I just read people don't need to stress abut macros?

13

Replies

  • BJG7_UK
    BJG7_UK Posts: 61 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    BJG7_UK wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - really? Are you trolling?

    People use MFP for a variety of different reasons. If you are just here to lose weight and get a healthy BMI then all you need is a straight calorie deficit and that is all one would care about.

    if you care about body composition and strength training then macro /micro adherence is more important.

    but you should already know that….

    Interested, and entitled to my own opinion like everyone ;)

    yes, you are entitled to be wrong as much as you want. It just makes you look, well, not very smart. And I mean that with all due respect.

    I'm ok with that, I'm here to learn like everyone. And Thank you.
  • BJG7_UK
    BJG7_UK Posts: 61 Member
    This response is for people who might read your post and think you're doing something other than being argumentative and bored. Because people do still read the forums to learn.

    Metabolic damage: One needs to be on a VLCD for a prolonged period to cause metabolic damage. That doesn't just happen overnight. It happens primarily to people who do extreme cut-bulk cycles, to people who overtrain while eating too few calories, and to people with a disordered approach to eating (whether that be the below 1200 calorie crowd, anorexics, or morbidly obese people who are made to believe that they have to eat celery all day to lose weight), and yo-yo dieters.

    Macros: They matter for body composition, muscle retention, hormone balance, overall energy, and general health. People have different needs, and macros are not something that are going to be the same for everyone. It isn't a one-size-fits-all thing. Distance runners don't generally want a lot of upper body mass (or even a lot of quad mass) to carry around, so packing in the protein to build mass isn't a high priority, but sufficient carbohydrates to fuel endurance runs would be. Lifters are the opposite, and protein becomes more of a priority. People who want to do it all eventually figure out a balance that works for them. Most people fit somewhere in between the extremes, and there's a lot of leeway for those of us involved in recreational fitness.

    Your Metabolic damage description was basically how I started dieting.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    BJG7_UK wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    BJG7_UK wrote: »

    You can still hit wall on a calorie deficit, where you would stop losing weight?


    If you are eating fewer calories than you burn ... why would you stop losing weight?

    by causing metabolic damage?

    What does that even mean? How about we rephrase the question:

    If you are eating fewer calories than you burn ... where is this extra energy coming from? Is your body a perpetual motion machine? Is it conjuring free energy from the aether?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    edited July 2015
    BJG7_UK wrote: »
    This response is for people who might read your post and think you're doing something other than being argumentative and bored. Because people do still read the forums to learn.

    Metabolic damage: One needs to be on a VLCD for a prolonged period to cause metabolic damage. That doesn't just happen overnight. It happens primarily to people who do extreme cut-bulk cycles, to people who overtrain while eating too few calories, and to people with a disordered approach to eating (whether that be the below 1200 calorie crowd, anorexics, or morbidly obese people who are made to believe that they have to eat celery all day to lose weight), and yo-yo dieters.

    Macros: They matter for body composition, muscle retention, hormone balance, overall energy, and general health. People have different needs, and macros are not something that are going to be the same for everyone. It isn't a one-size-fits-all thing. Distance runners don't generally want a lot of upper body mass (or even a lot of quad mass) to carry around, so packing in the protein to build mass isn't a high priority, but sufficient carbohydrates to fuel endurance runs would be. Lifters are the opposite, and protein becomes more of a priority. People who want to do it all eventually figure out a balance that works for them. Most people fit somewhere in between the extremes, and there's a lot of leeway for those of us involved in recreational fitness.

    Your Metabolic damage description was basically how I started dieting.

    So you admit that you did it in an unhealthy fashion?

  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    [/quote]

    So you admit that you did it in a unhealthy fashion.

    [/quote]

    You didn't follow along with OP very well.

    [/quote]

    My issue with the advice I read is that I did just that when I started dieting last time **fruit, veg, lean protein**.. and at 235lbs I hit a wall pretty quick. I took some convincing to track macros, and boom I drop to 179lbs.

    [/quote]


  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Who are you quoting after my post about OP saying he did what another poster describe as metabolic damage?
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    It depends on your goals...
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Who are you quoting after my post about OP saying he did what another poster describe as metabolic damage?

    I was quoting OP from the bottom of the first page.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Alternatively you can just press the quote button for each of the posts you want which will appear in the text box at the bottom of the screen.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Hit Quote on the first post and then do the same for the second. And like jimmer said:
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    msf74 wrote: »
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Alternatively you can just press the quote button for each of the posts you want which will appear in the text box at the bottom of the screen.

    Can you do that if your quoting from different pages though?
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Congrats. Now you just need to set your macros up for correct quoting performance...
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    OK I got it, thanks guys! I will no longer hijack this thread. Continue on.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    jimmmer wrote: »
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Congrats. Now you just need to set your macros up for correct quoting performance...

    hahaha, touché ;)
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    msf74 wrote: »
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Alternatively you can just press the quote button for each of the posts you want which will appear in the text box at the bottom of the screen.

    Can you do that if your quoting from different pages though?

    I actually thought you could but it doesn't seem that way!
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    jimmmer wrote: »
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Congrats. Now you just need to set your macros up for correct quoting performance...

    hahaha, touché ;)

    :D
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    msf74 wrote: »
    msf74 wrote: »
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Alternatively you can just press the quote button for each of the posts you want which will appear in the text box at the bottom of the screen.

    Can you do that if your quoting from different pages though?

    I actually thought you could but it doesn't seem that way!

    OPen new tab

    click quote on that page

    copy and past.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    This has been a very helpful thread. Now no one flag me for getting off topic please o:)
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    msf74 wrote: »
    msf74 wrote: »
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag
    jimmmer wrote: »
    make sure the first quote doesn't have a backslash. That's only for the closing quote tag

    ahhh, I see. Trying it out now..
    Someone tell me how you all can quote more than one post in your reply, lol!!!

    Yay, I did it!! Small victories!

    Alternatively you can just press the quote button for each of the posts you want which will appear in the text box at the bottom of the screen.

    Can you do that if your quoting from different pages though?

    I actually thought you could but it doesn't seem that way!

    OPen new tab

    click quote on that page

    copy and past.

    Cheers dude but I am neeeeeeever going to that much effort to quote anyone ;)

  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    edited July 2015
    Gentyl wrote: »
    For me, it's All about the macros. Macros first, calories last. I tend to gain weight on too many carbs, even when those carbs come from lettuce... so, I make sure the carbs are good ones. I also never want to go over on protein. When you watch your carbs, you tend to go over on protein because too many carbs converts to glucose. Too much glucose converts to fat. For me, at least, Macros was how I lost all of my weight.

    This is incorrect, or rather half of a true statement. Rather a 1/4 of one.

    The glucose from carbs converts to either ATP which is used for immediate energy needs or is stored as fat and then is later used by the body during periods of fasting when energy is called for. If there is an excess of energy taken in, there will be an excess of energy that remains stored.

    It comes down to calories in the end, not the fact that some glucose ends up stored as fat.

    So as not to derail:

    Macro counting and calorie counting accomplish two different goals.

    Macro counting accomplishes nutritional and fitness goals.

    Calorie counting and management accomplishes weight management goals.

  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    I'm hit and miss. Calories always count and macros, I try to hit protein. Don't really care about the fat and carbs part.
    My approach too.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    BJG7_UK wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    BJG7_UK wrote: »

    You can still hit wall on a calorie deficit, where you would stop losing weight?


    If you are eating fewer calories than you burn ... why would you stop losing weight?

    by causing metabolic damage?

    No, you don't damage metabolism, metabolism adapts. Weight loss slows or stalls and is easily dealt with through refeeding.

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    BJG7_UK wrote: »
    This interests me as I saw it on another post..

    And it made me think, if we shouldn't have to worry about macros then why do we use MFP?

    My mind is blown :-/

    The first time I used MFP, in 2012, I just used the default macros: 50% from carbohydrates, 20% from protein and 30% from fat. This time around, I reduced my carbs and upped my protein and found this combo fills me up better, thus making it easier for me to stick to a calorie deficit.

    When a meal doesn't have meat in it, I look at the ratios to see if I need to add protein. I have smaller portions of carby foods like rice and pasta. Yesterday I felt good - had lots of energy, did yoga in the AM and gardened after work, and by EOD hit 46 % carbs, 30 % protein and 23 % fat.
  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
    edited July 2015
    Something that I haven't seen yet in this thread, though admittedly I only skimmed, was that macro composition can have a very noticeable effect on satiety...which will then likely have an impact on adherence to the deficit.

    Satiety is highly personal, and it's worth toying around with macros if one finds that they're eating at a reasonable and sustainable deficit but also struggling with hunger issues.
  • Ilovebaking13
    Ilovebaking13 Posts: 10 Member
    I mean basically it's calories in and calories put but macros do matter especially if you aren't getting enough or getting way too much, obviously. But unless your following a super low carb or high protein diet most people, especially those on here, will likely meet those requirements throughout the week anyway.
    I like looking at it because I typically take in too much fat so it's helping me to see how much is in the food I've been eating and to cut back during the rest of the week.
  • Steve_ApexNC
    Steve_ApexNC Posts: 210 Member

    Macro counting and calorie counting accomplish two different goals.

    Macro counting accomplishes nutritional and fitness goals.

    Calorie counting and management accomplishes weight management goals.

    by and large, this.

    A calorie deficit is the key factor in losing weight. As such, that is the primary number I watch.

    However, the body needs more than just calories to be healthy - it needs certain nutrients to properly feed the thousands of chemical reactions that happen in your body each day. That is where the macro's come in. I track my macro's because it helps me ensure my body is getting the various nutritional components it needs. A side benefit I have found is that in balancing my macro's, I have to work pretty hard to actually meet my calorie minimums each day which means that some days I can treat myself to a little something sweet at the end of the day. I chose a low carb-fat ratio for personal reasons. Others prefer other macro levels. At any rate, I watch my macro's to ensure the right balance of foods my body needs.

    I will add that I do believe there is a benefit to macro watching from a weight loss perspective. I have come to understand that not all weight loss is equal. When you lose weight, you are not losing 100% fatty tissue. I believe (and this is my opinion based upon reading and my own anecdotal observations) that balancing my macro's (along with strength training) maximizes my fat:LBM weight loss. That is to say, I believe it gives me the best chance to lose more fat and less LBM. Of course, I may be wrong on that or the truth may be that I am right, but the advantage it provides is negligible, but, for now, it works for me.

    Beyond that, I also watch sodium intake for health reasons. My genetic tree is predisposed to high BP and other salt related issues so I feel it necessary to keep my sodium low. On the other hand, my wife and son have very low salt levels and require a higher amount than most folks in their diet. I do all the shopping and cooking, so tracking sodium content among other things such as iron for my wife allows me to adapt each base meal for each person. I may salt one person's plate a bit more or give one person a bit more kale than another.

    There are no magic pills and everyone needs to figure out what works best for them. Some folks like things as simple as they can be (and I don't blame them) and calorie counting gives them the most bang for their buck. If that is what works for them, more power to 'em.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    Gentyl wrote: »
    For me, it's All about the macros. Macros first, calories last. I tend to gain weight on too many carbs, even when those carbs come from lettuce... so, I make sure the carbs are good ones. I also never want to go over on protein. When you watch your carbs, you tend to go over on protein because too many carbs converts to glucose. Too much glucose converts to fat. For me, at least, Macros was how I lost all of my weight.

    What I don't get is why people have this mentality that the moment something is converted to fat, it's stuck in your body as fat till the end of time. Why does your body store fat? So it can use it later for energy. Sometimes even minutes later. Look at the one or two people who have no body fat at all, and they have to eat several times an hour just to keep from dying.
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