Over the years, we’ve had a lot of questions from Optimisers as they undertake their journey to Nutritional Optimisation in the Macros Masterclass.
We’ve continually mined the data and research for answers and documented the most important findings in this series of frequently asked questions.
This section covers the questions many people ask in the weeks leading up to the Macros Masterclass.
- Why We Created the Macros Masterclass
- How Could the Macros Masterclass Help Me?
- How Does the Macros Masterclass Complement Data-Driven Fasting?
- What is the Macros Masterclass Based On?
- What Other Programs Do You Offer?
- When Are the Future Courses?
- Do I Need to Weigh and Measure My Food?
- What Do You Mean by ‘Minimum Effective Dose’ of Data?
- What Will I Need to Participate in the Macros Masterclass?
- Can I Do Data-Driven Fasting and the Macros Masterclass at the Same Time?
- How Much Time Will I Need to Participate in the Macros Masterclass?
- Can I Get 1:1 Support?
- How Can I Continue My Journey?
- More
Why We Created the Macros Masterclass
We have seen a lot of confusion as people follow popular dietary extremes, like keto, low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, low-protein, vegan, carnivore, and other similar ways of eating.
Sadly, people rarely thrive for long at any of these extremes.
After hitting a wall, most ‘fall off the wagon’ and revert to their previous habits.
This leads to discouragement and a ‘FAILED’ stamp on another diet sheet.
The good news is, you don’t have to throw out everything you are doing to make progress and adopt the latest named fad diet.
You are likely already closer than you think to the ideal diet to achieve your goals and just need a few minor tweaks to start things moving.
We created the Macros Masterclass to help people like you understand their current dietary patterns and empower them to fine-tune their habits to reach their goals sustainably.
While Nutrient Optimiser will guide you to make better food choices during the Macros Masterclass, our ultimate goal is to help you find a shortlist of foods and meals that you can enjoy beyond this class that aligns with your goals, tastes, and preferences.
How Could the Macros Masterclass Help Me?
We have designed the Macros Masterclass to suit a wide range of goals and contexts.
| Person | Challenge | How the Macros Masterclass will help |
| New to nutrition | Still learning the basics of nutrition (e.g. carbs, fat, and protein). | Understand the foundations of nutrition without being overwhelmed. |
| Dabbled in fasting with mixed results | Getting adequate protein without overconsuming energy becomes particularly paramount. | Optimising WHEN you eat (e.g. with Data-Driven Fasting) is essential, but WHAT you eat eventually becomes the limiting factor. The Macronutrient Masterclass will show you WHAT to eat to maximise satiety and continue progress. |
| Weight loss | Finding the calorie intake for you that optimises weight loss without excessive hunger. | Tweak your macros to provide adequate protein to increase satiety and minimise loss of lean mass for sustainable weight loss. |
| Insulin resistance or diabetes | Finding the right carbohydrate intake to maintain blood sugars in a healthy range without compromising nutrient density. | Find your carbohydrate tolerance to achieve stable and healthy blood glucose. |
| Failed keto dieter | Low-carb can help improve satiety with fewer carbs and more protein. However, high fat can lead to low satiety and decreased nutrient density. | Ensure you are getting adequate protein and not overconsuming fat. You will also learn to use your blood glucose levels to understand whether you need to be concerned about carbs or if you should simply focus on chasing the nutrients your body requires from food. |
| Bodybuilder | Fuelling workouts with adequate energy without overeating at refeeds. | Gain muscle and support strength gains without gaining excess fat to avoid a “dirty bulk”. |
| Low-fat dieter | Obtaining adequate protein and other nutrients. | Ensure you are getting adequate protein and nutrients to ensure you’re not overconsuming carbohydrates to the detriment of nutrient density and blood sugar control. |
| Failed with High Protein: Energy approach | Experiencing rebound bingeing from excess hunger and low energy intake from an extremely high P: E (or protein %). | Guide you to find a sustainable balance between protein, nutrients, and energy (fats and carbs) without excessive cravings for energy-rich foods. |
| Athletes | Getting enough energy while obtaining adequate nutrients. | Learn to fuel for growth and support high activity levels. |
| Vegetarian or plant-based dieter | Getting adequate nutrients, especially bioavailable protein, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids. | Identify foods and meals that provide harder-to-find nutrients while remaining within your dietary regime. |
| Re-composition | Gaining muscle while simultaneously losing fat. | Find the right balance of fat and carbs to optimise building muscle and losing fat concurrently. |
How Does the Macros Masterclass Complement Data-Driven Fasting?
We’ve been thrilled with the popularity and success of Data-Driven Fasting, which enables people to make fantastic progress with rapid weight loss and improved blood glucose control without tracking their calories.
However, while WHEN you eat is important, eventually, WHAT you eat becomes critical. Obtaining adequate protein and nutrients is even more important when eating less often.
Although Data-Driven Fasting guides people to dial back their carbohydrates, we find that some people don’t get the long-term results they hoped because they are still consuming more dietary fat and less than they require.
The Macros Masterclass is the next logical step to guide people to dial in their macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) to enable them to continue their journey.
What is the Macros Masterclass Based On?
We have been fortunate to have access to large data sets that have enabled us to design a data-driven, agnostic approach to nutrition.
Over the past four years, we have amassed 135,154 days of macronutrient and micronutrient data from forty thousand people who have used Nutrient Optimiser to fine-tune their nutrition.
The Macros Masterclass leverages the insights from this data to enable users to dial in their macronutrients to achieve their goals while remaining neutral in the crossfire of the diet wars (e.g., carbs vs fat or plants vs animals).
What Other Programs Do You Offer?
In 2023, we’re three complementary, four-week programs to guide people through our unique data-driven approach to dialling in WHEN and WHAT they eat.
| Program | Goal | Primary Tools | Per year |
| Data-Driven Fasting | Optimise your eating routine using your blood glucose as a fuel gauge for weight loss and maintenance. | Blood glucose DDF App | 8 |
| Macros Masterclass | Dial in your intake of protein, fat, and carbohydrate to align with your goals. | Nutrient Optimiser Cronometer NutriBoosters Recipes | 5 |
| Micros Masterclass | Level up your vitamin, mineral, omega-3 and amino acid intakes from the food you eat. | Nutrient Optimiser Cronometer NutriBoosters Recipes | 4 |
When Are the Future Courses?
If you want to plan ahead, you can add the dates for the upcoming courses to your diary.
You can also see our complete program of upcoming events here and download calendar invites for the challenges you want to attend to ensure you don’t miss out.
Macros Masterclass
- 10 February 2024
- 20 April 2024
- 29 June 2024
- 14 September 2024
- 23 November 2024
Micros Masterclass
- 16 March 2024
- 25 May 2024
- 3 August 2024
- 19 October 2024
Data-Driven Fasting
- 6 January 2024
- 24 February 2023
- 6 April 2023
- 18 May 2024
- 29 June 2024
- 10 August 2024
- 5 October 2024
- 23 November 2024
Do I Need to Weigh and Measure My Food?
While you will need to track your food, you don’t need to weigh and measure everything precisely during the Macros Masterclass.
Greater precision can lead to better results. However, we don’t want you to become overwhelmed with tracking your food. It can be helpful to weigh and measure your food for a week or so if you’re eager. Before long, you will better estimate portion sizes without relying on food scales.
Each week, the Smart Macros algorithm will adjust your weekly macronutrient targets based on your last week’s food tracking and progress.
So long as you are consistent (and not necessarily perfectly precise), Smart Macros will compensate for your inaccuracies in logging your food.
What Do You Mean by ‘Minimum Effective Dose’ of Data?
We’re big believers in using data to guide you towards optimal.
Some people love ALL the data. But after running numerous challenges over the past three years, we found most people don’t do well with too much data all at once. Hence, we want to guide you to use the minimum effective dose of data to empower you to get the maximum results.
Tracking everything and managing too many moving parts takes time and can be overwhelming. Your lizard brain (amygdala) doesn’t like to receive too many instructions at once. For this reason, it’s ideal to use just enough data to ensure you’re progressing towards one goal at a time. Sustainable simplicity is better than complexity that is impossible to maintain.
You’re free to track ALL the things in Nutrient Optimiser and Cronometer. However, you only need to track your food and weight during the four weeks.
What Will I Need to Participate in the Macros Masterclass?
While there are some basic requirements to participate in the Macros Masterclass, most are already at your fingertips.
Required
- Nutrient Optimiser
- Cronometer (free app and website)
- Bodyweight scale
Optional
- Bioimpedance scale (e.g. Renpho) to measure your fat and lean mass.
- A blood glucose meter (e.g. Contour Next One) to help you find your carb tolerance.
- Tape measure to calculate your waist circumference.
Can I Do Data-Driven Fasting and the Macros Masterclass at the Same Time?
In the Macros Masterclass, we will be using your food tracking in Cronometer to manage the intake of macronutrients such as calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
In contrast, we use your blood sugar as a fuel gauge to ensure a long-term energy deficit in Data-Driven Fasting. We are effectively managing your energy deficit in both programs through different controls.
If you track your food in Cronometer, you won’t need to worry about waiting until your blood glucose is below your trigger before you eat to ensure you are achieving an energy deficit.
After the Macros Masterclass is over and you have dialled in WHAT you eat, you can always revert to Data-Driven Fasting to manage your overall energy intake without tracking your food.
How Much Time Will I Need to Participate in the Macros Masterclass?
During the four weeks, you will need to set aside some time to track your food and check the daily lessons.
We will also have live Q&A sessions each weekend that you can participate in. If you can’t make it, you can always watch the replay. These typically run for about an hour.
Each weekend, you will also need some time to review your previous week, and adjust your macro targets, and plan and shop for the coming week. Once you get into the swing of it, you will find that a bit of planning can save a lot of time and decision fatigue during the week.
Can I Get 1:1 Support?
We will be running this challenge in a dedicated group setting where you can ask any questions you might have. Doing it together is always more effective and fun than going at it alone!
There are likely many others who have the same question you have. In the group setting, you will get answers from different people who have different and complementary experiences. Therefore, many others will benefit from the discussion that your question generates in the group.
To post your question in the group, go to ‘Activity Feed’ in the Macros Masterclass and ask away. You’ll be sure to get an almost instant response from someone across the world to help.
Unfortunately, given the size of the groups, we cannot respond to direct messages. If you have technical or account-related issues, please email members@nutrientoptimiser.com, and we will respond within 48 hours.
If you want to save time and could use some extra help, you may be interested in our 1:1 Coaching Program.
How Can I Continue My Journey?
There’s always room for progress when it comes to your health, and it becomes infinitely more accessible with the help of a supportive, like-minded community. Looking and feeling good can be addictive!
We have several options if you want to continue your journey, including:
- Participating in future rounds of the Macros Masterclass.
- Progressing to the Micros Masterclass to quantitatively dial-in nutrient density.
- Participating in a Data-Driven Fasting Challenge using only your blood glucose as a fuel gauge (no food tracking required!).
- Becoming an All-Inclusive Member, which includes access to Nutrient Optimiser and all future Macros and Micros Masterclasses and our Data-Driven Fasting Challenges. This will give you access to ten masterclasses per year to help you continue your journey towards optimal.
After the Macros Masterclass, you will also receive an invite to join our Nutrient Optimisers’ support group to help people on their long-term journey toward optimal health.