Macro tracking 101 for CrossFitters

What are macronutrients?

The calories you eat contain protein, carbohydrates and fat. Each plays a different but essential role in fueling your CrossFit training and recovery. Macronutrients include calories, so counting macronutrients is more important. effective ways to achieve specific performance and body composition goals.

How many calories do you need for CrossFit?

Calorie intake for CrossFit depends on many factors such as your age, gender, NEAT, workout frequency and intensity, and your goals.

If your primary goal is performance-based, you may need to eat at or above your maintenance level. If your goal is to lose fat while optimizing performance as much as possible, a calorie deficit will help you get there.

Precise calorie needs will be best managed by an experienced trainer if you want to maximize performance (with or no body composition goals). However, WAG’s Free Macro Calculator Worksheet will get you off to a good start.

Protein needs for CrossFit

Protein is responsible for many essential body processes, most obvious to CrossFit being muscle growth, disease healing, and cell repair. Although important for everybodyAthletes need to take a closer look at the quality and quantity of protein consumption.

When working against gravitywe recommend that CrossFit athletes eat a minimum of 0.8-1.2g of protein per day pound Body weight is likely to be even higher if an athlete is looking to be extremely lean.

Consume lean sources of protein (or protein shakes) in meals and snacks right before and after workouts to help your body use that protein more effectively. Pair it with a fast-digesting carb (more info below) for optimal results!

Dietary Fats and CrossFit

Dietary fats play an essential role in the transport and absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K. Omega-3 fatty acids are mainly found in fatty fish, nuts, seeds and egg yolks. Supports joint health, digestion, brain function and heart health. Fats also support healthy hormone production.

Regarding CrossFit, it’s best to maintain a low fat intake during your workout and eat the foods that are highest in fat in meals away from your workout. This allows your body to use carbs and protein most quickly and efficiently because fat slows down the digestion of the food you eat with it.

Fat should make up about 25-30% of your total daily calories.

The Role of Carbs in CrossFit

Carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of energy for CrossFit. In spite of some Athletes can achieve optimal performance when following a low carb or ketogenic diet, through coaching over 30,000 clients we have found that those are the exception to the carb rule.

Carbohydrates are stored and used in the liver to maintain blood sugar levels and in your muscles to promote movement, exercise and recovery. Immediately before and after your workout, we recommend focusing on fast-digesting, low-fiber carbohydrate sources such as sweet potatoes, rice and rice cakes, oats, bread, and fruit. Your body will use these carb sources quickly for energy and recovery.

Carbohydrate needs are best calculated Later Determine protein and fat needs.

Why tracking macros is important for CrossFitters

It is common knowledge that tracking your workouts and following a specific program will help improve performance. However, monitoring your nutrition also directly affects how you look and feel in the gym.

Macro tracking allows you to:

• Eat enough to support your performance and recovery
• Avoid eating too much to increase body fat
• Lose fat and gain muscle at the same time
• Confidently adjust to your needs based on your needs current frequency and intensity of exercise
• Learn when to eat certain foods to optimize your performance and recovery
• Make informed and repeatable changes to your CrossFit competition plan
• Change macros if injury occurs to ensure muscle maintenance and limit body fat accumulation
• Enjoy the foods you love without wondering if they will hurt or help your goals
• More and more!

People have trends overrate their exercises and underestimate of their calorie intake, from 20% to 50%. Sometimes bigger! Simply put, tracking macros allows you to accurately measure your calorie intake and adjust accordingly your specific goals and bodies.

Track your CrossFit macros

Now that we’ve covered how many macros you need and the role they play in your body and CrossFit performance, let’s learn how to count macros and some of the most common macro tracking mistakes we see at WAG.

Food tracking and weighing application

Food tracking apps like MyFitnessPal or MacrosFirst help you track what you’ve eaten and calculate the macros in your foods. At WAG, our custom coaching software syncs directly with these popular tracking apps so your coach can see exactly what you’re eating and provide feedback and suggestions. specifically for you.

If you’re new to macro tracking, downloading and getting acquainted with one of these apps is the first step. These instructions will help you:

Complete Guide to MyFitnessPal

MacrosFirst Guide: WAG Nutrients Ultimate Playlist

Enter daily macro goals into your app to personalize your experience. Your app will tell you how many macros you have left when you enter your daily food intake.

Quick follow-up tips

Here are some macro tracking tips to get started.

1. Tracking requires you to measure the weight of your food. Get a food scale and use grams to weigh foods whenever possible for optimal results.
2. Use the scan feature on your app to scan nutrition labels.
3. Use the create your own dishes and create recipes features to record the meals and food sources you want to use.
4. Track before you eat, this ensures you know how foods impact your daily macros before you get stuck eating something that isn’t right or makes reaching your daily macros a hassle. hard.
5. If you feel overwhelmed, start by tracking just one macro (we recommend starting with protein) and build from there.
6. Hire a coach! This can speed up the learning process and ensure you see progress faster.

Consistency when tracking macros

You wouldn’t buy a CrossFit membership, quit working out, and expect to get in better shape. The same goes for nutrition having The numbers are not enough. You must follow a program consistently to see progress and achieve measurable results.

We review Optimal Consistency ends up within 5 grams of your protein and carb goals and within 2 grams of your daily fat goals.

You don’t have to be perfect to see progress. However, to achieve the fastest result, you need to press macro most of of the times. Are you curious about the level of consistency you need to achieve your goals? Check out our article What it takes to get Lean.

Common macro tracking mistakes to avoid

As you track macros, here are some things to consider.

1. Missing hidden macros: Almost everything you eat has macros, from gum to cooking spray, supplements, etc. These things add up over time!

2. Using cups and spoons: A food scale is the most accurate way to measure your food. Use cups and spoons sparingly (as they are much less precise) when aiming for optimal consistency.

3. Skip the fiber: Fiber plays a huge role in gut health. It also helps you feel full. 25-30g of fiber per day is a great starting goal.

4. Focus only on macronutrients: Macros are necessary, but their smaller counterparts are just as important. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function optimally! Eating a variety of whole foods each week will help you get the micronutrients you need.

Final macro tracking tip

Macro tracking has many nuances and there is definitely a learning curve. Here are some other tips to keep in mind to reap the benefits and see the impact on your workouts and recovery.

Manage expectations

You won’t see results overnight.

In fact, if your goal involves losing weight and you want to maintain muscle, avoid excessive hunger, while continuing to function and recover well. You may only see an average weekly weight loss of 0.5-1 pound. Gaining muscle takes even longer. Managing expectations and celebrating small milestones will help you stick with it and avoid disappointment.

Measure progress accurately

This tip has two sides.

First, make sure you take your measurements accurately so you can see the progress taking place. Many people do not know how to accurately measure average weight change or the best methods for taking and evaluating progress images. This article will help!

Second, progress is more than just a number on the scale or a PR in the gym. There are more than 15 progress metrics that Working Against Gravity coaches measure and evaluate with their clients each week. Track progress metrics below, along with changes in performance and body composition.

Get a coach

Defying gravity started in the CrossFit space over a decade ago, and since then, we’ve helped thousands of athletes from daily exercisers to CrossFit Games podium finishers optimize their body composition, performance and recovery.

We know what it’s like to wonder if there’s a missing piece in your performance, and our experienced one-on-one coaches can help you get there. your CrossFit Goals. We’ll help you take the question marks out of your nutrition so you can focus on your training. Learn more about WAG here!