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 Flexible Dieting:
A Guide to Macros & Eating for Life
by Krissy Mae Cagney

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©2014 Krissy Mae Cagney

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Introduction
I do not know where you currently stand with your fit-
ness and nutrition journey. You may be a weight room
veteran or you may have just signed up for your first gym
membership yesterday. There is no right or wrong when
it comes to fitness. The most important thing is finding
what works best for YOU. Whether you run marathons,
powerlift, bodybuild, Crossfit, or take Zumba classes, we
all have one thing in common: We all need to eat prop-
erly and adequately to sustain our training and maintain
a healthy body fat percentage. But what does that entail?
The point of this book is to educate you and help you
become a healthier and happier version of yourself. So
with this book, I offer guidance. I have literally compiled
every iota of information I have in order to help you help
yourself. (Of course there are going to some special cases
where this book won’t be enough for you. In which case
you can further seek my guidance and I am more than
happy to work with you. I will touch on this more at the
end.)
Wrapping your head around nutrition can be extremely
difficult. I have a four year degree, half a masters degree,
several certifications/licenses, and a fuck ton of experi- You will notice that throughout this book I state the ob
ence and yet sometimes I still feel like I hardly know any-
thing. Why? The human body is a very complex organ-
ism. Macronutrients, micronutrients, protein synthesis,
insulin, cortisol, testosterone, blood glucose, etc. are all
things that one needs to take into account. Every aspect is
individual because we are all individuals. The amount of
information-and maybe even more importantly misinfor-
mation-out there is completely mind blowing.
I try not to get angry over people’s ignorance when it
comes to food and nutrition, but unfortunately I can’t
control the fact that 90% of the people giving nutrition
advice aren’t qualified to do so. I wish people would keep
their shitty opinions and shitty information in their own
shitty mouths. I know people who know everything there
is to know about fitness, human movement, and training,
yet lack any sufficient knowledge about nutrition. Even
though nutrition is the single most important aspect of
everything we work toward. All I can do is keep fighting
the good fight and provide you with as much knowledge
and information as I can to help you think for yourself in
an educated manner.
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 vious. For example, it is no secret that how you eat deter- Do you have to track macros in order to get lean? No.
mines how you look, feel, and perform. I think it is safe to You can certainly starve yourself to 800 calories a day and
say that most people want a killer rig. I think it’s also safe become lean. It won’t necessarily be a good lean… more
to say that we all like to feel good. of a concentration camp sort of lean. But yeah, sure, it can
be done without tracking macros. Do you have to track
You do not need to starve and restrict yourself to lower macros in order to get big? No, you can eat everything in
your body fat. This book will hopefully open your eyes sight and become big. It won’t be necessarily be a good
to better ways to eat, how to eat your favorite foods guilt big… more of fluffy, soft marshmallow sort of big. But
free, how to maximize muscular development, how to yeah, sure, it can be done without tracking macros.
maximize fat loss, and the best part is it will teach how
to do all these things permanently. It may be difficult to I know I was sort of an extremist asshole with what I
wrap your head around at first, but please keep an open just said. People have gotten results by simply eating less
mind while reading and absorbing this. You may have a and maybe changing their food choices. Great. Good for
hard time accepting the fact that you can be shredded them. There are plenty of ways to live and eat healthily
AND eat ice cream everyday. You don’t want to believe without ever needing a food scale. I am well aware of this.
this because of how much bullshit the health and fitness BUT, those people probably aren’t logging HOURS of se-
industry has hammered into the minds of consumers over rious training in the gym each week, so they do not need
the years. But it can be done. I will teach you, and explain to know how much protein, carbs, and fats their bod-
how it’s possible through flexible dieting. ies need to recover and transform. If you are concerned
with your training (and you should be), you are definitely
It’s no secret that in order to lose weight/body fat one concerned with your eating. If you are someone who gets
must eat at a caloric deficit (consuming fewer calories than consumed by overthinking your diet, the “eat less, eat
your body needs to maintain its weight) and in order to better” method just simply doesn’t work.
gain weight one must eat a caloric surplus. The goal (with
either of these) is to be SMART about it. Being smart Eating disorders run rampant in men and women, young
about it will give you quick and permanent results. When and old, especially in the health and fitness industry.
leaning out, the goal is to eat as much as you can get Flexible dieting and macro counting/tracking is what got
away with, without hindering your results. With making me over my severe eating disorder and years of yo-yo diet-
gains, you want to be consuming just the right amount to ing. I want to engrain in you a healthy relationship with
promote muscular growth but not consume so much that food. You don’t have to eat reheated food from a Tupper-
your body stores excessive fat. There is really only one ware container 6 times a day to look good… because that
smart way to do these things… count and track macros. surely doesn’t make you feel good. You shouldn’t live a
It is precise, efficient, and operative. It is also scientific. life where you feel as though you are a slave to food. You
shouldn’t EVER experience feelings of guilt after eating.
With the tools in this book, I will teach you how to calcu- You need to eat for both physical and mental health. Eat
late, count, and track your macros. You will never again for life, not for abs, or a wedding, or a birthday or any
have to worry about counting calories (I will go into why). other special occasion. Never sacrifice feeling good just to
You can quit worrying about whether you ate too much. look good. That’s absurd.
You can give up feeling guilty about having a donut (or
four if you are anything like myself) because everything Hopefully you trust me and trust the scientific informa-
is allowed in moderation. No food is off limits. Being able tion I am providing you with in this book. Once you get
to manage your own diet and macros is an invaluable skill it right and you experience the power of proper nutrition,
that you will have in your back pocket forever. It is lib- it gets much easier to wrap your head around and you
erating. You will now be able to be independent as far as won’t need to be sold on anything.
nutrition is concerned. You do not need a coach, dietitian,
or nutritionist to hold your hand forever. It takes trial and I would wish you good luck, but there is no such thing as
error, but it is crucial that you become so familiar and luck… so here we go.
in tune with your body that that you know exactly how
much of what it needs in order to look, feel, and perform
at it’s very best. And it will happen.
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WTF Is a “Macro”?

The word “macros” gets thrown around a lot by me and

by countless others in the health and fitness industry.
“Macro” is the shorthand term for “Macronutrient”.

Nutrients are the substances that living organisms require

to live, function, and thrive. Nutrients are divided into
two categories: Macronutrients and micronutrients. Some
nutrients are only required in trace amounts. Because of
this, they are collectively referred to as “micronutrients”.
Vitamins and minerals fall into this category. Micronutri-
ents play a supporting role in the body’s metabolism and
help with the continuous, complex chemical reactions in
the body that keep it alive.

Other nutrients are required in large quantities. This is

where “macronutrients” come in. Macronutrients are
what the body uses for energy. There are three macronu-
trients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

Now let’s go over these macros and their roles in more

detail and explore why each is crucial to the human body.

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 Protein Protein is the blanket term for amino acids ly known as sugar. Complex carbs are substantially more
difficult for our bodies to digest. They are broken down
which the body requires for a wide variety of functions. gradually and released into the bloodstream at a slower
In my professional opinion, protein is definitely the most place. We also have fiber to consider; a certain type of car-
essential macronutrient because of the role it plays. Any- bohydrate our body can’t digest (which is a good thing).
one into fitness knows the importance of protein. Protein Carbs unfortunately have a very bad reputation. They are
is one of the building blocks of the body. It is crucial for not the enemy. I’ll also elaborate on this further later on.
both muscle growth (hypertrophy) and muscular repair.

Protein’s function also extends beyond simply muscle.

Fat Fats. Like carbs, fats also have an unfortunate rep-
utation. Fat does not make you fat. They are essential and
Proteins are essential for catalyzing biochemical reactions crucial for our bodies to function at 100%. We need fat
(enzymes), repairing and replicating your DNA, immune to survive. We need fat for growth and development, for a
function, maintaining cellular function and cell struc- secondary source of energy, to maintain cell membranes,
ture. The list really goes on and on but this isn’t a college and absorbing fat-soluble vitamins. Healthy skin and
science course. For our purposes, we want to know its role healthy hair are products of a diet rich in fat. Fat provides
in shaping how our body looks, works and feels, and I cushioning for our organs and joints. Essential fatty acids
think we all know protein is important. can’t be synthesized by the human body.. this means they
must be ingested by way of food.
You MUST consume enough protein. Inadequate
amounts of protein will result in loss of muscle, especially
whilst eating at a deficit. This is often called a “catabolic
state”. This is precisely why protein needs to be priori-
tized. But just as too little protein can be a bad thing,
too much can also be a bad thing. In short, it can spike
insulin levels though the roof, which can cause a whole
myriad of problems. We will also go over this in further
detail later on.

Carbohydrates Being alive requires energy.
When we partake in activities that demand energy, carbs
provide that energy. I said protein is the most import-
ant, but carbs are typically the macro that most people
(both athletic and non-athletic) need the most of. If you
are training hard, you need ample carbs in order to per-
form optimally, as the body easily uses them. Not only do
we need carbs to perform physically, but also to perform
mentally. Our brains need fuel too. Leftover carbs get
stored in our liver and muscle as glycogen and then used
later when energy is needed.
Every tissue and cell in the body can use glucose for ener-
gy. Our central nervous system, our heart, our brain, our
muscles, and our organs are all dependent upon carbo-
hydrates in order to function properly. We need them for
intestinal health and proper waste elimination.
Carbs are broken down into simple and complex forms.
Simple carbs are fast digesting and easily broken down
for immediate energy. Simple carbs are more common-
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Sources of PROTEIN:
Meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy (except butter and
cream), protein powders, plant-based protein supplements,
tofu, soy-based meat alternatives. Note that almost all sources
of protein contain at least trace amounts of fats.
Sources of FATS:
Most red meat, most pork (BACON!), fish, olive oil, coconut oil,
other oils, lard, tree nuts, seeds, peanuts, nut butters, avocado,
full fat dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cream),
and egg yolk. Note that many sources of fat are also sources of
protein and/or carbohydrates.
Sources of CARBOHYDRATES:
Sources are vast. Mostly found in starchy foods (oats, flour,
quinoa, rice, wheat, couscous, yams, potatoes, etc), fruit, veg-
etables, and anything high in sugar such as candy, juice, soda,
etc. Beans, legumes, nuts, and dairy also contain carbs but in
much lower amounts.
Why Counting
Macros Wins

The battle is everywhere… all over the Internet and on I mentioned previously that you don’t need to have a
the social networks. There is a heated debate between the coach holding your hand for the rest of your life. The ulti-
macro people and Tupperware tilapia people. mate goal here is to become an educated and independent
individual. A structured meal plan keeps you extremely
I was once a Tupperware tilapia person. I can admit it. I dependent on your coach. You keep going back to your
was brainwashed into thinking that structured meal plans coach, giving that person more money, and all you get in
were the only way to successfully stay on track. I thought return is a meal plan you know nothing about and an eat-
there were “good” foods and “bad” foods. The bad foods ing disorder. You are left with no knowledge… probably
were ANYTHING that wasn’t on the meal plan. I get because your coach has none either.
it… some people REALLY like structured meal plans.
You get a list of foods, you don’t have to think, you don’t Now lets get back to the skill of macro counting. By
have to understand the science of anything, you cook, you learning how to determine and track your macros, you
eat, you repeat: no knowing, just doing. THIS IS THE are thinking for yourself. If you don’t want to think for
PROBLEM. There is absolutely nothing sustainable yourself and you want to pay someone to be a crutch, by
about following a meal plan. all means, go for it. You will be controlled by food. But
by knowing food substitutions and knowing how to eat
People on strict meal plans usually feel bound to it and donuts without any negative consequences, YOU have the
even the slightest hiccup will produce a massive anxiety upper hand on food and YOU are in control. If you want
attack and overwhelming feelings of failure. If you want to eat for life, you need to learn the ins and outs of mac-
to enjoy your life and briefly step away from your rigid ros. Because no adult should have another adult telling
plan, you typically can’t do it without crying yourself to them what to eat until the end of time.
sleep after. I know people who avoid birthday parties and
weddings - some of life’s most cherished moments – out When you fall off the meal plan, it’s fucking hard to get
of fear of the food. That’s no fucking way to live, dudes. back on. I know first hand. You have half a cookie, get
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 a case of the “fuck its”, call it a day, and binge. This isn’t
the case with macros. If you have half a cookie, you track
it, the macros in that cookie get subtracted from your dai-
ly intake, and you keep on going throughout your day. A
little 200 calorie “whoops” wont kill your vibe, where as a
2500 calorie binge will destroy a week’s progress. You can
adjust your intake with a 200 calorie hiccup. Not so much
with a 2500 calorie bender. Is macro counting sounding
more appealing yet?

Egg whites, steamed broccoli, tilapia, and oatmeal every

single day gets old. When you eat the same thing daily,
it loses its appeal. You can LOVE chicken but eating it
38 times a week may very well ruin chicken for you. You
become resentful of food. You crave things but you have
been brainwashed to think you can’t have something if it’s
not on the meal plan. A lettuce wrapped turkey burger is
a GREAT meal, but since it’s not on your structured meal
plan, its not allowed. Who wants to live that way?

Fitness and nutrition come hand in hand. Fitness is not a

temporary thing. Nutrition shouldn’t be either. It’s a life-
style. You have to be active and train year round, so you
need to have your nutrition in check year round as well.
You need to go into this realizing it’s a full lifestyle change
that needs to become permanent. If you want to get on
a strict meal plan or go on a diet in order to “prep” for
something or to get quick results, I am sorry to inform
you that you are contributing to everything that is wrong
with the industry. This is not the point of health and fit-
ness. You are ruining something good.

It IS possible to be lean year round and have a banging

bod 365 days out of the year. The people who are able to
look good year round without major weight fluctuations
are people who have flexible diets. They train and eat for
life. Not for an upcoming event.

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How to Determine
YOUR Macros

If I have already helped you with your macros (or perhaps will put all their athletes and clients (who all have dif-
another coach has given you numbers or maybe you have ferent goals) on a diet with the same macro breakdown.
even determined them on your own), you most likely al- How does that make sense? That means the diets are not
ready know your intake. Even if you think you’ve got it catered specifically to each person, they’re a generaliza-
down, I still suggest you read this carefully. tion. This is completely backwards: A certain macro ratio
shouldn’t be the goal of your diet, it should reflect the
I know how much conflicting information is available out goals of your diet. What works for you might not work for
there, and I know it can be extremely frustrating. Deter- the next person, and what works for them might not work
mining how many calories to consume a day and then for you. Your needs and goals are individual and you need
determining how many grams of each macro to consume to determine your food intake based on YOU.
within that daily intake is enough to give most people
a headache. But I’m going to walk you through it. And There are many ways to do this, but I am going to share
once you have it, it’s easy to see how your macros add up the method that works best, which I have been success-
and fit together. fully using for quite some time now. I’ve done my research
and have applied it to my clients and myself. It works for
You will often hear macro trackers talk about their “per- just about everyone. The result will be an individualized
centages”. This is in reference to the ratios of macros for macro calculation that is derived from your caloric needs
their diet. This on its own is bullshit. Well, it can be. based off your training and physique goals.
Percentages on their own mean nothing. Stating percent-
ages alone does not leave any clues about overall calorie Most of my clientele is interested in fat loss (and of course
intake, which could be dramatically wrong. There is also muscle gain), so I will go through what it takes to accom-
no magical macro percentage that gets people lean. plish both.

There are quite a few coaches and trainers out there who
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 Determining Your Calories with 13% body fat has an LBM of 130.5 lbs. Even though
the two people weigh the same, the person with lower
body fat will have more muscle. The person with more
Before we can get into what your macros will be, we first muscle is going to have a higher metabolic capacity and
need to determine how many calories you need. Here is require more calories. The leaner you are, the more you
my professional opinion: When it comes to lowering body get to eat.
fat, you want to be eating as much as possible while still
making progress. If you can cut fat eating 1750 calories For people who are extremely overweight (> 40% body-
(kcal) a day, why only eat 1400 calories? A larger than fat), it is best to formulate your calories based off your
necessary cut in calories leaves very little wiggle room to GOAL weight, or a weight between your goal weight and
drop calories further as your body adjusts and progress your current weight. If you are at a high bodyfat percent-
slows down. Too large of a drop will also cause a dip in age, you will have a longer journey than others. BUT out
performance. All of this adds up and means you’ll plateau of everyone, you will drop pounds the fastest initially.
and quit making progress all together.
You may not know your lean body mass but you can
Everyone wants overnight results. Well, it’s not going to make a very educated guess. Ideally you should get your
happen that way. You are making a shift in the way you body fat tested, but I understand that you may not want
think about and interact with food that will bring about to or you may not have the means to do so. Knowing your
positive changes which will last a lifetime. So don’t take LBM is important so that you can formulate the most
dumbass shortcuts that aren’t long term. I know this isn’t precise macros for yourself.
what you want to hear, but the slower your progress is, the
more permanent your results will be. Be patient. It will be
well worth the wait. Now I’m going to walk you through it.
So first things first: You will need to determine your Let me use myself for an example here. I currently weigh
maintenance calories. Maintenance calories means exact- about 172lbs (shocking, I know, but I do). Now let’s con-
ly what it sounds like: The number of calories you need to sider my activity level. We can all agree that I fall into the
consume a day to maintain your current size. To do this, VERY active category. So I use 14 as my multiplier:
take your current bodyweight in pounds and multiply it
by 11-14. This multiplier is how many calories per pound 172 lbs x14kcal/lb =2408 kcal
(kcal/lb) you will be consuming. So which multiplier
should YOU use? That would mean I should consume 2,408 calories a day
to maintain my current weight. This might seem like a
If you are VERY active and/or young and/or have a nice lot of food, but this is the amount of calories I need with
revving metabolism, use the higher multiplier (13-14). If my activity level to maintain my current weight.
you are sedentary and/or have some years under your belt
and/or have metabolic damage, use a lower multiplier (11- Now let’s say I want to start a cut. I want subtract a small
12). There’s no need email me panicking over whether amount of calories to begin. That way if I don’t see results
you think you should multiply by 12 or 13 or anything or my results slow, I have room to cut more if I need to.
like that. There is not much caloric difference between I start with 250 kcal a day reduction:
multipliers, so just choose one and stick with it for at least
TWO WEEKS before messing with it. There is no way 2408kcal -250kcal =2158 kcal
to know what works and what doesn’t work if you’re not
sticking with it for long enough to know. I now have my goal calories for fat loss. Awesome. But I
want to see faster results, so I will also add 20 minutes
This is the hardest thing to determine for most people. of HIIT cardio to my training. By adding 20 minutes of
Don’t overthink this step. Be realistic with yourself, where HIIT, I am creating a further caloric deficit of (approxi-
your body is, and your level of activity. Eating right is all mately) 250 kcal through exercise. This puts me at a 500
about being honest and realistic with yourself, your goals, kcal/day deficit which would result in a pound of fat loss
and your progress. per week. And I still get to consume 2158 kcal a day.
I personally believe one should take into account their Let’s say I want to bulk. I would omit all cardio, and hit
LEAN BODY MASS (LBM) when calculating this num- a 500-700 calorie a day surplus. It’s that simple. This for-
ber. A 150 lb person with 30% body fat will be different mula works for most people.
from a 150 lb person with 13% body fat. The person with
30% body fat has an LBM of 105 lbs while the person
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Determining YOUR Macros CARBOHYDRATES:
Next you need to determine your carb intake. This may
be where you start to panic, because surely you are more
We have determined calories, now what? Well, now we get afraid of carbs than you are of the Devil himself. The first
to determine your macros. How do we determine macros? thing you need to know is that carb intake depends upon
We break up the calories you just calculated into macros. many things. The most important factor being your level
Let’s walk through the whole process. of activity. If you are extremely active and your training
is demanding (so if you are on any one of my training
programs), you will need a substantial amount of carbs.
PROTEIN: The harder and more often you train, the more carbs you
I mentioned earlier that protein is the most important are going to need.
macronutrient, so it’s the macro we will determine first.
There are a few factors that you need to consider when The second most important thing to take into consider-
determining your protein intake. Firstly, you need to con- ation is your diet preference. I personally enjoy fats more
sider your goals: than I enjoy carbs. I have no problem lowering my carb
intake if it means I get increase my fat intake. This is not
CUTTING/MAINTAINING the case for most people, as I have noticed 90% of my cli-
If your goal is to maintain your current weight or lose fat, ents would rather have all the carbs. Which is fine. That
set your protein between your LEAN BODY MASS and just means a little less fat.
your TOTAL MASS. Never set your protein intake be-
low your LBM or above your current weight in grams of The last thing to take into account is how your body re-
protein. If you set your protein too low, your body won’t sponds to carbs. Now when I say this, I don’t mean how
have adequate means to rebuild and grow your muscles. you THINK your body responds to carbs. I mean how
If you are not sure what your exact number should be, set your body actually responds to them. For example, people
your protein at your goal weight. For example: Let’s say with diabetes or celiac disease really need to be careful
you weigh 180 lbs but want to get down to 140 lbs. You with sugar and wheat, two of the most common forms of
don’t know exact your lean body mass, but you guess it to carbohydrates, their bodies will not respond well to either.
be about 120 lbs. If you set your protein at 140g, you are
getting adequate protein intake. Taking all these things into account, a sufficient amount
is 1.0-1.5g of carbs per pound of LEAN BODY MASS.
It is a common misconception to consume 1g per pound The lower end of that for a cut and the higher end of
of total bodyweight. That number is too high. It doesn’t that for a bulk. Take the number you determined for your
consider your bodyfat percentage and could easily cause protein intake and start there. Match it to your protein if
you to set your protein far too high, leaving you too few you want to remain fairly “low carb”, slowly increase from
calories from carbohydrates and fat to work with, or it there as you see fit. Don’t overthink this too much. You
could cause you to consume a surplus of calories, which can keep tweaking. I would suggest for MOST people
defeats your goals. Someone who is 300 lbs but has 50% 1.1xLBM in grams of carbs a day.
bodyfat should not be consuming 300g of protein. Exces-
sive protein consumption can cause the same kind of in-
Continuing with our example, I set my protein at 155g, if
sulin response that gives carbohydrates a bad reputation.
Excessive protein can also be hard on the kidneys. I were taking my own advice, and consuming 1.1xLBM,
I would consume 170g of carbs a day. Because I know I
perform better and I love that fat, I’m keeping my carbs
BULKING at 155g. Keep in mind 155g carbs is considered fairly low
If your goal is to add muscle, setting your protein at your carb for someone who is 5’8 and a buck seventy. I am not
goal weight typically works too, as long as you are be- afraid of carbs and my body responds fine to them, I just
ing realistic about your goals (you’re not going to gain 40 have a pallet that prefers the taste of fat most of the time.
pounds of muscle in a few weeks). Remember; don’t go Remember this is for maintenance.
balls to the wall right out of the gate. For adding muscle
with minimal fat gain, you want to add mass slowly. Sure If I were cutting, I would match my carbs to the protein
you can put on 20 lbs in a few weeks, but it’s not going to number I determined in order to cut (which was 140-145g
be 20 lbs of muscle. a day). If I were bulking I would far surpass my protein in
carbs. My bulk protein number was 165g, so I would set
my carbs at 247g (165gx1.5=247.5g).

11
 Now that I have protein and carbs set, I need to deter-
mine my fat. To do this, I first need to determine the
number of calories that make up my protein and carbs.
Remember that both protein and carbs have 4 calories per
gram (4 kcal/g). All I do is multiply my protein and carbs
by 4. Then I add them together:
155g protein (4 kcal/g)+155g carbs (4 kcal/g)=1,240 kcal
Take that number then subtract it from my total calories:
2158 (total kcal)-1240 (protein + carbs kcal)=918 kcal
I have 918 kcal left which needs to come from fat. Since
fat is 9 calories per gram (9kcal/g), I take the calories
and divide that number by 9. The result is how many
grams of fat I will need:
918 kcal÷9 kcal/g= 102 grams of fat
My MAINTENANCE Macros are:
155g Protein, 155g Carbs, 102g Fat.
Now just to give you more examples, let’s say I decided
to intensify my training a bit. I would increase my carb
intake to help my performance. The number I choose is
somewhat arbitrary, but sticks to being between 1-1.5 g of
carbs per pound of LBM:
Now for some cut and bulk examples:
FOR A CUT: I calculated my calories and determined
that I can sit at 1780 kcal a day (if I add cardio to my
training). I then set my protein to be around 145g a day.
Since it’s a cut, I will match my carbs to my protein.
(145g pro x 4kcal/g) + (145g carb x 4kcal/g)= 1,160 kcal
And then from that we determine fat:
1780 total kcal -1160 (pro+ carb) kcal =620 kcal left.
620kcal÷9kcal/g= 69g Fat
CUT Macros:
145g Protein, 145g Carbs, 69g Fat
FOR A BULK: I calculated my calories for bulking and
determined that I can go up to 2630 kcal. My bulk pro-
tein/carbs were determined to be: 165g protein (my goal
weight) and 247g carbs (goal weight x 1.5). Once again, I
add them together:
(165g pro x4kcal/g) + (247g carb x4kcal/g)=1648 kcal
Then I subtract that number from my total calories:
2,630 total kcal-1,648 (pro +carb) kcal =982 kcal left
982÷9=109g Fat

(155g protein x4kcal/g)+(195 g carbs x4kcal/g)=1,400 kcal BULK Macros:

165g Protein, 247g Carbs, 109g Fat
The total calories remains the same, but since there are
more calories coming from protein and carbs, my fat in-
take will drop:

2,158 total kcal-1,400 (protein + carbs kcal)=758 kcal

758 kcal÷9 kcal/g= 84 grams of fat

My MAINTENANCE Macros TWEAKED are:

155g Protein, 195g Carbs, 84g Fat.

Two VERY different sets of macros all because of a change

in my training; keep in mind that you will have to tweak
and occasionally recalculate as your body and your train-
ing changes.

When it comes to calories, one gram of both protein and carbs has
4 calories (4 kcal/g). You will notice fat has more than 2x the calo-
ries per gram (9 kcal/g). This is what partially led to the myth that
“fat makes you fat.” It’s simply not true. However, it is important to
12 remember this difference in calories when calculating your macros.
Now we need to briefly address training days and
non-training days. It is very common for people to con-
sume more carbs on training days (training days being
days where large amounts of strength/conditioning is tak-
ing place, not days where you go for a 2 mile run) and
fewer carbs on non-training days. This does not mean
you should eat less on your non-training days; if you low-
er your carbs, you must increase your fat. This is a simple
recalculation using the formula I provided. You do not
HAVE to do this; again, it is going to take some trial and
error to configure what works best for you. I personally
think we need carbs on our day off in order for our mus-
cles to recover quicker (this is usually where the concept
of re-feeds comes in). We will go into re-feeds later on as
that info basically requires its own chapter.

The more you experiment, the more you’ll learn. The oth-
er thing to remember is that you need to NOT constant-
ly tweak your macros. If you are tweaking every week,
you aren’t giving yourself enough time to REALLY set
and feel your body react. Give yourself a SOLID two
weeks (minimum) before messing with your macros. If
you are making solid progress in two weeks times, don’t
go switching them up as that means they are working. If
you are losing weight, there is absolutely no need to lower
your calories. This goes for making gains as well. With
both cutting and bulking, you only need to recalculate
every six weeks, or when you notice progress has slowed.
Just NEVER go lower then 10xLBM or Goal Weight in
calories when dieting as that is getting dangerously low.

13
 Recalculating vs
Tweaking
What the Difference Is and When to Do Each
Tweaking your macros and recalculating your macros are
VERY different things. The easiest way I can put it is like
this: your calories and protein won’t change when tweak-
ing—usually tweaking involves manipulating carbs and
fat so you can realistically and consistently hit your mac-
ros daily. You are basically “playing” with minor tweaks
in order to get yourself dialed in without changing your
total calories. A macro recalculation will usually result in
a change of daily caloric intake therefore a change in all
three macronutrients. A macro calculation doesn’t need
to happen often.
MACRO TWEAKING
Tweaking is much different than a recalculation. Tweak-
ing usually only takes place in the first few days after you
macro calculation; during this time you are testing out
the waters of your macros.
14
Lets say you set your carbs fairly low and your fat a lit-
tle high because you think that’s what you prefer… well
you get a few days in and feel like your training is suf-
fering and you are lacking energy. You should tweak by
increasing your carbs and lowering your fat (make sure
that you are still hitting your daily caloric intake). More
carbs mean more fuel.
Or maybe you are getting to the end of each day 10 grams
over on your fat and 30 grams under on your carbs. You
can’t for the life of you figure out how to lower the fat and
increase the carbs. This is usually a pretty big indicator
that your lifestyle would prefer the increase in fat and the
decrease in carbs. That is completely ok if you are still
right around your calculated caloric intake.
You by no means should be tweaking very often. Contin-
uously tweaking daily or weekly will get you nowhere. It
is simply playing with your numbers to find the best way
to consistently hit one set of numbers for a longer dura-
tion of time (about 6 weeks).
MACRO RECALCULATING
I would suggest a full macro recalculation should be done
every 6 weeks (4 weeks at the VERY minimum). I say six
weeks for two reasons:
1) I think that ones body composition can drastically
change in about six weeks time—both body fat percent-
age and body weight. Keep in mind that just because the
scale has not changed, it doesn’t quite mean your lean
body mass has not changed. You might stay at 180lbs but
180 at 20% bodyfat is a lot different than 180 at 15% bo-
dyfat. Lets say you dropped 1-5 pounds in six weeks time
but your body fat went down 3-4%. That could be any-
where from 3-10 pounds of fat loss (depending on your
weight), but it also means that you increased muscle mass
therefore increased your lean body mass.
You need to make sure you aren’t only tracking your mac-
ros but tracking your progress. How will you know what
works best for you if you aren’t taking notes? I am not
telling you to weigh yourself every single day. I person-
ally have a scale obsession so I choose to stay off of it. I
track my progress by way of photos and measurements.
(I would take note of how my clothes fit but I only wear
spandex so that’s not realistic for me.) Keep a journal.
Note your macros for each current phase and write down
how you look and feel. This is how you learn. It is ALL
trial and error. Whether you calculate your own macros
or I calculate your macros, it’s all one big experiment. You
are going to know how your body is and/or will react far
better than I am able to. This is why I am teaching you
this skill. You aren’t going to nail it right off the bat, the
first few weeks may be rocky but I can tell you this… it
only gets easier and easier.

Or perhaps you lost 25 pounds in six weeks time by track-

ing macros and training hard. You clearly are going to
need to recalculate because your weight and body com-
position is entirely different than what you started with.
I do not think you should recalculate sooner than six
weeks because any less time wouldn’t yield significant re-
sults that would need a full recalculation. The only time
you would need to recalculate often would be if you were
competing in bodybuilding, in which case you are work-
ing with a coach who hopefully knows what they are do-
ing.

IMPORTANT: If your initial macro calculation is still

continuing to get you awesome results at 6 weeks, there is
absolutely no need to recalculate it. Do not fix something
if it isn’t broken. If you hit the six week mark and are
still getting results, keep going and recalculate once you
plateau.

2) The second reason I highly suggest a full macro recal-

culation every six weeks is because typically most peoples
training regime changes every six weeks (if you are on
my programming, you know a majority of my programs
run for six weeks). When your style of training changes,
your eating needs to change with it. For example, when I
start a strength training program I need to reevaluate my
carb intake, as I will surely need more in order to sustain
strength training. If your training is drastically changing
every four weeks, you can recalculate your macros every
four weeks if you feel it necessary to do so.

15
 Meal Timing &
Hitting Your Numbers

If calculating macros gave you a headache, this is where we will go over shortly. If you’re concerned about meal
you’ll most likely feel a migraine coming on. My goal here timing, well, you can forget that bullshit myth too. Meal
is to prevent that from happening. The whole point of timing is not important, at all, whatsoever.
this is that you are trying to eat the right quantities of
foods so that you are hitting your macros accurately- all Let me say it again: Meal timing is horseshit. The big-
your protein, all your carbs, all your fat. You don’t want gest myth in the fitness industry is that you need to eat
to consume more than you are supposed to, but you don’t six small meals a day. If anyone has ever tried to tell you
want to consume less than you are supposed to either. You that eating small meals more frequently “boosts your me-
want to be dead on (i.e. within 1-2 grams of) your goal tabolism”, that person is a complete moron. Anyone who
for every single macro. Every day. As with everything, you has ever said, “Eating every two hours tricks your body
are aiming for consistency. into burning more calories!” clearly doesn’t have much
knowledge of the human body. The human body is a
I can tell you, you are probably overthinking it already. complex and advanced living organism that has evolved
You are most likely NOT going to hit your exact mac- over millions and millions of years and learned to survive
ros on day one. It’ll take a week. Maybe even two if this at extremes. It is not easily “tricked”. That is absurd. Long
whole process is new to you, and that’s OKAY. story short: Do not think you need to consume multiple
small meals a day. That is an old school bodybuilding
Before we even begin to set up your diet, let’s get sassy. technique that doesn’t have any scientific evidence sup-
I’m going to address some common misconceptions and porting that it works better than any other method. Eat
myths: dairy is bad, gluten is bad, sugar is bad, don’t eat when you are hungry and eat until you are full. Just track
after 8pm, you have to eat 6 small meals a day to stoke the it and carry on with your day until you are hungry again.
metabolic fire, and so on. All of this is bullshit. Nothing Science and practicality prove that you need to eat when it
is automatically good or bad. The only food consumption best suits you. Just stop once you’ve reached your macros.
that matters is what you consume post workout, which So you can take the concept of meal timing, tie it to a
16
rock, and throw it into the bottom of a lake. As for the food scale: Get one. Use it. It keeps you aware
and honest. It doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive. Just
Hitting your daily macros is far more important than get a digital scale so you can have accurate measurements.
meal timing. You can literally eat one GIANT meal if You literally have absolutely zero way of knowing if you
you want to and you will get the exact same results as you are hitting your macros if you aren’t weighing and mea-
would if you divided your food into to multiple meals suring your food. Period. How else will you know that six
throughout the day. But good luck with that, Kobayashi. ounces of chicken breast is really six ounces? That table-
I am not saying that it’s bad to eat six small meals a day. spoon of peanut butter needs to be ONE tablespoon. Not
If that’s what works for you, do the damn thing! Do what one and a half as that half can completely throw you off.
works for YOU. Again, this will take some trial and error. MEASURE.
I personally like to eat two big meals and snack through-
out the day because that’s what’s realistic for my lifestyle. How do you hit your macros? To put it in the simplest
words possible: eat until you hit your daily macros, then
If you intermittent fast (IF) you basically have a feeding stop eating until tomorrow. Sure it’s a bit more complex
window where you will consume ALL your calories/mac- than that, but I am making this as basic as possible.
ros in a 4-8 hour window. This is fine too. I can go on
and on about IF, but I will save that for another article. Plan it out. Weigh and measure your food. Prep it. Now
put it into your mouth hole. If you’ve read my This is Not
Whatever meal timing method you choose, try to be fair- a Cookbook meal prep guide you will know how to prep
ly consistent with it. For example, IF only works if you for one meal or a whole week’s worth of meals. You can
do it every day and not just on some days. The more con- use the skills and strategies from that book to make hit-
sistent you are with things, the easier it becomes. Try to ting your macros easy and painless. The process just takes
have the same training time daily and your eating habits a little effort and planning.
will consequently become more consistent as well. These
things will help your body avoid metabolic confusion. Like I said before, meal timing isn’t important (I think I
made that clear). However, macro timing is. It is in your
MACROS ONLY WORK WHEN YOU HIT THEM. best interest to consume your carbs around your training
time. Proper macro distribution will help you optimize
The first thing we need to go over is tracking. You are your results:
going to need an app to track your food. It is damn near
impossible to count/track macros without an app to help Protein: It is best to make an attempt to distribute your
you. MyFitnessPal (MFP) is the best one. By tracking, protein evenly between however many meals you chose
you know EXACTLY what you have consumed for the to consume on a daily basis. This will maximize protein
day and you know EXACTLY what you have left. MFP synthesis response. No, it doesn’t have to be exact and
has a barcode scanner; therefore, you can literally scan there will be necessary fluctuations between “meals”. As
everything you eat into the app and it will do all the work an example: if you are consuming 150 grams of protein a
for you. You are going to need a food scale because you day, and like to eat five times a day, shoot for 30 grams of
need to weigh or measure just about everything you con- protein at each meal. Don’t drive yourself crazy trying to
sume. This is a pain in the ass, I know. But you get used be exact, just generally attempt to spread out your protein
to it, it gets easier, and eventually you become a pro and distribution. Don’t save it up and somehow eat 150 grams
you will no longer have to do it because you start to know of protein all at once.
portion sizes just by looking at them. Until then, scan and
weigh all your food. Everything has a barcode, even the Carbs/Fats: You have probably heard lots of conflicting
little stickers on produce. Scan, weigh, eat. info when it comes to what time of the day you should
consume carbs and fats. I will only give you my pro-
The default “goal” macros on MFP are going to be com- fessional opinion: As I said before, consume your carbs
pletely wrong. Don’t pay attention to them. Focus on around your training time. This means your pre and
what YOU calculated. You can manually change them by post-workout meals should be carb heavy. If you train in
going to their website and selecting “change goals”. the evening, you will be eating carbs at night. Start your
day eating fats with your protein and taper into protein
17
 and carbs right before you train and continue eating your
carbs post workout until you hit your macros. If you train
at 7pm, you will ideally be eating your carbs from 5pm
until bedtime. So ignore that whole “no carbs after 7”
nonsense. There’s no night time insulin fairy waiting to
magically store your carbs in your fat tissue when the sun
goes down. Your body’s metabolism doesn’t slow down at
night.

I am not saying that your evening meals should contain

ZERO fat, as that would be damn near impossible. It’s
just a loose guideline.

If you train in the morning, eat carbs and protein right

before and right after your workout and taper it into pro-
tein and fats as the day goes on.

There may be times when your macro timing gets skewed.

It happens. If you ate all your carbs before you worked
out, oh well. You simply adjust and won’t eat any carbs
post-workout that day. Which is FINE. It wouldn’t be
called Flexible Dieting if it weren’t flexible.

Carb Timing for Pre-Workout Period

Timing the consumption of your carbs to have most of them
of them fall in the period after working out for the day will
optimize their use for fuel as well as muscle repair and growth.

Consuming carbs in a short window before training will help

fuel your workout. Timing is important, and depending on the
circumstances, you can change what you consume:

Time Before Training

90-60 minutes: Carbs with some fats
60-30 minutes: A combo of slow & fast digesting carbs
30- 0 minutes: Fast digesting carbs (fruits, sugars) only

This is for digestion purposes. You want the food you put in your
body to be digested and ready to fuel your workout, not having
it be a brick sitting in your stomach unabsorbed, unable to fuel
your workout.

Again, be consistent with it. But life happens. This will help you
optimize your results.
18
Flexible Dieting
AKA The Fun Stuff
This is surely what you have been waiting for. You see
it everywhere… more commonly known as “If It Fits
Your Macros” (IIFYM); people with insane bodies stuff-
ing their faces with donuts, burgers, pop tarts, pizza, you
name it. Before we dive in, let me say this: I don’t neces-
sarily support “IIFYM” as that form of dieting doesn’t
exactly support eating for health, but IIFYM works for
aesthetics. You can literally get jacked by eating nothing
but non-nutrient dense foods (aka crap) and hitting your
macros. But eating this way does not take into account
the health of the brain, heart, or other organs. I prefer
the term “flexible dieting” as that is exactly what it is: be-
ing able to be flexible and non restrictive with your food
choices while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Your
food possibilities are endless, you don’t have to eat the
same meals day after day if you don’t want to, there is
nothing off limits. You can have what you’re craving. It
just takes some simple tracking/planning. Then you de-
velop an overall healthy relationship with food as opposed
to fearing it. By no means am I suggesting that ANYONE
eat pure crap; you may not see negative repercussions on
the outside, but they will be taking a toll on your insides.
Flexible dieting completely goes against conventional di-
eting, and the notion that anyone who wants to get in
shape has to eat a rigorous diet, composed of a narrow
number of “clean foods”. It opposes the need to eat at
precise times throughout the day, and that any deviation
from this strict structure is breaking the rules, thus fail-
ing. Flexible dieting is simple – you eat whatever foods
you like that fill your allowance of proteins, carbs and
fats.
Now, lets get to it. In order to be able to mentally handle
flexible dieting and macro counting, you need to get rid of
the notions that there are “good” foods and “bad” foods.
Food is food. Fat is fat and carbs are carbs. There are no
“bad” foods; there are essentially only bad portions. Wipe
the concept of “clean eating” from your head. There is
no such thing as eating clean, it’s a term the health and
fitness industry made up in order to warp your brain and
make money. There are nutrient dense foods (vegetables
for example) and foods that aren’t so nutrient dense (the
delicious processed stuff we all spent years shunning).
When you count macros, you are in complete control of
what goes into your mouth. It is up to you to be responsi-
ble and not overdo it… everything in moderation.
19
 There are literally zero restrictions with counting and try, potatoes, oats, vegetable, fish, etc unless you plan on
tracking macros as long as you are hitting your careful- living on protein shakes. Sure, you definitely will have
ly calculated daily intake. It’s a given that most people some wiggle room for the “fun” stuff each day, but don’t
reading this lead a healthy and active lifestyle. Therefore, kid yourself and think that you can spend your days eat-
I can go ahead and assume that you maintain a diet con- ing whatever the hell you please. It doesn’t quite work that
taining plenty of nutrient dense foods. So now it’s just a way; especially when it comes to carbs... Which brings me
matter of fine tuning and filling up those macros. You to fiber.
can continue to eat “clean” (for lack of a better word) and
fill your intake with nutrient dense foods, which will al- Fiber. Foods that are rich in fiber are typically not calori-
low you to eat more by volume, (for example 50g carbs cally dense; they will allow you to eat a large volume of
of a pastry is going to be smaller by volume than 50g of food, without consuming a lot of calories. Think leafy
carbs from of veggies). However if you “cheat” or indulge, greens, veggies etc. Because fibrous foods are complex
you aren’t throwing yourself off track because you are re- carbohydrates, they are slower digesting and will help
maining balanced. You see, 50 grams of carbs is 50g of you remain full longer. Fiber also has health benefits for
carbs no matter what you eat; a banana is carbs, gummy diabetics because it helps to regulate blood sugar. It can
worms are carbs, bread is carbs, broccoli is carbs… its also lower cholesterol and help prevent certain types of
all the same (don’t take that TOO literally). The actual cancers.
size of what 50 grams carbs will look like is what will
differ, but 50 grams is 50 grams. Both are supplying your Do not attempt to fill your carb intake for the day by eat-
body with exactly that, regardless of what you eat. If you ing a shit load of green veggies. They are exteremely dif-
slam down a cupcake or two, track them and eat a little ficult for your body to break down and believe it or not,
healthier the remainder of the day. If you use your fat and you will begin to feel sluggish because too much energy is
carbs up on cupcakes (again, cupcakes is just the example going into breaking down your food. Too much fiber can
I am using), that means you need to lay off carbs/fats the almost be worse than not enough. Aim for 25-40 grams
remainder of the day, which will all balance out with your depending on your size and carb intake. Fiber IS includ-
body because your macronutrient needs have been met for ed in your total daily carbs. You are not counting “net
the day. carbs” you are counting your actual carbohydrate intake.
Therefore, do not subtract your fiber from your total car-
Being super restrictive all the time sets you up for mas- bohydrate intake.
sive binges and it’s not healthy to completely deprive your
body and deny its cravings. But I will say this: If you do One thing that will become very normal to you is “sav-
get all your calories from “junk”, you’ll probably feel ing” your macros. This is the fun part, and where you can
like junk – definitely not what you want before a heavy get REALLY flexible. This is my favorite part. I know my
squat session. Even though 50g carbs is the same whether sweet tooth is going to kick in every single night. So I per-
you consume it by way of processed sugar or by way of sonally make good choices all day, don’t eat anything that
green veggies, one is obviously more nutrient dense thus is going to take up too many macros, and save as many
“healthier”. as I can for nighttime. So with my leftover protein, carbs,
and fat I am usually able to make some frozen yogurt,
As I previously mentioned, there is a common miscon- peanut butter, cereal, and fruit concoction. Getting to
ception that macro counting and flexible dieting means make these sweet creations every night is what keeps me
eating whatever the hell you want. This couldn’t be more on track all day. And, because we know that it’s calories in
false. It’s not just a free for all bacon wrapped donut fes- vs. calories out, as long as I stay within my allotted mac-
tival. I know at times I make it look that way, but that’s ros, I do not need to be worried about #carbsafterdark or
hardly the case. Let me put it this way: Let’s say you are eating past 7pm. We have debunked these myths already.
on a cut and you are consuming 170 grams of protein a
day, 190 grams of carbs a day, and 65 grams of fat a day,
good luck filling your macros with pop tarts, french fries,
and ice cream. In order to get that much protein, while
somewhat restricting carbs/fats, you are going to have no
choice but to rely heavily on things like eggs, meat, poul-
20
Refeed vs Rest Days

The concept of rest days and refeeds can be a bit confus- with recovery. Again... it’s going to take some trial and
ing. You’re probably wondering how your macros should error here.
change on your rest days, or whether or not you need to
give yourself a re-feed day. I’ll discuss the importance of Here is the best advice I can give on rest days: if your
both in this chapter. training is rigorous and you are on a cut, do not lower
your macros on your rest day as I think you need the cal-
Rest days. ories/carbs for sanity purposes (and to avoid a plateau and
When I say rest day, I mean a day you are not weight metabolic damage). If you are on a bulk, you can lower
training. You have a few options here. First, there is abso- your intake on your rest days as you are getting ample
lutely nothing wrong with keeping your macros the same calories/carbs.
on your rest days as your training days. The exception to
this being those of you who are eating over 200g of carbs Refeeds.
per day. Which leads us to the second rest day option: A refeed is crucial when on a caloric deficit for a long pe-
Slightly lowering your daily caloric intake. You want to riod of time. The purpose of a re-feed is to replenish your
keep your protein the same, but your carbs and fat can glycogen stores and raise leptin levels, which will balance
come down. hormones and metabolism. When planning a re-feed, you
are going to increase the amount of carbohydrates that
This is all going to be personal preference and it may even you consume by 50-100% of your daily intake (higher
be trial and error. I don’t have a magic formula for this. end of that if you are lean; lower end of that if you are
The idea is that because you aren’t training you don’t need not). It is important to keep your protein intake the same,
to fuel your body as if you are. Your energy expenditure maybe even slightly lower, and lowering your fat by at
is going to be less on rest days, therefore you will need least 10g as well. Ideally you want to keep fat as low as
less fuel. If you’re particularly fatigued or taking an active possible.
recovery day you may want to keep your intake up to help
21
 Why is it important that your refeed only consist of an in-
crease in carbs? Because, carbohydrates turn into glucose
and leptin responds directly to glucose metabolism.

Leptin may be a new term for some of you, or you may

have heard it but never understood its function. Leptin
is “the mother of all fat burning hormones” according to
Dr. Layne Norton. It’s a hormone in our bodies that is
essentially a metabolism controller and hunger regulator.
Its job is to tell the brain that we are full after a meal,
however when on a deficit for too long, the levels of leptin
can become so low that the message never makes it to
the brain. Our brains actually realize that leptin is low
and assumes that we are not properly fueled, thus causing
hunger pains and cravings. Re-feeds will raise leptin lev-
els, regulate metabolism and decrease cravings.

In order to determine whether you need a re-feed or not

you need to think about a few things. Anyone with a low-
er body fat percentage (10% or lower for men and 15% or
lower for women) is going to need at least one re-feed a
week. If you have been on a particularly long cut (15-16
weeks) you will most likely want to incorporate 2 re-feeds
a week. If you have only been on a deficit for a few weeks,
you will probably not need a re-feed. I recommend imple-
menting a re-feed day no sooner than 4 weeks into your
cut, and that is only if you have plateaued.

The timing of your re-feed day is important as well. Your

re-feed should be planned on the day you work your
weakest body part, or the day you train the body part
that is most taxing for you. If you train in the morning,
then you should re-feed the day prior so that your glyco-
gen stores are replenished by the time you train. Although
it is less common, some people choose to re-feed on their
off days, this is an excellent way to allow your muscles to
recover. If you choose to do this, make sure that you have
a heavy training day the following day. Never plan your
re-feed on the day before a rest day.

22
Planning Ahead

A good amount of you are most likely owners of my meal is how I make a plan to ensure I hit my macros without
prep book, This Is Not A Cookbook. In that book I stress screwing myself at the end of the day and blindly track-
and address the importance of planning ahead. Whether ing, in hopes I hit my numbers. Upon getting my most
you meal prep or food prep (the differences are explained important meals entered, I am left with some wiggle room
in the the book) for the following day or the next six days, so I can still be flexible but not so flexible that I fall off
having a plan will really help you out with this. Just like track. Seeing your whole day ahead of time gives you the
how you should have a plan as to what you are going to upper hand.
do in the gym before you get there each day, you should
also have an idea as to how you are going to execute your Pre entering also helps familiarize you with portion sizes.
macros. I could go into meal prep and macros for hours You’ll start to know exactly what 6oz of chicken looks like
and hours, and I did, when I wrote my meal prep book. and how much of your macros it fills; same goes for other
foods you eat often, like 4oz of sweet potatoes or a table-
If takes a lot of practice and experience with macros to be spoon of peanut butter. Being able to visually measure
able to “wing it” day in and day out successfully. I have your portions will benefit you immensely at times when
been doing this a long time and I still like to plan at least you may not actually be able to measure.
a day ahead in order to hit my macros dead on. You may
be the type of person who needs to plot their entire week
out or you may be the type of person to figure it out the
night before; either way, I strongly advise you to make an
attempt to plan ahead in order to make this a little easier
on yourself. If and when you do in fact wing it, you have
probably noticed you are left with a ton of carbs or a ton
of protein at the end of each day. If this has happened you
are now stuck eating fruit (sugar) to fill your carbs or egg
whites to fill your protein. Not fun and not optimal for
your physique.

I personally enter all my food the night before. I take my

schedule into consideration and I enter the food I know I
will be consuming, for instance anything I have prepped
and my pre/post workout meals (these are my carb heavy
meals and low fat meals). I think about what I have avail-
able to cook/eat and what I want to eat and I enter it. This
23
 Eating Out

Eating out does not have to be a thing of the past when isn’t a nutritional menu available, you can almost always
following a macro plan. I want to stress that this is sup- look at the menu ahead of time online, that way when
posed to be a lifestyle, the goal here is to find something you get to the restaurant you already have a game plan
that allows you to meet your health and fitness goals but and will be less tempted. It should go without saying that
still allows you to live your life. You should not have to it’ll be in your best interest to pass on the bread baskets,
sacrifice any sort of social life in order to achieve your don’t order sugary drinks and stay away from alcohol and
goals. Similarly, you do not want to be that person who fried foods.
brings their tupperware meals or their food scale to a nice
restaurant. Don’t be a dickhead. Learn your portion sizes, When ordering, choose your protein source first. Build
look at the menu ahead of time, ask for substitutions and your meal around your protein. Fish or chicken will usu-
use common sense so that eating out will be a breeze. ally be your leanest options, remember that steak will
have a good amount of fat in it and it’s harder to guess-
Learn your portions! If you’re in the habit of weighing timate the nutritional value since every cut of meat will
your food, which you damn well better be if you’re track- have a different marble and different fat content. Once
ing properly, then you should pay attention to the visu- you’ve decided on your protein, you can choose your carb
al size of your portions. Get familiar with what 6oz of and fat sources. You can almost always get a side order of
chicken breast looks like. This way, when you go out to steamed veggies, or even a plain baked potato.
eat you can order grilled chicken and be able to estimate
the proper amount of protein you’re consuming. Also, Another method to think about when going out to eat
don’t be afraid to ask. You typically won’t see meat listed would be to save up most of your macros for that meal.
by the ounce on a menu unless you’re ordering a steak, but Essentially, eat less throughout the day so that you’ll have
if you really need to know and you’re not able to eyeball more to work with when you do go out. For example,
it, ask your server. Chances are they can weigh it for you, if you know you’re planning on having pizza for dinner,
or at least give you a general idea. stick to meals consisting of mostly protein for breakfast
and lunch. This way you’ll have ample carbs and fat left
Don’t be afraid to ask how something is prepared. You for your pizza.
can always ask to have your food cooked with no season-
ings, no butter and no oil. Ordering plain food is going Remember, this lifestyle is a choice. You can easily stay
to be your best bet. Don’t go crazy and order something on track without sacrificing your social life or alienating
with 17 ingredients.. and avoid anything with a creamy yourself because you’ve chosen to be on a “diet”. There is
sauce. Watch out for salads, you might think that would no reason that food should come between you and your
be your best option, but they’re typically drowning in social life. Or between you and your goals for that matter.
dressing and have all kinds of sneaky toppings. Keep it There is always a healthier or better option on the menu,
simple. it’s about choosing correctly and making sure you stick to
Planning ahead can help as well. Most restaurant chains your macros.
will have a nutritional menu available either online or by
request. If so, all the guess work is taken out. Even if there
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Special Cases
Obviously there are going to be exceptions and special
cases where the macro equations and examples that have
been given won’t apply. There are four cases I have come
up with (I originally came up with 5, but chose to exclude
illness/medical conditions as I do not think its appropri-
ate for the subject of flexible dieting or tracking macros).
The first special (and most obvious) case is obesity. If
you have a substantial amount of weight to lose, I am
going to highly suggest you work closely with me to track
your progress at first. Being significantly overweight can
be tricky. You don’t want drop your intake too low right
away, you need to slowly lower your caloric intake and
your macros need to be very specific based on your body
fat and lean body mass. Dropping too low right away will
cause a plateau as well as metabolic damage. We want
permanent results, not extreme overnight results. This
isn’t The Biggest Loser, this is your life.
The second special case is rehabbing a damaged metabo-
lism and reverse dieting. The first thing I will say is this:
it is extremely difficult for metabolic damage to occur, as
it typically takes HARD training and even harder diet-
ing. Do not self diagnose yourself with metabolic dam-
age just because your weight loss has plateaued... in fact
I can safely assume that a majority of you don’t know
what metabolic damage actually is and have just heard it
thrown around loosely on the internet. Do your research
and investigate the symptoms—which are quite severe—
before you email me telling me that you have metabol-
ic damage. You may very well be in the pre-stages of it,
which we can easily fix together by reverse dieting. Re-
verse dieting, simply put, is slowing upping macro intake
(specifically carbs) in order to improve a weak metabolism
and increase energy. By reverse dieting, we can increase
your metabolic capacity. I highly suggest you work close-
ly with me if you have ever done the following: crashed
dieted multiple times, consumed under 1000 calories for
a prolonged period of time, have suffered from an eating
disorder, or if you have been eating under 100 grams of
carbs daily for a prolonged period of time. When rehab-
bing a damaged metabolism and reverse dieting, we need
to monitor your carbohydrate/calories intake very closely
and we will need to make tweaks very often, as we will
very slowly and steadily increase your carb intake and
strengthen your metabolism one week at a time. You will
not gain weight while reverse dieting. You will maintain
weight and once we have your metabolism revving
25
 again, we can get start the fat loss process over again the The fourth special case (which isn’t exactly a special case)
HEALTHY way opposed to the starvation way. is anyone who is completely lost and has no clue what the
hell any of this means. I understand that not everyone is
The third special case is athleticism. Athletes eat very dif- going to be able to pick this up right away. If you have
ferently than most people. Athletes do not eat for aesthet- anxiety about calculating your own macros, determining
ics but rather for strength, endurance, speed, power, and what to do on rest days, deciding if you need a re-feed day,
overall performance. A sport specific athletic diet needs to etc., I can help you get on track. By having me help you,
contain ample carbohydrates for fuel, recovery, and injury one of two things can happen:
prevention. A poor diet will hinder athletic performance.
An athlete typically does not cut nor bulk. It is all about 1) You will see we got almost identical numbers and you
performance. For example, an athlete who is getting ready can put your mind at ease because you will know you
for the Crossfit games and is training three times a day, is have it down far more than you thought you did.
going to need an insane amount of carbohydrates in order 2) You will see that we got almost opposite numbers and
to support that training and gain strength and endurance. you will be so happy that you asked for help because now
Any sport that requires many hours of training/practice a you will have the proper numbers with an explanation.
week is going to require a special diet to meet the athlete’s
needs. If you need an athletic macro diet, feel free to con- Should you choose to have me help you with you macros,
tact me for help the following steps must take place:

com.

will send you a VERY detailed form to fill out. I am basi-

cally going to ask for your life story.
-
ing your life story, I will configure your daily caloric
need, your training day macros, your rest day macros, if/
when you need a refeed, your refeed macros should you
need one, and I will do a rough breakdown of macro dis-
tribution based on your training time and preferred meal
frequency. THIS IS EXTENSIVE. You will not fail by
having all this on point.

Upon reading this book, you may pay at any time.

26
Conclusion

Hopefully after reading this book you now feel a lot more won’t have a damn clue if you’re logging your intake prop-
comfortable with the concept of macros and nutrition in erly. I know I’ve said that you’ll get to a point where you
general. I have laid everything out for you in an effort to are familiar with portion sizes and will most likely be able
teach you how to fuel your body properly. You now have to visually measure; however, when you have the technol-
a formula for determining macros at your finger tips. In ogy available to be precise, do so.
addition to that I’ve given you several tips on how to diet
flexibly, how to properly track your macros and even how Give it TIME.. do not think that you need to tweak or
to handle going out to eat. I’ve given you all the tools recalculate your macros every week. You need to give your
necessary to make this lifestyle choice an easy and main- body time to adjust. Constantly changing your macros
tainable one. will hinder your progress and leave you feeling frustrated.
I don’t want to hear that “macros don’t work for you”..
A few things to remember, consistency is key. Hit your yes, they do. Science didn’t throw a secret party without
numbers every damn day. Make it a habit, do not get in inviting you. You just have to have the patience and de-
the habit of allowing yourself to be over or under and termination to put in the work. I’ve given you the tools,
thinking “oh it’ll all balance out”. It won’t. Being a few its up to you to use them.
grams over or under your macros-and by a few I mean
1 or 2-is not going to hurt you. You don’t want to get to Yours in Bacon & Barbells,
the point where you’re off by 5 grams or more in either
direction. That will defeat the purpose and you will not Krissy
see the same results.

With macro counting, the calories take care of them-

selves. As you learned, each macro has its own caloric
value. When added up, your macro needs will meet your
caloric needs. When you are consistent with your macros,
you are consistent with your calories. As you’ve probably
noticed by now, the journey towards losing fat and gain-
ing muscle is more complicated than simply eating less
than you take in. Macros make it easier for you to find
your path and keep on it.

Be precise! Get a damn food scale, use your measuring

cups. If you’re not weighing and measuring your food you
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