Macro Flexibility: Why You Shouldn't Eat the Same Way Every Day

Everyone knows you’ve got to hit your macros, right? For athletes — elite and amateur alike — that’s dietary shorthand for the best way to fuel muscle growth, endurance and performance.

But here’s the problem with this approach: a macro-focused diet doesn’t change with you. Not every day will be the same, so does it really make sense that your diet wouldn’t shift either? You could be jet-lagged, or overburdened with work, or maybe you felt so good that you ran twice your planned distance today. All of these variations impact the body differently.

So which works best? Sticking to specific macros? Or allowing a little more flexibility into our eating habits? Let’s pile our plates with knowledge and find out.

Wait, What Are Macros Again?

Benjamin Richardson, nutritional therapy practitioner at London’s Programme Wellness, explains that food is made up of three main categories of nutrients: macronutrients, micronutrients and phytonutrients, with the macros being protein, carbohydrates and fat. Base your diet around that category, the thinking goes, and you’ll support athletic function, recovery and general performance.

All of this is a well-established fitness industry norm. The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans advises that 10 to 35% of the calories in your daily diet should come from protein, 45 to 65% from carbohydrates and 20 to 35% from fat.

For example, 1.4 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram body weight (0.64 to 0.91 grams per pound) is recommended to support development of muscle mass. If you’re fueling for team sports and endurance, anything outside of a ketogenic diet will require a range of 8 to 10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram body weight (3.6 to 4.5 grams per pound).

However, this varies depending on things like your activity levels, body recomposition goals and more. “Sports nutrition gets more precise, dialing in specific recommendations based on bodyweight or target bodyweight and activity level,” says Richardson.

In short, the received wisdom holds that macros are the building blocks of your nutrition. Stick to them and you can’t go wrong. But maybe, by giving it a bit more thought, you can get it a little more right.

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Are Macros Missing Out?

One argument against macro supremacy is that by focusing solely on protein, carbs and fats, you’re missing out on essential nutrients and vitamins. A lot of this good stuff comes from fruits and vegetables, both of which loosely fit into the carbs category. But there’s a branding problem: we’re more likely to equate carbs with things like rice, quinoa, potato and bread, especially if we’re training for sports and looking for slow-digesting, sugar-rich food sources to provide energy.

Richardson isn’t quite as convinced by a macro-only diet. “Macronutrients alone are only taking account of one level of the nutrient hierarchy, omitting micronutrients and phytonutrients,” he says. “It is very possible, even likely, to follow a diet that is insufficient or deficient in micronutrients whilst satisfying macronutrient targets.”

Even the name is confusing. “The reality is that most whole foods provide at least a little of all three macronutrients,” adds Richardson, meaning that being able to label one food as purely a carb or purely a source of fat can be difficult.

One way to ensure you’re getting the good stuff on a macro diet is to up your supplements. Alistair Brownlee, a former Olympic triathlete and co-founder of sports nutrition brand Truefuels, says macros should form a “foundation” of our diets, but that he adds in targeted supplements, including vitamin D3 (when experiencing low levels of sunlight) and omega-3s.

“I’m also experimenting with creatine for performance and cognition,” he adds. “It’s worth considering iron by bloodwork, B12 if plant based, calcium if dairy free, electrolytes after taxing sessions, and protein powder purely for convenience.”

An easier solution? Be conscious of the composition of your chosen macros. Richardson adds that while there are no daily intake targets set for phytonutrients — often found in plants — higher intake of these nutrients can contribute to reduced inflammation, normal immune function, metabolic health, cardiovascular protection, brain health and gut health.

Quality vs. Quantity in Action

To emphasize the point that even the same amount of macros can lead to drastically different outcomes, here are two examples of a daily diet provided by Richardson that offer about 95 grams of protein, 250 grams of carbs and 70 grams of fat.

Standard American Diet:

Breakfast of cereal, milk, orange juice and coffee with sugar
Lunch of turkey and cheese sandwich, potato chips, with a granola bar snack
Dinner of chicken breast, white rice, green beans, bread and butter, with ice cream dessert

Mediterranean-Style Diet:

Breakfast of greek yogurt, mixed berries and walnuts
Lunch of quinoa and chickpea salad with spinach, tomatoes, olives, cucumber, onion, mixed herbs and olive oil dressing, with an apple and almond butter snack
Dinner of grilled salmon with spices and lemon juice, roasted mixed vegetables, sourdough bread and olive oil, with a dessert of high-cocoa chocolate

“While both hit the same macros, the former is low in vitamins, minerals and fiber, and with very few phytonutrients,” Richardson explains. “The latter is high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytonurients, and healthy sources of fats such as polyphenol-rich extra virgin olive oil.”

In other words, while macros are clear on quantity, they often leave quality open to interpretation. And in reality, what we’re eating is more important than how much.

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The Personal Touch

The beauty of the macro system is that it uses math to say If you weigh X and work out Y times a week, you need to consume Z. But that equation is trickier to apply to the human body than most people realize.

Case in point: If you’ve ever followed a nutrition and exercise plan, you’ve probably found yourself unexpectedly exhausted, injured or maybe even mentally fed up with the process. In theory, macros should give us everything we need to support body and mind from a dietary perspective, but it’s rarely that simple.

“The question we should be thinking about is how to implement the best nutrition when sleep, fatigue and training load fluctuate,” says Brownlee, who has lived most of his life on a strict training plan. “Stay flexible but routed in science: keep a protein floor, adjust carbs to the session, let fats balance the rest. Track feedback — bodyweight trends, hunger, session quality, recovery and sleep — and use weekly averages rather than chasing daily perfection, so you stay responsive without flying blind.”

In other words, being a bit looser with your diet while still roughly sticking to the plan is a good approach. An extra bagel might not be part of the plan, but if it fuels better results in the gym, it seems counterintuitive to skip it, right? Sugar might be off the menu, but a few gummy bears before a track workout can make all the difference, fueling long-lasting physical adaptations that surely matter more than being able to hit a certain number in your macro tracking. After all, you’re eating to fuel and perform, not the other way around.

Then there’s the risk of becoming obsessed. In a world where every run, meal and nap is logged, we can all become a bit too hung up on metrics. Richardson cautions that an excessive focus on dietary planning and tracking could lead to disordered eating. At the same time, he maintains that adjusting carbohydrate intake to match planned activity and exercise recovery “is an important tool for any serious athlete.”

“Intuitive eating has strong arguments in its favor,” he says. “These include becoming more mindful about your appetites and hunger, which can lead to a positive, health-supporting relationship with food.”

Beyond Strict Macro Counting

As with anything in the world of fitness, variety is key, with Richardson calling macro plans “just one aspect of a more holistic dietary approach.”

“Take any of the world’s healthiest dietary patterns, such as Mediterranean, Nordic, East African and Okinawan-style diets,” he says. “All of these can be followed while also applying the macronutrient ranges appropriate for a given sport or exercise goal. In other words, start with the top-level dietary pattern, and then apply appropriate macronutrient ranges to it.”

“The ‘best’ plan is whatever you can stick to while still training well,” says Brownlee. “The athlete’s plate (more carbs on hard days, fewer on easy days), hand-portion methods for easy eyeballing, Mediterranean-style eating for long-term health, and simple carb periodization around key sessions often beat strict macro counting.”

So yes, macros are great at giving you a baseline to meet your fitness goals, but you’ll still need to make healthy choices within that framework. And as with everything, you’ll need to give yourself some leeway. If you’re eating to support a love of sport and movement, whatever allows you to perform at your best and feel good while doing it is the right choice.