New Question Regarding Macros/Nutrition

luluinca

I got some help here about a month ago working out my TDEE and understanding EM2WL and now have a new question.

I worked my way up to maintenance, about 2000/2100 day with 5 days exercise and moderately active then dropped back down again to 1600/1700. As a reminder I'm 64, 5'7" and about 176 lbs and I've lost about 55 lbs since Sept. 2013. My goal is 160.

Right after Thanksgiving I got sick and couldn't work out at all for two weeks and only put in two workouts the third week, one with my trainer. I do a lot of strength training and calisthenics with some cardio thrown in for good measure (mostly swimming and walking the dogs at a fast clip or a little elliptical or stairmaster).

Anyway, because I wasn't working out and generally felt lousy anyway, I cut my calories down to about 1400 for almost two weeks. When I saw my trainer last week he thought that was the wrong thing to do and told me to up them to 2000 or even higher for a few days to replenish my body and to focus on adding carbs. I had lost about 1.5 lbs while sick and knew I would gain that back because of the carbs but I wasn't worried about that at all.

I went back to my trainer today, after another 4 days off from working out and eating at the higher calorie number. I did gain the 1.5 back plus about another .5 lb but felt amazing during a pretty hard 90 minute workout. Last week was really hard and I felt weak, but don't know if it was because of being sick still or from diet related stress or whatever. Today was a huge difference and I was able to really push myself.

So, my question is, does anyone think I should keep my carbs elevated now? I felt stronger than I have in awhile this morning, and don't know if it was from the extra carbs I've been eating or the extra calories. I can't keep the extra calories up because I still want to lose about 15 lbs although I don't really care how long it takes.

I'm back to eating about 1600-1700 day with carbs 45% (I don't normally get there), fat at 25% (usually go a little over) and protein at 30% (I try really hard to get this done).

I'm wondering if maybe I need to really get my carbs up into the 180-200 g range per day.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Nayners21

I feel your pain being scared that eating too many carbs will make you gain weight. I am the same way. I have always tried to keep it as low carb as I can. I have read many things that state that going "low carb" for a long period of time will never pay off in the long run. Our body needs the energy. I was at 1200-1400 calories for about a year, lost 50 pounds, and now am stuck beyond measure! I need to lose another 20-30 pounds. I jumped on the macros bandwagon and just began this week. I also try to incorporate Paleo type of mentality as well. I am 5'2, 178 pounds. I lift 4 times a week, 1 cardio day. I am scared of carbs, but I love fats more so I tweaked my macros. I am working with 140 P/140C/78F which is a 31/31/40 split in percentages. I feel way better on a higher FAT than higher CARBS. Also, getting a lot of good fat can help push out the bad fat. Read up a little on PALEO and see what it entails. I am trying to eat clean, but I love my tortillas which I usually save for my tacos almost every night. Also, realizing that your body needs more fuel to function. Being at a low calorie deficit for so long, your body will hold on to fat because it feels like it is not getting enough. So then we cut back even more thinking it is the solution, and its not. I am having a hard time comprehending this still, but I am giving it a shot. I try to eat 1828 calories a day and thats a 15% cut for me. I am not getting on the scale because I will/might see it go up while my body adjusts. But eating to your macros should help with the body composition and the number on the scale wont matter. Good luck.

luluinca

Thanks for the response Nayners. I guess I'm trying to figure out the best breakdown of macros for my body and my workouts. I was genuinely shocked at how much better I felt during my workout this morning and I don't think it was the calories, I think it might have been the carbs. Generally I'm lucky if I get to 150/160 g a day and eating closer to 200 may have made a difference for me.

I don't think I could go too much higher on fat although I know a lot of people do. It's interesting how we all seem to have different needs other than just calories.

For today I'm at 1633 cals, 170 C, 56 F and 127 P, unless I change something. Tomorrow I'll eat a little more. I like to calorie cycle a little and eat lower on some days and higher on others depending on my workout needs but I average between 1600 and 1700 a day, closer to an 18-20% deficit.

Like you, I lost most of my weight at about 1400 cals/day so some of this is new to me as well. My trainer is the one who first encouraged me to slow down and eat more and he likes how much harder I can work................LOL and then Heybales helped me understand all of it a little bit better.

Nayners21

YES! It is crazy how everyone's body is different. The important thing is to find what your body needs and STICK WITH IT! That is my biggest issue. If I don't see results right away, I am wanting to quit (I'm talking about a week). So if carbs works better for you, stick with it for about a month and see what changes you notice. Your numbers sound good though. Close to mine, just the carbs and fat adjusted. Curious, where and how did you calculate your macros? THere are several ways and I get a different way each time.

luluinca

I experimented with the MFP settings. At first I tried 40, 30, 30, 40 being carbs but it was too much fat for me so I changed the percentages. At 1600 calories, which is close to what I average most days it ends up being 180g Carbs, 120 g Protein and 44 g of fat.

I also have at least one meal a week that I don't really bother logging, usually a meal out but I don't go crazy with it. My trainer encouraged me to do that and so in reality I eat a little more every week than it looks like.

If I go over on fat it's from healthy fats like nuts or avocados, fish or a little olive/avocado oil. I also take it easy on sugar. I'm not afraid to have a little piece of chocolate or even a bigger dessert now and then but I feel better and less achy if I don't indulge too often. I don't know why though........... It might all be in my mind!

heybales

Considered minimum needs in a diet, protein to help retain muscle mass, and provide enough fat for hormone control.

Protein - 1 gram per lb of goal weight.
Fat - 0.45 g / lb of goal weight.
So however many calories that ends up being.
Carbs gets the rest of the calories.
That amount changes at goal weight of course.

The reason for the better workout is probably a combo of longer rest for recovery, more carbs for a hard high carb workout, and more calories in general.

luluinca

Thanks Heybales, I'll try that for awhile, more fat and protein than I've been eating.