

Saturated fats are one of the best sources of energy for your body. In fact, it’s why your body naturally stores carbohydrates as saturated fats. Not to mention, saturated fats contain some of the more satiating foods, meaning they will keep you feeling fuller longer. Saturated fats are usually in eggs, red meat, and dairy products.

Trans Fats: The Black Sheep

Trans fats are the black sheep within the fat family as they are one of the worst forms of foods you could possibly eat. Trans fats are generally found in manmade foods due to overprocessing foods for longer shelf life.

Trans fats are often found in foods such as french fries, potato chips, and most fried foods. If your food is pre-packaged, it’s a safe bet that it has a fair share of trans fats. You should try to avoid trans fats at all costs. However, the occasional twinkle once every few months will be okay, yet one of the universal truths of good nutrition is prioritizing minimally processed foods.

Eating Tip:

Aim to keep 20-30 percent of your daily calories from fat sources. Vary your fat sources, so get an even disputation of saturated and unsaturated fats.

Protein: The Cool, Popular Kid

While both carbs and fats have shared the spotlight of being public enemy #1, protein has always been that cool, popular kid which everyone loves.

Ask any bodybuilder, athlete, nutritionist, or fitness enthusiast, and they’ll tell you getting adequate amounts of protein is essential for your progress. Protein is essential for your body to repair damaged muscles while improving your metabolism. Protein provides the necessary building material to build lean muscles to achieve the healthiest body possible.

There are two categories of protein: Incomplete and complete proteins.

Each protein molecule is composed of smaller molecules called amino acids. There are 22 amino acids, of which nine can only be obtained through your food, i.e. essential amino acids. The remaining amino acids can be built within your body.

Those nine amino acids obtained from food are called essential amino acids. A complete protein contains adequate portions of those nine amino acids. So, an incomplete protein is lacking in one or more of those amino acids.

These amino acids also help your body regulate blood pressure, blood sugar levels, metabolic rate, and muscle growth. Protein is one of the most metabolic macronutrients, meaning the more protein you eat, the more calories you burn. For that reason and protein’s ability to build muscle, if you’re going to overeat on any macronutrient, protein is your safest bet.

However, don’t forget that your calories still matter, so you can’t eat as much as you want. Use these guidelines to figure out how much protein you should consume daily for optimal health and performance.

Minimal activity Levels: (engage lifting 1-2x/week)

0.6-0.8 x bodyweight in pounds. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, you would consume 90-120 grams of protein a day

Moderate activity Levels: (engage in strenuous strength training 2-3x/week)

0.8-1g x bodyweight in pounds. So if you weigh 150lbs, you would consume 120-150 grams of protein

High Activity Level (engages in strenuous strength training 4-6x/week)

1-1.2 x bodyweight in pounds. So if you weigh 150lbs, you consume 135 to 180 grams of protein daily.

The easiest way to hit these protein targets is to build each meal around your protein source. Aim for 1-2 servings of protein for each meal. Don’t know what a serving size of protein looks like? No problem! Just use your hand! A typical serving size of protein is four ounces which is the same size of your palm.

I wrote an entire article on this, which you can read it here.

Your eating tip:

Protein should be set between 0.8-1.2g per pound of bodyweight. While this may seem high, it’s absolutely crucial for maximizing your body composition fill staying full and satiated.

The 80/20 Rule for Healthy Eating

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably lost weight before. I’m willing to bet good money you lose it doing something unsustainable (i.e. doing Keto, only eating “clean foods”, not eating after 6 pm., etc.)

You may have lost that weight, but I can guarantee that you regained it all back.

How do I know? Because whatever you do to lose weight is the same thing you’ll have to do to keep the weight off!

We want to make sure your nutrition both fuels your body training performance AND allows you to enjoy life. The 80/20 rule has been absolutely crucial for my online clients to create sustainable success while living their life. Finding this balance is a big part of what most diets get wrong

The 80/20 rule is fairly simple and straightforward: 80% of your calories/food should come from nutrient-dense whole foods while the remaining 20% of your calories/food comes from less nutrient-dense foods i.e. pizza, chips, Big Macs, Alcohol, etc.

Let’s put this into perspective: let’s say your calorie goal was 2000 calories daily. By following the 80/20 rule, 1600 calories should come from nutrient-dense foods, while the remaining 400 calories should come from treats and things you enjoy.

---> 80-90% Whole, Nutrient-dense foods

The honest truth and reality of the society we live in today, it’s way too easy to overeat. The overly processed foods (i.e. fast foods, snack foods) we eat are specially designed to be hyper-palatable as it’s literally engineered to make us eat more than we need.

This is why you need to prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods. In the simplest terms, 80-90% of your foods should have at one point:

Swam in the ocean
Roamed the earth
Flew in the sky
Grew from the ground

All these foods are single-ingredient items that are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber to maximize your fullness, minimizing hunger/cravings WHILE providing your body with the necessary fuel and nutrients to maximize your progress.

---> 10-20% IIFYM

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the remaining 20% of the foods that you enjoy. These foods items include:

Pizza
Alcohol
Burgers
French Fries
Big Macs
Ice creams
Cookies

This means you can use these calories and macros to eat and drink whatever you want. Beer, ice cream, pizza….. Seriously, whatever. As long as you still make those foods work within your calories and macro goals, your results and health won’t be affected.

Creating Your Own Healthy Meals

Let’s remove all the morality and science of food and discuss a realistic definition of healthy food:

“Foods I frequently enjoy eating that give me enough fuel and energy to get me throughout the day without making me feel miserable.”

This is why the majority of books, coaches, and doctors all generally recommend the same list of healthy foods

Proteins like lean cuts of meats and legumes
Fresh fruits and veggies
Healthy carbohydrates like rice, oatmeal, and potatoes
Healthy fats like almonds and olive oils

There is a reason why these foods always appear on every “healthy foods” list. The reason is simple: they’ll contain a healthy dose of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, AND fewer calories than their processed food counterparts. In addition, they’ll keep us full and satisfied longer to keep our total calories in check.

So, if we can prioritize these foods on our plates, even occasionally, we’ll feel full more often while eating fewer calories which leads to sustainable weight loss.

I want you to focus on your meals having these characteristics:

Prioritizing whole, minimally processed foods
Fit onto one plate
Fitting your nutritional targets (i.e. calories and/or macros)
Being enjoyable
Being easily repeatable

At the heart of sustainable lifestyle eating, your meals should be enjoyable and repeatable. Being enjoyable doesn’t just mean it tastes good. Having an enjoyable meal means it tastes good, makes you feel good, digests well, AND is also satisfying aka you want to make that meal again.

Using this method, we can usually easily recreate HUNDREDS Of different healthy meals. However, let’s put this into practice by taking the ever-so-classic bodybuilding template meal.

Chicken (protein)
Rice (carb)
Broccoli (veggie)
Butter (fat)

After a meal or two, you’ll be extremely bored, unsatisfied, and hate eating this meal. So, let’s swap out our macro source for something else:

Steak (protein)
Potatoes (carb)
Asparagus (veggie)
Cheese (fat)

With this small swap, we were able to still keep our main macro sources without making everything overly complicated. This method provides structure while giving you both freedom, flexibility, and variety as you’d like!

Also, it’s totally fine to keep things the same week to week. In fact, most clients will find that one meal is getting a bit old and will swap it out for another option, but all meals don’t need to change weekly.

I’ve included an example down below so you can see this food swap method in action!

The Next Step:

This guide has provided you with all the tools and resources you’ll need to start making healthier decisions.

Healthy eating will change your life. However, it needs to fit into your life too.

You don’t need to give up the foods you love for the sake of “eating healthy.” Rather you need to plan for those occasional foods/meals.

Small changes, not massive, dramatic shifts, will lead you to the results you want. Those small changes (i.e. prioritizing protein, always having fruit or veggie on your plate) are the foundation of eating healthy.

Two other critical factors to whether your nutritional program succeeds or not?

Accountability
Structure and a clear plan to follow

My online coaching service provides you with both. At Mack Performance, I firmly believe that the best diet is the one you enjoy while making long-term, objective-based progress.

Together, we’ll create a tailored plan to get you to the physique you’ve always wanted and expertly guide you through every step of your transformation.

Apply for Coaching