Macros vs Calories: Why Tracking Macros Works After 40

Nikkiey: Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

The reason why I love macronutrients so freaking much is because it prevents and it helps to manage any type of health condition that you may be at risk of or that you are currently diagnosed with.

What's going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show, or if this is one of your first shows, welcome to the show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott. And welcome to today's episode, episode 109, where, to be quite honest and quite frank with you, I have no idea what I'm going to talk about, slightly.

I have been procrastinating for the last hour deciding what I'm going to talk about on this podcast. And I'll be completely blunt with you guys. Sometimes I get into these lulls of knowing what to bring to the podcast. And I'll have to hop on my story and ask you guys what things you want to hear. I do that Q&A box, and you guys always drop really good things. I need to bring that back. But I was like, you know what, I'm just going to turn the mic on, and I'm just going to start talking.

Okay, so I have an idea a little bit. I want to talk about why I love macros so much, why they're important for you as you age, calories and macros. But I didn't formulate my thought process like I normally do when I come into these podcasts, because, like I was just sharing with you, sometimes I'm like, what am I going to talk about? What do you guys want to hear? I go through those lulls every once in a while. So, yeah, I'll reach out to you guys.

Anyway, for today: why I love macros so much. A lot of people have asked me the difference between calories and macros, and why one and why the other. I've talked about this in an earlier podcast where I broke down the difference between the two. So I kind of just want to bring that back to top of mind, and share why I love them so freaking much. Because I don't look at macros as another diet.

You guys have probably heard me say this a million times, and you will continue to hear me say this, because I don't look at it as a diet. I look at it as a skill set that will serve you for the rest of your life.

And a little bit of the backstory with me and macros, which I don't know that I've ever really elaborated on, so that'll be good for this podcast. When I first started tracking macros, I was in the same boat that you guys are in when you're just getting into the world of macronutrients. This was only a short four years ago, when I was transitioning from bodybuilding.

And I was like, there's got to be another way than eating just broccoli, chicken, and rice all the time. I asked people for support in this, but they were one-minded because of the niche that they were in, which was bodybuilding. And I was like, no, there's got to be another way. There's got to be a way that people live in balance and don't restrict foods, and feel like this is actually a realistic thing that one can follow. And so I just immersed myself in the world of learning macronutrients.

I dabbled in different coaches' perspectives. I dabbled in reading. I dabbled in my own personal experience. And just from the underlying education that I have from being in the nursing field, I was like, this makes sense. This makes sense scientifically. But I need to figure it out.

And I know this will resonate so hard with you guys, because I, too, was like, wow, this is so hard when I first started having to actually physically track macronutrients and use an application. I use MyFitnessPal, and I dabbled in other ones, like MyMacros+ or Macros Inc. I think that's one. Yeah, I dabbled in all the different things. And I remember at the beginning thinking, one, this is so freaking hard. Two, this is so freaking time-consuming.

And three, I remember one night being in my kitchen for at least an hour to an hour and a half, just barcode scanning everything, and then trying to play what I like to call macro Tetris. Because you have to try and get your protein, your fats, and your carbs into plus or minus five. You've got to play around with the quantity of the items that you want to consume in a day to get it into plus or minus five in each category. So I'm moving my protein ounces from four to three.

And then I'm moving the grams down five grams on my rice. And I obviously wanted to have some sweets in the day. Trust me, I get it. I've been there. I hear you. I know how you feel at the beginning of your journey, because I was there with macronutrients.

And I always speak from experience, and this one will predominantly hit you guys, I think, because I, too, was the one that would track every single day as I was eating the foods I was consuming at the beginning of my journey. Yeah, I had a night where I actually tried to do all of the barcode scanning that I just shared with you. But I was like, F this, this is just too hard. And so the next day I was like, I'm just going to figure it out as I go. And I would get to the end of the day and I would be 50 grams over on carbs. I would still be needing to hit my fats. I would be 100 grams under on my protein.

And I was like, oh my God. Man, there really is truth to the planning ahead, fail to plan, plan to fail motto that I've heard. And that's why I always say the biggest thing when you're starting out with macros is to just plan the night before. It may take you an hour and a half out of the gate. However, it's just like trying something new, right? It's like riding a bicycle for the first time. It's like walking for the first time. It's like starting a new job and understanding all the things for the first time.

It's hard. It's time-consuming. You're trying to navigate your way through it. But the more that you do it consistently every single day, the faster you will get, and the better you will get at that skill. It's a skill set that will serve you for the rest of your life. So for you guys to say this is too hard, this is too time-consuming, or even people that say it's too restrictive, I can understand that. However, it's just because those things aren't being tapped into to really solve.

And sorry, this may be a little bit of a random thing with the podcast today, but there was also this post that I saw from my friend Mike Milner, who was on the podcast a couple weeks ago. He said, hot take: people resist tracking macros for one main reason. It forces you to change your current routine slash lifestyle. Unfortunately, most people want results without the sacrifices that are required to achieve said results.

And I reposted it to my story because I was like, damn. You've got to say that a little bit louder for the people in the back, because it's so true. The time, the busyness, it's too hard. These are sacrifices. In order to get the result that macros can give you, which I'm going to talk about in a second, you've got to change what you're currently doing, because obviously what you're currently doing isn't working for you.

And that's how I felt back in the day. Bodybuilding and the extreme of following one avenue of broccoli, chicken, rice on a regular basis wasn't working for me. I was unhappy. I was frustrated. And I wasn't getting the results that I wanted. So why would I continue doing that? I had to figure it out. I had to sacrifice time and a new way of learning or seeing things to figure out how to get the result that I wanted, of keeping my body composition the way that I wanted it to be, but living in a more sustainable and realistic fashion for myself with food, and feeling satisfied and not restricted in my food choices.

So that post, that's you guys. I know. I hear you. I understand you. I feel you. But you've got to get rid of and change your current routine or lifestyle that's leading you to where you are right now in order to figure out how to get the results that you want, which obviously you aren't getting by what you're doing right now.

So that's a little rant on why I love macros so much and why it's a skill set that will serve you for the rest of your life.

And another reason I love macros so much is that with that skill set, you learn portion sizes. When you're consistently tracking for a set amount of time, and I would give it a year, a year and a half, two years, and that's two years of your entire life, come on, you guys, that's such a small window of time to be able to build and develop this skill.

Every time you're tracking and you're weighing your food, and you're looking at the food that's on your plate or that you're putting together for meal prep or X, Y, and Z, you become accustomed to recognizing how much food you are consuming, or how much food equals a portion size. And over time, by continually doing that for a year, a year and a half, two years, three years, four years, and in my case five years going on, I know what food consists of and I know what portion sizes look like.

And so I don't need to meticulously track all of my food anymore. In fact, for probably the last six, eight months, almost a year, I've been intuitively eating, because I can look at food and recognize how much it is. It's maybe not dialed in to exactly tracking the macros, but I know that this equates to a ballpark amount of carbs and fats and protein. And I know that I need to consume my body weight in protein.

And I know how much that is when it comes to chicken or ground beef or egg whites or a protein shake or yogurt. So I can just intuitively look at food and know it, but I can only do that because I tracked macronutrients for a set amount of time. People kind of want to dive into intuitive eating without getting that one thing, without tracking macronutrients. And I'm like, you can't do that. How can you do that? You can't look at food and know what it is without tracking macronutrients for X amount of time.

Hey, hey, I just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you're enjoying it, and there's so much more to come. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons. And it would also help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too.

So that's one of the reasons why I love it. But another reason I love it is its impact on your body composition. Macronutrients directly affect your body composition.

I want to talk really quick about the difference between a calorie and a macronutrient. Counting calories focuses on total energy intake, without paying particular attention to where those calories come from. This approach can totally be extremely useful if you are somebody that just wants to focus on weight loss. Maybe you are 200 pounds, or 250 or 300.

You could just focus on losing weight. You can focus on just getting rid of the bad habits that you're honing in on right now, and just focus on a caloric goal for the day, because you're probably over-consuming. And that's great. That'll work. However, once you lose some weight, it's better to try and focus on the macros and strengthening at the same time, because it's going to be two-fold, like killing two birds with one stone, and get you to your goals optimally faster by changing body composition.

Fat loss and weight loss: there's a difference between the two. Okay? But the thing with calories is that they don't take into account the nutritional quality of the food. For example, a calorie from protein has a different impact on your body than a calorie from fat or carbohydrates. Totally different impact. They do different things. They break down different ways inside of the body. Tracking macros, on the other hand, focuses on protein, fats, and carbohydrates. It not only looks at the total calorie intake, but also where those calories are coming from.

So here's my personal main distinction between counting calories and macronutrients. Counting calories does not consider the quality or nutritional composition of the foods that you are consuming. For example, a sugary soft drink and a piece of fruit have similar calorie counts, but their nutritional values are vastly different. Tracking macros focuses on the quality of the calories that you consume, ensuring that you get the right balance of protein, fats, and carbohydrates.

So it recognizes that not all calories are created equal. For example, protein calories can help you build muscle. Carbohydrate calories help provide your body energy. And fat calories support cell health and hormonal production. So by focusing on macros, you can ensure that your body is getting the nutrients it needs to function optimally, which can lead to improved health. And you're also feeding the right mechanisms of your body to produce the results that you want.

It's also worth dropping a note here that counting macros inherently involves counting calories. However, the emphasis is not on the total caloric intake, but rather the distribution of the calories across the different types of nutrients that you are consuming. You may consume about 400 calories of your total daily intake from protein, and then 500 calories of your total daily intake from carbohydrates, and then 300 calories from fat.

And this is totally just ballpark, throwing numbers at you right now, because that would only make up about 1,200 calories. But you can see that with each of these breakdowns, they do count calories, but the emphasis isn't on that. It's on the distribution of the calories you are consuming, which come from different types of nutrients that do different things for your body.

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So that is how it relates to calories. Cool, you can use calories as a tool to focus on weight loss. But by understanding the roles that protein, carbohydrates, and fat play, you can tailor your diet. You can tailor your nutrition to optimize your body composition. The more protein you have, the more muscle you're going to be able to repair and build.

And protein is the number one macronutrient that a lot of women, and people, lack eating, because their consumption is mainly carbs and fats. And they think that having eight grams of protein in a protein bar is good. Like, I ate protein today. That's not enough. So just let this be a little eye-opening for you. If you want to directly change your body composition, you have to focus on the breakdown of the macronutrients that you are consuming. You have to focus on protein. You have to focus on fats. You have to focus on carbohydrates.

Now, outside of just the aesthetics of the body and the ability to develop a skill set, another reason why I love macronutrients so freaking much is because it prevents and it helps to manage any type of health condition that you may be at risk of or that you are currently diagnosed with. When you are focused on eating a balanced nutritional intake of protein, fats, and carbs, you can prevent and or control diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cholesterol, blood pressure, hormones, thyroid, Hashimoto's, all of these things. And I can say that because I have seen the direct correlation between having a focus on macronutrients and these positive changes happening in women.

I have read testimonials. I have seen pictures. I have a plethora of evidence from our WarriorBabe community to support what I just said. Because of their emphasis on eating macronutrients and focusing on protein, fats, and carbs, their doctors are usually asking them what they're doing, because their cholesterol is better. Their A1C is better. Their blood sugar or blood pressure is better. Their thyroid and their hormones are becoming more balanced.

And they get to decrease the dosages of the medications they're on, to either be lower or to not even be needed anymore. And that is so freaking cool. And that's because of macronutrients. It's because of focusing on the things that the body needs to work better internally.

And then the next layer of why I love macronutrients so much: I just talked about aesthetics. I talked about skill set. I talked about managing conditions and preventing conditions, especially if they run in your family, you guys. If you know that mom, dad, uncle, X, Y, and Z has a history of this, that is why it is so important for you to really commit to eating the right way, for yourself and for your future generations.

And the other reason I love it is that having a good focus on protein, fats, and carbs has a significant impact on your mental health. A significant impact. It improves your mood. It improves your energy levels. It improves your cognitive function. It improves your overall mental well-being. And I've seen this, again, in many testimonials, many pictures, many confirmations of what I just said from the WarriorBabe community. And I've seen it in myself as well. People are always like, how do you have so much energy, Nikkiey? And I'm like, because I fuel my body with what it needs, and my body directly connects to my brain and my mind.

And that's why I can just go forever. So I want this all for you too, guys. Everything I'm sharing with you about this world, that's why I broke it down. I get why at the beginning it can be a little daunting and time-consuming. But isn't it worth it, with what I just shared? Isn't it worth it to prevent and manage health conditions? Isn't it worth it to have better mental and emotional well-being?

Isn't it worth it to develop a skill set, when obviously something isn't working for you right now? So you need to figure out how you can develop something that can work for you. Isn't that worth it, to get you the results that you want? And then isn't it worth it to be more toned, be more lean, and achieve the aesthetics you want with your body? Isn't that worth it? Because if it is all worth it, then time, busy, and every excuse in the book to not want to track macronutrients, or to resist tracking macronutrients, should not even be a narrative going on in your brain.

It should be, okay, accepting it for what it is. It's going to be hard. It's going to take some time. And you accept those facts so that when you accept them, you can move on and do the things that will support you in all of these aspects. Come on, guys. Am I right? Yes. Yes.

So that is what I wanted. That podcast actually turned out really freaking awesome. So I'm glad that I just sat down, hit record, and word vomited, because that is why I love macronutrients. I hear you. I understand you. I know it's frustrating at the beginning. However, it's worth it because of all the things I said macros can do for you. So take this podcast for what it is, you guys.

Figure out how and where you can start small and implement this, especially with the new year coming up. You might be thinking, all right, Nikkiey, I get it. This past year I've heard of macronutrients. It's something I'm unsure of. I know it's going to be a new skill to learn, and you're accepting that. Check out warriorbabe.com, because we are a macronutrient-based company. Now, we don't set you up right away with tracking protein, fats, and carbs if you've never tracked macros before.

However, we will lead you in that direction, as a North Star, to get to that point. So if you don't want to think about how to do it, if you have these feelings and thoughts about it, but you want accountability and support along the way, go to warriorbabe.com. Apply for the VIP program so you can work one-on-one with our expert coaches. They will hold you accountable to this all along the way until you get to that North Star. So that's where I would say start.

But if you don't become a WarriorBabe, then I would say start small. Just start incrementally. Download MyFitnessPal. Go around your kitchen and barcode scan some things. Try and formulate one day of how you would want to eat, with the foods you enjoy, making sure that it's quality food, with protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Put that in and play macro Tetris. And then use that planned day, because there's a feature inside MyFitnessPal that lets you copy it and add it to future days. So just use that same plan for the next five to seven days.

And then you can start tweaking it. So that's what I would say. Just start small.

All right, you guys, I hope you enjoyed this podcast. I appreciate you all listening to this. You have no idea. I know I've said this in previous podcasts, but my sincere gratitude goes to you listeners for listening to every episode, gaining so much value from it, and sharing it with other people. I just appreciate you guys so much. So thank you so much for listening, and I will see you inside the next episode. Peace out.

Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.