Rock Springs Retreat Center / July 29, 2022 /
Anna Rutherford /
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Cooking at home is a great way to keep track of your caloric intake when trying to achieve your weight loss goals. However, it can be a bit tricky if you’re cooking your own recipe and have multiple ingredients that you need to account for. There isn’t exactly a nutrition label for Aunt Suzy’s Grilled Salmon Salad with Herbs, Lime, and Creamy Cilantro Dressing recipe after all. If there is, kudos to Aunt Suzy for putting that together! Luckily for you, we’ve created a handy tool that will allow you to calculate the macronutrients from all of the ingredients in your recipe and translate them into calories! With these tools, you’ll be able to create meals that not only are a healthy balance of nutrients but will also fall in line with your personal fitness and weight loss goals!
What are Macronutrients?
Macronutrients are essential nutrients in food that nourish and fuel your body. A healthy diet consists of these macros – proteins, and contrary to popular belief, fats, and carbohydrates. Now that doesn’t mean that all forms of these macros are good for you; they aren’t made equally after all. However, with the right blend of healthy macros in your diet, you’ll be reaping the rewards of a truly nourishing meal. What do we mean by that? Have you ever had a sugary doughnut for breakfast and felt your body crash shortly after? Then, not even an hour later you find yourself hungry again? That’s because the carbohydrates you consumed only provided short-term energy that your body quickly broke down. Now, that doesn’t mean you should be ruling out carbs entirely from your diet. No healthy diet should exclude any of these macronutrients. Your body needs carbohydrates, they’re the primary source of energy. The type of carbohydrates you choose to include in your diet (like those found in fruits, vegetables, etc) will go a long way in keeping you properly energized. You can learn more about the difference between the two types of carbohydrates, simple and complex, here.
By themselves, these three macros aren’t enough to provide your body with the proper nourishment and consistency it needs to sustain your gas tank throughout the day. Unlike carbohydrates, your body breaks proteins and fats down slower; however, if you combine carbs, protein, and fat together, you have a powerhouse recipe that’ll keep you from running on empty! So, let’s say you have an apple for a snack. That’s a healthy source of carbs that’ll only hold you over for a short period of time. But! If you slice your apple and dip it in peanut butter, you’ve now added healthy protein and fat to your snack, slowing the time it takes for your body to break down your food, and keeping you full for longer. A good rule of thumb to follow when determining just how much of each macro you should include in your diet is that fats should be 20% of your daily intake, protein 35%, and carbs 45%. This is the magic macro blend for success!
By themselves, these three macros aren’t enough to provide your body with the proper nourishment and consistency it needs to sustain your gas tank throughout the day. Unlike carbohydrates, your body breaks proteins and fats down slower; however, if you combine carbs, protein, and fat together, you have a powerhouse recipe that’ll keep you from running on empty! So, let’s say you have an apple for a snack. That’s a healthy source of carbs that’ll only hold you over for a short period of time. But! If you slice your apple and dip it in peanut butter, you’ve now added healthy protein and fat to your snack, slowing the time it takes for your body to break down your food, and keeping you full for longer. A good rule of thumb to follow when determining just how much of each macro you should include in your diet is that fats should be 20% of your daily intake, protein 35%, and carbs 45%. This is the magic macro blend for success!
When creating your own meal plan, it’s important to remember that weight loss is not associated with a reduction in any one macronutrient, but an overall reduction in calories. To lose one pound of fat, you need to burn 3500 calories. This can be done through a properly maintained diet, exercise routine, or a combination of both. We know that the thought of creating an exercise routine without professional help can be intimidating, so if you’re just starting out, you may want to check out our article, 10 Ways to Burn Calories While Having Fun This Summer. This is a great resource for fun activities that don’t require going to a gym and lifting weights. There’s even a calorie burn calculator!
Translating Macros to Calories - Breaking Down the Nutrition Label
So, now that we have the magic macro blend for success, it’s time to translate macros into calories. Let’s take a look at how many calories are in each macro below.
Fats: 1 gram = 9 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
We’ll be using our Smoked Salmon Bagel Recipe as an example of how to break down the macros in a recipe and translate them into calories. Feel free to follow along with your own recipe. No need to grab a calculator; our macro calculator tool below will do all the math for you!
Fats: 1 gram = 9 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
We’ll be using our Smoked Salmon Bagel Recipe as an example of how to break down the macros in a recipe and translate them into calories. Feel free to follow along with your own recipe. No need to grab a calculator; our macro calculator tool below will do all the math for you!
1. Gather all of your ingredients and review the nutrition label to find how many grams of fat, carbs, and proteins are in each item. Some items like fresh vegetables or fruit are a little trickier since they don’t already come with a label. The FDA has a handy PDF you can download and put up in your kitchen to readily have the nutrition information for fresh produce and fish.
2. Use the macro calculator above and enter in all of your macros for each ingredient one by one to get a caloric breakdown for each item.
3. To get a grand total for all your ingredients, enter in all of the macros for each item. You should end up with something similar to below.
2. Use the macro calculator above and enter in all of your macros for each ingredient one by one to get a caloric breakdown for each item.
3. To get a grand total for all your ingredients, enter in all of the macros for each item. You should end up with something similar to below.
- 1 – 2oz Smoked Salmon fillet
- Fat: 7g
- Carbs: 0g
- Protein: 12g
- Calories: 111
- 1 – Bagel Thin
- Fat: 1g
- Carbs: 25g
- Protein: 4g
- Calories: 109
- 1 tbsp 1/3 Fat Cream Cheese
- Fat: 3g
- Carbs: 1g
- Protein: 1g
- Calories: 35
- 1 tsp Capers
- Fat: 0g
- Carbs: 0g
- Protein: 0g
- Calories: 0
- 3 tbsp Red Onions (sliced)
- Fat: 0g
- Carbs: 4g
- Protein: 0g
- Calories: 16
- 4 tbsp Cucumbers (sliced)
- Fat: 0g
- Carbs: 1g
- Protein: 0g
- Calories: 4
With these numbers, you can now obtain the magic macro blend percentage breakdown by adding all the macros together. In our example, we’re adding our Fats – 11g, Carbs – 31g, and Protein – 17g together to get a total of 59g of macronutrients. Divide each macronutrient by the total number of all macronutrients. For example, we’ve divided our fats (11g) by total macros (59g) and got a total of around 18.6%. So, that means 18.6% of the recipe consists of fats and that’s really close to hitting that 20% goal! We’ll talk more about how you can hit those goals after we finish up the rest of our calculations. Next, we’ll calculate our protein (17g divided by 59g) and we get 28%. Finally, we calculate our carbs (31g divided by 59g) and that puts us at 52.5%.
When you look at the breakdown of these macros, you’ll notice that these numbers don’t exactly match the ratio we had laid out earlier for the magic macro blend (Fats 20%, Protein 35%, & Carbs 45%). Remember that these numbers are for an entire day’s worth of macronutrients. So, if you find that maybe your breakfast meal is slightly lower in fats, you can either adjust your ingredients, add a side dish, or increase the fat in your remaining meals for the day by adding in a slice of avocado, etc. For our Salmon Bagel Recipe, we were only at 275 calories, so we added in a side of Greek yogurt with fruit to create a healthy macro balance that also got us to our 400-calorie target. Depending on your meal plan, you can use these tools to ensure your entire day is fueled by a balanced blend of the appropriate macros to achieve your goals.
A nutritionist is a great resource for anyone with a goal to lose weight. If you’re looking to take the first step into your weight loss journey and need a jumpstart, Fit Farm at Rock Springs offers all-inclusive fitness and weight loss retreats that are personalized to you! We have certified nutritionists onsite that will work with you to create a healthy, nutritious diet that’ll not only provide the energy you need to keep you going throughout the day but will also taste great and help you lose weight! Mindful eating can be an emotional journey and the team at Fit Farm at Rock Springs is here to provide the support you need to make the changes you want in your life. Reach out to us today to learn how we can help!
When you look at the breakdown of these macros, you’ll notice that these numbers don’t exactly match the ratio we had laid out earlier for the magic macro blend (Fats 20%, Protein 35%, & Carbs 45%). Remember that these numbers are for an entire day’s worth of macronutrients. So, if you find that maybe your breakfast meal is slightly lower in fats, you can either adjust your ingredients, add a side dish, or increase the fat in your remaining meals for the day by adding in a slice of avocado, etc. For our Salmon Bagel Recipe, we were only at 275 calories, so we added in a side of Greek yogurt with fruit to create a healthy macro balance that also got us to our 400-calorie target. Depending on your meal plan, you can use these tools to ensure your entire day is fueled by a balanced blend of the appropriate macros to achieve your goals.
A nutritionist is a great resource for anyone with a goal to lose weight. If you’re looking to take the first step into your weight loss journey and need a jumpstart, Fit Farm at Rock Springs offers all-inclusive fitness and weight loss retreats that are personalized to you! We have certified nutritionists onsite that will work with you to create a healthy, nutritious diet that’ll not only provide the energy you need to keep you going throughout the day but will also taste great and help you lose weight! Mindful eating can be an emotional journey and the team at Fit Farm at Rock Springs is here to provide the support you need to make the changes you want in your life. Reach out to us today to learn how we can help!
START EATING HEALTHY TODAY!
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