Is counting macros just another diet?

On Ep. 189, Ep. 218 and Ep. 320, Nikkiey draws the line clearly. A diet is a temporary approach: low-carb, keto or a 21-day program with its own rules and restrictions, usually aimed at losing a set amount of weight in a set amount of time. Once the goal is hit, you go back to what you were doing before. She calls that getting on and off the hamster wheel of losing and regaining the same 10 pounds. She does add nuance on Ep. 218: diets can help in the short term, for example going gluten-free for celiac disease, but they take a lot of willpower and are hard to sustain.

Macros work differently. Nikkiey points out that there are still rules, but they let you eat the foods that make a plan sustainable. Nothing gets eliminated. On Ep. 24 she asks why a low-carb approach makes you drop bread, pasta and rice when you could learn the right portion instead. On Ep. 57 she says she has Dove chocolate at the end of every day. Your numbers should also be your own, based on your lifestyle, your goals and where you are, not a cookie-cutter PDF passed around online.

The skill is the point. You weigh your food, learn what's on your plate and start recognizing portions. Nikkiey says that years in, she can look at a plate and estimate the protein, carbs and fat. On Ep. 68 she compares it to learning to work out: once you acquire the skill, it becomes part of your normal life and nobody can take it away. That's also why WarriorBabe uses meal plans only at the start, as a learning tool, not something to follow for months. If you come to macros treating them like your last diet, she says, that old mindset is the thing to let go of.