Macro Diet

aevein

Ok, so I'm pretty new to the macro diet and I'm having some trouble with what to eat. Here is a little background on me. I am 27, I'm 5 feet 1 in tall, and I weigh around 140lbs. I have always had a very muscular body type. I also have type 1 diabetes, so that changes the game quite a bit. I know that I gain wight pretty easily when I eat carbs, so low carb is important to me. Low carbs also means that I use less insulin, so that definitely helps with weight loss. I entered my info into macrofit.com calculators and it shows that I need to eat around 110 carbs a day, which would be great. I usually workout after work so my carb intake has to be around then, so that my blood sugar doesn't crash during or after my workout. My percentages are set at 25% carbs, 40% protein and 35% fat. That means that per day I need 110g carbs, 177g protein, 69g fat and 1725 calories. I've tried to make a meal plan for the day using these requirements and it seems almost impossible. I hit my carbs way before I can even get close to my calorie needs. 177g of protein is also way too much. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Amy

LolBroScience

This is why %'s tend be not be very helpful.

You don't need 177g of protein, considering dropping it to .6-1g per lb instead as a range. From there, since you're not looking to increase carbs or would prefer to keep it low carb, dump the remaining calories over into fats in order to make it easier to hit calories.

Assuming you chose .8g for protein, you'd be at:

112g Protein
110g Carbs
93g Fat

Again, just an example... you can play around with the range as you might be affected differently on a level of satiation. I personally run about .9g protein per lb myself.

If you raise fats... opt for higher fat cuts of meat, full fat dairy, PB, avocado etc. They're more calorically dense so that should help you hitting the calories easier.

As far as a particular meal plan is concerned, that's up to you.

FlatWet

I aim for about 90 grams of protein (but keep in mind my overall calorie goals are lower), and I find I have the most success when I eat a really lean protein, like sashimi, for 1 meal, and then make sure to have at least 25 grams at each of my other meals (100 g greek yogurt does it for breakfast).

In general, I would make an extensive list of protein options that you enjoy eating, and then figure out which ones fit best with your breakfast, lunch and dinner habits / situations. Then, I would look at the carb count on each protein to understand what sort of other food it should be paired with in order to make your macros work well. That way, you know that if you are eating sashimi, for example, you might know that you can get away with pairing it with more carbs than tofu (not actually sure how the macros dim out on these two... just an example!).

Good luck! I think it ends up being kind of fun!

jacksonpt

LolBroScience wrote: »

This is why %'s tend be not be very helpful.

You don't need 177g of protein, considering dropping it to .6-1g per lb instead as a range. From there, since you're not looking to increase carbs or would prefer to keep it low carb, dump the remaining calories over into fats in order to make it easier to hit calories.

Assuming you chose .8g for protein, you'd be at:

112g Protein
110g Carbs
93g Fat

Again, just an example... you can play around with the range as you might be affected differently on a level of satiation. I personally run about .9g protein per lb myself.

If you raise fats... opt for higher fat cuts of meat, full fat dairy, PB, avocado etc. They're more calorically dense so that should help you hitting the calories easier.

As far as a particular meal plan is concerned, that's up to you.

Agreed.

Only thing I'll add is that it can take some time/practice to get the feel for how to combine foods/meals so you hit your macro goals. Based on those numbers, I'd probably be eating a lot of eggs and red meat, but that works for me.

LolBroScience

jacksonpt wrote: »

LolBroScience wrote: »

This is why %'s tend be not be very helpful.

You don't need 177g of protein, considering dropping it to .6-1g per lb instead as a range. From there, since you're not looking to increase carbs or would prefer to keep it low carb, dump the remaining calories over into fats in order to make it easier to hit calories.

Assuming you chose .8g for protein, you'd be at:

112g Protein
110g Carbs
93g Fat

Again, just an example... you can play around with the range as you might be affected differently on a level of satiation. I personally run about .9g protein per lb myself.

If you raise fats... opt for higher fat cuts of meat, full fat dairy, PB, avocado etc. They're more calorically dense so that should help you hitting the calories easier.

As far as a particular meal plan is concerned, that's up to you.

Agreed.

Only thing I'll add is that it can take some time/practice to get the feel for how to combine foods/meals so you hit your macro goals. Based on those numbers, I'd probably be eating a lot of eggs and red meat, but that works for me.

Yes, try playing around with prelogging a few meals to get a feel for it.

aevein

Thank you all so much for your help! I knew that 177g of protein was way too high!! I'll have to play around with my meal plan a bit and see what works. I've come up with a few already, so I think I'm on the right track.

Thanks again!
Amy

jacksonpt

aevein wrote: »

I've come up with a few already, so I think I'm on the right track.