The Laramie Athlete's Guide to Macros: Why Training Alone Isn't Enough

You show up. You lift heavy. You push through the last rep, your legs shaking. Maybe you're hitting four or five sessions a week, grinding it out at Laramie Fitness, and waiting for the results you know you've earned.

But weeks go by, and the progress feels slower than it should. The scale isn't budging. Your lifts have stalled. Recovery feels brutal. What gives?

Here's the truth most people learn the hard way: training alone isn't enough. If your nutrition isn't dialed in, you're leaving gains on the table. And at the center of nutrition sits a concept that sounds intimidating but really isn't once you break it down: macros.

What Are Macros, Really?

Macros (short for macronutrients) are the three building blocks that make up every calorie you eat:

• Protein
• Carbohydrates
• Fat

Each one plays a different role in how your body moves, recovers, and adapts. You don't have to obsess over them to make progress, but if you understand what they do, you can build a nutrition plan that actually supports the work you're putting in at the gym.

To break it all down, we sat down with Laramie Fitness trainer Nic Long. Nic helps members go from "I just want to feel better" to hitting PRs they didn't think were possible, and he's seen firsthand how often the missing piece isn't more training. It's nutrition. Here's how he walks his clients through each macro, what the numbers actually mean, and how to put it into practice.

Let's walk through each one.

Protein: The Builder

Protein is the most talked-about macro in fitness circles, and for good reason. The proteins in your skeletal muscle do a lot more than sit there looking pretty.

They provide the structural framework and contractile machinery that allow your muscles to generate force and produce movement. Beyond contraction, proteins act as enzymes that drive your metabolism (including the systems that break down glucose and produce ATP), they transport ions and nutrients in and out of cells, and they send the signals that coordinate how your body responds to exercise and nutrition.

Here's the kicker. Your muscle proteins are in a constant state of turnover. They get broken down and rebuilt to repair the damage from your workouts, support muscle growth, and maintain the strength you already have. If you're not eating enough protein, the rebuilding process stalls.

How Much Protein Do You Actually Need?

This is where things get interesting. The official RDA (recommended daily allowance) is 0.8g per kilogram of body weight. That number exists to prevent deficiency in a completely sedentary adult, and it falls flat for anyone who lifts.

If you're training with weights regularly, you should be consuming closer to 1.2 to 2g per kilogram of body weight. And if you're lifting four or five times a week, aim for the top end of that range.

For a 180-pound lifter (about 82kg), that's somewhere between 98 and 164 grams of protein per day. Big difference from the RDA, right?

Carbohydrates: The Fuel

Carbs get a bad reputation in certain fitness corners, but here's the reality. They are your body's preferred and most efficient fuel source for working muscle.

When you eat carbs, they break down into glucose. That glucose either gets stored as glycogen inside your muscle fibers or gets used right away to produce ATP (the energy currency of your cells). During high-intensity work, anaerobic efforts, and prolonged activity, your muscles burn through glycogen and blood glucose quickly to keep you moving and producing power.

Carbs also protect your hard-earned muscle by reducing the need for your body to break down amino acids for energy. And they keep your blood sugar stable, which matters for your central nervous system during a tough workout.

Post-workout, carbs do something important: they replenish the glycogen you just depleted. Timing matters here because insulin sensitivity is elevated right after training, making that window prime time for recovery.

How Many Carbs Should You Eat?

Carbs work best as the "filler" macro. Once you've set your protein and fat targets, carbs fill in the rest of your caloric needs.

The formula looks like this:

Total Calories (BMR) minus (Protein Calories + Fat Calories) = Carb Calories

We'll walk through an example in a minute.

Fat: The Reserve

Fat is often the most misunderstood macro. It's essential, not optional. And it's not something to be afraid of.

Fat serves as your body's primary long-term energy storage molecule and a dense source of metabolic fuel. At roughly 9 calories per gram (more than twice what carbs or protein provide), fat gives you a compact, high-energy reserve that can sustain you for extended periods.

But fat does way more than store energy:

• It enables the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K)
• It's the building block for steroid hormones
• It maintains the fluidity and structure of every cell membrane in your body
• It produces signaling molecules that regulate inflammation and other key processes

How Much Fat Should You Eat?

For most people, fat intake ranges from 50 to 80 grams per day. The general guideline is that fat should make up 20 to 35 percent of your total caloric intake.

To calculate it:

Total Calories x 0.35 = Fat Calories

Fat Calories divided by 9 = Grams of Fat

Example: 2,000 calories x 0.35 = 700 fat calories. 700 divided by 9 = about 78 grams of fat.

Putting It All Together: A Real Example

Let's walk through a full macro calculation for someone who isn't training yet. Say we've got an individual who weighs 82kg (180 pounds) with a BMR of 1,850 calories. This person has a fairly sedentary lifestyle for now.

Step 1: Set Protein

82kg x 0.8g = 65.6g of protein per day

65.6g x 4 calories per gram = 262.4 calories from protein

Step 2: Set Fat

1,850 calories x 0.35 = 647.5 fat calories

647.5 divided by 9 = 71.9g of fat per day

Step 3: Fill in the Carbs

1,850 total calories minus (262.4 protein calories + 647.5 fat calories) = 940.1 calories remaining

940.1 divided by 4 calories per gram = 235g of carbs per day

Final macros for a sedentary 82kg individual:

• 1,850 calories per day
• 65.6g of protein
• 71.9g of fat
• 235g of carbs

Now, if that same person started lifting four days a week at Laramie Fitness, the math would shift. Protein would jump significantly (closer to 130-160g), total calories would increase to account for the added energy expenditure, and carbs and fat would adjust accordingly.

Why This Matters for Laramie Athletes

Training at altitude in Wyoming puts demands on your body that flatlanders don't deal with. Cold winters, dry air, long days outdoors, and the grind of a full-strength program add up. If your nutrition isn't supporting all of that, you're going to hit walls you don't need to hit.

Dialing in your macros doesn't mean you have to weigh every ounce of chicken or obsess over a tracking app. It just means you have a framework. You know roughly what your body needs, and you can make food choices that actually move you toward your goals.

The Laramie Fitness Advantage

Here's where it gets easier. You don't have to figure this out alone.

At Laramie Fitness, we've built the nutrition piece into the same roof as the training. That means:

• Nutrition coaching with trainers like Nic who can calculate your specific macros, adjust them as your training evolves, and hold you accountable to the plan.
• Clean Eatz meals in our retail shop, already portioned and balanced, so you can eat with intention without spending three hours meal prepping on Sunday.
• Protein powders and supplements to help you hit your numbers on busy days when a full meal isn't realistic.

Whether you're brand new to thinking about macros or you've been tracking for years and want to level up, having everything in one place takes the friction out of the process.

Start With One Thing

If this all feels like a lot, don't try to implement everything at once. Start with protein. For most people, it's the biggest lever they can pull, and it's the one that tends to be underconsumed.

Calculate your target (body weight in kg multiplied by 1.2 to 2g), figure out what that looks like in real food across your day, and work on hitting it consistently for a week or two. Once that's dialed in, move to fat. Let carbs fill in the rest.

Training is what tells your body what to build. Macros are what give your body the materials to actually build it. When those two work together, the progress you've been waiting for finally shows up.

Ready to stop guessing and start dialing in? Stop by Laramie Fitness to talk with one of our trainers about nutrition coaching, browse the Clean Eatz meals in our shop, or grab the supplements that fit your plan. You bring the work. We'll help you make sure the fuel matches the effort.