Four Habits to Focus On Before Tracking Macros
By now, you've likely heard of "tracking macros" in the world of health and nutrition.
But what does that actually mean?
At its core, macronutrient tracking is a more advanced nutrition strategy beyond just calorie counting.
It's often used to improve body composition, decrease body fat, increase energy, and define muscle mass.
Macronutrients include three components we need in large amounts for survival:
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Protein, which supports muscle repair and recovery, along with a healthy, functioning immune system
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Carbohydrates, which provide a combination of quick and sustained energy, support muscle building, spare muscle loss, protect your thyroid, increase serotonin, help regulate digestion, and maintain regular bowel movements
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Fats, which support hormone production, help maintain body temperature, and play a key role in overall cellular health
When you track macros, you’re usually following specific targets for each of these based on your body, your goals, and your activity level.
And for the right person, at the right time, it can be incredibly effective.
But here’s what most people don’t realize:
Even if you’re eating “healthy”…
Even if you’re eating whole foods…
Even if your calories and macros are exactly the same…
When you eat those foods and how you space your meals can completely change how your body responds.
In other words, you could have two identical days of eating the same foods, same portions, same calories, same macros...
And get completely different results.
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Different energy
Different cravings
Different sleep
Different fat loss response
That's because your body doesn’t just respond to what you eat.
It responds differently to timing of habits, circadian rhythm, and hormone production, including:
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When you start your day with food
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When you stop eating at night
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How much time goes between your meals
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Where you consume your food
Yes, even where you eat matters.
We have science-backed research showing that eating outside in natural daylight reduces blood sugar from spiking especially with meals containing carbohydrates, while eating indoors under artificial blue light spikes glucose higher with the same exact meal.
All of these factors directly impact your blood sugar, your cortisol, your insulin, and your ability to actually use food for energy instead of storing it as body fat.
And this becomes even more important as we get older, especially for women.
As estrogen declines, women's bodies are more sensitive to stress.
That means we're more sensitive to blood sugar swings and disruptions in circadian rhythms.
Even if our calories and macronutrients are balanced, we can't start our day with coffee anymore, fast or graze for hours, cram most of our food in the second half of the day, and expect to feel good or maintain a healthy body composition.
That's why it can feel so maddening to be "doing everything right on paper", but still feel so stuck.
This is the part that most macro calculators and typical macro coaches don’t account for.
They give you numbers.
But they don’t teach you the foundational habits that regulate your hormones and determine whether those numbers actually work, the same ones we focus on inside Awaken Foundations.
So before you think about tracking macros…
Here are 4 habits you can focus on first:
1) Regulating the hormones that control your appetite
If your hunger feels unpredictable, intense, or all over the place, you likely won't be able to stick to your set macronutrient goals using just willpower.
Especially for women 35 and older, we're now encountering changes in hormones that excess stress (like skipping too many meals) nearly impossible to tolerate.
Some lesser known hormones include:
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Leptin, which signals fullness
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Ghrelin, which drives hunger
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Cortisol, your primary stress hormone
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Insulin, which regulates blood sugar
These hormones are constantly communicating with each other, and when they’re out of sync, everything feels harder:
You feel hungrier than you “should.”
You crave quick energy foods.
You feel like you’re doing everything right… but still struggling.
And what most don’t realize is that these hormones are heavily influenced by light and circadian rhythm, not just food:
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When you wake up and how soon you get sunlight through your eyes and on your skin
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How much artificial light you’re exposed to throughout the day and at night, especially after sunset
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When you start and stop eating
All of this impacts your hunger, your energy, and your ability to regulate your appetite.
If this isn’t in place first, tracking macros will feel like a constant uphill battle.
2) Learning how to build a balanced meal, without tracking
Before you ever plug numbers into an app, it's helpful to understand what a balanced meal actually looks like.
Because most women are either under-eating protein, overdoing fats without realizing it, or not getting enough fiber to support digestion and blood sugar.
A balanced meal includes:
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Protein for muscle, recovery, and satiety
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Carbohydrates for energy and performance
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Fats for hormones and stability
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Fiber for digestion and fullness
And no, this doesn’t mean perfection or measuring everything to the gram right away.
It means building awareness.
Looking at your plate and knowing, “this is going to support my body.”
And just as important as what you eat is how you eat it throughout the day, or meal timing and meal spacing:
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Are you eating enough at each meal to keep you pleasantly full for hours?
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Are you balancing in a way that keeps you out of a post-meal food coma?
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Are you spacing your meals in a way that supports stable blood sugar?
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Are you grazing all day, or creating clear eating windows?
Because even the “perfect” meal, eaten at a different time or in a different pattern, can lead to energy crashes, cravings, and fat storage.
3) Focusing on the most important form of movement first: walking
Before structured workouts, before strength training, before anything else, simply walking is the best place to start any movement practice.
This is the most underrated and irreplaceable form of movement for your metabolism. Walking supports:
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Blood sugar regulation
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Body fat metabolism
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Digestion
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Stress reduction
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Nervous system recalibration
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Emotional regulation and processing
It helps your body actually use the food you’re eating, instead of storing it.
Walking is especially important for women who need much more low intensity movement than men to stimulate oxidation of body fat.
And we find that walking is something most women are either skipping completely or underestimating.
When daily, consistent walking is in place, everything else becomes more effective.
4) Shifting your mindset and expectations
This might be the most important one.
Because if your expectations don’t match how your body actually works, especially as a woman, you’ll likely quit too soon.
Women’s bodies in particular are not linear. They're cyclical.
-
Your weight will fluctuate.
-
Your energy will shift.
-
Your body will respond differently week to week, especially depending on your cycle, stress, and sleep.
And if you don’t understand that, you'll likely...
Think something isn’t working when it actually is.
Second guess yourself.
Change things too quickly.
Fall back into the cycle of starting over.
Sustainable fat loss and body recomposition require a completely different mindset for women:
One that’s rooted in patience, consistency, and understanding, not perfection.
3) Focusing on the most important form of movement first: walking
Before structured workouts, before strength training, before anything else, simply walking is the best place to start any movement practice.
This is the most underrated and irreplaceable form of movement for your metabolism. Walking supports:
-
Blood sugar regulation
-
Body fat metabolism
-
Digestion
-
Stress reduction
-
Nervous system recalibration
-
Emotional regulation and processing
It helps your body actually use the food you’re eating, instead of storing it.
Walking is especially important for women who need much more low intensity movement than men to stimulate oxidation of body fat.
And we find that walking is something most women are either skipping completely or underestimating.
When daily, consistent walking is in place, everything else becomes more effective.
4) Shifting your mindset and expectations
This might be the most important one.
Because if your expectations don’t match how your body actually works, especially as a woman, you’ll likely quit too soon.
Women’s bodies in particular are not linear. They're cyclical.
-
Your weight will fluctuate.
-
Your energy will shift.
-
Your body will respond differently week to week, especially depending on your cycle, stress, and sleep.
And if you don’t understand that, you'll likely...
Think something isn’t working when it actually is.
Second guess yourself.
Change things too quickly.
Fall back into the cycle of starting over.
Sustainable fat loss and body recomposition require a completely different mindset for women:
One that’s rooted in patience, consistency, and understanding, not perfection.
Who Awaken Foundations Is For:
If you feel like you “know all of this", but you’re not doing it consistently…
That's where coaching matters most.
Although I’m a certified nutrition consultant and hormone specialist...
And you'll get access to ask me questions for a total of 5 weeks in our group chat and multiple live calls every week...
I’m also a certified health mindset coach, which means I help you turn what you know into consistent action, in a way that actually works in your life.
Because women don’t create lasting change with willpower or hustle.
We've all been there, and we know that just leads to burnout and the yo-yo cycle.
It starts with belief.
Hope that we can change.
Knowing that we're actually not broken.
And then it’s reinforced through small, aligned actions over time.
If you're new to this work:
You don’t need something more advanced.
You don't need more lab tests and supplements.
You need a starting point that actually works.
And that's exactly what Awaken Foundations is for… for you or someone you know!
Early enrollment is $333 through April 20.
👉 [Join Awaken Foundations by April 20th to save $222]
This is where momentum begins, one small change at a time.
💚 Lisa
NAMS Certified Nutrition Consultant | Quantum Biology, Hormones, and Mindset Certified Specialist
