Macros are killing me

cnbbnc

I've asked this before but I have to ask again. I was confused as to why my macro percentages were increasing throughout the day, and someone set me straight by telling me it changes with daily movement. Fine.

It wasn't iifym.com, but another site I went on yesterday to figure out what my percentages should ideally be set at. It gave me 40%carb, 35%protein, 25%fat. Ok.

Well as of right now according to my diary I'm supposed to eat 180g of protein for today. !!!!! I weigh 129lbs, so there's no way this is right even considering my workout, right???

What in the world is going on?

AJ_G

cnbbnc wrote: »

I've asked this before but I have to ask again. I was confused as to why my macro percentages were increasing throughout the day, and someone set me straight by telling me it changes with daily movement. Fine.

It wasn't iifym.com, but another site I went on yesterday to figure out what my percentages should ideally be set at. It gave me 40%carb, 35%protein, 25%fat. Ok.

Well as of right now according to my diary I'm supposed to eat 180g of protein for today. !!!!! I weigh 129lbs, so there's no way this is right even considering my workout, right???

What in the world is going on?

Classic misconception. Macronutrients should not be set by percentage of total calorie intake. That's arbitrary and it's not useful or effective. What you should be doing is calculating them in gram amounts based on your body weight. For example, ideal protein intake is found to be 0.82g per lb of body weight. This is the protein intake that maximizes the potential for muscle synthesis in the body. So in your case, at 129 lbs, your protein intake should be 106g per day. Next you should calculate dietary fat intake. Ideally it should be set anywhere from 0.35 to 0.5g per lb of body weight. I advise people to set it 0.35g per lb of body weight and use that as a minimum goal to shoot for, while exceeding it is fine. So in your case you might want to set your dietary fat intake to 45g per day. At this point all you need to do is set the rest of your calories to carbohydrates, or any combination of fat, protein, or carbohydrates that you want.

cnbbnc

AJ_G wrote: »

cnbbnc wrote: »

I've asked this before but I have to ask again. I was confused as to why my macro percentages were increasing throughout the day, and someone set me straight by telling me it changes with daily movement. Fine.

It wasn't iifym.com, but another site I went on yesterday to figure out what my percentages should ideally be set at. It gave me 40%carb, 35%protein, 25%fat. Ok.

Well as of right now according to my diary I'm supposed to eat 180g of protein for today. !!!!! I weigh 129lbs, so there's no way this is right even considering my workout, right???

What in the world is going on?

Classic misconception. Macronutrients should not be set by percentage of total calorie intake. That's arbitrary and it's not useful or effective. What you should be doing is calculating them in gram amounts based on your body weight. For example, ideal protein intake is found to be 0.82g per lb of body weight. This is the protein intake that maximizes the potential for muscle synthesis in the body. So in your case, at 129 lbs, your protein intake should be 106g per day. Next you should calculate dietary fat intake. Ideally it should be set anywhere from 0.35 to 0.5g per lb of body weight. I advise people to set it 0.35g per lb of body weight and use that as a minimum goal to shoot for, while exceeding it is fine. So in your case you might want to set your dietary fat intake to 45g per day. At this point all you need to do is set the rest of your calories to carbohydrates, or any combination of fat, protein, or carbohydrates that you want.

After you said that, I remember just having read this on another thread. I forgot the piece about converting to grams. (Gives herself a big head slap)

Thanks for helping an idiot out.

shaumom

Although it should be mentioned that the ideal 0.82g per lb of body weight has been shown to maximize the potential for muscle synthesis in the body for men. Turns out that it hasn't actually been studied in women much.

The one bit of research that I've seen was repeating a previous study on men - that had shown they increased their muscle gain during weight lifting with increased protein intake. It was done again on women when female athletes were reporting that they weren't seeing the same results and the author of the original study decided to explore that.

Turns out, increasing protein the same way for women actually did not show the same improvement in muscle mass gain for women. Many had no improvement at all. So however men's bodies process protein, women's bodies don't seem to deal with it the same way. We don't know what way they DO deal with it, however, because again...no research. Currently, most of the recommendations involving a lot of nutrients we ingest are actually based on studies solely done on men (with a few notable exceptions), but they are listed as being valid for everyone.

The only reason this matters, really, is that at this point, as a woman, I personally would pay attention to how you feel with the macro you are eating. If it seems to help, awesome. If it doesn't, though, you may want to listen to that feeling, as there is so little research to back up the official recommendations, at the moment. (this briefly discusses some of the issue of the lack of women in previous research, if you're interested, actually: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1761670/ )

rankinsect

AJ_G wrote: »

For example, ideal protein intake is found to be 0.82g per lb of body weight. This is the protein intake that maximizes the potential for muscle synthesis in the body.

I would also point out, this is for people who are already muscular and training to become even more muscular. For example, a weight lifter looking to bulk. While it certainly wouldn't hurt to get that much protein, someone who is not currently trying to build large amounts of muscle really doesn't need nearly as much protein as that.

cnbbnc

rankinsect wrote: »

AJ_G wrote: »

For example, ideal protein intake is found to be 0.82g per lb of body weight. This is the protein intake that maximizes the potential for muscle synthesis in the body.

I would also point out, this is for people who are already muscular and training to become even more muscular. For example, a weight lifter looking to bulk. While it certainly wouldn't hurt to get that much protein, someone who is not currently trying to build large amounts of muscle really doesn't need nearly as much protein as that.

I'm not trying to build muscle. Not yet anyway.... But I am trying to hold onto as much as I can while in a deficit. I'm lifting now, and hope to start a recomp once I knock off a few more pounds. I go heavier with protein for that reason, plus I just seem to feel better overall.