Anyone counting Macros?

oksoitsjen

Hey y'all! I've been using MFP forever to count calories. I was recently introduced to Counting Macros, or flexible dieting. Is anyone else doing this??

staceyb2016

Yes. I found a website and calculated all my macros and put it on my fitness pal. So far so good. I try to stay within 5% at the end of the day.

lynn_glenmont

I don't worry about percentages. I aim to hit a minimum of 67 g of protein (preferably 80 g or more) and a minimum 25 g of fiber (preferably 30 g or more), and pretty much let the rest fall where they will, although if I didn't habitually hit my fat goals I would work on that, but I do without trying. In any case, your needs for protein and fat don't change depending on how many total calories you're eating (i.e., whether you're at maintenance or a 500 calorie deficit or a 1000 calorie deficit, or a surplus, your minimum protein and fat requirements depend roughly on your body weight, not some supposed ideal percentage breakdown), so it's better to focus on number of grams than on percentages.

AJ_G

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I aim to hit a minimum of 67 g of protein

Borderline atrophy

lynn_glenmont

AJ_G wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I aim to hit a minimum of 67 g of protein

Borderline atrophy

You know nothing about my stats. How can you possibly know?

livingleanlivingclean

I track macros (grams, not %'s)

AJ_G

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

AJ_G wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I aim to hit a minimum of 67 g of protein

Borderline atrophy

You know nothing about my stats. How can you possibly know?

Good point, are you 4'8" and 85 lbs? No? Then probably borderline atrophy...

lynn_glenmont

AJ_G wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

AJ_G wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I aim to hit a minimum of 67 g of protein

Borderline atrophy

You know nothing about my stats. How can you possibly know?

Good point, are you 4'8" and 85 lbs? No? Then probably borderline atrophy...

1) I said it was a minimum goal. Minimum, not average, not maximum. As in, if the end of the day comes and I haven't hit my minimum, out come the egg whites or greek yogurt, even if it means going over my calorie goal, unless I'm just too full to eat, and then it'll be a top priority to make it up the next day. It's been roughly my minimum for about two years (with slight adjustments due to weight fluctuations), and no signs of muscle atrophy yet.

2) I don't take my nutrition recommendations from random bro recommendations on body-building websites or magazines, where people seem to confuse pounds and kilograms. According to the National Academies of Science, "The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for both men and women is .80 g of good quality protein/kg of body weight/d and is based on careful analyses of available nitrogen balance studies." http://www.nap.edu/read/10490/chapter/12#591

3) You're really missing my point. I wasn't recommending that someone else, whose stats I don't know, should observe the minimum that is appropriate to me. They need to make that determination for themselves. They may have goals that differ from mine, such as attempting to add substantial amounts of muscle mass. My point was that devoting a percentage of your total calories to protein, rather than determining the appropriate number of grams and aiming for that regardless of your total calories, will nonsensically cause you to consume less protein if you're on a bigger deficit.

seska422

AJ_G wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I aim to hit a minimum of 67 g of protein

Borderline atrophy

What's with this race to see how much protein everyone can cram into their bodies?

The RDA for protein is 46 grams for non-pregnant and non-lactating women and 56 for men. It's 71 for pregnant or lactating women. People keep saying that's for sedentary people but that RDA is set to meet the needs of almost all (97 to 98 percent) individuals in a group. RDA/AI

Eating some more protein would certainly be OK but she won't atrophy from "just" eating 46% over the RDA.

lynn_glenmont

seska422 wrote: »

AJ_G wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I aim to hit a minimum of 67 g of protein

Borderline atrophy

What's with this race to see how much protein everyone can cram into their bodies?

The RDA for protein is 46 grams for non-pregnant and non-lactating women and 56 for men. It's 71 for pregnant or lactating women. People keep saying that's for sedentary people but that RDA is set to meet the needs of almost all (97 to 98 percent) individuals in a group. RDA/AI

Eating some more protein would certainly be OK but she won't atrophy from "just" eating 46% over the RDA.

Thanks. I appreciate the corroboration.

I've seen that chart from the National Academies, and it's based on the same .8 g protein/kg bodyweight/day that I use. There's a footnote for that 46 grams of protein that says "Based on 0.8 g/kg body weight for the reference body weight." Working backwards (46/.8*2.2) indicates that the reference body weight is 126 lbs -- so 46 g of protein is supposed to meet the needs of 97% to 98% of 126 lb. non-pregnant, non-lactating women.

Dreysander

I really only count minimum protein and fat. I try to make sure that I hit my protein number most days, fat number is easy to hit, then I fill the rest up with carbs or more protein / fat.