Have you ever felt like macro tracking is just too much?
You’re not alone—I get it! Between logging meals and tracking workouts, it can feel like a full-time job. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right tools, tech, and gadgets to simplify macro tracking, you can make it a breeze—and maybe even a little fun!
In this episode, I’m sharing my favorite apps, wearables, and kitchen gadgets that take the guesswork out of macro tracking. Whether you’re a newbie or a pro, these resources will help you hit your goals without the overwhelm.
Here’s a sneak peek of what I cover:
tech makes macro tracking easy—here’s how!
Technology is your best friend when it comes to staying consistent. Picture having a personal assistant who logs everything you eat, tracks your workouts, and gives you instant feedback. Yup, that’s what these tools, tech, and gadgets do! They take the guesswork out of the equation, allowing you to focus on making healthier choices without the added stress.
my top 3 apps for macro tracking
There are tons of apps out there, but I want to break down the three that I personally recommend: MyFitnessPal, MacrosFirst, and Cronometer. Each has its own strengths, so let’s see which one is best for you!
MyFitnessPal: The OG of Macro Tracking
This app is like your reliable bestie. With over 11 million food entries and a barcode scanner, it’s easy to log your meals. Plus, it syncs with fitness devices like Apple Watch and Garmin for seamless calorie tracking. If you love a sense of community, MyFitnessPal’s got forums, challenges, and social feeds to keep you motivated.
Downsides?
Some user-generated food entries can be a little sketchy on accuracy, and the free version has ads. But if you don’t mind upgrading to the premium version, you’ll get more precise tracking tools and ad-free browsing.
Tips for using MyFitnessPal
To get the most out of MyFitnessPal, always verify the nutritional information of user-generated entries to ensure accuracy. If you find the ads disruptive or need advanced features, consider investing in the premium version. It might be worth the extra cost for the added convenience and accuracy.
Macros First: Streamlined & Simple
MacrosFirst is a dream for those of you who hate playing “macro Tetris” at the end of the day. You can set targets for each meal, which prevents you from cramming all your protein or carbs into one meal. And their proactive meal planner? Game-changer! Input your macros, and the app suggests food portions for you.
Downsides?
It doesn’t integrate with exercise trackers, so you’ll need to manually input your workouts. Also, it lacks the social element, which might be a dealbreaker if you thrive on group motivation.
Tips for using Macros First
To make the most of MacrosFirst, set macro targets for individual meals to distribute your intake evenly throughout the day. If you’re using a fitness tracker, manually log your exercise to ensure your macro goals are adjusted accordingly. This way, you can still benefit from the app’s streamlined features while keeping your exercise data up to date.
Cronometer: For the Data Nerds
If you love tracking every single nutrient, Cronometer is your app. This one goes beyond macros to help you track micronutrients like vitamins and minerals too. It’s super precise, which is a dream if you’re into data and long-term dietary trends. And good news—most of the advanced features are available without the need for a premium subscription.
Downsides?
Cronometer can feel a bit complex for beginners, and the free version doesn’t group meals, making it harder to see daily patterns. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll love the detailed insights.
Tips for using Cronometer
If you’re new to macro tracking, start with basic entries and gradually explore the more detailed features of Cronometer. Take advantage of the advanced reporting features to understand your long-term dietary trends and make informed adjustments. This way, you can ease into the app’s more complex features without feeling overwhelmed.
wearables and smart devices: your secret weapon
Let’s talk gadgets! If you’re into tools, tech, and gadgets to simplify macro tracking, adding a fitness tracker or smart scale to your routine can seriously level up your tracking game. Here are some devices you might want to explore:
Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers like Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Garmin can provide valuable data on calorie burn and activity levels, helping you align your macro goals with your actual energy expenditure. This integration can simplify the tracking process and provide real-time feedback, motivating you to stay consistent with your goals.
Smart Scales
Smart scales can provide insights into metrics like body fat percentage and muscle mass, offering a more comprehensive view of your health and fitness. This is especially useful for those focused on body composition rather than just weight.
Tips for using Wearables and Smart Devices
To get the most out of these devices, ensure your fitness tracker and smart scale are synced with your macro tracking app for seamless data integration. Focus on long-term trends rather than daily fluctuations to avoid information overload and stress. This way, you can see the bigger picture and make adjustments as needed without getting bogged down by day-to-day changes.
meal planning and recipe apps
Let’s be real: figuring out what to eat can be the hardest part of macro tracking. But with a little planning and the right gadgets, meal prep gets a whole lot easier. Here are some apps that I recommend:
- Mealime: Allows you to create personalized meal plans based on your dietary preferences and macro targets.
- Paprika: Offers recipe suggestions and generates shopping lists, simplifying the meal planning process.
- Eat This Much: Automatically creates meal plans and shopping lists based on your macro goals.
To make the most of these apps, plan your meals for the week ahead. This reduces the mental load associated with meal preparation and ensures you have healthy options readily available. Use these apps to develop your understanding of the macros in different foods and how to mix and match them for balanced meals. This way, you can enjoy a variety of foods while still hitting your macro targets.
essential kitchen tools for macro tracking and meal prep
Last, we can’t forget about kitchen must-haves that make meal prep way easier, and helps you stay on track with your macro goals without feeling overwhelmed by daily meal prep. Here are some kitchen gadgets that I’m loving right now:
- Digital food scale: Essential for accurately measuring portions.
- Measuring cups and Spoons: Useful for portion control and recipe accuracy.
- Meal prep containers: Helps with portioning and storing meals.
- Instant pot: Great for prepping parts of meals (like meat, rice or hard boiled eggs) ahead of time, and a lot faster than cooking on the stove.
- Air fryer: Saves time and helps maintain the nutritional quality of meals.
Invest in high-quality kitchen tools to make the tracking process more efficient and enjoyable. Prepare meals in batches to save time and ensure you have healthy options readily available. This way, you can stay on track with your macro goals without feeling overwhelmed by daily meal prep.
The key to making macro tracking easy? Find the right tools, tech, and gadgets that fit your lifestyle. Whether it’s an app that helps you log meals in seconds, a fitness tracker that gives you real-time feedback, or kitchen gadgets that make meal prep a breeze, the right tech can make all the difference.
So go ahead—try out these tools and see how they can simplify your macro tracking routine. You’ve got this!
If you have any questions or need help getting started, drop a comment or shoot me a message!
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Emily Field 00:00:00 Welcome to episode 34 of the Macros Made Easy podcast. Today we’re talking about simplifying nutrition and making macro tracking manageable in your busy life. We’re diving into technology and tools that can truly change the game for your macro journey. Whether you’re just starting out with macro tracking or you’re a seasoned pro, there’s one thing we can all agree upon keeping up with tracking your meals, weighing your food, and hitting those macro targets can feel like a full time job. But with the right tools and technology, macro tracking could be as simple as a few taps on your phone and a quick scan of a barcode. And it probably goes without saying, but I’ll mention it anyway. Practice makes this all faster and easier. There’s no shortcutting repetitions. There’s so much value in continuing to show up for yourself, even if it feels clunky at first.
Welcome to Macros Made Easy, the podcast that takes the confusion out of tracking macros. I’m your host, Emily Field, a registered dietitian that specializes in a macros approach. In each episode, I help you learn how to eat in a way that supports your health, body, composition, and athletic performance goals.
Emily Field 00:01:01 We’ll cover the basics of macronutrients how to track for various goals, the role of macros in your health, and how to make sustainable changes to your habits. I’ve helped hundreds of people experience more food freedom and flexibility while navigating their nutrition. So whether you’ve tried macros and it just didn’t stick or you just heard the word macros yesterday, I can’t wait to help you too. In today’s episode, we’ll be exploring the best apps, gadgets, and tech hacks that can make macro tracking easier and more efficient. From smart scales to food databases, there are tools out there that not only save you time, but also help you track more accurately. And trust me, when macro tracking becomes simpler and more user friendly, it’s way easier to stick with it long term. We’ll also talk about why simplifying your macro tracking process is so important for your success. Spoiler alert it’s not just about efficiency here, it’s about avoiding burnout, reducing decision fatigue, and ultimately staying consistent with your goals. Because when macro tracking fits smoothly into your lifestyle, you’re much more likely to keep up with it and see lasting results.
Emily Field 00:02:03 So let’s get into it and find out how technology can take the hassle out of macro tracking and set you up for long term success. I feel like the best, and probably like the most appropriate place to start is with your macro tracking app. There are so many food logging apps out there, but there are three popular apps that stand out MyFitnessPal, Macros First, and Cronometer. I’ll share a little bit about each of these apps and why I think they’re the best options for you if you are in the macro tracking lane and not so much interested in tracking, just weight loss, or just your overall diet quality. Maybe you are less interested in metrics around glucose monitoring or a onesie or something like that. These are the apps that I would recommend if you are serious about tracking macros. So I’ll start by saying that MyFitnessPal offers one of the largest food databases out there. It has barcode scanning and integration with wearables, but its user generated content can lead to inaccuracies in the free version. Includes ads. Macros First is designed specifically for macro tracking, offering easy customization and accurate food entries.
Emily Field 00:03:14 Though its smaller database and limited exercise integration are some drawbacks. Cronometer shines with its precise nutrient tracking and detailed reports, making it ideal for users who want to track both macros and micronutrients. But it can be overwhelming for beginners and lacks social features. Each app has unique strengths, making them suitable for different types of users based on their macro tracking needs. So let’s go through them one by one. Like I said, MyFitnessPal offers one of the largest food databases out there. It has over 11 million foods in their database. It makes it easy to find nearly any food or restaurant item for logging. It also has barcode scanning. That’s that feature where you just open up your camera right from your app, scan the barcode of the food that you’re eating. It’s pretty quick, pretty accurate, and it simplifies the logging process for packaged foods. I also see that integration with wearables and fitness apps is really strong with My Fitness Pal. It syncs seamlessly with popular devices like Fitbit, Garmin, and Apple Watch, as well as apps like Strava and Mapmyrun, making it easy to track exercise calories and adjust macros accordingly.
Emily Field 00:04:23 There’s also a really strong community support here, with MyFitnessPal as an active user community, which offers forums, challenges and a social feed for motivation and support. It also has the ability, at least in the paid version, for you to customize your macro targets or customize your macro goals. You can set daily and weekly macro goals and adjust them based on your preferences or specific diet plan. Maybe you like to follow higher macros or higher calories on some days, lower on others, or engage in some sort of carb, cycling higher carbs on some days, lower carbs on others. So you have that ability to do this within MyFitnessPal in the premium or paid version of the app. One of the biggest reasons why I don’t love MyFitnessPal for tracking macros, especially for beginners, is that because there are so many user generated entries in the database, there’s often duplicate or incorrect food entries, which can lead to a lot of errors in your tracking process unless you verify each item. What good does it do to track your macros or to track your food in general? If you’re logging incorrect, if the food that you’re inputting into your food diary for the day is not actually correct, right? We know there are benefits to tracking your food independent of macros.
Emily Field 00:05:44 We are encouraging macro tracking for our clients for that basic nutrition education. So whether or not you hit your macro targets, You should be paying attention to what the foods provide you and how those foods make you feel. Part of interacting with a tracking app is to allow you to do this and to develop this skill, but what good does that do if you’re consistently logging incorrect or inaccurate entries you might inappropriately assign? This is a high protein food, a high fat food, or a high carb food, or a low calorie food. For example. You might inappropriately assign that category in the entry could be wrong. We love to see people paying attention to their nutrition and how that food makes them feel, but it really only works if the database is correct and the food entries are correct. And I don’t think as a beginner you have that capability to do that on your own right away. Certainly a seasoned tracker or somebody that has a background in nutrition or logging their food for an extensive period of time, they could recognize where there might be some inaccuracies, where things might not be adding up.
Emily Field 00:06:48 But for a beginner tracker, it’s probably really difficult to do. It’s really difficult to spot. Another critique of MyFitnessPal is the ads. The free version of the app contains ads, so you’re kind of constantly interacting with these ads. Hanging out in your food diary. You have to click off of them. Another feature is that you can’t necessarily see your macros per meal, can’t necessarily see a food analysis of your whole day, or get detailed reports. Those features are all locked behind a premium subscription, and one of the biggest changes that they made, I think it was two years ago or so. They took away that feature where you could input exact gram goals in your free version. So for example, if I give you a prescription that says x protein, x fat, x carb, you are not able to put that into the free version. You have to get close by setting a percent of calories coming from protein, fat, and carb. There are flaws to this. I don’t necessarily think it’s the worst thing in the world, but in order to encourage people to buy into the premium version, they put that feature behind the paywall.
Emily Field 00:07:56 It can also be difficult to track micronutrients in MyFitnessPal, so while macros are a primary focus, My Fitness Pal is not the best tool for detailed micronutrient tracking. So if you are wanting a more in-depth nutrient breakdown so like the vitamins and minerals in your food, you might seek another app like Cronometer for example. Next is Macros First, and this is probably the newest macro tracking app to the scene. I’m really loving it. I’ve definitely engaged with it a fair amount. I’ve used it for weeks on end. I yeah, I’ve had a lot of really great feedback about Macros First, but I do think there are a few features that kind of hold it back, at least for now. It’s again, I’m going to allow them time to grow and to add the features that we might see consistent through other apps, but the focus is on macro tracking with Macros First, which is like, duh, it’s in the name. It’s awesome. It’s designed specifically for tracking macros, which makes it more streamlined and user friendly for people who really are just prioritizing this approach.
Emily Field 00:08:58 One of the better features of Macros First is the ability to track macros per meal and macros per day, so you can set macro targets not just for the whole day, but it also allows you to do that for individual meals, which may help you with meal planning and prevent you from playing macro Tetris. By the end of the day, that’s where you’re totally low on one macro and completely blown the other, and you’re trying to fit something into your day that’s going to meet that and get you close to your goals. If you are tracking per meal and really staying ahead of that by focusing on just 20g of protein and just ten grams of fat, or just 30g of carb in a meal, likely you’re going to feel much better. You’re going to be more satiated and full after your meals, more satisfied after your meals, because we know your blood sugar is better supported. We also know that you’re getting those nutrients throughout the day. Instead of trying to save up or play Tetris by the end of the day, is just not a sustainable practice and doesn’t make you feel good.
Emily Field 00:09:55 So when you’re tracking macros, you’re dealing with the weight of food, right? You are using a digital food scale to weigh and measure your food. This is the most accurate way to track macros. Not using cups and measuring spoons, not using your hand. Not eyeballing it. Really. The best, most accurate way is to weigh and measure your food. However, Macros First is kind of flipped this on its head, and I really love this feature where let’s just say you need to get 20g of protein from any food, you just need to meet that 20g. Okay, let’s use Greek yogurt as an example. That’s what you’ve got in your fridge. Instead of playing around with your app to see how many. I don’t know how many servings you would need for that Greek yogurt in order to get to 20g, and just messing with the math and the portion you can just pop in Greek yogurt into that app and dial up the protein to be what you need it to be. So we need 20g.
Emily Field 00:10:51 So we’re going to dial up by clicking through protein. And it will tell you how much gram weight to serve yourself. It’s done so seamlessly and so easy. I just love this feature. So instead of serving yourself the food and then tracking after the fact and being surprised at how many macros it contributed to your day, you can be more on the offensive and say, I only need 15g of this or 20g of this. What do I need to eat in order to hit that gram goal? Does that make sense? I mean, I’m talking to the ether, but I find this to be one of the coolest features of Macros First, and it really helps, especially for people who are playing that macro Tetris or want to think a little bit less about their food. Going on that backwards way in order to track macros can be super, super helpful. Lastly, I would say that Macros First, even though the database might not be as large as something as MyFitnessPal, the food entries tend to be more accurate and consistent than other apps because it puts an emphasis on that food data quality.
Emily Field 00:11:51 So almost all the entries are verified, and so you can have confidence that the entries that you do see are very, very accurate. So a couple of the reasons why you might not choose Macros First, or I’d say are a con to using Macros First. We already kind of talked about it, but the smaller food database might deter some people. It’s got a limited food database compared to my Fitness Pal for sure, so it might require a little bit more manual input for uncommon foods that it’s never seen before, or restaurant items. I will say that their feature to take a picture or scan the label is pretty good. So you’re just hovering your camera over the nutrition label, and it’s gathering that data from the camera and just inserting it into the food. You do a couple little manual adjustments. It’s not too terribly difficult, but that smaller food database might be something that deters you. It also has some limited exercise integration. So while it does integrate with Apple Health and Fitbit. It’s exercise tracking, and overall integration with fitness apps is a little bit more limited than other apps like MyFitnessPal, and I think this is simply just because they’re newer to the scene, and they haven’t quite gotten those relationships up and going yet.
Emily Field 00:12:59 In macros, first, you’re going to see less community support. So it really does lack that large community and social aspect that maybe MyFitnessPal offers. So you might miss out on those group challenges or forums. If you feel like you’re going at this macro tracking journey alone, that might be a deterrent, but that might not be important to you, so it might not be a negative at all. So lastly, we have Cronometer. And I would say one of the biggest reasons why we use Cronometer in our coaching programs is because it is a highly accurate and comprehensive food database. So Cronometer really prides itself on having highly accurate food entries. And those food entries are verified by professionals, including detailed micronutrient data, making it ideal for people who really care about both macros and micronutrients. Cronometer tracks more than 60 nutrients, including vitamins, minerals and amino acids, making it an excellent choice for people who want a deeper understanding of their nutrition beyond just macros. It’s also great that you could customize your macro targets. You can set both macro and micronutrient goals based on specific diets, or just putting it in your own individual target, so that’s pretty cool.
Emily Field 00:14:08 It’s not behind a paywall, so you can always individually add your protein, fat and carbohydrate targets, your calorie goals and any other micronutrients you might be interested in. It’s not withholding that information from you just because you choose not to pay for premium. There is a fair amount of integration with health and fitness devices like wearables, like the Apple Watch Fitbit. It also syncs to apps like Garmin Connect, which can allow for more accurate calorie expenditure tracking if that’s important to you. Cronometer also offers advanced reports for people who want to analyze long term trends in their diet, making it perfect for those people who want to see detailed data on their food intake and maybe see it over the long term, or see it after they’ve maybe adjusted a different variable in their health. That’s a pretty cool feature and offered even at the base free version. A couple of critiques on Cronometer is that their food database is a little bit smaller. It’s a highly accurate database, but it’s definitely not as large as my fitness pals, which means you might need to manually add more foods or use the barcode scanner more frequently.
Emily Field 00:15:15 I’d say it’s probably less user friendly for beginners because the focus is on precision and detail. It can be overwhelming for new users, especially those who don’t need an in-depth like micronutrient tracking. So this is probably one of the biggest critiques that we get when we ask clients to come over to Cronometer from something else. It can feel a little overwhelming in the beginning. Of course, practice makes perfect, and engaging with the app will help you become more familiar with where things are located and what to look for. But in the beginning it can feel a little overwhelming, so I’ll give them that. Another possible deterrent from Cronometer is that in its free version, we are unable to see your meals listed as groups, so all of your food that you log for the day will appear in one long list. And you’ll also have to deal with some banner ads right in your main screen, so that may be a bummer for you. If you are looking to draw trends on how you’re eating and relating it to how you feel or how you perform, it might be more important to you to pay for that premium version so that you can see your meals split out.
Emily Field 00:16:19 Meal 123, four with those time stamps. If you’re a client of mine, we pay for your premium subscription for Cronometers, so we can offer you that feedback when we do a diary review and say, one of the reasons why you may have felt like munchy or craving the afternoon is because your breakfast was fairly light in protein, and we can kind of pinpoint that. Or, you know, you had a really strong week where you were definitely nailing your carbs. That translated to better energy in the gym and better sleep. And then look at this week we tended to see that you were not so great at spreading your carbs throughout the day. Something like that. So those that separation of meals and seeing the macros per meal and like the time that you eat may be important to you and help you draw conclusions and help you improve your diet. The next piece of tech that I want to talk about is your wearable or your smart devices. So these can greatly enhance your macro tracking by providing valuable data to help you stay on top of your goals.
Emily Field 00:17:16 We’re talking fitness trackers like Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Garmin. They estimate the calorie burn and sync seamlessly with macro tracking apps, so you can ensure that your daily activity is accounted for. So that can feel very motivating when you see it show up in your diary. You’re interacting with really just one app, and it’s syncing with all these other things that you might be using. Further, smart scales add another layer of insight by tracking weight, body fat, and other metrics so that can offer you a clearer picture of your progress. And so together, these devices provide real time data that can improve the accuracy of your macro adjustments, whether or not you need an adjustment or how much you need them adjusted, making your tracking efforts more precise and effective over time, especially if you’re using them long term. Let’s talk some pros of those wearables and smart devices for macro tracking. So first we’re going to talk about the calorie burn estimates. Fitness trackers like Apple Watch, Fitbit and Garmin provide detailed estimates keyword there of how many calories you burn throughout the day, through your activities, through your workout.
Emily Field 00:18:20 It can help ensure that your calories and macro goals are aligned with your actual energy expenditure. Because remember, when we estimate your calorie and macro needs, we’re doing so with great formulas. But again, they’re just formulas. We have absolutely no idea how many calories you are burning on a daily basis, and your wearable doesn’t either. So we’re working with best case estimations or professionally based estimations, I would say. But no, there’s absolutely no way that we could accurately know how many calories you’re burning exactly on every single day. So we’ve got to let that piece go. But these wearables can help make it a little bit better. You can have that clearer picture of how much you’re burning or how much you’re moving, and see that integration with your macro tracking app, which may inform adjustments or even like a total overhaul of your macro targets and calorie goals, because you see that you are definitely not eating enough for your activity level or eating far too much for your activity level. For example, many people love that there is seamless integration with your food tracking app.
Emily Field 00:19:27 So, you know, many people love that their wearables sync with MyFitnessPal and Cronometer, for example. And this integration allows for automatic updates. If you have this turned on, automatic updates to your calorie burn, your steps per day, and workouts and that could simplify the tracking process. If you really like to see that integrated in the context of macro tracking and staying on top of your health goals, having a fitness tracker or using a smart device can give you some real time feedback, which can help you stay consistent. I’ve definitely spent my fair amount of time wearing an Apple Watch, took some significant time off from wearing an Apple Watch, and now I’m wearing a Whoop strap. I would say that having something like that does provide me with some real time feedback, and I am more motivated to make adjustments today or tomorrow based on what I’ve seen in the days prior. I also have a lot more context for why I might feel the way I do. I’m feeling particularly tired and if I look back on my trends, I can see that I’ve been super, super active and my heart rate’s been in a higher zone, something like that.
Emily Field 00:20:34 I do find that if you are the same way, maybe wearing something like that can be highly motivating. We lumped the wearables and the smart devices together, but when it comes to data collection, using a smart scale can be really helpful for you. If you are strength training or you’re more concerned with body composition change more so than weight, this can be a really awesome tool for you. If you are fed up with using scale weight as a measure of progress. Maybe you’ve heard me talk about this a hundred times at least, and know that it’s absolutely different to be looking at body fat percentage, muscle mass, you know, hydration, things like that. Your smart scale can provide that more comprehensive data, much more so than just like a simple scale weight. So we’ve been especially women have been programmed to think that a lower weight is better and you are a better person if you are a lower, lighter scale weight. But we don’t know what that weight really is comprised of unless we’re using something like a smart scale and you can do this at home.
Emily Field 00:21:37 There are smart scales that integrate with all of your devices, including your wearables, including your apps. And so you can have a more comprehensive understanding of what that weight means. And if you’re trending in the direction you want to, are you seeing your body fat percentage come down the way you want to or what you intended? Are you seeing your muscle mass trend higher over time because you’re lifting? That can be really, really helpful, especially if we’re looking at this long term. Seeing day to day changes is probably you’re probably over relying on that device if you’re looking at it from day to day. But if we are comparing where we’re at right now to three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago, that can be pretty powerful information and really indicate to you that you’re putting your time and energy into the right activities. You’re getting the results that you intended. Love it or hate it? These wearables and smart devices often have features that remind you to stay active to, you know, get up from your chair.
Emily Field 00:22:32 Maybe you set daily challenges or weekly challenges. Sometimes there’s integration with friends, and that can be really powerful for sticking with your goals long term. So wearables can provide that sense of achievement, and that can boost motivation and help you just stick with those habits long term. So I’m going to count this as a con for now. Obviously, getting reminded that you are behind on your step goal, or that you’re not burning as many calories as you were last week can be kind of annoying. I will say by and large, especially if you’re new to the tech and you’re really interested in making these changes to your health and lifestyle, having those reminders can probably keep your head in the game a lot longer than if you didn’t have them. So I’m going to count it as a pro. So you knew this was coming. But let’s talk about some of the cons of those wearables and smart devices, especially in the context of macro tracking. You probably knew this was coming, but wearables provide those calorie estimates of the calorie burn.
Emily Field 00:23:26 But those figures can be pretty inaccurate, especially for activities that don’t involve consistent movement. So for example weightlifting. So relying too heavily on these numbers can lead to overestimating or underestimating your calorie intake. I would probably never actually I would never use that wearable as a reason or the calorie burn estimate from those wearables to indicate how many calories I needed per day. I might use it to inform whether or not I’m low or high, or I’m near the target. Something like that. More often than not, we’re going to use our professionally developed formulas to estimate your calories burn and your estimated needs, and then we might use the wearable to maybe inform that and adjust it a little bit higher, a little bit lower, if at all. Okay. So a lot of times I’m not using that information at all. So if you’re on this journey alone and you’re simply using a smart device or a wearable to inform how many calories you need, you might be doing yourself a big disservice. So just caution there. Sometimes that constant flow of data from fitness trackers and smart skills can lead to information overload.
Emily Field 00:24:34 So instead of simplifying tracking, it can become overwhelming to manage multiple metrics and inputs. You’re already keeping track of your food, you’re already doing a fair amount of meal planning and prepping and forward thinking in your day and your week. Sometimes just having that extra load of data is just not good. So this is just, again, another word of caution. Maybe it’s not for you. Maybe having a wearable and smart device is not for you if it’s going to cause that data overload. And this probably goes without saying, but there’s definitely a risk of becoming too dependent on tech for tracking, potentially leading to a loss of connection with your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. If we’re focusing too much on the numbers that can sometimes detract from mindful eating or paying attention to how that meal made you feel, again at the bottom of the, you know, the kind of macro tracking I’m advocating for and the stuff that we teach our clients is we want this to help inform future choices. We wanted to help color in some details about why you might be feeling the way that you do, but if tracking that information leads to a loss of connection with those qualitative metrics that are important, then we have completely lost the plot here.
Emily Field 00:25:45 So I want to talk a little bit about some meal planning and recipe apps that can be game changers for anyone tracking macros as they simplify the process of planning meals that align with your nutrition goals. So here’s a review of three planning apps that I have tried and used myself. So the first is meal Lime. It’s m e a l I’m. This is essentially a meal planning app that helps you create personalized meal plans based on your dietary preferences, your allergies, and your macro target so you can set calorie and macro targets. And the app will suggest meals that fit within those guidelines. Then it can also generate a shopping list based on the meals that you choose. Making grocery shopping a bit more efficient. The second app is paprika, and this is more of a recipe organizer than a specific macro tracking app, but it allows you to store, organize, and create meal plans from saved recipes so you can import those recipes from the web, things that you like or bloggers that you follow, things like that, and then manually adjust the portion sizes to fit your macro targets.
Emily Field 00:26:50 So while it doesn’t calculate macros for you, it offers some flexibility for those who prefer to enter their own recipes or get inspiration from the internet. Lastly is Eat This Much. Eat This Much is a meal planning app specifically designed to help people who really care about calorie and macro targets. So you input your desired macros and the app generates meal plans, recipes, and grocery lists to fit those goals so you can adjust the portion sizes and customize meals based on your food preferences or specific diet. So, for example, if you’re a keto or your vegan or something like that, and I would say that a lot of these apps, if used correctly, are going to help you reduce the mental load of tracking, because one of the biggest challenges with tracking is figuring out what to eat that fits your daily targets, especially if you, like have no background on food education. You don’t know which macros are contained within each food, so these apps can take away that guesswork by generating meal plans that either align directly with your macros or can be easily customized to do so.
Emily Field 00:27:53 So by simplifying the meal planning, creating grocery lists, and offering easy to follow recipes, these tools reduce the time and effort required to stay on track and probably allow you to focus on execution rather than constant calculation. I will say, if you’re a client of mine and you’re listening to this episode and you’re like wondering why I’ve never talked about these apps, it’s because I feel really strongly that you learn which foods contain which macros, and learn how to mix and match foods to create meals that you like and that your family likes, versus having somebody else do the work for you. I really do feel strongly that there is power in playing in the sandbox, if you will, playing around with connections and combinations and swaps and things like that, and getting to a place where you can confidently do this on your own. The ultimate goal here is not to create a robot lifetime macro tracker. You should be able, especially after some months of practice with this, to enter most situations where you can build a meal that fits your needs or at least gets close, you’ll know the difference between a day that you really nailed your macros and a day that you didn’t, because you know how good it feels to be well fueled.
Emily Field 00:29:12 And if you’re over relying on a website like the ones I’ve just listed, you’re probably missing out on those, like, body cues. You’re over relying on somebody else to tell you what to eat instead of you really nurturing that decision making skill yourself. I mean, I’ve probably said this before, but like, anyone can follow through on a plan, but when it’s your own and when you’re kind of constantly asking yourself what? Well, what didn’t go well, what would I choose to do in the future? You’re constantly like, re analyzing and reworking the kinks and stuff like that. You’re going to be just a lot better off, a lot more confident in any situation that you’re presented with. So while they could be a great tool for the person that is in decision fatigue, certainly go ahead, cut the corner, use the apps. But an overreliance especially do this on a daily basis or even multiple times weekly. It’s not necessary to be successful at tracking macros, and it might even be a negative.
Emily Field 00:30:12 It might not even be teaching you what you really need to learn from this experience. Okay, so the last tool I want to talk about that might help automate your system of tracking macros is using something like Google Assistant or Siri can help with your macro tracking or making like a seamless macro tracking experience. So that might work like an integration. So, for example, MyFitnessPal can integrate with Google Assistant through Google Home device or your phone. You can use voice commands to log meals, check your macros, or even add specific foods. So for example, you might say, Hey Google, log my breakfast with my Fitness Pal, or Hey Google, add chicken breast to my lunch on my Fitness Pal. I believe that this integration will become better over time, but it might not allow for complex logging. So like specific portions or exact macros. Or it may require some premium features for full functionality. But I think that this is a really cool direction that many of the apps could go in. But even if you do not have that Google Assistant integration within the app, there are still several ways that you could use voice assistance with macro tracking.
Emily Field 00:31:24 So, for example, you could set reminders to log meals at specific times. So you could say, remind me to log my macros at 6 p.m.. You could use the hands free commands to open up your tracking app, potentially saving you time. You could look up macro information about a specific food you know Hey Google, Hey Siri, how many grams of protein are in five ounces of skinless chicken breast? Or how many grams of Greek yogurt would I need to eat in order to get 25g of protein? Something like that. I could also see you using like a voice assistant to figure out an average number of calories in macros contained in a restaurant meal. So this is something that really stops people up. Sometimes they don’t know how to estimate for a restaurant, especially if that restaurant doesn’t have a public menu or like nutrition information online. So you could ask Google, what is an average calorie and macro information for a Caesar salad with parmesan cheese, croutons and chicken breast. What is the average calorie and macros for that? So you can get kind of a ballpark range for what you could be anticipating for an environment or for a meal like that.
Emily Field 00:32:32 So again, use this technology to your advantage. You don’t necessarily have to look at the food database to find the answers. You could look straight to Google and try to find an answer that way. And that might help ease tracking fatigue or decision making when it comes to logging your food. Okay, so now I’m going to run through several kitchen tools and gadgets that I think might improve your macro tracking consistency. So this is going to be kind of like rapid fire. But obviously the first one I have to mention is a digital food scale. So if you’re trying to be out here tracking macros, using your hands, your eyeballs, measuring cups and spoons and no digital food scale at all, I think you’re going to be in a world of hurt and you’re going to burn out fairly quickly. Your accuracy and that food tracking will be lacking. So I really don’t have a favorite brand. People ask me this all the time. They’re all very much the same when it comes to those digital food scales.
Emily Field 00:33:30 I’m looking for something that has a flat surface that’s easy to wipe down. I’m looking for something that toggles very easily between grams ounces, milliliters, maybe even pounds. Some of these smaller digital food scales might not be able to handle heavier weight. So if you’re doing like bulk recipes a lot, maybe you want something that’s a little bit bigger, a little bit more sturdier. But again, there are very little differences across the board. So I don’t have a very specific brand. I would go to Target or Amazon and find something that kind of fits your needs based on the reviews and what people are saying they’re using it for, and their capabilities across the different measuring units, but also like how much weight it can handle if you don’t already have a great set of measuring cups and spoons. This would be the time to get it when you start tracking macros. It’s great for measuring liquids and dry ingredients. It’s not necessarily going to be as precise as a digital food scale, but sometimes there’s just like situations where you don’t want to use the food scale.
Emily Field 00:34:33 So having a set that’s full, I don’t know how many moves I’ve been through where I lose a random half teaspoon or tablespoon measuring spoon somewhere. Having a complete set is a game changer. I just want to make sure that you can easily find it easily access it, especially for those situations where you just want to do one scoop of that, one scoop of this and move on. You might consider getting some meal prep containers when you’re tracking macros. Maybe you’re making double or triple of a recipe and you need to save those leftovers for later. I love a glass lock container. They’re perfect for portioning out meals for the week. That might help you just stick to your macro targets for a couple days in a row, because you can pre log the portion. You know exactly what you’re having. You can eat around it for the rest of the day. And those glass containers are usually pretty durable. They’re reusable and they’re microwave safe. You might be interested in getting a blender or food processor. There are several reasons why you might want to do a liquid versus a solid when it comes to meal time.
Emily Field 00:35:33 I think a lot of people in the morning might not have an appetite, so putting a bunch of macro, rich, real food ingredients together, throwing it in a blender, and making a smoothie can be a great way for you to hit your macro targets, especially early in the morning, and not get super, super full. Or maybe just simply don’t have time. You don’t have time to cook in the morning. There’s too much going on, but you can manage to put something together in a blender and sip on it over the course of an hour and really get that good nutrition in when you’re busy and on the go. I’m loving an Instant Pot, a slow cooker and air fryer, all three. A mix of two, maybe just one. All three have their place in meal planning for tracking macros, for example with a crock pot. You can cook in large quantities. You can control the ingredients. You could make a recipe out of what you put in the crock pot, and then divide that recipe by however many servings you get.
Emily Field 00:36:28 It could be a really great way that you pre log your diary for days ahead of time. Something like a roast or a pork shoulder or tenderloin or something like that could be really great in the crock pot and save you a lot of time because you’re prepping it in the morning or the mid afternoon for something later to eat in the day. I personally have not used my crock pot since getting an Instant Pot. There’s a lot of ways that you can use an Instant Pot, but I am typically using it for that large quantity of food. You know, cooking bulk ahead of time. I’m usually using it to batch cook proteins, so I’ll do something like chicken breast or chicken thighs, and then I’ll leave them pretty plain. But then I will season them or add sauces to them to make them form into a delicious meal some other time in the week. So I’m again, I’m leaving things pretty plain in the Instant Pot, but then it takes shape and it takes on whatever flavors I decide to pair with it later on in the week.
Emily Field 00:37:26 You may not know this, but you can also do like rice or hard boiled eggs in an Instant Pot, so this can be another way to batch cook multiple ingredients in a very short amount of time. Because of that pressure cooking ability, it’s going to speed up everything. So something that might have taken a couple hours on the stovetop is really down to like 15 or 20 minutes or even less in the Instant Pot because of that added pressure. And lastly, is that air fryer? I love my air fryer, and I think for most people it just offers a healthier cooking option. You’re using less oil, which is going to help you control your fat consumption while still enjoying like a crispy texture in your food. So thinking about like potatoes Or breakfast meats, or reheating something from frozen or reheating leftovers, something like that. So while the microwave might make for something to be really soggy, and airfryer really does keep things much more crisp and appetizing, and when you’re possibly eating some of the same foods over and over again because you enjoy them, or because they help you get to your targets more easily, having an air fryer to preserve or protect that crispiness can be a real game changer.
Emily Field 00:38:40 A couple of honorable mentions here. I was going to say Spiralizer. I know this had like a heyday, maybe like 5 to 7 years ago, but a spiralizer is a device that helps you create low carb vegetable noodles. So you would take like a zucchini or a yellow squash or sweet potatoes, and you would rotate it on this spiralizer and it would make ribbons. And that essentially can help you reduce your carb intake while still enjoying pasta like dishes. So if you’re really trying to cut down on carbs, or you’re trying to get more vegetables into your day. Maybe a spiralizer is a way that you can creatively do that last couple here that might help you minimize the need for excess oils or contribute less to your fat targets would be maybe some nonstick cookware. So if you’re not using oil or butter to cook your food in in a pan because it’s nonstick, you might be saving on calories from fat there. You might also consider an oil mister or sprayer. So this is a device that helps make the oil that you use when you cook a lot more fine.
Emily Field 00:39:45 So you would use less when you’re cooking. So it just allows for controlled use of oils, which again might contribute less to your overall calorie intake from fat. And I think this is probably a case by case basis if you need it. If you’re somebody that has found through macro tracking that you really overconsume fat and it’s really contributing to your calorie intake, or you want to spend your fat macros on something more than what you cook with, then something like this might be up your alley. I’m typically just buying a spray, avocado oil or a spray coconut oil and just doing a fine mist over my starchy and non-starchy vegetables if I’m roasting or air frying them. And that has just been good for me. But if you’re somebody that likes different kinds of oil or you want to experiment here, you really want to control the amount of oil that you put on your food and really hold back on that fat or control that fat intake, then maybe a mist or oil sprayer would be right for you. So we talked about a lot of stuff.
Emily Field 00:40:48 In today’s episode. We explored how various tools, technology, and gadgets can streamline and enhance your macro tracking efforts, from fitness trackers to smart scales to meal planning apps to dedicated macro tracking platforms, these innovations offer both convenience and accuracy, helping you stay consistent and track your nutrition goals. However, it’s important to strike a balance. While technology can simplify the process, overreliance on it can disconnect you from your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. Ultimately, the key is finding the right combination of tools that fit your lifestyle and get you tracking the data that is actually important to you. The tools, the tech, the gadgets should enable you to track your macros more efficiently and probably more importantly, sustain your progress in the long term. Thank you so much for listening to the Macros Made Easy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the one you’re listening to right now to share it on your Instagram Stories, and tag me at Emily Field so that more people can find this podcast and learn how to use a macros approach in a stress free way.
Emily Field 00:41:52 If you love the podcast, head over to iTunes and leave me a rating and a review. Remember, you can always find more free health and nutrition content on Instagram and on my website at emilyfieldRD.com. Thanks for listening and I’ll catch you on the next episode.