Protein is one of 3 macronutrients. It is very important when it comes to the maintenance of your body but also growth. In this context, protein is for growth and repair. When you exercise, you strain your muscles into tiny damage, which is why you may feel sore days after. Protein is responsible for repairing these micro tears and in turn making the muscle bigger and stronger. Protein essentially makes you grow.

SOURCES - You can find protein in many many different things. The highest you’ll find are animal products like meat, fish, eggs, milk etc. All you really have to do is check the label for the protein content and you’ll find out.

You need be eating around 1g of protein per lbs of bodyweight everyday if you want to build muscle. A chicken breast for example has 25-30g so if you’re 180lbs, it’s 6 chicken breasts a day.

Carbohydrates are your main source of energy. They supply your muscles with the glucose and store glycogen in the body for stored energy whenever you may need it. Carbohydrates can be simple or complex. Simple carbs provide fast acting short bursts of energy which do not prolong throughout the day whereas complex carbs provide sustainable and steady fuel. Simple carbs can be used as your last food before a workout, things like fruit, and complex carbs anytime to maintain your energy and replenish used energy from workouts, like white rice.

SOURCES - You can find carbohydrates in so many thing. Grains, oats, pasta, fruits, veg and more. The less sugar the more complex it is.

You don’t need a set number of carbs for energy like you do protein, it’s more individual. Many people don’t eat carbs and run just fine although I would not advise that due to it’s very important properties. I myself am 100kg and like to workout on at least 150g of carbs. The more the better really aslong as you stay within your calorie limit and don’t indulge in bad foods.

Fats are often seen as a bad thing to consume in your diet. This is because for every gram of fat it provides 9 calories whereas carbs and protein have just 4, so on a surface level, they can be seen as ‘worse for you’. However fats are essential for your overall health and wellbeing. Fats play a vital role in energy storage, hormone function, immune health, brain function and more. They also contain alot of micronutrients which you only find in certain types of fatty foods and therefore provide more value. If you are looking to keep fat off or lose it, then yes portion control is important, but never cut them out entirely, you need to have a minimum of 60g of fats a day otherwise you will start to seriously mess with hormones etc.

SOURCES - You can find different types of fats in different places. Things like avocado, nuts, oily fish and seeds are the most nutrient dense types of fats you can consume.

Obviously limiting certain types of fats needs to be done too. Trans fats. You can find small traces of trans fats in certain foods but they mainly occur in processed foods. Trans fats are horrible for your health in so many ways, so just avoid them completely.