Why I Don't Track Macros

Short answer: I hate it. Long answer: read on.

I get asked a lot about whether or not I tracked macros to achieve my 60 pounds (and counting!) weight loss. It’s definitely a hot, trendy way to lose weight right now, at least if you go by what seems like everyone is doing on Instagram these days. But me, no, I don’t track macros.

I’m very uncool, and I’m never on trend. Except that time I got into baking sourdough bread during quarantine when, completely unbeknownst to me, everyone was doing it. Had I known it was trending, I’m sure I either wouldn’t have attempted it, or failed miserably.

I don’t track macros. Instead, I simply count calories. That’s it. Good, old-fashioned calorie counting that’s been a thing since the dawn of dieting time. But just because I don’t currently track macros, that doesn’t mean I haven’t tried it! Remember, I used to be the monkey swinging from one diet tree to the next? Been there, done that.

I even paid a bunch of money to have a macro coach tell me what macro goals to adhere to. That was probably the problem all along – I didn’t forge my own path based on how I felt and what my body was telling me. The two most successful macro-trackers I know completely made up their macro targets! #herostatus.

It’s best to listen to your body, create your own way, and adjust based on how your body reacts, rather than take what some stranger who doesn’t know you or your history says as gospel…but I didn’t know that back then. After giving macros the old college try, I decided they weren’t for me.

Here are the 3 reasons I don’t track macros.

1. tracking Macros had me eating food I don’t enjoy, and not eating foods I do enjoy.

When I jumped on the macro train, I did good for about 3 days. “Good” meaning I ate like I should…on paper. Calories – check, protein – check, carbs – check, fat- check. Check, check, check, I’m a winner! But I didn’t feel like one. I felt TERRIBLE.

Not because macros are evil, but because I ate nothing but meat, protein powder riddled with fake sugar, and highly processed foods. This is a rookie error, I’ll admit. An error I repeatedly made because I just flat-out didn’t know how to swing it! By the end, I was eating shrimp. All. The. Time. Here’s the proof. I ate it purely in the name of macros, mind you, because I don’t even like shrimp!

I don’t care for seafood, can’t stand protein powders, hate low fat diets, thrive on carbs, need hummingbird amounts of sugar…so why on earth was I doing this to myself? Every morning when I woke up while tracking macros, I had trouble getting out of bed. Food is typically the only thing motivating me to get up in the morning, and I didn’t look forward to a single meal!

It’s so unlike me to not look forward to food. I’m sitting here, typing this evening, already looking forward to tomorrow morning’s breakfast. Having a fresh new set of calories each morning, to eat however I see fit, is the most exciting part of my day: Oh, the possibilities!. I LOVE FOOD, and I hate restriction. I don’t want to look at my delicious, life-giving, happiness-inducing food as having too much fat, too many carbs, or not enough protein. It makes my head explode! And, honestly, it makes me sad. I was miserable.

2. tracking Macros overwhelmed me.

Tracking macros was extremely overwhelming for me. It can be challenging enough to stay within a calorie goal, now I had to focus my attention on 3 more things on top of that. THREE MORE THINGS! Let me paint you a picture – a horrifying picture – so it is crystal clear just how much I struggle to keep track of three things at once. Please, take a seat on your high horse because you are about to feel very superior to me.

I have three kids. Three kids that I love beyond comprehension, and who I would die for in a heartbeat. Those three, precious angels walk on earth holding my heart in their hands, and are THEE most important things in my life…yet I can barely keep track of them!

One time I lost my youngest at a craft fair…and I didn’t even notice! It gets worse. I only found him because I was looking for a crappy ten-dollar HAT I thought I’d dropped. I left my friend, my other 2 kids, and the stroller to retrace my steps to another, distant part of the fair.

As I was desperately searching for my hat, like a mother who lost her child might be looking, I saw my boy just meandering around the craft fair by himself. He was two. I almost died. I forgot all about the hat, ran to grab him with shaky hands and a pit in my stomach, and held my precious boy in a death grip hug as I carried him back to the stroller.

And wouldn’t ya know it, in the stroller is where I found my hat. Ironically, it was safely sitting in the exact seat where I thought my baby boy was the whole time. If I struggle to even keep track of the three children who are quite literally my entire life, do you think I can successfully keep track of three macros?! I think we all know the answer.

3. tracking Macros made me feel like a failure.

When I failed to hit my macro numbers, but was still within my calorie goal, guess how I felt. Like a failure! I had failed yet another diet, right? Tracking macros brought out an ugly, perfectionist side of me. When I went the least bit over in even just one of the three macronutrients, I felt terrible. I screwed up, so why bother trying to keep to the other two macros?!

Pop quiz: What do you do when you feel like you are failing at a diet? You quit, binge, get depressed, lose hope, and feel like you can’t and will never change. The worst weight loss setbacks happen AFTER the “failed” diet, when you are dealing with the shame of failing and quitting, the fear of starting over, yet again.

I’ve grown up a lot since my macro tracking days

My attempt at tracking macros began and ended over 2 years ago, back when I was frail and desperately pursuing what everyone else was doing to lose weight. Back then, the weight loss struggle and diet failures really got to me. As time went on, I gained the knowledge and strength to quit a diet as soon as I realized it wasn’t a good match for me. Without feeling an ounce of shame or disappointment, I’d march on triumphantly, in search of the next diet to try and fail.

Finally, after many years, I’ve kissed dieting goodbye. By the time I was ready to move on from constant dieting, however, I was already in a place where I felt nothing but relief and giddiness around diet failure. If you aren’t past the dieting phase, that’s okay. But I hope you are able to reach the laugh-in-the-face-of-your-failures phase of dieting. Once you get to that point, you will start having a lot more fun! And it’s one of the first steps to freedom from diet culture.

In summary

I hate tracking macros because it had me eating foods I hated, overwhelmed me to the point of shutting down, and made me feel like a failure. Add all that up, and you have yourself the perfect recipe for a binge. And BINGING is exactly what I did between each failed macro attempt. I’d fail, binge, and try again, only to fail, binge, and try again the next day.

Why did I keep trying? Well, tracking macros was THE KEY to dieting success, wasn’t it?! Along with intermittent fasting, of course. I mean, that’s how everyone else did it! Once again, I was trying to fit my foot into someone else’s diet shoe. And, surprise! It didn’t fit.

Have you ever stopped to think, maybe people who found success through tracking macros are successful because that is how their brain works? Maybe they enjoy the challenge. Maybe they like the numbers game. I didn’t. And maybe you don’t either. And that’s OKAY!

There is no secret to diet success.

Not in macro tracking, intermittent fasting, eating keto, or anything else you can find out there. The weight loss “secret” you seek is simply identifying the weight loss method you enjoy, and can easily stick to.

Finding this creates CONSISTENCY. Consistency is the most powerful weapon found in any successful dieter’s arsenal. If you can keep at it long enough, then you too will find your ticket to weight loss success.

Even though macros aren’t a good fit for me in my season of weight loss, doesn’t mean they won’t be a fit for you, or even me someday down the road. The only way to know whether or not something will work for you is to give it a try.

I suggest you follow @squatto4moscato and @ohsofit123 as soon as you start, because they are macro-tracking queens. Watch their stories to see their daily food diaries for some amazing macro-friendly meal and snack ideas. It’s a great way to not get stuck in the meat and protein powder macro rut, like somebody else we know (me).

There are other ways to lose weight

If you are interested in losing weight and eating all the foods you love, while only focusing on ONE target number, check out Mom’s Challenge: A Weight Loss Planner. This is the system I used to lose 20 pounds during quarantine.

If you are in need of support – and everyone is. In my opinion, having the proper support system is the most critical component to weight loss success – check out my weight loss support group, “Mom’s Kids”, to connect with like-minded people with similar goals who will help guide you through the literal and figurative ups and downs of weight loss.

If you have questions or comments or your own macro horror stories to tell, drop them in the comments. Follow me on Patreon as I continue my fitness and weight loss journey!