A calorie is the energy it takes your  body to raise 1 gram of water by 1  degree Celsius. Simply thought of as  a measurement of the energy we  need to fuel our bodies.

If you’re like us, you’ve “counted  calories” before. You’ve searched for  a calorie calculator online, plugged  in some numbers, and verified it  against some other calculators, and  then did your best to follow a  cookie-cutter approach that gave  you a limited number of calories a  day without much guidance.

The “crazy” thing is you can still  see success with this approach.  As long as you are in a calorie  deficit, you will lose weight! A  calorie deficit is any amount of  calories consumed under your basal metabolic rate (AKA your BMR – minimum number of calories  required for basic human functions  at rest).

The problem with this approach is that  it is only 50% of what is needed to  ensure long lasting success. The  simple calories in vs calories out  equation will always tell us if you’re  eating too much or too little, but  there’s more to our bodies than just  the energy needs. By eating the right  ratio of different calories, we can  manipulate body composition,  increase performance, improve  energy, brain function, and so much  more!

Calories are the foundation of your  nutrition, but we can fine tune this  approach by tracking 3 of the bigger  kinds of calories, the macronutrients.