What are macronutrients?
Macronutrients or macros are nutrients that occur in large (hence: macro) quantities and provide energy for our body.
Macronutrients are divided into 3 groups. They do not all provide the same amount of energy:
- Carbohydrates provide 17kJ (4 kcal) per gram
- Fats provide 38kJ (8kcal) per gram
- Proteins provide 17kJ (4 kcal) per gram
Carbohydrates and fats are the main suppliers of energy. Proteins provide important building blocks, after being broken down into amino acids.
In addition to macronutrients you also have micronutrients.
How much of each macronutrient do I need?
You can distribute your macros in various ways.
The High Health Council of Belgium recommends the following ratio for everyone from age 3:
- minimum 55% carbohydrates, with the share of added sugars at most 10%
- maximum 30% fats
- approximately 10-15% proteins
You can also distribute your macros by goal or by body type.
All these methods work with a percentage of your total energy needs, but that is actually somewhat outdated, especially for people who exercise a lot. They have a much higher energy need, but do not have a proportionally higher protein need. You can read about the optimal macro distribution in the following article:
Bart Vandenbussche is passionate about sport and never shies away from a sporting challenge. He has run several marathons (including sub-3h), is an Iron+Ultra Viking, and currently has the Hyrox bug.
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