Back To Basics – Macro Counting For Strength Gain

Google’s ‘Macro Counting’
RESULTS
“Counting Macro’s for weight loss and better nutrition”
“Counting Macro’s for losing weight without starvation”
“How to count Macro’s for weight loss aka the Macro diet!”
“Macro calculator – lose weight in less time”

But what about macronutrient counting for those who are currently under eating, are after a little nutritional guidance and wanting to gain some strength? Well my friend, you’ll be damned by the looks of it.

So let’s talk about counting macro’s. It’s a bit like marmite. You either love it or you hate it. I’ve certainly had a love/hate relationship with it previously. It’s no secret that I’ve counted macro’s in the past (read about that here) and that I gave it up pretty quickly, however since then, not only has my knowledge about macro counting drastically increased but this time round I have a certain goal in mind (strength gain) and I’m doing it with some professional help.

Why Start Counting Macro’s Again?

Now, if you don’t follow me on Instagram (@hannahandfitness) then this bit’s for you. Over the past month or so I’ve really been struggling in terms of my energy levels. I often feel fatigued and I have a lack of strength. With most of my CrossFit session’s I’ve felt weak, frustrated and as if my body is taking a whole week to recover rather than a few days. I also want to increase my strength as I feel like I’ve hit that deadly brick wall when it comes to PB’s and overall strength gain.

A few weeks ago, during my ‘meh’ phase of absolutely no energy, I decided to test the most obvious thing. My overall calorie intake for the day. The results? Surprise, surprise. I was under-eating. On average I was eating a merely 1,500 calories (sometimes 1,400/1,600), which with my energy expenditure, meant that I certainly wasn’t eating enough to fuel my body with. For a girl who works out 6 days a week, trains for an hour and a half each day and end up burning 700/800 active calories a day (including my evening walk with the dog), well, that’s not much fuel for the tank, is it?

Biosignature Modulation 

About two weeks ago I decided to visit Neil at my CrossFit box whose educated in Biosignature. For those who don’t know, Biosignature Modulation is a process designed to reduce body fat in specific areas of the body by balancing the body’s hormones. The process involves a twelve-site body fat test, which clues the personal trainer in on which hormone imbalances are present. Once the test has been performed, tailored nutritional and exercise protocols are then assigned to you based on where you store fat in your body (you can read more about BioSig here).

During my first visit with Neil I learnt quite a lot. According to the measurements taken, my body stores most of it’s fat in my pectorals, triceps and supra-illiac (love handles).

Tricep measurements – Particularly high compared to that of an olympian athlete (how all your readings are compared) and this in turn could mean that my body has high oestrogen levels. You see, caliper readings taken from the triceps tells you how much testosterone you are currently producing and whether or not you convert your testosterone to estrogen. Too much oestrogen results to bloating, weight gain and water retention. Unfortunately for me, my high levels are probably a result of environmental damage (and the pill) rather than my diet which means it will probably be a little more tricky to tackle. Something I need to delve deeper into!

Pectoral measurements – According to Physiqology, the pectoral fold, when read in relation to the triceps, gives information as to whether or not you convert your testosterone to estrogen, an undesirable metabolic process known as aromatization (read more about that here). Environmental estrogens, pollutions, and television all cause testosterone levels to go down (and thus pectoral and tricep folds to go up) by increasing aromatization.

Supra-illiac measurements – The dreaded love handles. Again, compared to an olympian athlete my measurements were high for my body type. Having a high body fat reading for your supra-illiac could indicate that your body is releasing large amounts of insulin with meals. It could also be related to carbohydrate intake. My body fat test reading’s from next month’s test will hopefully be able to determine what’s causing a high reading.

After my body fat test, I went away from my first appointment with key instructions to record my current diet to give Neil an idea of my calorie intake before he could set my macro’s for me. 1 week later (last week) I gave Neil a week’s worth of my food diary and with that, he came to the conclusions below….

• • My calculated BMR (basal metabolic rate) is 1372
  • My calculated RMR (resting metabolic rate) is 1578 – based on a sedentary lifestyle
  • My calculated AWEE (average workout energy expenditure) is 1,725 – for someone who works out 6-7 days a week
  • My calculated daily energy needs (RMR + AWEE) is 2,299.
  • Based on my body calculations, I also matched the Somatype goals of a Meso-Ectomorph (describes your body type – read more about that here).
  • Based on these facts, Neil then adjusted my macronutrient division based on my Somatype.
  • Mesomorph = Carbs – 30%, Protein – 30%, Fat – 40%.

If you’ve worked it out, then you’ll see that I was averaging on a calorie deficit of roughly 40% and under eating by about 700(ish) calories. So the goal? To slowly increase my calories without affecting my insulin levels until I reach my calculated daily energy needs of 2,299 (rounded to 2,300). So over the next month I’ll be increasing my calories like so…

• Week 1 – 1750 total calories in a day, Mon-Sat (1600 Sunday rest day)
• Week 2 – 1900 total calories in a day, Mon-Sat (1600 Sunday rest day)
• Week 3 – 2050 total calories in a day, Mon – Sat (1600 Sunday rest day)
• Week 4 – 2,200 total calories in a day, Mon – Sat (1600 Sunday rest day)

My macro split goes as follows;

• Monday – Saturday (active days) = Carbs – 40%, Protein – 30%, Fat – 30%.
• Sunday (rest day) = Carbs – 25%, Protein – 35%, Fat – 40%.

After week 4, I’ll head back to Neil for another body fat test to see how my body has responded to not only the increase in calories, but the macronutrient split too. Ideally, if my current split is working, then my fat measurements should start to slowly decrease but who knows. If not, then I assume Neil will alter my split a little.

Week 1 So Far – 1750 Calories a Day…

I’m not going to lie, it’s been pretty easy actually. Don’t get me wrong, some days have been an absolute ball ache in terms of counting my macros (especially when I eat out), but overall I’ve definitely started to notice some changes already…

• I’m sleeping a lot better
• I’m no where near as bloated. However, this may due to cutting legumes out of my diet when and where I can
• I have more energy for my workouts
• I’m definitely recovering a lot quicker from sessions. Although, I will state that I’m stretching a lot more now as well.
• I beat my 1RM snatch PB with a 2RM. A little victory for me as I’ve been struggling with my snatches quite a lot recently.

As for the counting side of things, I’m actually getting on pretty well with using MyFitness Pal. The only days I struggle with are Sunday’s which are my rest day. My calories are lower, as well as my carbohydrate intake. This can often be tricky to stick to if I’m eating out. No sweat though. I’ve learnt from last week’s mistake of going over my rest day calories so I’ll simply put aside those calories for the evening and have a lighter breakfast full of all the good fats to help keep my energy levels up. That being said, if my energy levels drop after my lower calorie rest days and I don’t feel as energised for the week ahead, then to alter them slightly. We’ll see, we’ll see.

I’d like to say week 1 was a breeze and if anything, the breeze is only going to keep on flowing as I increase my calories and keep my macronutrient split the same each week. I feel like I’ve lost my way a little with blogging recently. Almost as if I forgot why I started it in the first place and this post is exactly why – to journal my fitness journey and keep myself accountable. I feel like it’s easy to get lost in the world of social media at times but hopefully with this, I’ll begin to feel my groove again. With that said, I’ll be keeping you all up to date every week with my macro journey, how my body responds to it and more importantly, if my strength improves.

Here’s to week 2 of macro counting and a beautiful 1900 calories a day!

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