MacroPlate: Your Perfect Macro Based Meal Plan
It seems like everywhere you go, people are talking about macros, meal-prep, or meal plans, or their macro meal-plans. So, why is perfecting your macro-based meal plan such a big thing and why should you consider using MacroPlate or another macro-based meal plan to reach your goals? Well, the answer is simple… because it works.
But we’ll start off with the basics…
What are Macros?
Counting macros isn’t some new fad. In fact, “Macros” is just the abbreviated version of macronutrients. All the foods we eat have macro (big) and micro (small) nutrients. Micro refers to things like vitamins, iron, calcium, potassium and other small vital nutrients found in food. These are found beneath the macronutrients on nutrition labels (highlighted green in picture below). Macro, the opposite, are the large categories of nutrients, mainly the fat, protein, and carbohydrates which are the building blocks of all food. All food has some of each nutrient, but the percentages vary based on the ingredients. (Highlighted blue below).
Macronutrients make up the calorie count of your food. Iron isn’t adding to your calories, but fat, protein, and carbs are. One gram of either carbohydrates or protein will contribute 4 calories, while one gram of fat provides 9 calories.
So those are your macros. But why is it important to track them and create a consistent meal plan?
The truth is all of macros have an important place in a human diet in balance. In fact, if you’re new to health and weight-loss, the first step in your process should be to get familiar with macros and begin tracking them. See what percentage of your diet is carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, and how many calories you are truly consuming each day.
Once you’re comfortable with tracking comes the fine tuning.
Why do people eat different macros? Isn’t there one healthy way?
The answer is NO! The reason we have 100% personalized and customizable macro-based meal plans is that nobody is the same. Everything from age, sex, weight, activity level, exercise type, specific goals, whether you want to “bulk” or “cut”, your unique food allergies, all go into creating a tailor0-made macro-based meal plan! You’re not like everyone else, so why should your food be.
How to Create A Macro-Based Meal Plan
First, you need to establish your own personal goals. Do not follow your favorite Influencer’s macros… You need to create a macro-based plan that is sustainable!
First Step: Things to Think About
- Are you hoping to gain muscle, lose weight, have better energy, or create balance?
- What is your exercise regimen? (ie: Steady-state cardio, HIIT, Weight-lifting, low activity level.)
- What foods does your body respond to best? (ie: do you feel energized after eating potatoes, or sluggish? Do you have allergies to nuts or grains?
Second Step: Refine Your Eating Style
Let’s say you like to eat three meals and two snacks per day. A basic strategy would be to divide your total daily targets including calories, carbs, fat and protein by four. This would give you even macro targets for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Then, divide that 1/4 number by two to get the target macros for your two snacks.
For example, let’s say (after doing step one) you discover you need approximately 1,800 calories per day made up of 270g carbohydrates, 40g fat, and 90g protein. Based on breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks per day, here is how that would look distributed evenly:
Three meals, each with:
- 450 calories
- 67g carbohydrates
- 10g fat
- 22g protein
Two snacks, each with:
- 225 calories
- 33g carbohydrates
- 5g fat
- 11g protein
Don’t stress about perfection! It’s unlikely that the numbers will be hit exactly at every meal, but this at least gives you targets to aim for and will help keep you 80% consistent.
Step Three: Keep it up
Speaking of consistent… We say this over and over to our clients. Consistency is everything. The main reason macro-based meal plans work, is not the magic in the macros, but the power of routine. Your body is a machine and when it can trust and know how it’s being fed… it starts to work with you.
Let’s say you were eating 1,500 sometimes it was healthy, sometimes it was drive-thru or fast casual meals, and sometimes you didn’t eat all day so you could have loaded nachos and beers with the friends. Your body is flying blind with that kind of routine. You can actually lose weight by eating more nutrient-dense whole foods on a macro-based meal plan and your body will thank you for it.
So, why pick MacroPlate?
Because with us… it’s personal. We’re here to help you reach your goals.
A lot of other “macro-based meal plans” out there (yes, we’ve tried them) prepare their meals in factories that then sit frozen for weeks until they arrive at your door. (Did you know plant-based foods lose 70% of their nutrients after being frozen for only 72 hours?) I mean, at that point, why bother?
Being made in mass-batches far far away also means, they can’t afford to be accommodating. Allergic to shellfish? Nuts? What if you just hate cilantro, or you can’t have sugar? They’re not going to be able to make those changes just for you… but we do.
We cook for YOU
When we say 100% personalized, we mean it. From calories to macros to ingredients. We’re here to make YOUR food for YOU. We cook heathy and delicious meals that consistent in calories, macros, and nutrition, to maintain your balance, but exciting and varied enough to maintain your love of great food.
Delivered Daily
Unlike those other meal delivery companies, MacroPlate cooks your food fresh every day and delivers your meals every night. We keep it small-batch and local so your food never has to travel far or lose any of its flavor or integrity. And since we deliver every day, you don’t have to stock up 20 meals in your fridge. Trust me, it adds up.
We cook food with Integrity
We don’t always brag about it, but we cook our food from scratch. Yes, we have farmers deliver fresh veggies and our tuna salad is made by hand from wild-caught tuna filets. Every dressing, every condiment, is made in-house by hand by our chefs so we can be 100% sure of every ingredient you’re eating. We prioritize organic and local, and always have natural no-nonsense fresh ingredients in every bite.
We have over 200 recipes!
Imagine having your breakfast, lunch, and dinner be totally different everyday of the month while still having that consistency that your mind and belly need to keep your wellness working.
With MacroPlate you literally get the best of both worlds. The tasty guilty-pleasure convenience of eating out everyday, (not to mention the 4-6 hours of free-time you get back on the weekends) AND the healthy, perfectly-portioned, budget-friendly, sanity-saving benefits of an avid meal-prep regime.
Add in our add-ons like cold-brew from Stumptown, cold-pressed juices from Pressed Juicery, and our handmade protein-packed baked goods, and you’re taken care of from morning to midnight.
We hope we’ve inspired you to give us a try! Learn more about us here. And no matter what you decide, whether you want to try our macro-based meal plans or tackle your macros yourself… we wish you amazing success and hope you reach your health and fitness goals.
