If you're in pursuit of improving the way your body looks, the hard truth is that any amount of muscular or cardiovascular training will only take you so far. While training is certainly essential for building muscle and improving fitness, nutrition is the cornerstone of achieving any fat-loss goal.
Tracking what you eat, specifically, your calories and macronutrients, is what will make the real difference in your progress. However, the thought of counting calories and weighing foods fills most people with ennui and despair at the thought of counting everything they put in their mouths.
But it doesn't have to be as difficult, dull or daunting as you might think.
You don't need to start with exact calculations and weighing scales. Yes, you may choose to progress to that eventually, but if you're a beginner, it's not necessary. Arguably the best approach for complete beginners is a stepped one, slowly adding new skills and knowledge to improve your diet over time and build towards the more complex stuff gradually (but only if you want to!)
There are countless ways you can do this as well as several different approaches, however, in this blog we'll focus on a method that's highly accessible and shockingly simple. It involves three steps (with a non-essential but helpful step 4):
But first, what are "macros"?
Macronutrients, or "macros," are the key nutrients your body needs in larger quantities to function. These are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. When it comes to achieving your fitness goals, be it bulking up, maintaining your current shape, or cutting down, getting the right balance of these is important.
By learning how to roughly estimate the amounts of these nutrients in your food, you can start to make informed decisions about what you're eating and how they help achieve your goals without stressing about exact numbers.
Measuring portions
First things first, we need to establish a consistent way to measure how much food you're eating. To do this, you're first going to gain a better understanding of the quantities of macronutrients you consume daily, or in other words, your food portions.
There are several ways to do this with varying degrees of accuracy (and effort) but one of the most accessible and simplest ways to estimate portion size is the hand-based approach. It only requires one thing—your hand—and here's how it works:
Use a palm for protein
One portion of protein about the size and thickness of your palm should equal roughly one portion. That's about 115 g of cooked meat, 240 g of Greek yoghurt, or two whole eggs.
Use a fist for vegetables
One portion of vegetables (carbohydrates) about the size of your fist should equal roughly one portion. That's about 30–40 g of leafy greens, 120 g of chopped carrots, or 180 g of tomatoes.
Use a cupped hand for carbohydrates
One portion of carbohydrates, such as grains or fruit, about the size of your cupped hand, should equal roughly one portion. That's about 130 g of rice or oats or 1 medium-sized fruit.
Use a thumb for fats
One portion of fats about the size of your thumb should equal roughly one portion. That's about 14 g (1 tablespoon) of oils, nuts, seeds, or nut butter.
You could totally choose to stop here for now, taking time to learn more about food portioning and you'll probably see a difference just applying this simple hand-based approach. But if you feel like you want to push your nutrient tracking a little further, then you can try recording what you eat for a few days.
Tracking your food intake
If you're already using the hand-based approach to work out your food portions, then keeping a log of your meals each day should be easy. Why's it helpful? It'll give you a clearer picture of your eating habits and how they align with your goals.
Start by picking a medium that's as convenient for you as possible, such as your phone's Notes app. Then begin writing down each meal’s ingredients and estimating portions using the hand-based approach. After a few days, you’ll have a record of your diet that will help you be objective about your eating habits. You'll be surprised what you'll identify, like if you’re consistently low on protein or higher on carbs than expected. We recommend recording at least one or two weeks of meals.
Are you ready to put the cherry on this cake? You can now estimate your portions and you've tracked at least a week of meals, so it's time to take it to the next level. And here's the crazy thing, the "next level" may be the simplest step in this entire guide thanks to AI.
Estimating your calories and macros
The game-changer here is artificial intelligence (AI), specifically ChatGPT, which effectively gives you a nutritionist who does the hard work for you.
For this guide, we'll only be using the free version of ChatGPT.
There's no limit to what this powerful tool can do for you, but for this beginner's guide, we're simply going to use it to calculate and summarise our calories and macros. To do this, here are the steps and prompts you can use to get the best results.
Add your meals
Whether you've got a day or a week's worth of meals, paste them into ChatGPT along with the following prompt:
"Act as an expert nutritionist. Using the best sources you can find, estimate the calories and macros of these meals as accurately as possible."
Hit "go"
Let ChatGPT do its thing; it'll take a few moments for the calculations to take place, especially if you've added meals for multiple days.
Review the summary
Once done, you'll be able to see a breakdown of each meal and its ingredients, as well as a summary of the meals you added. It's worth spending some time reviewing individual meals and ingredients the first couple of times you do this to gain a better understanding of the quality and nutrients in the foods you consume.
The summary will give your totals for the period you uploaded, for example, here are the daily totals of the example meals shared earlier:
Daily totals: Calories: ~1,756 kcal, Protein: ~166g, Carbohydrates: ~136g, Fat: ~69g
Is this perfectly accurate? No, it's not. Is this a simple and accessible way for a beginner to start their nutrition journey? Absolutely. And that was the goal.
So, now you can estimate portions, you're tracking your food intake, and you've got a relatively accurate estimation of your calories and macros, WOW, that's pretty awesome and you've come a long way! Consider doing this for a couple of weeks to get into the swing of things. During that time, it's likely that you'll automatically adopt healthier habits simply because you're being more mindful of the food you consume.
Fine-tuning your diet to achieve your goals
ChatGPT can help fine-tune your diet to meet your goals and answer any of your burning nutrition questions. Here are a few ways you might use it:
To better balance your macros: If you’re finding it hard to reach a specific daily macro target, ask ChatGPT for guidance. Prompt: “What are some high-protein foods I can add to my diet that don’t require cooking?”
To lose weight (stay in a calorie deficit): ChatGPT can provide low-calorie meal ideas that still keep you satisfied. Prompt: "Based on the meals shared, what ways I can amend my meals to help me stay in a calorie deficit that helps me lose 0.5–0.6 kg per week?"
For creative meal ideas: ChatGPT can offer new meal combinations that keep you within your daily macro targets. Prompt: "Give me a breakfast idea that gives me around 30 grams of protein and isn't too high in carbs or fats”.
The sky is the limit, so ask ChatGPT whatever pops into your head. You can even ask it to summarise its recommendations in a downloadable PDF, which can be great to download, print, and refer to offline.
And if you want a more human step-by-step guide...
You can check out our free eBook, 'Fat Loss Dieting Made Simple', which you can download below. If you like what you read, please share this blog or the guide on social media and give us a tag and a shout-out, we'd appreciate it!
Book a free 30-minute consultation with us to discuss your fitness and how we can collaborate on clear and effective goals to help you become healthier and happier. If you'd like to receive a steady stream of free weekly advice, tips, and guides about fitness, consider subscribing or following me on Instagram.
Comments