Macros and Sports Nutrition: The Practical Guide for Your Clients

Macronutrients: the foundation of everything

Sports nutrition rests on three pillars: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Understanding the role of each allows you to build nutritional plans aligned with your clients' goals.

Proteins: the muscular cement

Proteins build and repair muscle tissue. They are essential for every active client.

General recommendations:

Sedentary: 0.8 g/kg body weight
Moderately active (2–3 sessions/week): 1.4–1.7 g/kg
Intense training or muscle gain: 1.8–2.2 g/kg
Cut (caloric deficit): up to 2.4–2.6 g/kg to preserve muscle mass

Best sources: chicken, turkey, eggs, fish, legumes, whey protein.

Carbohydrates: the fuel of performance

Carbohydrates are the primary energy source for intense efforts. Drastically reducing them directly impacts performance and recovery.

Distribution by goal:

Muscle gain: 4–6 g/kg/day — energy for training and protein synthesis
Maintenance: 3–4 g/kg/day
Weight loss: 2–3 g/kg/day — gradual reduction, not total elimination

Timing: prioritise carbohydrates around training (before for energy, after for glycogen recovery).

Fats: hormones and health

Fats don't make you fat — excess calories do. They are essential for hormone production (testosterone in particular) and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K).

Recommended minimum: 0.8–1 g/kg/day, never below.

Quality sources: olive oil, avocado, nuts, salmon, sardines, whole eggs.

Calculating total calories

Before splitting macros, calculate your client's TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure):

BMR (basal metabolic rate) via the Mifflin-St Jeor formula
Activity factor: ×1.2 (sedentary) to ×1.9 (athlete)
Goal adjustment: −300 to −500 kcal for weight loss, +200 to +400 kcal for muscle gain

Classic mistakes to avoid

Cutting carbs to lose fat. Carbohydrates aren't the enemy. Overall caloric surplus is.

Underestimating proteins during a cut. It's precisely when calories drop that proteins should rise, to protect muscle mass.

Ignoring source quality. 2,000 kcal of junk food doesn't produce the same results as 2,000 kcal of whole foods.

How itwu handles client nutrition

In I Train With You, you create meal templates (breakfast, snack, lunch, dinner) with their ingredients and automatically calculated macros. You then assign them to clients according to their plan.

No more Excel spreadsheets. Nutritional plans live in the same tool as training programs.