Why ‘Tracking Your Macros’ Is The ONLY Diet System In The World That Actually Works (…and what that means if you have NO clue what ‘macros’ are)

If you’re on a mission to be toned and sexy and totally finished building your dream body…

Well — I back ya.

But if you’re not tracking your macros as you try to get there?

Then I still support you.

I just also think you’re an insane person 😇

Don’t get your knickers twisted. Only the smallest bit of offence is intended when I say that.

But I’m standing my ground here.

There is only one diet system on the face of this planet that actually works.

It’s called tracking your macros.

And if you’re doing anything other than tracking your macros to get jacked?

Then in almost every single conceivable scenario, you’re crazy.

I did say ‘almost’, though.

Because there is a circumstance you could be in where I’ll give you a pass. That is:

If you don’t know what the hell macros actually are.

If I’m honest, I’d completely forgotten that was even a thing.

I’ve been pumping out body transformations for a long time. And for almost all of that time, I’ve been treating macros as assumed knowledge. 

And maybe I’ve slipped into a fitness echo chamber and… kinda lost touch 🙃

But then, a few weeks back…

A pork sandwich
snapped me back to reality…

I was having dinner (a bánh mì, if you must know) with a friend and reader of my daily emails.

Between bites of crunchy roast pork, mayo, herbs and pickled veg in a crispy roll, she asked a question.

Sweetly, innocently, and without a clue that she was about to burst my ‘everyone knows macros’ bubble, she said:

“So, I know what a calorie deficit is. But what exactly is that ‘macro’ thing you write about all the time?”

It was equal parts stunning and refreshing.

How could someone … NOT know what ‘macros’ were?

But of course, I quickly remembered that not everyone does this for a living, and that it really isn’t that shocking.

Anyway, I shared the story in my emails…

…and the next day, I woke up to a swathe of replies from other readers. All in various shades of the same situation — close to clueless as to what macros actually are, and what they do.

Well. I’ll be damned if I don’t do something to help the doggies out with this.

So, if you don’t know what macros are, I’ve got news.

I’m about to tell you about the last new diet you will ever need to try.

Let me get you up to speed and introduce what macros really are.

Which, to put it plainly, is…

How to eat what you want, and get jacked doing it.

When you put it that way, it ain’t hard to see the appeal of macro tracking as a nutrition approach.

We can get a little nerdier (and we will) but that sexy header up there?

That’s about what macros boil down to (when you do them right).

But to properly understand them, we’ve gotta zoom out a little bit.

Let me take you back to what my friend said to me that night at dinner:

“I’ve heard of a calorie deficit…”

Look — if this were a few weeks ago… I’d have kicked this off by saying we’ve probably all heard of a calorie deficit at this point. 

And that might be true, but I would have said the same about macros, too 🫠

So let me play it safe and cover this first (because it’s the foundation for understanding macros).

Are you ready?

Here goes:

A calorie deficit is the mechanism that drives ANY and EVERY fat loss diet in existence.

Real quick, so that I play it safe safe:

A calorie? A unit of energy, the same way a centimetre’s a unit of distance. A hundred centimetres makes a metre. A hundred calories is enough energy to heat a kilogram of ice to boiling point. Calories are just how we measure the energy your body burns to run.

A deficit? Having less than you need.

So a calorie deficit = eating less energy than your body needs to keep running — meaning you have to ‘burn fat’ to make up the difference.

(Also, if you’re here and want to be bigger and stronger, hang with me. We’ll get there.)

Okay, back to it now.

If you’re losing fat using the diet you’re eating, it’s because you’re eating in a deficit. It’s not because of the food. It’s not because you nailed the timing of your intermittent fasting. It’s not because you’re getting in every superfood under the sun.

It’s because whatever you’re consuming is less energy than your body’s burning. 

Whether you eat less or more doesn’t really change the amount it takes to keep you alive, though.

If you eat less than the staying-alive-number, your body’s gotta get that gap of energy from somewhere.

That ‘somewhere’ is your fat stores. Your ‘winter acorns’, so to speak, that your body stored up when you ate too much, to use for times like this.

So if you get that balance (or more accurately, imbalance) right…

Then no matter what you eat, you’ll lose weight.

So far, so good. I’m guessing you’re still with me at this point.

But it tends to be the case that when I get practical with this, some folks get confused. For the sake of being crystal clear, that means:

➞ You can eat McDonalds three meals a day, and if you’re under your staying-alive-number, you’ll LOSE weight.

➞  You can eat chicken breast and spinach leaves for three meals a day, and if you’re over your staying-alive-number, you’ll GAIN weight.

If you’ve never heard that before, it might rattle your brain. Take a second and soak it in if so.

Also, since not everyone wants to be skinner… if you’re one of my doggies trying to build muscle? All we’re doing is swinging that balance in the other direction.

If you eat more than what your body needs — and combine it with a well designed lifting plan?

Say hello to muscles. Your body will put the majority of those extra calories toward getting bigger and more toned.

Alright. Foundation laid.

If that’s how calories work…

Where do macros come in?

Good question. Think of your daily calorie needs as the amount of fuel your body’s engine needs to run.

Macros – short for macronutrients – are the type of fuel we put in.

There are three we’ve got to work with: protein, carbohydrate (carbs), and fat. (Well, four, if you count booze.)

Each of ‘em are unique. They all do something different, but all of them give you energy to help you hit your daily calories.

Protein

Protein is for muscle.

It’s for other stuff too, like hair and skin and nails, or healing injuries.

But in the context of training and dieting (and getting sexier), protein is the thing that makes sure you don’t lose muscle and end up scrawny at the end of a diet. 

And it’s what helps you grow muscle to build a toned, healthy body if you’re finished losing fat.

Protein is made up of what we as humans are made up of. Think of it like this:

Protein is to the body what a brick is to a building.

And remember, as one of our macros, it’s a source of our daily energy. 

It isn’t the best form to give us a quick boost, but per gram, it gives us four calories worth of energy.

But as the macro that helps us repair and grow our bodies? No matter what your goal is, getting enough protein is absolutely essential. 

The perfect amount to eat varies a little, but aiming to eat 2-2.5g per kilogram of your bodyweight is a good place to be.

Fat

Fat is for health.

That might sound a little ‘snooze’ if you’re dead set on getting sexier. But good luck getting sexier if you’re sick all the time.

Fat also gets a bad rap, and unfairly so.

First, because when you’ve let yourself go a little, you don’t say you’re feeling a little protein — you say you’re feeling fat 🤣 

That’s accurate: saving energy as fat is how the body likes to put away those ‘winter acorns’ we spoke about earlier. 

Since they’re what makes us feel a little fluffy, jiggly and unsexy… we’re kinda geared to be off fats from the start.

Advertising leans into that by stamping products with “Low Fat!” and “99% Fat Free!”. And because it’s pitched as a benefit, we get sucked harder into hating fat.

The second reason is this: fat has more than double the energy of protein and carbs by weight, coming in at nine calories per gram.

I can see where the hangup comes from. It’s a lot easier to get too much energy in through fat if you’re not careful.

But just stamping it as ‘bad’ is a little daft.

To me, that feels like saying gold’s bad because it’s more dense than aluminium. You’re using the wrong measuring stick, buddy.

Sure, you’ve got to keep in mind that it’s easy to overdo it with fat, but you also can not live without it. 

It regulates your hormones. It allows you to absorb nutrients that make your body run right. It  keeps your sex drive steady, and keeps your immune system chugging along.

In short: you’ll be six feet under without it (seriously). And it makes food tasty. Which is equally important.

As for how much you need? 

Anywhere between 0.5-1.5g per kilogram of your bodyweight is right. Where you land in that range depends on your goals, and how you like to eat.

Carbohydrate

Carbohydrate is for energy.

And for pasta. And pastries. And pretty much all the delicious stuff in life.

People give carbs a bad rap – especially for fat loss – but they’re wrong. Carbs are absolutely fantastic for you.

These are the best macro for a quick energy boost, and they’re your body’s favourite fuel source to turn to.

Carbs are great for fuelling workouts so you can train hard, and they’re brilliant for recovery.

Your brain needs them too, and when you’re feeling hangry you’re almost definitely short on carbs.

The same as protein, you get four calories per gram of carb you eat. But as great as they are, carbs are not essential for you to eat.

You’ll feel garbage without them, but you’ll survive. As such, there isn’t a fixed target you have to hit, and it depends on your goal.

But to give you an idea: I eat as many of them as I can fit in my diet. Don’t let the ‘you don’t need to eat them’ fool ya.

Alright, time for a quick recap. Now you know:

➞ What a ‘calorie’ actually is

➞ That all diets work not by how healthy your food is, or when you eat it. They work by controlling how many calories you eat (less than you need to drop fat, and more than you need to build muscle)

➞ That your macros are where you get your calories (or energy) from, and that you need a certain amount of each for a successful, balanced diet

So with all that said…

What are you meant to do with that information?

Well, now you’ll have to decide if you want to use it.

You can keep eating the way you’re eating if you want. Or, you can start another ‘diet’. Or, you can start tracking your macros 😇

You can calculate how much of each macro you’ll personally need for your goals (there are calculators for this, and I’ll add a link to one later).

And then you can start using a tracking app to find out how much of each macro you’re hitting in your diet.

Foods contain macronutrients like protein and fat. 

A 100g portion of steak is not equal to 100g of protein — it’ll be more like 25g of protein, and some fat. (The rest is stuff like water and fibre.) 

I had a very panicked client tell me once, “I eat a 200g steak at dinner — I’m blowing over my target just with that!”

Don’t fret. Not how it works.

And by tracking your food in an app you’ll see what you’re currently eating, and if it hits the targets you found out were perfect for your goal.

If you aren’t, you can use that knowledge and adjust your food to better fit your targets.

It can be finicky to start. But if you want great results out of your diet, you need to know whether you’re hitting the right macros.

And you do that by tracking.

But, “Hang on,” you might be saying…

“Not all diets use macro tracking. I didn’t in my last diet, and I still got some gains?”

That’s true. 

Not all diets do. Things like keto or carnivore or even the meal plan your trainer made you don’t ask you to track calories.

The diet is just indirectly controlling them for you by telling you which foods you’re allowed to eat.

It makes things simple — you don’t need to track. You just eat what your plan says and your calories and macros get taken care of for you.

For as long as you can keep following it and saying ‘no’ to anything you used to like eating, you’re golden.

But let’s call a spade a spade here: it might be simple, but you’re also totally in the dark.

Which is what brings us to…

The big, fat, inconvenient truth about conventional diets

That is:

You’re not eating YOUR diet.

And unless you plan on adopting someone else’s diet philosophy? Eating only the foods and portions they say you should? And never going back to having dinner with your family, or catching up with a friend for a pint?

Then at some point, you will have to stop.

And when you do, you’ll be back to square one, and back in square one’s body.

I’ll admit that the ‘diet’ approach makes things simple.

But you’re trading a hell of a lot for simple:

• Control over what you get to eat

• How enjoyable you find eating

• How long you can really stick with it (and thus how long you get to be in the shape you wanted)

• How normal your life feels

• The freedom to socialise

• And so on…

It’s a bad deal 🤣

But there is one thing that I can get behind. A reason that might drive a hot-body-hopeful to a restrictive diet in search of.

It’s something that I desperately wanted when I was trying to lose over 20kg. It was…

“I just want to know that what I’m doing is actually working 🥹”

That reason alone might be enough to justify all the trade offs.

I’ll admit it – to know for a fact that my diet was working back then? And that I was making real, measurable steps toward my goal?

I would – did – trade all of those things for the ‘certainty’ it was meant to give me.

Sometimes it worked. And I got what I sacrificed for.

But sometimes it didn’t. And I got nowhere.

I was just eating some weird, miserable diet from someone else. Missing out on my real life and food I liked. And with nothing to show for it.

But there’s another way. You can bypass literally ALL of the BS that the conventional dieting method brings with it, by simply…

Tracking your damn macros.

You do that, and...

You can eat what you want.

You can catch up with your friends.

You can be flexible, instead of saying, “Sorry, I can’t. That’s not on my plan.”

You can build the body of your dreams and keep it for good.

All you need to do is get your head around how to…

Replace the ‘diet’ with what works.

And ’ll show you how 😇

It’s not something radical, either.

Remember, the ‘diet’ formula is this:

1. The diet tells you what you’re allowed to eat.

2. That decides your calories and macros. And hopefully they’re right for you, so that…

3. The diet might work.

And all we’re really doing is taking you behind the curtain, and flipping that model on its head. We start with a guaranteed assumption:

1. The diet will work.

2. You set the calories and macro targets to make that happen.

3. And you decide what you wanna eat to hit them.

If that looks like the same thing every day? Sweet.

If it means something different every day? Also sweet.

You do it however you like. And by adjusting your targets, you can speed things up or slow them down, and make gains on your schedule.

The cool part?

We’re doing it all devoid of any overarching, dogmatic diet “philosophy”.

It’s as simple as calculating how much energy you need, and how much of each macro suits your goal.

It’s so simple that it might seem…

Too good to be true! 

It most certainly is not, though.

Here’s what you need to do:

First, calculate your macros. 

Use an online calculator, like this one here, and follow the prompts it gives you.

Once you’ve followed them, you’ll end up with a calorie, protein, fat and carbohydrate target.

Second, download a tracking app.

Input the targets your calculator gave you, and track what you eat.

Make sure the foods you eat have you hitting your targets. Track as accurately as you can, so you know you’re hitting the targets right. 

We don’t want you in the dark like diets have you. So if you have a clear and reliable record of what you eat, you’ll know exactly what’s happening.

Third, track your results.

The results are what we’re here for 😎 so weigh yourself often. 

Make sure your weight is moving in the right direction. And if it isn’t (and you’ve been tracking accurately), you know you’ve hit a red flag.

Instead of sticking things out and hoping for a change, you’ll know to adjust your targets ASAP to make things move again.

And that’s that.

It’s powerful.

Macros are the ticket off the hamster wheel of fad diets and yo-yoing all over the place, if you can execute them right.

Like anything, there’s a learning curve.

There’s getting used to weighing and measuring, putting your food in an app, figuring out what you should eat to hit your targets and so on.

But for freedom, flexibility, and finally building (and keeping) the lean, toned body you want? 

It’s well worth the work.

If you’d rather skip the learning curve, and get the fast track to perfect macro tracking?

You might like my course, ‘It’s Not Macro-cket Science’.

It’s a complete system that picks up right where this article leaves off. It’s a top-to-bottom crash course on everything you need to know about tracking your macros.

From calculating your targets like an expert would, through to how fast you should be making progress, and what you should change if that’s not happening – it covers it all.

It’s Not Macro-cket Science is available exclusively to people on my email list, and you can sign up for free here.

Benjamin Throssell

straight from the chicken’s butt

Lately I’ve been having eggs for dinner.

But I was on chicken duty this morning. And since I let the girls out the coop, I got first dibs on the spoils 😎

Three beautiful eggs, in a neat little pile just for me.

And these eggs were so fresh that they were still friggin warm when I nabbed em.

But, while I sit here enjoying my breaky…

I’ve just been invaded by this very unwelcome thought:

“You know there’s only been five minutes since your breaky came out a chicken’s butt, right?”

Anyway. Speaking of things that come out of butts.

You know what’s a big fat pile of BS????

Losing weight slowly.

“B-b-b-but if you lose it fast you’ll just gain it back!!!! 

Oh REALLY? 😤

What a crock of nonsense.

When it comes to keeping weight you lose off:

How fast you lose weight has nothing to do with it.

How dumb the stuff you do to lose it does.

Naturally, you’re gonna be working harder and taking things a little more aggressive if you want fast losses. It’s stuff like intermittent fasting, axing carbs entirely, cutting out the fun bits like choccy and social events.

Those things as part of a plan are totally fine.

But when you just blind gun it…

Make yourself absolutely freakin miserable…

And then eventually go out in a blaze of high calorie, deep fried glory?

Was it the speed, or was it the strategy?

I’ve had clients absolutely MOTOR through weight loss, but we had a plan. We set a weekly target, dialled in the input and output to meet it, and made sure we had enough fun stuff built in to stay the course.

And maybe most important: we had an exit strategy. 

We went into it knowing when it was gonna end, knowing how to reset, and knowing when to get back to work for another fast, sustainable sprint.

That’s how to lose weight fast.

And it’s why I got such a freaky high strike rate and elite client satisfaction with my transformations 🤩

This client blasted 10kg off and says: 

For anyone struggling to make that change, even if you have been trying for years!! Benjamin is your guy. He will get you the results you want and then some, there is no denying it. 

If that’s you, keep your eyes peeled for my next 1:1 coaching program intake.

Spots go fast, but in the meantime send over questions you have on coaching or getting jacked in general.

I read ‘em all, and I reply to the best.

Benjamin Throssell

why boring is BETTER for your beach body

EP. 01

Listen up dogs.

I’m acting like this is an actual podcast, but it’s just me making it easy to give you info.

In this case, on this maiden (and who knows, maybe I’ll hate doing this and it might be the final) voyage:

We cover why the hell you should stop worrying about things being fun and fresh and exciting in your training…

And why boring might be BETTER for your beach body.

So crank it up, listen on your way to the gym, and get better at getting better.

Welcome to The Monday Drive.

---

the 1, 2, 7 to get absolutely gorgeous

I’m selling on Facebook Marketplace right now, and I’m doing it smart.  

I’m heavy on gym equipment to sell, and extremely light on patience when it comes to all the BS that comes with it. 

So, I’m selling cheap.

I’m accepting I won’t get premium rates. But in exchange, I get a lot: 

I’ll get rid of things fast. I’ll be able to skip all the nicey-nice chit chat and get to the sellin’. And I’ll get to be a massive doodle to anyone being a tosser, cos I’ve got what they want at a steal 😈 

And to make it super easy, I included all the need to know info that usually makes up the bulk of stupid questions you get. 

I explained why I was selling, what I wouldn’t deal with, where I was located, and when I’d reply. 

And confident with my planning, I launched my ads. 

I’M SELLING MY COMMERCIAL GRADE GYM KIT. AND I’M SELLING IT CHEAP!!!!  

i wasted cash keeping it stored for my home gym but i changed my mind and want it gone.  

i am also a grumpy b@stard and don’t wanna deal with tyre kickers and turkeys so if you can take it or leave it for someone else to grab, but don’t be annoying 🤣 

here’s the deal:  

*first come, first serve  

*I only reply end of day because im getting bombed with messages  

*I will possibly be a little blunt due to the volume of enquiry  

if you can handle that, here’s the details:  [insert specifics]  

COLLECTION IS xxxxxxxxxx AND IF THE AD IS LIVE, IT HAS NOT BEEN PICKED UP YET AND YOU CAN MESSAGE.  

And guys. 

Listen in. 

When I tell you that I’ve absolutely cracked the code on pain-free Facebook selling? 

It’ll be a big, fat lie.  

🥴 

That was the most agonising experience of my entire month.

Look, I wrote my ad at a third grade reading level. 

So either a bunch of second grade children (with adults posing as their profile pictures) was on the prowl for gym equipment last night… 

Or the 76 people that messaged me last night JUST CAN’T FREAKING READ?! 

Like, one guy messaged and told me he couldn’t see the price??? 

Brother, you can’t post an ad without a price? And this platform puts it in the same place, every time? 

So you’ve got a problem with either reading or seeing, and neither of those things are what I teach. 

Far out, man. 

I have straight up never dealt with so many freaking IDIOTS in such a short span of time. 

Just a non-stop torrent of absolute twits asking me questions that clearly didn’t listen to anything I said.  

For goodness sake. I just wanna give you guys a good deal and make it easy for everyone. 

ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS LISTEN 😫 

Ah, well. You can’t help everyone. Life goes on.  

And while I spent my morning throwing all my gym equipment in the bin to scorn those who scorned me, I had a thought: 

This is precisely why I am so ruthless about working with only ideal clients. 

I have absolutely zero qualms talking about how successful my coaching process is for my clients. But before culling anyone who wasn’t a perfect fit for my style, I remember agonising constantly over the same issue. 

I’d tell my clients to the letter what they needed to do to finally get in their dream shape. I’d spoon feed them the right training volumes, nutrition protocols and psychological strategy to just about guarantee success. 

And they’d just ignore what I said, and then piss and moan about getting nowhere. 

And just the same as these Facebook fudgewits, all you had to do was listen.  

But also the same: you can’t help everyone. 

So now, I work exclusively with the kinda cats that want what I deliver: 

A top-to-bottom blueprint for getting in world class shape and putting it on autopilot. 

But also meet my criteria, which includes (but is not limited to) being able to see, read and listen to WHAT THE HELL I’VE GOT TO SAY 🤣 

Alright. Enough raging. 

Last week, I said I’d post up about the coaching spot I had opening.

This is that post. 

But now I’m worried about the strength of my dummy filter. So if you want in, do exactly the following: 

*1. Hit reply 

*2. Type ‘Details’ 

*7. Include the digit at the start of this line so I know you can see numbers lol 

If you can do that, I’ll send you the rest of my criteria and we can go from there.

First come, first served. 

Benjamin Throssell