Tip's for Tracking Macros

Today's blog post is a question I received on social media:

How bad is it if I'm just a little over on my macros for 1 day?

Ever ask yourself this question? Its one I get messaged allot. I'm going to give a quick rundown and not bore or lecture you with long explanation. Lets start with a small preface.

If you are in prep or a mini cut this may set you back more than you think, or not at all, just depends on how much you went over your macros for the day. We all know our metabolism adjusts with what we are doing caloric wise so some of these adaptations are: slowing of metabolism, changes to hormones which regulate our metabolisms, decreased total energy expenditure, decreased basal metabolic rate, decreased non exercise adaptive thermogensis. All of these things factors ultimately cause us to plateau in weight loss and reduce weight loss.

Back to the question at hand, how bad is it? Depends on how much you went over ultimately. Was it enough to take you out of a caloric deficit and put you at maintenance calories or over to the point where your in a surplus? If you are in prep or mini cut my best advice is to be true to yourself. Remember no one is forcing you to prep! Realize that for every action there is a reaction. Nibbling on small items here or there, replacing a high carb day with a cheat day, not tracking or guesstimating portion sizes can hurt your progress for those aforementioned items listed above. It may translate to you not losing weight that week or having a higher weigh in. But it was just a few bites right? Don't try to justify it if it clearly impacts your progress.

My best advice if you mess up tracking your macros for the day

1.) Don't just throw your hands up and say "fuck it" and continue to mess up the rest of that day. This can set you back further than you think. Often times any weight loss incurred during that week can be gained back and then some. Trust me I've seen it happen.

2.) For the love of god don't let it persist. If it happens and you mess up it happens. You'll really be sorry if you allow 1 bad day of eating to turn into multiple consecutive days.

3.) Don't offset it with extra cardio. Why not? It breeds inappropriate mental habits towards food. Eating disorders start this way, trust me I've also seen this happen. Excess exercise to offset bad days of eating is text book component of the pathology and progression of self-starvation my friends.

4.) If it was a pretty big slip up that day and you know for a fact a a decent calorie surplus was incurred, just skip your programmed high carb day that week.

Takeaway

Remember if your in prep small set backs like this can turn at 20 week prep into a 30+ week prep. This is why its critical to stay on point and keep your eye on your goals! Remember prepping is a marathon not a sprint and small slip ups just add more mileage to the end goal!