Why I Stopped Counting My Macros

When I was in college, I was introduced to counting macros. 

For those of you who don’t know, “Macro” is short for macronutrient which is derived from three categories of nutrients you eat the most and provide you with most of your energy: protein, carbohydrates and fats. So when you're counting your macros, you're counting the grams of proteins, carbs or fat that you're consuming on a daily basis. 

I lived with three beautiful and skinny girls, one of which was a professional shape shifter (lol jk the term is physique competitor) and the other two were pretty petite. And then there was me. A little on the chunkier side because of the bloating I experienced from all the drinking and binge eating I was doing. 

I learned they were counting macros, so I figured, ‘well, if they’re doing it and look this thin and pretty, then maybe if I do it I will too”. Wrong mindset to go into it with.

At first, I was excited. I got all the egg whites and the turkey bacon and the measuring cups and mirrored my section of the fridge and pantry to match theirs. I downloaded MyFitnessPal and plugged in all the stats to get my numbers and I started doing the damn thing. 

All the excitement came to a quick halt when I very quickly realized eating 160g of protein everyday was WAY harder than I thought.

And after two weeks of eating egg white everyday, it came to a point where I literally gagged trying to force them down. 

Macro counting; not for college Dara.

So I went on to try this fad and that fad and attempted meal prepping but would get carried away by the college lifestyle of drinking and Taco Bell at 2am so the food in my fridge would end up going bad. 

I was on ADHD meds for a time and those helped me lose weight, but not in a healthy, balanced way, but in a ‘I’m not hungry so I’m not going to eat’ sort of way. But I didn’t care because I was losing weight. (Skinny=pretty, remember?)

Finally, my first senior year came around (hold your snickers), and I was introduced to boxing and that was a huge game changer for me. I didn’t start following any specific eating plan, but I did make sure I was eating things like salmon, grilled chicken, and tons of veggies because I wanted to perform better during the conditioning. 

Moving on from boxing in college to graduating and getting into ‘adulthood’, I found another boxing gym in Jacksonville I attended for a time and got a membership at Bailey’s and was doing as all the Instagram influencers and Pinterest infographics told me to do. 

But that still wasn’t quite working for me. I tried this, that, and the other thing until finally finding Graham Strength and Conditioning and I didn’t know it at the time, but that’s where my life would be saved. 

If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that I’ve been adjusting my nutrition goals and challenges, just like most of us do. 

Although I do not use the company and products anymore, following the BeachBody container system actually made a LOT of sense to me and after a few months of following it, I realized that I was just following a counting system. 

Cue COVID lockdowns and I decided to try out counting my macros again because, well, I had all the time in the world to do so. I just plugged in the numbers and got set up with what the app told me and followed it to the best of my abilities alongside continuing to use the container system. 

After about a month of following it pretty strictly and feeling my shorts get a little looser, I decided to dive in a little deeper and call up coach Nikki and set up my very first nutrition appointment.

The first thing she told me was that I didn’t NEED to count my macros, but controlling my controllables during such a weird and unknown time felt comforting, so I decided to keep going with it. 

Fast forward to spring of 2021 and cue the mental breakdowns because I wasn’t hitting protein or going over 1-3 grams of fats. 

I started gaining weight back again because of the emotional rollercoaster I was on going from “I can do this” to “F**K it” over and over again and finally, one day, I just decided to stop counting. 

By this time I was using Island Fresh Meals pretty consistently and feeling full and energized from them, I had grown familiar with what portion sizes I should be eating looked like, and I knew what was nutritious and what was not. 

So for the past 5 months or so, I have just been following the plate method, using a meal prep service (for the most part), and eating what feels right and not eating past full. 

Each check in from these past few months has resulted in positive changes to my body slowly but surely! I’m constantly down .5-1% body fat and increasing muscle and losing weight pound by pound, the way it SHOULD be!

My journey has had a lot of ups and downs, just like most of us, but the key to getting to a place that works for you is to be patient and never give up. 

Food confidence doesn’t just come to you, you have to look for it, you have to work for it. If counting MACROS is your thing, by all means, do it. But there is a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and a new found freedom from staying the course and staying balanced, and sticking to the plan.

As always, if you want to reach out and chat about my journey and how I might be able to help and motivate you, please don’t hesitate to reach out!