7 things to try if you're tracking macros and not losing weight

If you’ve been following me or reading my blog posts for a while you would know that I am a huge fan of tracking macros. It is the best way to lose weight or see any sort of fitness progress. You may be experiencing some struggles in trying to do it on your own or hitting some roadblocks. So I’m going to help you navigate those and help you find the bottleneck that’s preventing you from results.

Something that is important to understand first is that tracking macros is a tool not a ball and chain. so if it’s not working there are plenty of things that you could make adjustments on to make it work for you. So don’t be too discouraged, let’s get some answers!

The first thing you should address is: are you tracking everything? It’s so easy to get lazy in tracking if you’ve been doing it for some time. It’s not impossible for those just getting started either. For example, when you cook are you using oil? That needs to be included in your calculations because a few tablespoons of oil is a-lot of fat! Let’s say you’re making your kids lunches and you’re taking a few bites here and there. Give them some chips and take a few for yourself, cutting up apple slices and taking a few for yourself. There’s nothing wrong with snacking and using oil for cooking. There’s also nothing wrong with not tracking every little thing. But, if you’re not seeing progress that could be a reason why.

Second : are you tracking everything accurately? One way to know if your calculations are accurate is using a food scale and measuring cups. But something to keep in mind is 1/2 cup of meat is not as accurate as weighing it out. Or let’s say you cover your salad in dressing. Eyeing it out it seems like only a tablespoon or two. But, if you were to actually weigh it it could be way more than you thought.

Third : your exercise. Could you incorporate more movement into your day. Are you working out an average of 2 days a week and then sedentary for the rest? Try adding on a few walks during the week or another day of exercise.

Fourth : what are your weekends looking like? Do you “ lose control “ on the weekends and disregard tracking all together? Do you give the excuse of “ well it’s the weekend” and let a lot of things slip? I want to emphasize I am not opposed to taking weekends off from tracking. But if you find that leads you to unhealthy patterns I would encourage you to reconsider. There is nothing wrong with structure and if you have a specific goal you should prioritize it. That may mean tracking over the weekends.

Fifth and final point is have you been in a deficit for too long. In other words have you been trying to cut back calories for more than 12-16 weeks? If so it may be time to bring you to maintenance. Maybe it hasn’t been that many weeks but your body wasn’t ready to drop. That’s ok. It’s important to listen to what we need, where we’re at right now. So if you’re constantly going over in numbers or unmotivated to cut back, don’t. Take that into consideration and change your game plan.

Sixth : Consider getting your macros set by someone else. You can download the first phorm app. Which I have found to be the most accurate app calculations. Have the app set the numbers for you that way you know they have been calculated for you. You can also select me (Maria Imperato) as your advisor within the app and I can double check any of the calculations as well.

Seventh : Hire someone to walk you through macro tracking step by step. You can try to figure things out on your own and have success with it. You can also work with a coach for some time to walk you through all the different things. Best case is you can work with a coach for a month or two and then continue on independently. I have done that several times with clients and I find it to be the most successful. You can book a call here and we can talk more about how that works.

I want to reiterate that some of these things will not prevent you from success. For example I’ve had clients that don’t track everything. In fact I teach on that specific topic and have seen great results. But it is an area to consider if you are not making progress.

I hope this helps you find a root to what might be preventing progress for you.