LEVEL 2 - MACRONUTRIENTS & FIBER (Part 1) Intro to Macros Flashcards
What does the second level of the nutrition pyramid consist of and what does it establish?
The second level of the pyramid consists of macronutrients. “The three main calorie providers are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. We will continue to refer to these as your macronutrients, or “macros”. Yes, to be technical, alcohol is a fourth calorie provider. However, we’re going to assume that this is not a regular staple in your diet, especially when your lifestyle is heavily aimed towards tness goals. we will go over the function of the macronutrients and then establish macronutrient intakes that are appropriate for most athletes in various conditions. Also, we will introduce some alternative guidelines for those who may fall outside of the norm, and then discuss how to identify where you fall within the spectrum of all of these values. To close it out, we will go over ber intake recommendations for health and nutrient absorption.”
How are macronutrients often prescribed?
They are often prescribed either based on bodyweight or based on a percentage of calories.
What are the pros and cons of prescribing macros based on body weight?
Macronutrient prescriptions based on grams per pound (or grams per kilogram) are relative to your body mass, which for the most part makes sense. Typically the larger you are, the greater your energy requirements will be. However, this method does not give respect to how much of a “caloric budget” you might have. If you happen to have a relatively low or high energy expenditure for your body mass and you determine all three macros based purely on your bodyweight, you could very well eat so much or so little that you’d be inadvertently gaining weight or losing weight faster or slower than is appropriate, subverting the goals of Level 1 (Energy Balance)…. Macronutrients scaled to bodyweight take into account your mass, which is especially important to consider in the case of protein.”
What are the pros and cons of prescribing macros based on percentage?
“The main benefit of using a percentage of calories-based prescription to dictate macronutrient intake; a percentage is always scaled to how many calories you are consuming. If you followed the guidelines in Level 1, your caloric intake will be based on the appropriate rate of weight gain, weight loss, or maintenance that you calculated.” However, due to the functions of protein (a building block), and the functions of carbohydrates & fat (energy fuel), protein is best measured based on body mass.
What is protein’s primary function?
Protein is not primarily used as a source of energy (compared to fat and carbohydrate), but rather for the build and repair of tissues. Protein’s primary function is to build and repair the structure of our tissues. At most (depending on what we are doing), 10% of our energy might come directly from amino acids (the building blocks of protein). Additionally, the liver can convert protein that is not used for structural purposes to glucose, ketones, and other metabolic substrates which are the body’s main sources of energy. That said, even combining the amount of protein that is used directly for energy with the amount that the liver converts to glucose, ketones or other substrates, the role of protein as an energy source pales in comparison to that of carbohydrate and fat.
Why is protein recommendations based on bodyweight?
Due to their functions, I calculate protein relative to bodyweight, with fats and carbohydrates based on a percentage of calories. This allows protein to be scaled to your body mass as its role is primarily structural, while carbohydrate and fat are scaled to your total energy allotment since their primary role is to provide energy.
How many calories are in 1 g of fat, protein and carbohydrates?
There are ~9 calories per gram of fat, and then ~4 calories per gram for both carbohydrate and protein.
What is the preferred method and why?
Protein is calculated based on bodyweight, fat and carbs are calculated based on percentage.
What are the macronutrient recommendations, including the minimums?
The minimum intakes of 0.25 g/lb (~0.5 g/kg) for dietary fat, and 0.5 g/lb (~1 g/kg) for dietary carbohydrate.
