Before I became a nurse practitioner, I was concerned about my weight, so I did a ton of research on the best way to lose weight. Now that I am a nurse practitioner, I get to apply my own knowledge to help others lose weight.

“If It Fits Your Macros” Diet

My favorite diet for weight loss is called the “If It Fits Your Macros” diet. Essentially, this diet allows more flexibility in what you eat as long as it is within your allowed number of macros. It is better for people who don’t have any heart conditions or other chronic illnesses that may restrict their diet more.

Macronutrients Explained

The term “macros” is short for macronutrients which include carbohydrates, fats and proteins. In order to follow this diet, you need to calculate the exact number of carbohydrates, fats and proteins you need each day to achieve your weight loss goal.

How to Find Your Macros Number

There are many free macro calculators online. You can go to Google and type in the search bar “free macro calculator” and find one that works for you. These calculators typically ask for your gender, age, current weight and height, activity level and goal weight. Your goal weight should be in the ideal weight range for your height, so you will need to find this number as well. You enter these into the calculator, and the calculator will generate specific numbers of grams per day of each macronutrient that you should consume daily in order to reach your goal weight.

At WakeMed Primary Care, we can help you determine your goal weight during your scheduled appointment.

What’s to Love about the Diet

The reason I like this diet is because if you want to eat something unhealthy, such as a cookie one day, you can eat this and still lose weight as long as you keep the desired number of macronutrients in range for that day. So, you would need to tailor your other meals and snacks not to go over the number of allotted grams per day.

This diet requires a digital scale to weigh your food to make sure you are eating the correct amount of food.

An Example Macro Calculator

Below is an example of what a macro calculator will generate. It shows you the number of calories per day and grams of each macronutrient you need to meet those number of calories. The beauty of this diet is you can calculate lots of different combinations of food to add up to your total macros and lose weight.

Protein

90 grams/day
Range: 60 – 126

Carbs

Includes Sugar
196 grams/day
Range: 157 – 248

Fat

Includes Saturated Fat
42 grams/day
Range: 33 – 59

Sugar

<39 grams/day

Saturated Fat

<17 grams/day

Food Energy

1,472 Calories/day
or 6,163 kJ/day

MyFitness Pal App

If the “If It Fits Your Macros” diet is too complex or time consuming, my next favorite tool to help patients lose weight is to have them download the MyFitness Pal app on their smart phone. This app will track the number of calories you consume daily and also tell you the ideal number of calories to eat per day in order to reach your goal weight.

This app is convenient because it allows you scan a barcode on a product in order to get the number of calories in your meal.

Wegovy Weight Loss Drug to Treat Obesity

Finally, if your BMI is above 30 with no comorbidities or 27 with comorbidities we can offer a great new weight loss drug called Wegovy. This drug is a once a week injection that targets areas of the brain that regulate food intake and appetite. The effect is a reduced appetite and, therefore, less food intake which results in weight loss.

WakeMed Can Help with Weight Loss Support

Primary Care

If you schedule an appointment with one of our WakeMed Primary Care providers, we are happy to talk more about weight loss and your specific situation.

Medical Weight Loss

From our board-certified physicians with expertise in medically-directed weight loss, to bariatric surgery and non-surgical weight loss procedures, to our multidisciplinary team of diet and exercise specialists, our Medical Weight Loss team enjoys working closely with our patients to determine the best path to good health.

Outpatient Nutrition Services

Our licensed, registered dietitians in outpatient Nutrition Services are committed to providing evidence-based, scientific nutrition advice. They can help with weight management and nutritional care related to bariatric surgery.

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About Erin Diamond-Paulsen, NP

Erin Diamond-Paulsen is a board-certified family nurse practitioner with clinical interests in women’s health and diabetes management. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in nursing from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Erin brings a great amount of experience in family medicine and is also fluent in Spanish.

Erin believes in caring for the whole patient, which involves a holistic approach. She wants to make sure her patients feel like all their concerns are addressed. Erin believes that both mental and physical health is important. Outside of work, Erin enjoys hiking, spending time with her family, riding horses and watching documentaries.

 

Disclaimer: The advice of individual medical providers serves as guidance from the specific provider and is not intended to establish standards of clinical practice or rules of law for WakeMed Health and Hospitals.