Reach Your Nutrition Goals by Viewing Meals as a Tetris Game

Sometimes, sticking to your nutritional goals can feel like you're cornered. For example, you might need to increase your protein intake, but you've already reached your carbohydrate limit for the day. Fitness writer and blogger Stephanie Lee suggests you can tackle this challenge by playing what she calls 'macro Tetris.'

For many people, the most efficient way to lose weight is by tracking both calories and macronutrients like protein. This method involves targeting specific amounts (or ranges) of macronutrients: protein, fats, and carbohydrates. If you're unsure about your macronutrient goals, there's a useful calculator here to help you figure them out.

However, there's a potential downside to this approach. By the end of the day, you may find that you need more of a specific macronutrient, even after reaching your limits on others. This can be frustrating, but as Stephanie explains in the video above, you can solve this by treating your nutritional goals like a game of Tetris.

To make this work, you’ll need to keep foods that are rich in one macronutrient (such as carbohydrates, fat, or protein) but low in the others. For example, egg whites are packed with protein but contain minimal fat and carbohydrates.

Here’s an example list for each type of macronutrient.

Macronutrients that are protein-dominant include:

• Chicken/Turkey breast

• Canned tuna

• Egg whites

• Protein powder

Macronutrients that are carb-dominant include:

• Rice

• Pasta

• Bread/Bagels

• Fruit

Fat-rich ingredients include the following:

• Peanut butter

• Butter

• Olive or coconut oil

• Heavy cream

Imagine you need to meet your daily intake goals of 150 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbs, and 50 grams of fat. You’ve already fulfilled your carb and fat needs but are short by 40 grams of protein. A good choice would be a protein-heavy food like chicken breast, which you can pair with a free food like broccoli.

For another scenario, perhaps you're short by 13 grams of fat to meet your daily target. In this case, adding a tablespoon of olive oil to your meal would be an easy way to fill that gap. For more insights on this “macro Tetris” concept, watch Stephanie’s video linked at the top of the article.