Choosing the right foods to build meals, like anything new, it takes time, practice, and consistency! Once you know your macro needs, keep things simple by building meals with few ingredients and then try incorporating other foods into your weekly meals. Below are some examples to help you on your  journey.

Let’s assume your daily macros are:

• 130g protein
• 250g carbs
• 60g fats

Now, you will need to spread your macros across how many meals you consume a day. Depending on training, and goals this can be complex. To keep it simple we will spread your macros equally across 3 meals. This gives us 43g of protein, 83g carbs, 20g fats and 684kcal per meal. Some meals can be more or less as long as you end up close enough to your total daily macros.  

Next, begin with adding the main components of your meal into your app. This will give you the macro numbers, so that you will not have to do the math yourself. 

Example: You decide to have oatmeal for breakfast. Enter all your ingredients and then make adjustments as needed. Don’t forget your coffee creamer and small additions to your breakfast!

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Breakfast Meal 

• 1 cup cooked rolled oats 
• 1 scoop of whey protein powder
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 Tbsp almond butter
• 4 Tbsp coffee creamer

Here are the totals in the app: 

• 31.8g protein 
• 79.8g carbs 
• 17.5g fats 
• Kcals 615.2

You need 43 g of protein and you only have 31, but you have met your fat and carb intake. Therefore, you could add 1.5 scoops instead of 1 to bring up your protein without adding much more fat and carbs. 

New totals

• 42.8g protein 
• 81.3 carbs
• 17.8g fats
• Total kcals 667.4

Let’s do this again with lunch. Choose your protein source in which you will get approximately 43g protein. You choose chicken as it is an easy source of protein, with rice, beans, salsa, and avocado crema.

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Lunch Meal 

• 100g chicken breast
• 1 cup black beans
• 1 cup white rice cooked 
• 4 Tbsp salsa
• 2 Tbsp avocado crema

Here are the totals in the app:

• 51.5g protein 
• 102.5 carbs
• 7.6 fats
• Total kcals 691

Your carbs and protein are higher than you need and your fats are lower, but total calories are close to 684.  By looking at the individual ingredient breakdown, you see black beans have both protein and carbs, while the avocado crema is higher in fats. It would make sense to scale the beans back to .5 cup to get you closer to your macro goals. Then, add an additional 2 Tbsp of avocado crema to bring fats up.

New totals

• 45.6g protein
• 85g carbs
• 14.1g fats
• Kcals 650.6

Let’s try this with dinner. Since it is the last meal of the day we can compare our total daily macro ratios versus our goal macro ratios before building our last meal. 

Actual totals vs. goal

• 77.4g/ 130g (52.6g protein left)
• 164.9g/250g (85.1g carbs left)
• 31.6g/60g (28.4 fats left)
• Kcals 1265.7/2060 (794.3kcal left)

Choose a protein source that has close to 50g protein and less than 20g fat per serving. Most grains and vegetables will have some protein in them, so your protein source can be lower than 50g. You go with a 7 ounce strip steak, stir fried sweet potatoes, broccoli and peppers. Don’t forget to track the oil you use for cooking!

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Dinner Meal

• 7 ounce steak strip
• 300g sweet potatoes
• 200g broccoli
• 80 grams red bell pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Here are the app totals:

• 60.9g protein
• 87.6g carbs
• 21.4g fats
• Kcals 749.1

Day end totals

• 138.3g protein
• 252.5g carbs
• 53g fats
• Kcals 2014.9

As you can see our numbers are not exact, but close to our total end goal for the day. Normally, you do not have to be precise with the numbers. This can seem confusing or even intimidating when first starting out, but with experience you will be a pro in no time!

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