Apolgies if this has been answered or if this is just a REALLY stupid question.

I've been looking at my macros acording to the calculator and the numbers look immense and unreachable to me.

Should I try to hit the macros even if I'm not hungry? I have this picture of having to eat around the clock and that makes no damn sense to me.

It is not a stupid question at all infact I am surprised I do not see it around more often, I know exactly how you feel. It is a very hard question to answer though. I have been through some rough stuff and have learned things the hard way when it comes to this topic, let us just leave it at that. My experience is that you should not force yourself to eat beyond the point of where you start feeling sick. I myself have forced my body to be so used to eating every 2-3 hours, so if I don't I can easily feel pain in my stomach and it really does not matter if my meal is fairly huge I still need to eat after another 2 hours. Which means that right now I do not have to force myself at all, because I really do get hungry but that is more for the fact that I have tricked my body into thinking it needs food all the time regardless of my calorie intake. Obviously I will have a hard time cutting if I decide to do that.

Summed up nicely, If your goal is to hit a certain macro goal then you most likely in some cases will have to force yourself to eat, just don't push it to far because that is not good. Let us say you train very hard and intense everyday, you simply have to eat in order to maintain that so make sure you get enough calories at least. Just remember to have a healthy relationship to food, I have already kind of screwed that up for myself and I do not really want others to feel like this. So my suggestion is, it is fine to force yourself to eat up to a certain point, but when you feel physically sick, stop.

Jeff,

I think sometimes daily macro amounts are made overly complicated. Most online calculators provide a starting point but are not the de facto standard. You need to tweak them based on your own body and how it processes and requires food. Your hunger sensation is your body's way of saying when it needs food. If you are not hungry, your body doesn't need feeding - regardless of what your macro counts are. There are 2 considerations you need to remember:

1) Hitting your macros is more critical when you are trying to gain muscle and strength

2) If you are consistently not hungry and are having a hard time meeting your calculated macros, it means your macro calculations are too high and need to be adjusted

The easiest way to meet macros without constantly eating is thru supplementation. The easiest macro to meet is carbs as they are everywhere in the American diet. The hardest are healthy proteins and fats. Here is where protein powders and using added fats like coconut oil and olive oil help out without requiring eating massive amounts of food. My advice is if you are occassionally not hungry and can't meet your macros, go with the flow and eat when your body tells you. If you are constantly not hungry and can't meet your macros, you need to re-adjust them to a level that matches your hunger levels. The harder you workout, the hungrier you typically get. As you are trying to keep the weight off and maintain some lean mass, I wouldn't force your body to eat if you are not hungry.

John

For the most part I would say eat to meet your macros and your goals. If you are new to a certain eating regime, it's not like you have to go straight from one extreme to the other over the course of 1 day.

For example, if you need to add or take away, say 500 calories, then you can do maybe 100 each day, or even 50 each day, and work your way into it. Eventually your body will get used to the new amounts you are eating.

And when you need to eat heaps, it can be good to eat around the clock instead of jamming a huge meal in at once. Just have some easy snacks on hand and then eating regularly shouldn't be a problem.

Jordan

Solid advice !

I used to have the same problem with macros .most of online calculator said that i should eat about 2400 cal per day and this was so much and when i tried to hit that number i become sick..i have found that i feel good with 1700 cal to 1900 cal ..also it depend on how active u are ...in mu exeperience when i increased cardio like running ..hiit..jumping the rope or playing a sport as footaball or swimmingwith friends... i found that i can eat 1900 cal and still hungry....cardio with intense weight lifting fire up the metabolism

Some good points already. Here are some more tips:

• Like John suggested maybe your calories are too high, have a re-adjustment and keep an eye on your weight and physical appearence
• Focus on quality calories. For example try getting your fat sources from oily fish as they contain more omega 3 which will be more beneficial for building muscle
• Ensure you hit your fibre intake
• Try and fit your calories in post workout. For example you can easily ingest 50-100g of carbs in the form of powdered carbohydrate (vitargo or highly branched cluster cyclic dextrin being my preferred source).

Thanks all. Some good points.

I think a lot of my problem is I can't even hit my calorie goals - let alone my macros. I always run under. I'm kind of hovering at 169-171 lbs. I'm OK with being at that number but I don't know my composition beyond an estimate. Hopefully I can get that resolved soon and have more data to play with.

As for my physical appearance - until I get rid of all the loose, floppy skin on my body I'm pretty much going to look like crap no matter what :).

Well hopefully we can help you out! We can't have you thinking like that! :) #HTH