Don't Count On Macro Management

Measuring meals to the gram is a lot of effort for little return. Our expert explains why eating by numbers just doesn’t add up.

- Scarlett Wrench

AS A GENERATION, we’re keen to quantify things. Fitness is measured in PBs; social influence by Instagram likes. And dietary virtue – so some would have us believe – by our macros. Not a number cruncher? A quick explainer: macronutrients are proteins, carbs and fats, and ingesting the right amounts will purportedly earn you the perfect physique. But, to borrow a common aphorism, not everything that can be counted counts.

Macro counting usually centres on a daily target: 120g of protein, say, or 300g carbs. But this is as arbitrary as setting a daily “breath target” or putting a cap on the number of times you yawn per week. The quantity of macros your body needs varies hugely day to day, affected not only by your activity levels, but illness, injury, even the weather. To view your target as anything other than a forkstab in the dark is self-delusion.