Welcome to the weekly r/Nutrition feature post for questions related to your personal diet and circumstances. Wondering if you are eating too much of something, not enough of something, or if what you regularly eat has the nutritional content you want or need? Ask here.
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How do I interpret macronutrient recommendations?
I’m an intuitive eater and am going to track my calories to see how it lines up. As I evaluate my calorie intake, should I expect it to vary each day based on activity or should I expect to eat a more consistent amount throughout the week? If the latter, what’s the reasoning behind that?
More info in case its helpful.
I’m generally an intuitive eater (Mediterranean style diet) and am in lean shape. I am training endurance and strength for traithlons and general exercise, I want to make sure my intuitive eating meets the needs of my activity level.
I used a few online sites to look at macro suggestions for my level of activity per week. One thing that confuses me, is how the recommendations are averaged over the week. I’ve always thought that I need to eat slightly more on active days and slightly less on inactive days. On an inactive day, I am burning between 2000-2500 calories depending on how much I walk. On an active day, I am between 3000-3500 depending on how much I train. On long runs/swims/rides that can get to 4k+. The recommendations range from an average of 2900-3500/day. Probably because they interpreted my activity level differently.
Again, I’m not wedded to any specific number (I’m going to intuitively eat and see how the calories add up). Just wondering about higher/lower vs averaging the calorie intake.