2842: How to Calculate Your Macros ; The Complete Beginner to Advanced Guide

Summary

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Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth

Episode 2842: How to Calculate Your Macros — The Complete Beginner to Advanced Guide
Released April 23, 2026
Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, Doug Egge

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the hosts deliver a comprehensive guide on how to calculate your macros—from absolute basics to deeper details suited for advanced listeners. They discuss what macros are, their practical significance, the importance of tracking beyond just calories, how to personalize macro ratios, and how to use a macro calculator. Throughout, they infuse humor, personal coaching anecdotes, and science-based recommendations, aiming to help listeners optimize body composition, performance, and health.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Macros: What Are They, and Why Do They Matter?

[05:02–06:13]

• Food is made up of nutrients: macronutrients (macros) and micronutrients.
• Three macros: protein, fat, carbohydrates—the primary contributors to calories.
  • Protein & carbs: 4 calories/g, fat: 9 calories/g.
• “Macros are what make up the calories…when you hear someone say macros, what they’re referring to are proteins, fats and carbohydrates.” — Adam Schafer [05:02]
• Tracking macros is more effective than tracking just calories for achieving physique and performance goals.

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2. Why Tracking Macros Beats Calorie Counting

[06:14–07:59]

• Calorie tracking is entry-level; understanding macros creates better results for body composition, energy, and behavior.
• Two of the three macros (protein, fat) are essential to life.
• Historical anecdote: "Rabbit starvation" — people eating only lean meat (like wild rabbit) starved because of insufficient fat intake [07:08].
• Carbohydrates are technically non-essential but can be vital for wellbeing and physical performance for most people.

“You could eat 10,000 calories…but if you don’t eat an adequate amount of protein and fats, you’ll actually starve your body.” — Adam Schafer [07:08]

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3. Individual Variance and Customization

[10:48–12:18]

• Some thrive on low-carb/high-fat, others on high-carb/moderate-fat—individual response matters.
• “Optimal [macros] may look different for each individual…not sex by sex or weight class by weight class.” — Justin Andrews [11:34]
• Experimentation is key: track, tweak, and monitor how you feel.

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4. How to Set Your Macros: Protein, Fat, and Carbs Detailed

A. Protein

[12:18–17:24]

• High-protein diets outperform low-protein ones for body composition, satiety, and health.
  • Evidence-based guideline: 0.6–0.8g per pound of body weight is the “upper limit” where benefits peak [14:03].
  • Practical coaching tip: Aim for 1g per pound of target body weight for easier math and better compliance.
  • Consistency matters: Hit this protein target every single day—protein can’t be “banked” or averaged like carbs or fat.

“One gram of protein per pound of target body weight... Every single day, you want to hit this.” — Adam Schafer [15:22]

B. Fat

[17:24–21:46]

• Fats are crucial: hormone balance, cell structure, energy, satiety.
  • Minimums: Women: 50–60g/day, Men: ~70–80g/day.
  • Most people do better above these numbers; the RDA is considered the bare minimum.
  • For those training regularly, requirements go up; increasing dietary fats can quickly improve hormones, libido, skin, and energy.

“I can't tell you how many times I took a [female] client, bumped them 20 grams more a day...huge benefit.” — Justin Andrews [19:03]

• Don’t fear higher calories if they come from hitting your fat targets; focus on macros over strict calories.

C. Carbs

[23:35–25:44]

• Carbs are “flex” macros: raise or lower to fill the calorie budget after setting protein & fat.
• Some find better performance and satiety with higher carbs, others with more fat.
• Complex carbs preferred for most, but individual experimentation is essential.

“Fats produce more satiety…carbohydrates tend to help with athletic performance…there’s a pretty wild individual variance.” — Adam Schafer [23:43]

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5. General Macro-Setting Workflow

[25:44–26:34]

• Two approaches:
  1. Manual: Track food intake closely for 2+ weeks for precision.
  2. Calculator: Use a macro calculator (e.g., the free one at mapsmacro.com) for a strong starting point based on your age, weight, activity level, and goals.
• “Start with a general number and then work off that,” Adam advises.
• “Then track for a week and see how you feel. Make modifications as you go.” — Justin Andrews [26:34]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Macro Tracking’s Power:
  “Calories will determine weight gain or weight loss. Macros determine body composition and how you feel.” — Adam Schafer [21:39]

• On Protein Consistency:
  “High days and low days don’t average out…Every single day you hit your target.” — Justin Andrews [16:26]

• On the Surprising Benefits of More Fats:
  “[Clients] would bump their fat, which initially also bumps their calories, and then all of a sudden she starts to lose weight. Makes sense of that.” — Justin Andrews [22:44]

• On Personalizing Macros:
  “There’s individual variance…Some people do better on a higher carbohydrate diet, some on a lower one.” — Justin Andrews [11:34]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |---------------|-----------| | 04:13–06:13 | What Are Macros? Explanation & Background | | 06:14–07:59 | Macros vs. Calories: Which is More Important? | | 07:59–10:48 | Essential vs Non-Essential Macros and Historical Lessons (“Rabbit Starvation”) | | 10:48–12:18 | Individual Variance and Macro Personalization | | 12:18–17:24 | Deep Dive: Protein—How Much, Why, and How to Hit Your Target Consistently | | 17:24–21:46 | Deep Dive: Fats—RDA vs Real Life, Lifting and the Need for More Fat | | 23:35–25:44 | Deep Dive: Carbs—Satiety, Performance, and Flexibility | | 25:44–26:34 | Methods: How to Set Your Initial Macros (Manual Tracking vs Calculator) | | 26:34–27:06 | Closing & Directing to Macro Calculator |

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Practical Takeaways

• Start With a Calculator: mapsmacro.com offers a quick & free estimate that’s a good starting point.
• Set Protein Intake by Target Body Weight: Aim for 1g/lb (target), regardless of sex or body size.
• Don’t Skimp on Fats: Minimums for optimum function and vitality: 50–60g/day (women), 70–80g/day (men).
• Carbs Fill the Gap: Adjust based on how you feel/performance after hitting minimum protein and fat.
• Experiment & Adjust: Use your feelings, performance, and satiety after a week or two to fine-tune.
• Focus On Macros Over Strict Calories: Proper macro balance delivers better health, results, and well-being—even if calories are a bit above “budget”.

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Engaging Moment

On Adaptation and Surprise Results:
“A female client…was eating 1500 calories, but only 40g of fat. You bump her fat, which bumps her calories, and then all of a sudden she starts to lose weight. Makes sense of that.” — Justin Andrews [22:44]

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Summary

This episode arms listeners with the real-world, practical macro knowledge needed to support any fitness or physique goal—demystifying the process for both absolute beginners and seasoned gym-goers. The Mind Pump hosts reinforce that although calorie counting is a useful tool, macro mastery is what truly shapes body composition, health, and day-to-day vitality. They encourage experimentation, personalization, and a focus on self-awareness over rigid rules. For a quick start, listeners are invited to use the free macro calculator at mapsmacro.com, but always to refine their plan based on results and individual needs.

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Transcript

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[Mind Pump Host (Sal Destefano)]

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Mind Pump Mind Pump with your hosts

[Mind Pump Host (Sal Destefano)]

Sal Destefano, Adam Schaefer and Justin Andrews,

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

you just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode how to Calculate Macros this is for you whether you want to build muscle, burn body fat. What are macros and how do you calculate them? By the way, we have a calculator online that gives you a nice general number on what macros you should be consuming, how many grams of proteins, fats and carbs. You go to maps macro.com it's free. It'll take you 10 seconds. Now this episode is brought to you by Olipop. So Olipop is. Well, it tastes like the soda you grew up drinking as a kid, except it's super low calorie. An entire can of this cream soda, olipop is 50 calories. 50 calories. There's less than it's 3 grams of sugar in the whole can. It tastes great. They have lots of differentlots of different flavors. It helps support gut health because there's fiber in there and it tastes great. So instead of drinking 200 calories and a bunch of sugar, you can do olipop. Go to drinkollipop.com mindpump that's drinkolip.com mindpump you can get a free can of Olipop. Buy any two cans of Olipop in the store and they'll pay you back for one. This works with any flavor, any retailer. We also have a sale this month a brand new program, maps ppl. Push, pull legs 3 day split. Build your body. Sculpt your body. Shape your body. This program is brand new. It's only 40% off. It's actually 40% off, I should say right now. Go to maps ppl.com use the code ppl for the 40% discount. By the way, that comes with a diet guide supplement guide. There's also an at home dumbbell only version and there's a male and female version of the program. So go check it out. 40% off. One more time. Maps ppl.com the code ppl back to the show. All right, real quick.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

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[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

one of our shirts, hats, mugs, we or training gear [e-mail] I'm talking right now.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Hit pause. Head on over to my pumpstore.com that's it. Enjoy the rest of the show.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

If you've paid attention to nutrition advice for more than five seconds, you've probably heard the term macros. What are macros? How do you calculate them? Are they important to track for your progress if you want to lose body fat, build muscle, doesn't matter. What are these things and should you pay attention? We're going to talk about that today. How to calculate your macros.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

This dates us a little bit, but it makes me think of like, can you recall when you first heard this term? So there's two, there's two terms that are thrown around in the space like crazy that there was a time when I never heard what either one of these were. Yeah, PR and macros. I had no idea what that was 25 years.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

So I knew the term macronutrient well, of course.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

But not macros. Yeah, yeah. People would say macros and you'd be like macros. I have no idea what the hell

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

that that wasn't that.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Well, maybe it Was Iifym that made it pop?

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah, it was probably like, like, like 10 years ago.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. CrossFit had all these other acronyms and. And Cross. Yeah, AM, that's another one. AMRAP. And, and. And PR and wads were words that I had never heard anyone say just 20 years ago.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah. The first time I learned about Ma. So Macro is short for macronutrient. So when you look at four, food just kind of like, you know, break down the basic here. When you look at food, food is made up of nutrients and you have micronutrients. And a micronutrient would be like a vitamin or a mineral, for example. And then you have what's called a macronutrient. So micro small, macro larger. And there's three macronutrients that if. That you'll find in food. One of three, two of three, all three in food. And that's protein, fat and carbohydrates. So when you hear someone say macros, what they're referring to are proteins, fats and carbohydrates. That's basically it. And macros are what make up the calories. So when you look at a food and you look at a calorie total, let's say something has 500 calories, I can go in and see what is making those calories up, how many grams of protein, how many grams of carbohydrates and how many grams of fats. And easy way to remember is proteins and carbs are 4 calories per gram and fats or 9 calories per gram. And that's pretty much it. There's. There's nutrition. Yeah.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

There's your course.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

That's it.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Yeah. But let's talk about in. In what case are there. Are there certain cases where you are going to teach somebody to track macros versus just calories?

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yes.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

And. And I. And so this is where I want to go. I want to go with this conversation because I have found to be far more successful teaching people about macros than teaching people how to have a calorie budget.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yes.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Having a calorie budget to me is very entry level to understanding, you know, if you're eating too much or not enough for your body to gain weight or lose weight, which is bare. Bare minimum entry of understanding weight loss or weight gain.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yes.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

But understanding your macros makes a huge difference, I think, in your success to body composition and how you feel behaviors in general.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

And it's also, it's also essential.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Right.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

You have to. Because two of the three, macronutrients are essential, meaning you have to eat a certain amount of them to survive. To survive. In other words, you could eat 10,000 calories, you could have a lot of food, but if you don't eat an adequate amount of the two essential macronutrients, proteins or fats, you'll actually starve your body. There's a famous story about this with hunters. I don't know exactly when this happened. This was during the times of the frontier here in the US I believe, and you had these hunters and trappers that would go out and they would starve eating rabbits, and they would catch a lot of rabbits, they'd eat a lot of rabbits, but because they were so lean, they weren't able to consume enough of the essential macronutrient fat, and they would actually starve to death, even though they'd have so much.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Is there a term related to that?

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah, I believe it's rabbit starvation.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

There's a term for exactly that because of how common that was. Because you think that you're eating enough. This is really popular on the show alone that I always talk about when I talk about where these. These guys get dropped off on, you know, a random island or. Or place out in the middle of nowhere. Alaska. It's a big thing.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Alaska was actually one of the last places they were at. And, you know, they. They have. They don't have a hard time a lot of times catching rabbits with traps, but they're still freaked out because they're like, I can only survive so long on just eating rabbit meat because it's so lean. Yeah. Not enough fat.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Whale blubber.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

So, you know, valuable up there. It's like, you know, that's one big

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

resource that can get fat. Yeah, yeah. So. So it's essential to understand macros because you need a certain amount of protein. Now, carbohydrates are not essential. Okay, so that means you could go the rest of your life technically, and I say technically because there's more to this, but you could go the rest of your life technically never eating a carbohydrate and you won't die from malnutrition. Now, here's why I said technically. That doesn't mean it's ideal. Okay? So although there are cases and situations where a low or no carbohydrate diet might be beneficial, and you'll find this with medically advised ketogenic diets, in some cases, sometimes for gut health, or depending on the situation, it'll be beneficial for a certain period of Time, but it's just for most people, it's not ideal. And they actually don't do very well on a diet that is without carbohydrates. Even though carbohydrates aren't essential, people tend to do better. It's usable energy and yeah, it just makes a lot of your physical efforts a lot easier. Not just that, but that you feel better and you start to notice hormone issues oftentimes. And so, so although it's not essential, what I'm not communicating, what we're not saying is, you know, don't eat them because it's beneficial to eat them, but you definitely, definitely need a certain amount of protein and fat because if you go too low, it causes problems. In fact, I've had many times with clients. This was especially common in the late 90s and early 2000s when I was a personal trainer. You know, coming right out of the low fat era where, you know, fat was so demonized, I would have female clients that were so afraid of consuming dietary fat that I'd see their, I'd look at their diets and even though their calories were somewhat okay, their fat was so low that I would literally have them add an avocado and some olive oil and boom, their health would just improve dramatically within days. Most of the time within a week or two because they needed the fats.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

I also find getting a client to understand macros so important for just the individual variants too, and how people feel.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yes.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Right. So, like, I can't tell you how many times I've had a client that feels way better with a higher fat and a lower carbohydrate type of diet and then vice versa. Right. Somebody will be much better off of a moderate fat to low fat and a much higher carbohydrate diet. And you know, certain people do really well on protein up to a certain threshold, and then over that is, you know, too much and their digestive is off if it. So this is where really understanding your macros and what your body needs based off of your, your goals and your body where it's at and then within that, you know, playing with those numbers and going like, oh, I, I seem to do better when I have more of this and less of that. And you know, you have, like you said, your point. There's, there's your essential numbers and then you have like optimal and optimal may look different for each individual. And, and I've found that, you know, it's, it's not a, you know, sex by sex or weight class by Weight class or goal by goal, that changes. Just, there's. There's an individual visual variance. If some people do better on a higher carbohydrate diet versus other people do better on a lower carbohydrate, some people do really well on really high fat versus moderately high fat. And so until you kind of learn where. Where do you. What does your body need? And then how do we play with those additional calories within those. Those macros.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Great, great, great point. So let's start with protein, and we'll talk. We're gonna talk in generalities because there is a. An individual variance here. Okay. But generally speaking, and this is true for most. So when I say general, this is actually true for most. A diet that is high in protein, much higher than what would be considered essential does better for people, regardless of the goal. Okay. So if you want to lose weight, if you want to lose body fat, if you want to build muscle, if you want to improve athletic performance, if you're looking at better cognitive health, even. There's even studies that show that this is beneficial for longevity, especially as you get older. A higher protein diet works better, especially. Especially for body composition change. Almost always fats. Yeah.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Yeah, almost always. Yeah. I would say, unless you have that rare condition, because occasionally you do have somebody who has digestive issues at a

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

high amount, which I have a remedy for that.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

I was just gonna say. So a lot of times what that is is actually playing with the type of protein many times and.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Or bumping fiber. Right. So I've had lots of clients where we'll get real high protein, they get constipated, we'll add more fiber, movement, and they're totally fine.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Yes, agreed. So I would say that what you're saying is, was more often the rule than the exception.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yes, yes.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Very, very rarely did I have to put somebody on a moderate or on the lower end of protein. Typically, a higher protein diet for all goals tends to serve most people.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

So I'll go over what the data says on high protein, and then I'll go over what coaches tend to recommend because they're a little different. Okay. And then I'll explain why, or we'll explain why. There's a difference there. So here's what the data says on the upper limit from where you can see the benefit from protein intake. Okay. So in other words, they've done lots of studies on protein intake, controlled calories for different goals, fat loss, muscle gain, athletic performance, health, all that stuff. And what the data seems to show is about 0.6 to 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight is the upper limit of when you're going to see benefit. In other words, once you go above that, you tend to not see any more benefit. But right around there is where you're going to get the maximum benefit. Now, here's what coaches tend to promote. Here's what I tend to promote. Here's what my co host will promote. One gram of protein per pound of target body weight. So let me explain why. Number one, I round up to one easier number to remember, and 100% you're not going to hit this number every day. Okay? So it's just. It's a hard number to 0.6 to 0.8 is hard to hit consistently. And what I found as a trainer is when I tell people, aim for one, more often than not, we fall within the 0.6 to 0.8.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

You're a lot closer to where you

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

need to be than when I say 0.6 to 0.8. We also use target body weight because if you're really overweight and you just heard me say 0.8 or 0.6 per pound of body weight, you're like, Well, I weigh 300 pounds. Like, I got to eat 250 grams now you got a math problem? Yeah. No, no, no, no. One gram of protein per pound of target body weight. So take whatever body weight you want to weigh that you think is probably good for you. That's your goal. In grams of protein that you eat every single day.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

You have to talk about, too, the importance of hitting that number every single day consistently, and it resets. It's not like you don't store it

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

like carbohydrates or fat on your body. Amino acids are not. We don't really store amino acids very well. Muscle tissue. But for your body to start consuming amino acids from muscle, you're actually starving. So. Yeah, no, protein's one of those things. It's like, like you could carb load. You could go, you know, your body has body fat, but protein doesn't work that way. It's pretty much a good idea unless you're doing like a digestive system break or something like that. Every day you want to hit this every single day.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Yeah.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

So in other words, high days and low days don't average out.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Right.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Is what you're trying to do.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

And that's. And why that's so important is because I think a lot of. A lot of clients will look at it like, oh, I aver this much. But then what they, they'll have these. They'll have two, three days that are really low, and they'll have other days that are really high. And so I found that most people struggle to do what you said, which is hit that 0.6 to 0.8 consistently day in and day out.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah. So in other words, just to make it real clear, let's say your goal is to hit 130 grams of protein a day. And today you hit 180 grams of protein, you went 50 grams over, and tomorrow you hit 90 grams of protein. That means you hit, you only hit yesterday. Yeah. And you still missed. And the, and the extra 50 grams, it just was extra energy. Your body just took that and turned it into energy. It didn't get utilized in the ways that we want protein to get utilized, so you can't carry it over. So every single day you hit your, your target body weight in grams of protein. And that generally, for the vast majority of people, works the best.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Yeah.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Regardless of what your goals are, builds that muscle tissue, then we get to fat. Okay. And fats are interesting. Number one, you'll hear some news or some information on fats and how they affect your blood lipids, things like your LDL and hdl. Some people, their blood lipids won't look so great if they eat too much saturated fat. You'll know if this is you by your blood tests. But I will say this with the data is really interesting. When your calories aren't very high, especially if you're in a, in a calorie deficit, meaning you're eating low enough calories to actually start losing weight, this doesn't make as big of a difference. Suddenly your blood lipids are great regardless. And you'll see this interesting. People will eat fatty acid profiles that look like all saturated fat because the calories are so low. Everything looks great. So calories make a difference with this. Nonetheless, fats are essential. You need them for your hormones, you need them for cell integrity. Too low of fat is going to make you feel like crap. You're going to have low libido, you're going to have joint pain, and your athletic performance will suffer. Now, I know what the RDA says for essential fat. I think that is like so bare minimum, it's not even funny.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Well, I think that, I think, remember when we look at rda, this isn't, that's not, they're not basing that off of people that strength train, say, two to four times a week. And so I think you, when you factor in somebody who is lifting weights. That number jumps up right away. I can't tell you how many times I took a female client, both male and female, but female in particular, client that was eating around what the RDA is and bumped them 20 grams more a day.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Huge benefit.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Huge.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Energy goes up. Notice a difference in their hormone profile. Their libido goes up, skin better, hair better. I just all around and that's all we did was literally we just bumped 20 grams.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

In my experience, women don't do well. Anything under 50 to 60 grams of protein, that's, that tends to be the, that tends to be the lowest. Now I know the RDA says less than that, but in my experience, that's like as low as I've as my clients will go without noticing some detrimental effects. And for men, it's, it's around 70 to 80. So for you, if you're listening to this right now, like it's, your number's probably around there at the low end. Now. That doesn't mean you can't have more. You could definitely go higher so long as it fits within your calories and what your targets are, but definitely don't go below that. I almost never let a client go below the numbers. I just, in fact, I don't think I ever let anybody go.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

No, I, no, I'm, I'm in the same. And this happens a lot. When you have clients that are only eating 1500-1900 calories because fat is high calorie and they're trying to stay within their calorie budget, they end up going lower. This is another reason why I like focusing on macros. A lot of times with clients, clients more so than getting hyper focused on the calories. A lot of times you have a client that's hyper focused on that number with their calories and they quickly put together like, oh, when I eat these high fat meals or fat foods, my calories go away really fast. And so they steer to the really lean meats of cuts of meat and skip out on the butter, skip out on the olive oil. They skip out a lot of these things that are actually really good for us just to keep their calories where they want to. And you'd be far better off going over your 1500 calorie budget to 16 to 1800 calories and hit your fat targets. Then you are trying to get in your calorie range. And I find that that's the. We, the, the fitness space is so much messaging around, you know, oh, it's all about calorie. Balance and you know, stay, if you, if you eat less, low enough calories and more or less than you, you burn every day, you'll lose weight. And so you get people that get hyper focused on that and they neglect to hitting a good place of healthy fats for their body. And here they are trying to cut 2, 300 calories just to hit this calorie budget. And then they're starving their body of optimal levels of, of fat, which their body would run so much better. They would build muscle better, they would burn body fat better. Cravings are higher. Like, yeah, cravings are through the roof.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah. Because it's like you cut the fat,

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

it's like that's a big satiating effect

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

that you're missing out on.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Like, it's, you know, a lot of

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

times it kind of self regulates when you focus more on the. Yeah. And I'd like to, you know, I, I, I would say, I used to say it this way. This is a total oversimplification. So forgive me, but calories will determine weight gain or weight loss. Macros determine body composition and how you feel. So think of it that way. Again, this is an oversimplification, but it's a radical oversimplification. So before somebody clips this and says, oh, this guy. But generally speaking, you could have your calories be right and feel like total garbage.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

That's right.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Your, your calories could be right for weight loss and lose just muscle. Your calories could be right for, for weight gain, but just gain body fat because your macros are off. So macros is like, why do I need to pay attention to macros? This is how you feel and this has to do with your body composition. Why don't you pay attention to calories? That's weight gain or weight loss.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Well, go back to the example of what you with like your hormone profile. Let's take the example of a female client who's eating only 1500 calories and let's say she's only clipping at 40 grams of fat. You bump her fat, which initially also bumps her calories, and then all of a sudden she starts to lose weight. Makes sense of that.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yes.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

And that is really tough for someone to wrap their, their brain around. It's like, wait a second, I'm, I was doing, I was eating 50, I was eating less calories. You bumped my calories, but we bumped it in fat. And then all of a sudden their body started to respond.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

That's what you needed.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

That's right. And so I've seen that happen. So many times when they are trying to hit that low calorie so hard that they sacrifice what their body needs on the fat side, which throws them off on the. On the hormone side, which then just makes your body rebel. When your hormone profile is off, you just. Your body doesn't build muscle the same way. It doesn't burn body fat the same way.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Your sleep is off.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

And all those things are just. Just compile and make it worse and more difficult. All of a sudden, you give the body what it needs. That's to be healthy. And even at a higher calorie balance, it responds and builds that muscle or burns that body fat. And that's tough for people to understand totally.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Then we get to carbohydrates. And carbohydrates are both complex and simple, simple as sugars. And complex carbohydrates tend to not make us feel as crappy as sugar does. It also doesn't taste as good, but that's the breakdown there. But carbohydrates, this. You could really flex in terms of up and down. And so once we get those minimums with food fats, then you can play with making up the difference in your calories. Now with carbohydrates and either raising the fats, dropping the carbs, or bringing the fats down to those minimums that we said and bumping the carbs and seeing how you feel. In my experience, working with a lot of clients, fats produce more satiety. So people. It also produces more flat levels of energy. But carbohydrates tend to help with athletic performance or performance in the gym. And so this is the game that you play with, seeing how you feel. And then there's a pretty wild individual variance when it comes to this. I have my best performance in the gym at about moderate carbs. Really, really high carbs actually don't get as great performance in the gym. I just don't feel as good. And I'm not the rule. I'm not the rule. I'm more of the exception. But there are enough people like me that notice this. So if you're getting those. Those fat targets and your carbs are way up here, like, let me see how I feel by increasing my fats and dropping my carbs so my calories stay where I want them, but the ratio is different. Let's see how I feel. Experiment with it. See how you see how it affects it, how you perform.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Yeah, I find I'm the opposite. I do really well on higher carbs.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

I noticed a Big difference. I mean I've talked about this many times. I had it down to like a number. Like if I had so many grams of carbohydrates before my workout, I would have a significant difference in my performance versus other. And I know you've talked about it before. You could work out fasted and feel like you get just good of a workout where I'm not like that. And this is again, I love to take the macros, figure out where my client needs to be protein wise. So that one to one ratio if you're a male or female, we've talked about this. If you're female over the 60, right around the 60 plus. So 60 to 70 grams male over 80, figured out what your fat protein is. Okay. Now the rest of that budget I can use with carbohydrates and see how that feels and, and then go from there. And that tends to work really, really well for most people.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

That's right. Now there's two ways you can figure this out for yourself. One is the most accurate way, but takes a lot of work. Two is to use a calculator online, which we have, which will give you a good general number to start with. Now I recommend starting with the general number and then working off that. Or you could track your food every single day for two weeks to figure that out and get an exact number. But we have a calculator that uses a pretty good algorithm and it's a general estimate. So it's never going to be 100% accurate, but it's going to give you a general estimate of how many calories you need and what macros you need for your specific goal. And it's really easy to use. It'll literally take you 10 seconds. You plug in your, your, your age, your weight, your activity level, your goal, you know, a couple other things. You hit enter, boom. It gives you a general idea of what your macro should be. It's at maps macro.com My favorite part

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

about the macro calculator is literally teaching people like, because some people have no idea where to even start and I will always stand by like making modifications for the individual. So using the macro is a great place to start. It's a great place to like, okay, I have no idea about macros or what I where I should be at here. This will give you an idea. But then let's track that for a week and see how you feel. And then you start to make the modification they're talking about.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

And it's free. It's totally free. It'll take you 10 seconds. It's maps macro.com, go check it out. Also, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. It's mindpumpmedia.

[Mind Pump Host (Sal Destefano)]

Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB super [e-mail] the RGB Super Bundle includes Maps, Anabolic Maps, Performance and Maps Aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs with detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos. The RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30 day money back guarantee and you can get it now. Plus other valuable free [e-mail] if you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is Mind Pump.

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[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Okay, so for the final trivia question, what is the largest mammal in the world? Reminder, no phones allowed. Sir, in the orange phone away please.

[Mind Pump Host (Sal Destefano)]

Um, my kid a smart smoke alarm

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

sent an alert through the Ring app. Okay, sure.

[Mind Pump Host (Sal Destefano)]

No, there's smoke in my house.

[T-Mobile/US Cellular Announcer]

Yeah, right.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

A smoke alarm texting you. That's a new one.

[Mind Pump Host (Sal Destefano)]

See the train monitoring agent is calling now.

[Mind Pump Host (Adam Schafer)]

Hello.

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The Kida smart smoke alarm sends real time mobile alerts in the Ring app and with a subscription emergency help can be requested in even when you're not home.

[Mind Pump Host (Justin Andrews)]

Well, okay, back to trivia. Seriously, you in the green, why are you on your phone blender texting you about a smoothie recipe?

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