How to hit your daily calorie and macro goals

I get this question asked a lot and I have a few tricks up my sleeve on how to reach my daily calorie and macro goals. 🙂

First off my main focus is always on my calorie goal and macros come second. So if I hit my calories for the day but not my macros, I keep it as it is and do not eat more to try to hit my macros too.

Generally it is important to plan the day ahead on the evening before. I plan my meals for the next day and during that day I try to stay as close to the plan as possible and make only small adjustments. This not only helps me keep on track with my calories and macros but also to avoid any cheat meals.

I adjust my macros during the day with my snacks which usually end up being carbs most of the time but I add a small portion of fat (chocolate, a handful of cashew nuts or peanut butter ;)) or a protein snack as well if I am too far from the macro goal for that particular food group on the day. Dinnertime is also a chance to make a few last tweaks before the end of the day.

If I can’t plan ahead, I make sure to always eat a combination of carbohydrates, protein and fat with my main meals, staying as close to my overall macro goal as possible.

If I eat at home, I always measure out all the ingredients during cooking and add them to MyFitnessPal. If a certain food group is too low or high for that meal, I adjust my portions so that it fits my macros.

If I eat out and I can’t measure my food, I use the fist-palm rule: carbs the size of my fist, protein the size of my palm and fat the size of my thumb.

This probably sounds like a lot of work but after a while I got so used to it that I just do it automatically and it’s really quick.

There are days of course where I slip up: I go above my calorie goal or have more carbs or fat (strangely I never go above my protein goal) but that’s ok. The main goal here is to come as close as possible to the calorie and macro set for the day. It doesn’t have to be perfect every day.