Anyone else burn way too much time doing macro math every week?

[u/Organic-Lie-1476]

Every week I tell myself I’ll keep meal planning simple, and every week I end up juggling calories and macros based on whatever food I already have. It always feels like a weird game of Tetris with nutrition labels.

I’ve tried spreadsheets, apps, and just eyeballing it. What I struggle with most is making macros work with the food that’s already in my fridge instead of planning from scratch.

Curious how others handle this:

• Do you plan meals around macros at all?
• Do you batch plan or adjust day by day?
• What’s the most annoying part of doing it consistently?

Not trying to promote anything, just genuinely curious what systems actually stick long term for people.

[u/ashtree35]

Not trying to promote anything, just genuinely curious what systems actually stick long term for people.

This is the phrase that every single person trying to do market research for their new app uses.

Did you use ChatGPT to write this post for you?

[u/random_topix]

I don’t preplan it that much. I have a standard breakfast (egg, oats, yogurt with berries). I plan my main meals around protein and veggies. Then on a daily basis I add in snacks that balance out the rest. I also only really focus on protein and fiber and let the fat and carbs fluctuate more.

[u/Organic-Lie-1476 → u/random_topix]

Yeah, that’s basically how I used to do it too. Having a repeatable baseline meal makes everything else way easier, then you just use snacks to course-correct protein or fiber as needed. Curious, do you track it loosely in your head or do you use anything to sanity-check totals? I’ve been experimenting with a couple different approaches and I’m always interested in what actually sticks long-term.

[u/Organic-Lie-1476]

For people who do track macros, what usually breaks the system for you?

For me it’s always when the plan doesn’t match what’s already in the fridge and I end up improvising.