Once you have your macros for the week it’s helpful to break it down and make meal goals. Take each macro and divide by number of meals you plan to eat that day. This is not a hard and fast rule but a great general guideline for building your day; ideally you will stay within 10g on protein and carbs then 3-5g on fats. For example. . .
Daily Macros: 150P, 180C, 60F
Six Meals: 25P, 30C, 10F per meal

Outline your menu for the day by first entering in your protein, then carbs and veggies, and add fats if protein is lean; if you plan to use a fattier protein you may not need to add additional fats to that meal. Add in any condiments and decide what seasonings you plan to use to enhance your dish. Most seasonings are calorie free and do not need to be counted but always check for things like sneaky added sugars.

Outline your menu for the day by first entering in your protein, then carbs and veggies, and add fats if protein is lean; if you plan to use a fattier protein you may not need to add additional fats to that meal. Add in any condiments and decide what seasonings you plan to use to enhance your dish. Most seasonings are calorie free and do not need to be counted but always check for things like sneaky added sugars.

Edit to perfection. I like to get the outline in place first then will compare macros for each meal to balance it out; for example, if you are over on protein I would first pull from highest protein meal you have logged. Do the same things with carbs then balance fats last. Takes a little macro tetris magic but breaking it down by meal is certainly helpful and practice makes perfect here.

Once you have all meals balanced, macros should be 000 at the top. Day complete!

Once you have all meals balanced, macros should be 000 at the top. Day complete!

WARNING!!!

A NOTE ABOUT CALORIES IN MFP: packaged food labels can have calories listed 20%+ off from actual values; this can be the difference between gaining, losing, or maintenance and another reason why we macro count over calorie counting. Remember each macro has caloric value and if you manually add up macros you will find actual calories are exactly what they should be. In short macros = calories and mfp may try to confuse you; ignore their calories!

PROTEIN can be logged in either grams or ounces, I typically do ounces for ease as a little variance will not affect overall progress. If you are planning to weigh protein sources already prepared search for “cooked chicken breast/98% beef/porkchop/etc”. For recipes where protein will be weighed raw just search for that meat type of meat and fat content if relevant; burgers, meatloaf, recipes in MFP are all examples of things that should be weighed raw.

CARBOHYDRATES can also be weighed in ounces, grams more accurate but I also recommend logging in ounces for ease. When logging prepared carbs like rice, potato, pasta etc you will do the same as protein and search for “cooked x food” as this will factor in preparation and save you math of converting raw to cooked manually.
**LOW CARB PRODUCTS often only count net carbs. Always check that MFP is accounting for total carbs listed on the label**

CARBOHYDRATES can also be weighed in ounces, grams more accurate but I also recommend logging in ounces for ease. When logging prepared carbs like rice, potato, pasta etc you will do the same as protein and search for “cooked x food” as this will factor in preparation and save you math of converting raw to cooked manually.
**LOW CARB PRODUCTS often only count net carbs. Always check that MFP is accounting for total carbs listed on the label**

FATS should be logged in grams or milliliters as they are most calorically dense and a few grams here and there can add up. Food sources that are a mix of carbs and fats (avocado, nuts, nut butters, etc) I am okay with ounces.

To access your meals, recipes and custom foods from main menu select “more” at bottom right of page, scroll to “My Meals, Recipes, & Foods”; from here you can view, add, and edit.

Create- enter ingredients manually or import recipe from the web by pasting link when prompted. Swapping foods is simple if using web import option and need to adjust for your preferences/macro goals. When importing always check that mfp linked the correct foods as I have often seen discrepancies.
· Edit- check proteins, carbs, and vegetables are tracked in ounces, then fats in grams or milliliters
· Servings- once all ingredients are in click top right arrow for the option to select servings for the recipe and view macros. I estimate the number of servings for logging purposes and edit once the meal is prepared. My preference is to weigh entire prepared recipe in ounces and then make 1oz=1serving. The second option is weigh the finished product then divide by number of servings. This is a good option for things like egg cups or something else that is preportioned through preparation

Balance- once you have all of your ingredients uploaded click on top right arrow to view macros for the recipe. Just as you would balance a meal in your diary you will do the same here. Takes a little practice but you can edit ingredients, check macros, and go back and forth until you hit goals.

Rinse and repeat- when repeating recipes there may be necessary edits. For example, you may have 2lbs of chicken the first time and 1.8 the second. Simply edit the recipe and save with modified quantities. Note when you edit a recipe that has already been logged in your diary it will not automatically update; you must delete and add again.

Rinse and repeat- when repeating recipes there may be necessary edits. For example, you may have 2lbs of chicken the first time and 1.8 the second. Simply edit the recipe and save with modified quantities. Note when you edit a recipe that has already been logged in your diary it will not automatically update; you must delete and add again.

Creating custom meals is a great option for common food combinations where you can easily adjust quantities. You can create a meal from scratch or from logged meal in your diary. From diary select bottom right three dots under meal you want to use then select “save as meal”.

Meals are a great tool to save individual entries daily but still have flexibility to adjust portions of meal contents. You can also use this option for recipes you make where ingredients can be weighed individually once prepared.

Custom foods are great if you cannot find a food in the database or if food may not be available in quantity you would like to log; for example, most protein powders are available as “1 scoop” and we may want to add it in ounces or grams.
· Create a food- enter brand name, description, and serving size in grams. Protein powder usually has 28-32 grams per servings, we will use 30g for this example. Enter serving size as 30g then number of servings in the whole container.
· Once a food is created the app will automatically translate into other measurements such as ounces as well in most cases.

Custom foods are great if you cannot find a food in the database or if food may not be available in quantity you would like to log; for example, most protein powders are available as “1 scoop” and we may want to add it in ounces or grams.
· Create a food- enter brand name, description, and serving size in grams. Protein powder usually has 28-32 grams per servings, we will use 30g for this example. Enter serving size as 30g then number of servings in the whole container.
· Once a food is created the app will automatically translate into other measurements such as ounces as well in most cases.

Editing your macro goals- if you have earned your macro wings please start updating your macros goals when I give you new instructions. To do this from home page go to bottom three dots “more”, select goals, select “calorie, carbs, protein, and fat goals” under nutrient goals then update numbers. **note carbs are listed first, protein second, fats last. I’ve been known to flip flop protein and carbs from this menu so beware**

Daily goal- if you have different macros for workout and rest days please update daily goals as well in this screen.

Daily goal- if you have different macros for workout and rest days please update daily goals as well in this screen.

Copy and paste meals- if you would like to reuse a meal and choose not to save it as a custom meal you can copy paste in your diary by selecting bottom three dots under meal, copy to date, select where you would like that meal to be duplicated. You can copy and paste an entire day from diary page by selecting edit at top left, select all then copy to date. You can also select multiple meals if you do not want to transpose the entire day.

Desktop vs. app- the desktop version of mfp is a nice tool to use for a little less thumb exercising on your phone. Note the desktop version will round out macro values and is not as accurate as the app. Always double check the app is at 000 for macros if you choose to create menus on your computer.

Desktop vs. app- the desktop version of mfp is a nice tool to use for a little less thumb exercising on your phone. Note the desktop version will round out macro values and is not as accurate as the app. Always double check the app is at 000 for macros if you choose to create menus on your computer.

Change meal names or number of meals- from main menu bottom right three dots “more”, settings, diary settings, customize meal names. You can add up to six meals and call them whatever you like.

Weekly averages- if you have earned your macro wings please include your weekly averages at check in. From main diary tab scroll back to previous day then click on macros at the top. Select “nutrients” option in the middle, then beneath it select “week view”. From here you can see your actual intake vs goal. When checking in please send you actual P,C, and F for the week.

Weekly averages- if you have earned your macro wings please include your weekly averages at check in. From main diary tab scroll back to previous day then click on macros at the top. Select “nutrients” option in the middle, then beneath it select “week view”. From here you can see your actual intake vs goal. When checking in please send you actual P,C, and F for the week.

Weighing your meal- place dish on scale, tare then add ingredient 1, tare, ingredient 2 etc.
· Save dishes and your sanity- when weighing things like nut butters, hummus, guac etc place the entire container on your scale and tare it. Then take your portion until scale says -x grams or ounces planned. Less waste, less dishes, and you can lick the spoon guilt free!

Sarah Fucinari

Certified Nutrition Coach & Personal Trainer

www.TeamFitWithMe.com
SarahF@teamfitwithme.com