When it comes to nutrition, everyone has a story.
For CrossFit Games athletes, their personal narratives usually include exploring macro tracking at some point.
This approach makes sense, as macro tracking offers an effective strategy for elite athletes to ensure they’re adequately fueled for long training days and competition weekends, potentially alleviating any stress about whether they’re eating too much or too little.
- Last year’s CrossFit Games bronze medalist Emily Rolfe has been tracking for years and says it has become “pretty easy” for her.
It’s obviously working; Rolfe keeps getting fitter.
But when we delve a little deeper, we find that Rolfe might just be an exception to the rule. Additionally, other female Games athletes admit that macro tracking was unsustainable for them, did not feel healthy, felt restrictive, and only added to their stress.
What Five Games Athletes Are Saying
Ten-time CrossFit Games athlete and two-time champion Katrín Davíðsdóttir “meticulously” tracked her macros for many of her competitive years, “especially from 2016 to 2019,” the recently retired Davíðsdóttir told the Morning Chalk Up.
While it was helpful for a while and taught her a lot about carbohydrates, protein, and fat, over time, she said she became “obsessive.”
- “I’m a perfectionist, so I wanted to hit my numbers perfectly every day,” Davíðsdóttir said.
And the bigger problem was that her macros didn’t change based on the kind of training she was doing on any given day or where she was in her cycle.
- “I wasn’t willing to adjust based on how I actually felt … I ignored hunger cues and ended up under-fueling, which led to losing too much weight and strength,” Davíðsdóttir said. “Definitely not ideal for a professional athlete.”
Additionally, tracking macros was not “family friendly.”
- “You become isolated around mealtimes and overly controlling about food,” she said.
Two-time CrossFit Games team athlete Jessi Smith had a similar experience.
She reached a point where she felt “panic-stricken” when going out for dinner with friends, unsure of how to log a meal in the app that she hadn’t made herself.
Sometimes, she would bring her own food or a food scale, and eventually, she didn’t want to go out anymore.
- “It made me feel like I couldn’t have an enjoyable relationship with food,” Smith said.
As for Arielle Loewen, who tracked her macros for a while in 2018, she quickly found it “ruined food” for her.
- “I couldn’t just eat an apple. I had to get my phone out, weigh the apple, then log it, and then eat it,” the four-time Games veteran said.
That said, she also mentioned that tracking macros had some short-term benefits for her. She recommends that people track for a month to better understand what a true serving size looks like and to learn more about carbohydrates, protein, and fats.
Unlike Loewen, Carleen Matthews, a three-time individual Games athlete and last year’s third-fittest 40-44-year-old, was committed to macro tracking for eight years. At that time, she couldn’t imagine approaching her nutrition any other way.
- “I liked the idea of not tracking macros, but I didn’t know how it would be possible,” Matthews said.
Finally, Danielle Brandon said she dabbled with macro tracking “on and off,” but it never felt like the right long-term approach for her.
That being said, she wasn’t sure what else to do, so she was left “a little reckless and lost when it came to my nutrition and fueling,” explained the six-time Games veteran.
Finding a Better Approach
Today, all five women have abandoned macro tracking for a more relaxed, intuitive approach to eating.
Davíðsdóttir’s nutrition now focuses more on health and longevity rather than performance, and she feels great about it.
- “I’m more concerned with the quality of the foods I eat, how they make me feel, and supporting my long-term health. After years of being so strict and controlled with my diet, it’s honestly a relief to take a more relaxed approach,” she explained.
Davíðsdóttir admitted that making the shift took a lot of time, patience, and a great deal of trust in herself.
- “I had to relearn how to eat intuitively and really listen to my body again,” she said. “I have a strong understanding of what I should be eating thanks to all those years of tracking, but now I pair that knowledge with mindfulness and body awareness.”
For Brandon, Smith, and Matthews, finding an approach different from macro tracking meant discovering the right coach to guide them.
In their case, it was Justin Romaire, the founder of Consistency Breeds Growth (CBG). The CBG approach is more flexible, relying on less restrictive measuring tactics and focusing on building habits, intuitive eating, and meal timing.
Brandon said Romaire played a major role in helping her with both her meal timing and ensuring she is fueling enough; however, the bigger part has been feeling supported by a coach she trusts.
- “It is easier [for me] to work with people who [I] have a more personable relationship with,” Brandon said. “I think what’s most helpful when it comes to working with Justin is the support I feel off the field, so to speak.”
Smith started working with Romaire four years ago when he approached her and said, “I want to help people not track macros.”
She was surprised, as at the time it seemed everyone in the CrossFit space was tracking macros. What he proposed to her was “the exact opposite of what everyone in the space was doing,” Smith said.
Today, Smith can finally go on vacations and out for dinner stress-free and without packing a food scale.
- “I’m the fittest I have ever been, and I enjoy food more than I ever did before,” she said.
As for Matthews, she admits she was initially hesitant.
“The first week I started working with Justin, I was like, ‘I don’t even understand how this is going to be possible,’” Matthews admitted. “I have always said it is more stressful for me to not track what I consume.”
But she stuck with it and soon began to “learn what my body needs, rather than just numbers,” she said.
Today, she’s in a much better place, she said, and she can finally go on vacation with her family without being stressed about what she’s going to eat.
Her message: “For somebody who is like I was, stuck on macros, and maybe even thinks that it’s the easiest way, there is more out there. I didn’t realize how much tracking my food and tracking macros had a grip on me until I took it away. And it has been a sigh of relief that I don’t have to track.”
As for Loewen, her approach is as simple as it can be: “If I’m hungry, eat. If I’m not, don’t eat.”
The Big Picture
Elite athletes are often meticulous about every gram of food they consume, aiming to fuel their bodies optimally.
However, many have discovered that a less rigid and less restrictive approach to eating can be more effective, leading to significantly less stress.
More CrossFit Stories
- OG CrossFit Benchmark Workout “Isabel” Is Back – But Heavier
- Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr to “Say Goodbye” at the 2025 Torian Pro — Is She Retiring?
- Velites Is the Official Apparel and Footwear Partner of the 2025 CrossFit Games
Featured Image: @arielleloewen / Instagram
