The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

194. Why Protein Isn’t Enough: The Truth About ALL of Your Macros + Why They Matter

• Kristy Castillo

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One of my all-time favorite things to talk about? PROTEIN!


It’s no secret that most people don’t eat enough of it - it takes more intention and planning, and isn’t something most people are snacking on.


While protein is essential and gets a LOT of hype these days, it’s not the whole story when it comes to your nutrition. Carbs and fats matter, too!


It’s super common to see women crushing their protein goals and workouts, but completely ignoring carbs and fats. Honestly, you NEED all 3 macronutrients (proteins, fats, AND carbs). 


When all 3 macros are dialed in, everything clicks. I’ve experienced it on my own journey, and it’s freaking amazing!

 

If you’ve been feeling stuck, or like your body isn’t reflecting all the hard work you’re putting in, it’s time to check in on your carbs and fats. Don’t fall into the trap of just doing “more” - fueling your body correctly can truly change the game + bring you sustainable results on your fitness journey!



In this episode, we cover:

  • Why you’re crushing protein & workouts, but missing the mark with carbs & fats
  • Why protein gets ALL the hype + why it matters
  • Why carbs are NOT the enemy + why you need them
  • Why fats are essential for your health and results
  • What happens when you dial in ALL 3 macros
  • Why fueling your body matters more than just “doing more”


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast. I am your host, christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take. Let's go, hey guys, what's?

Speaker 2:

up. Welcome to today's episode. I am really excited about today's episode because we are going to be talking about protein, which is one of my favorite things to talk about in terms of macros, in terms of seeing results, in terms of feelingros, in terms of seeing results in terms of feeling better, feeling more full, like it's just something that a lot of my clients, a lot of people I know, a lot of you listening, don't eat enough of. It's not like, usually we're not snacking on protein, and so it's just something that usually people are lacking in their diet and their nutrition. Because, one, we don't know any better, right? You don't know what you don't know, so that's fine. And then, two, if you're not planning and prepping and making sure you have it on hand, it can be really hard to get in because, again, it's not like the cookies and the chips and the snacks those aren't good sources of protein. So it's not usually something like oh, I'll just grab a snack and get my protein in. You have to prepare and you have to plan for it. So I love to talk about protein, but today we're going to be talking about why protein isn't the whole story and why you also need carbs and fats in your diet, in your nutrition plan, in your day, in your life. Because the reason I want to talk about this is because I have had so many conversations lately with clients, with I've been doing some one-on-one calls with ladies that aren't my clients and seeing how it goes to just kind of do an hour call check-in For ladies, like if you're just listening to this podcast and you're just like, oh, I just want to pick your brain for an hour and let you know, kind of, where I've been and what my goals are. And it's been so, so nice to be able that's not on my site or anything, so you'd have to get a hold of me personally to be able to do that. But I've had some ladies ask and I've been offering and it has been actually fantastic. So I need to get a link out there and get it going for everyone to be able to do, because it's been really, really great and the feedback has has just been fantastic. But when I'm talking to these ladies every single time lately it's just been lately that this has been.

Speaker 2:

Something that I've been noticing is you're crushing it with protein, you're crushing it with workouts, you're understanding macros, you're getting the hang of it and, like I said, you're very, very good with protein but you're ignoring carbs and you are ignoring fats, maybe because you're scared, maybe because you're not sure exactly what the purpose is. You know you're still a little nervous, still a little scared of carbs, still, like I just prioritizing protein. I know my calorie intake and I know that I am really really focused on protein for all the reasons that I say in previous podcasts. You're really really focused on protein and maybe you're even overeating protein and so I've been really stressing the importance lately with clients and on calls, of the importance of carbs and fats. So if you're ignoring carbs and fats but you're crushing it with protein, great job, good start, well done. You're on your way, you are making progress and that's amazing, but we've got a problem because you're going to plateau and there's different reasons.

Speaker 2:

We're going to talk about this episode that you need to focus on carbs and fats. So this is going to be your quick, quick crash course, if you will, on why your body needs all three macronutrients, and I'm just going to kind of shoot it to you straight because it's really important. So I think this short, sweet, spicy Friday episode is just going to be a little crash course on why your body needs carbs and fats and protein to feel strong, energized and unstoppable, which is the actual goal, right, that is the whole freaking point is all of those things. I'm also going to give some macro, um, some simple macro targets today, in this episode, that you can use to start today and start to focus on proteins, fats and carbs. If you're calculating your own macros, you need kind of a guide. Remember, these are just guidelines. It depends on you, your goals, your current journey, the current state of your journey. All these things are negotiable, so to speak. There's not like one exact formula that's going to work for everyone, but I am going to give you some recommended baselines along the way.

Speaker 2:

So why does protein get all the hype? Because it does. It's like a word that everyone's kind of using on social media. It's like get your protein in High protein. We're putting cottage cheese in everything, we're putting Greek yogurt in everything. We're just trying to get protein at like whatever costs, right, and that's great. But it seems to be kind of this buzzword that everybody is increasing protein and making sure that it's at a good place in their diet. But why so? Protein is essential for building and repairing muscle. It is important, for it is essential actually, for supporting a healthy metabolism and it's essential for keeping you full. Those are very, very important things, right? That is why protein gets all the hype, because those things are freaking cool, they're fun, it's not as scary, it's not like increasing your protein isn't as scary as increasing your carbs, because we don't associate protein with weight gain or being overweight. Right?

Speaker 2:

The recommended baseline for protein is one gram of protein per pound of your goal body weight. A lot of times I hear people say one gram of protein for your body, your current body weight, but if you're sitting at 200 pounds and you want to be, I'm just going to use 150 pounds as a goal weight for this episode. Yours can be completely different, but if you're sitting at 200 pounds and your goal weight is 150 pounds, please consume that 150 grams of protein. I'm going to fuck up these words today because I get so confused with grams and pounds and all the things, but I think the goal weight, that has worked for me, that has worked for my clients and that is what I stick with. So one gram of protein per pound of your goal body weight. If you're at your goal body weight. I stick with. So one gram of protein per pound of your goal body weight. If you're at your goal body weight, then consume that.

Speaker 2:

But it's not the only macronutrient that matters. Okay, it's not the only player. That's in effect here. The other players carbs and fats are just as important. Why carbs are not the enemy is because carbs are fuel for your workouts, your brain and your hormones. You will get more out of your workouts. You will get more out of your recovery. You will actually change the look of your body and how you feel if you consume carbs.

Speaker 2:

Without carbs, you feel tired, you feel foggy and just like blah, you feel sluggish. Lifting feels harder, recovery sucks. You're freaking, just hungry. It's annoying. You cut out all the foods that you love. That's annoying. Your muscles literally store carbs as glycogen and this helps you lift heavier, it helps you perform better and it helps you build strength.

Speaker 2:

Eating carbs does not mean weight gain. Overeating overall. Overall overeating means weight gain. So if you are still within your macros, increasing your carbs is a beautiful thing. You absolutely need to do that. Your target for your carbs is 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of your goal body weight. So if your goal is 150 pounds. You need to aim for 150 to 225 grams per day, depending on your activity level. To go back up here, if your goal is, like I said, 150 pounds, then you should be consuming 150 grams of protein. This is 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Start on the low end and see how you feel, and then you can always increase or start on the high end and if you do gain a little weight over six weeks and you don't like it, cut back, you can always take it out. You can always change it. Okay, but just start increasing your carbs by a little bit and see where you are.

Speaker 2:

Reminder carbs include fruits, rice, oats, proteins. Yes, bread Bread is totally fine to eat. Okay, those are the carbs I would like you to use to increase your carb macronutrients. Yes, of course you can have processed carbs too cookies, things like that but make sure the bulk of it is coming from fruits, rice, oats, potatoes and bread. Yes, yes, bread. Okay, rice cakes, whatever. Make sure that you are just increasing them little by little with those items first, before you just start overeating on Oreos and calling it carbs. Yes, that is for my benefit as much as it is for yours.

Speaker 2:

Why fats are crucial. Fats support hormone health. Hello, estrogen, cortisol. We need that now more than ever, ladies. They support fats support brain function, joint health, mood and skin. Going too low in your fats can mess with your cycle, it can mess with your energy and it can mess with your weight loss. So you do not want to be under eating fats. This is not about greasy fast food, okay, it's not just like overeating and fattening food. It's fats. Think avocado, think olive oil, think egg yolks, nuts, some dairy, you know things like that.

Speaker 2:

The target for fats is 0.3 to 0.4 grams per pound. So if your goal is 150 pounds, you're going to aim for 45 to 60 grams per fat a day. Remember there is nine calories per gram for fats. So nine calories per gram, yes, for fats. I want to make sure I say that right, so it adds up quickly. That's why that's a lot lower than carbs and protein is, because it's twice as many calories. So it's all about balance.

Speaker 2:

Okay, you wanna make sure, like everything else in your fitness journey, that you are balanced. This is no different, no different. So if you were someone out there listening to this and you're like, yeah, I really just prioritize protein and then kind of let the rest fall where they may, and I'm kind of scared of carbs and I have a lot of clients that start with me on Fit Club, on my app, and I'm looking through their food logs when they first begin and they're really under eating carbs and it's okay because, again, you don't know what you don't know and maybe you're afraid of them and we all have this history of food situations. But it's now that you know, now that you've heard this episode, you know that you need all three. The great thing is when you dial in all three, when you say, okay, I'm just going to trust Christy on this. She's not led me astray yet. She balances her macros. She eats carbs, fats, proteins. She looks okay, if you will. You know like she's doing it, her clients are doing it.

Speaker 2:

When all three are dialed in, you feel good, you get stronger and your body actually changes. Okay, this is what I really wanna drill home here. And, of course, like I said, this is a crash course. So I just I'm drilling it home here and saying you have got to have all three, you have got to start getting in some carbs, you have got to trust me and eat some potatoes and eat some rice cakes and eat some jasmine rice, and clients that I've worked with that I've said eat some jasmine rice. You're listening right now thinking, yep, she's told me that before you have to. Okay, trust me, you're going to be fine eating a half cup of rice per day. Like it's fine, you're going to be okay. Not only are you going to be okay, but those things I just listed you're going to feel good. Hello, who doesn't want to feel good? You're going to get freaking stronger because this energizes you to be able to get through your workout, to be able to lift more.

Speaker 2:

With creatine. Please take creatine also, if it's okay with your doctor and if you're healthy enough to check into all that, but most people are. Creatine will also help you to be able to lift heavier, to become more strong, faster, but so will carbs. So if you're just going to like be afraid of carbs and start taking creatine, good, but also you need to eat freaking carbs. I cannot stress this enough. Your body needs all three macros. Your body will actually change. This is how you go from just working out to actually seeing results.

Speaker 2:

This happened to me and it was a freaking game changer. Okay, freaking game changer. I started to look like, oh, she lifts weights. People started to notice I started to look like oh, she lifts weights. People started to notice. I started to notice I feel good, I'm seeing muscle definition because I'm eating a balance of these fats, carbs and protein, not just focusing on protein, being like, oh, I got my protein in for the day, so I'm just going to eat shit for the rest of the day, or I'm not going to eat the rest of the day because protein is the quote-unquote most important.

Speaker 2:

If you've hit a plateau, look at your carbs and fats. If you work out constantly but you don't look like you work out, or you're not able to progressively overload and lift more weight, or lift more weight for more reps, check your carbs and fats. I guarantee that is what's holding you back. So, to kind of wrap this up and I feel like I need to keep yakking about this, there's so many different points I could still make about this and maybe I will do another episode about this. Let me know in the comments if on Spotify. If you love this and you want more of this topic, please let me know always if you want more of a topic, because I'm happy to record these for you and then I don't have to think of a topic and I know it's gonna help you and I'll post this on my Instagram post too, on ChrisCasioFit or on the Unpack your Fitness podcast page. I always post over there kind of a recap of the episodes.

Speaker 2:

But the daily sorry, the quick macro cheat sheet, the daily targets one gram of protein per pound of your goal body weight. Carbs is one to one and a half grams per pound of your goal body weight, and fats is 0.3 to 0.4 grams of your goal body weight in pounds. So take your goal body weight, divide it out and get somewhere within those macros. Adjust based on activity, adjust based on how you feel and adjust based on your you feel and adjust based on your results. Literally, this is all for you. Okay, those are just guidelines, but they're pretty damn good guidelines, if I do say so myself. So don't be afraid of carbs, don't be afraid of fats, don't only rely on protein, because that will only get you so far.

Speaker 2:

If you, like I said, if you've been plateauing, you feel run down, you feel like you're just kind of doing the work but not seeing the results. Maybe you were in the beginning. It might not be a workout issue. It might be a fuel issue. That happens a lot of like. I need to maybe change up my workouts. Things aren't really working the way that they were. I feel like I need to lift heavier. I feel like I need to add cardio. I feel like I need to write do more, do more, do more. No, maybe check your carbs and your fats and see where you are there, because fueling your body gosh.

Speaker 2:

I wish I could explain how important that is for, like I said, your hormone health, your brain health, your all of that plus, you know, fitness wise. Changing your body, like fueling your body, is so important and it's something that we need to talk about and we need to take more seriously. Honestly, you don't always need to do more. Sometimes you need to eat more carbs and fats. So I hope this was very helpful. A little crash course, christy Castillo style, into why, if you are focusing on your protein and you're obsessed with it great, fantastic, congratulations, love that for you, proud of you. Now let's get a little more focused and obsessed with adding in carbs and fats, because they're just as freaking important, and I don't know why. I know why because carbs are a little easier to get than the proteins. But I don't know why. It's just all of a sudden that we've just been focused on protein, so I hope this was so freaking helpful and I will talk to you in the next episode.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at ChristyCastillo Fit. I will see you next time. Bye.