Prospre: Meal Planner
Meal plans based on macros
Prospre: Meal Planner
Meal plans based on macros
Prospre: Meal Planner
Meal plans based on macros, macro tracking, and more
FREE
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September 19, 2023
Counting macros is an important part of many healthy eating and/or weight loss plans. Most people who are serious about improving their body compositions include macro meal planning as part of their overall fitness strategies.
The term “macro” is simply a shortened way of saying “macronutrient.” A macronutrient is a category of major nutrients, and there are three of them: carbohydrates, fats, and protein (side note: you might also see water and alcohol included sometimes, more on that here). When you “count your macros,” you’re really counting your intake of carbs, fats, and protein.
People count macros because finding the right balance of these nutrient classes can help you keep your hunger in check without overeating, lose weight that you might not be able to lose otherwise, and maintain or gain lean muscle mass.
If you want to start keeping better track of your macros, you’ll soon discover that it can be complicated when you’re first getting started. However, there are meal planning tools that can make macro meal planning much easier. Here are some of the best tools available.
Most people who start counting macros want to focus on their overall nutrition as well. This often means ditching prepackaged foods in favor of raw foods that don’t come with convenient food labels. So how can you count the macros in raw foods when you don’t have a food label to refer to? This is where food weighing scales come in handy.
Precise scales allow you to see exactly how much of a certain food you’re consuming. Once you know how many grams or ounces of a food you’re eating, you can look up the nutritional information for that food online and see how many macros are in the serving size you’ve dished up for yourself.
The nice thing about food weighing scales is that they’re generally inexpensive and most are small enough to take with you on vacation or business trips. These scales can help you get a firm number on your macros instead of having to guess.
Some people are spreadsheet people. They like the organization that spreadsheets can provide, and they like to be able to plan out weeks or even months of meals in advance. If you have Excel, you can create your own spreadsheets that include your macro markers and let you know if you exceed those limits as you input the data from the foods you’ve eaten or plan to eat.
Though creating a macro planning spreadsheet can take a lot of time up front, it can save you time once you’ve created it. You’ll just need to remember to input your information throughout the day as you eat your meals. Excel even has some pre-made meal planning templates that you can use or modify as needed to save time and get started planning your macros even quicker.
Food-tracking apps make it exceptionally easy to track your macros throughout the day, without worrying about writing anything down on paper or keeping track of your meals in your head. Our app, Prospre, is a meal-tracking app that allows you to do the following:
Prospre can also help you modify your meal plan so you can fit in treats as desired while still staying within your macros. Indulging in treats without breaking your macro goals can help you avoid feeling deprived and may reduce your likelihood of ditching your health and wellness goals. The primary goal of Prospre is to help users hit their macros without feeling like they’re limited to eating just two or three foods every day.
If you’ve tried and failed to gain muscle, maintain your lean muscle mass, or lose weight, it may be time to start macro meal planning today. Many people find that traditional diets or weight loss programs don’t work for the long term, but that tracking macros works better than anything else.
While establishing a system for tracking your macros can seem overwhelming at first, you’ll have a much easier time once you implement meal planning tools that work well with your lifestyle. Over time, you’ll become more familiar with the macros found within your favorite foods. Once you get to this level of macro planning, everything involved with weight loss or muscle building will become much less complicated. Try to stick with your macro planning goals for at least a few weeks instead of giving up in the beginning when it may seem too challenging for you.
If you need help figuring out your optimal macros, download Prospre. This app helps you determine your ideal macros based on your height, age, gender, activity level, and primary fitness goals. Get started today and get that much closer to changing your body in positive ways.
