Needing the Basics

Health_Lady

Hi- I am really new to this My Fitness Pal site and app, but I am looking for some support and help. I am 122 lbs. and around 5'2" and 21 years old. I am looking to get down to 115 lbs. I guess I am not only looking for friends, but also just the basics about weight loss. I have read all about not having major deficits or going below 1200 calories. I do cardio pretty regularly 4 times a week for about 35 minutes- mainly on the elliptical.

I have read all about increasing protein and lowering carbohydrates, etc. Should I have certain macro settings?
I am assuming I am clear to eat back exercise calories, but without the exercise calories what should be deficit be?
Sorry to bombard with questions- I just really want to do this the right and healthy way.

Thanks!

AJ_G

You should be aiming for a minimum of .82g/lb of body weight for protein, and .4g/lb of body weight of fat every day. So at your weight, that means you should be eating a minimum of 100g of protein a day, and a minimum of 49g of fat a day. These are minimums and it is completely fine to go over them, assuming that you stay under your daily calorie goal. There is no minimum for carbs, because they are not essential, but they are good for an easy source of fuel for energy for your body. Fiddle with your macro percentages so that you have your protein and fat goals set as close to these numbers as possible. Since every gram of fat is 9 calories and every gram of protein is 4 calories, if you hit these minimums, that equals 841 calories from fat and protein a day. The rest of your calories can come from whatever you'd like: all carbs, mixture of carbs/fats/protein, etc. Feel free to send me a private message if you need help calculating daily calories or anything

Health_Lady

You should be aiming for a minimum of .82g/lb of body weight for protein, and .4g/lb of body weight of fat every day. So at your weight, that means you should be eating a minimum of 100g of protein a day, and a minimum of 49g of fat a day. These are minimums and it is completely fine to go over them, assuming that you stay under your daily calorie goal. There is no minimum for carbs, because they are not essential, but they are good for an easy source of fuel for energy for your body. Fiddle with your macro percentages so that you have your protein and fat goals set as close to these numbers as possible. Since every gram of fat is 9 calories and every gram of protein is 4 calories, if you hit these minimums, that equals 841 calories from fat and protein a day. The rest of your calories can come from whatever you'd like: all carbs, mixture of carbs/fats/protein, etc. Feel free to send me a private message if you need help calculating daily calories or anything

Thank you for taking the time to type that all out. I will now change my percentages to these.

Any other advice from others?

psuLemon

You shoudl also look to incorporate weight training or some kind of resistance training. This is where i see a lot of people fail (especially in women since many are cardio queens). But if your goal is to look fit, lean and defined or just to be strong, then you need resistance. While in a calorie deficit (regardless if you lift like a man) you will not add any muscle and even if you did get some noob gains, you would only become more lean.

Also below are good guidelines to follow.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

TwelveSticks

Although it's important to have an awareness of how much protein and fat etc. you should be eating, it's also important not to over-complicate things and to follow an eating lifestyle that is sustainable for you.

The basic principle of MFP is pretty straightforward - set your goals on it, telling it you do no exercise and see what it tells you to eat. It sounds like that is 1200? Then enter everything you eat, plus all the exercise you do. Make sure you eat back your exercise calories as well - but I suggest you treat the exercise burn figures sceptically and so only eat back a proportion of them (I eat back 2/3rds personally). That's it. If you can get your proteins and fats balanced as well, then all the better, but concentrate on the calories first. Weight loss is all about calories in being less than calories out...