So You Want to Know if you Should Change Your Macros
Let’s say you started your nutrition journey to lose weight. You make lots of progress and then…. What? Every magazine has some kind of “diet plan” or “6-week shred,” but what happens after that? Do you just stay in a caloric deficit forever? What happens if you plateau? Today, we’re going to talk about changes in macros and when to make them.
When I start working with a client who has weight loss goals, we spend the first two weeks observing their natural eating habits. Then we start to dial in their macros to achieve their goals. During our weekly check-ins, I’m looking at their energy levels, workout recovery, hunger levels, satiety, and sleep. This will tell me if they’re good to keep going with their deficit or if they need a “break”. A break in this case means that we take about two weeks in a maintenance phase, where no weight loss occurs. If they’ve lost a few pounds, we adjust their macros to keep the client at their current weight. This gives the body, mind, and spirit a nice chance to relax because eating in a caloric deficit can be challenging!
After the break, we reassess the pace of their weight loss and continue on the cut. As you can see, my clients don’t stay in a deficit forever, and neither should you. You aren’t meant to eat as little as possible to be as small as possible. That’s a very diet culture point of view, and we firmly believe that diet culture is for kooks. Well-thought-out nutrition programs have phases. Keeping a client in a deficit for too long can cause loss of motivation, decreased performance, injury, and sometimes unwanted weight gain.
By listening to my clients and the information they give me, we can work together to adjust their nutrition to keep them motivated while achieving their goals, all while learning how to maintain their progress for the long haul. Once they’ve achieved their goals and are in a maintenance phase, they have the tools they need to understand fueling their body.
If you’re ready to achieve your nutrition goals, let’s work together! Fill out the form below, and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.