Often when I start someone on the road to a healthy diet, I give them macronutrient guidelines. Like keep your protein, carbs and fat at so and so a level.

I usually also discuss with them carb cycling and that they want to try to make the mainstays of their diet protein and vegetables.

I then let them go on their way.

I don’t want to create too many rules or develop too many restrictive guidelines because that just leads to people giving up (aka cheating and then not recording what they eat).

So I give them these very basic guidelines (hit these macronutrient intake numbers and focus on eating whole natural foods) and send them on their way for the first few weeks.

What I find most interesting is what many people have been coming back with…And not only what they come back with but also their surprise and frustration at WHY they aren’t losing weight.

It is very interesting to see that most people ignore the WHOLE NATURAL FOODS part and get super caught up in simply hitting the numbers.

Actually they use the numbers as an excuse to eat bad…”Well I’m still under calories for the day so I can have these Oreos.” Or “I’m under my carbs for the day so this burrito with this huge flour tortilla is fine.”

UHM…NO.

I know If It Fits Your Macros has become a very popular diet program, and while I think it is a great program with a ton of benefits, I do believe that QUALITY MATTERS when it comes to food.

If you ask a person right now if carbs from these two things are equal, they will say no. Yet then why do so many people excuse their crappy carbs because their calorie intake is low or their macronutrient numbers are good? QUALITY MATTERS!

I mean carbs from fruit and carbs from a flour tortilla might all add up under your macronutrients as CARBS, but their nutritional breakdown is far from the same.

Even ground beef has a very different nutritional breakdown if it is Grass-fed or grain-fed.

I mean just think about GMO vs. non-GMO corn! One is way better for you than the other!

And I firmly believe that the more chemicals, the more processed CRAP we put in our bodies, the less efficiently they run.

So while macros create great guidelines, and I firmly believe in keeping your daily basic intake of carbs to under 150 grams (and even under 100 grams if you are really trying to lose weight), I do believe that not all carbs are created equal. Not all fat, all protein is created equal.

As I’m saying this, I know many of you are also shaking your heads in agreement. You know there are bad fats. You know that sugars are bad for you.

Yet you are the ones that eat prepackaged burger patties or only eat pre-made meals from the grocery store and expect great results just because you are fitting your macros!

All those ingredients that you can’t pronounce on those labels are BAD FOR YOU! That prepackaged salad with that prepackaged balsamic and the ingredients to preserve it isn’t going to be the same as a homemade salad.

Yes it might be BETTER than going out and getting a burger and fries made in vegetable oil, but that doesn’t mean it’s GOOD.

Better doesn’t equal good. Yes, better is better, but just being better isn’t always enough.

It is like saying, “Well I did half my homework due for class today. That is better than last time when I only did a quarter of my homework for class.”

Yea doing half is BETTER but it still isn’t good! It still isn’t going to get you that great grade!

Anyway…That is my rant.

All of this, diet and exercise and reaching your fitness goals, all comes down to one thing – Whether or not we make excuses for ourselves.

I mean come on…We all KNOW basically what we have to do to lose weight and be healthy. We all KNOW we should eat whole natural foods.

Yet we all find ways to make excuses for why we can’t do that. Or why what we are doing should work even though we are skipping the most basic principle to healthy living.

We all make excuses for ourselves and it has got to stop if we want results.

QUALITY MATTERS.

Heck be it quality of food or quality of exercise, QUALITY MATTERS if we want to be healthy.

So stop making excuses. Stop making things more difficult on yourself.

If you want results, QUALITY MATTERS!