Calculating Macro Needs

jenillawafer

Yes, there are a gabazillion subjects on this, but I'm still a a loss.

My stats are as follows:

Age: 23
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 104 lb
Neck: 12 in
Waist: 24.5 in
Hips: 35 in

I plugged this in using "in place of a road map".
My activity level falls between lightly and moderate, so I took the average of the two numbers. (obsessive, right?)
It figured 1873 calories. Okay, great. However, calories aren't my problem.

"They" say, 1g of protein per lbm. That's 82g. Using the custom settings, that's only about 20% protein. Seems a bit low, doesn't it?

My question is, would a ratio of 40c/ 40f/ 20p be a good starting point? Anyone else following this one? I'm looking to maintain my current weight.

jenillawafer

No one? Bah!

michellekicks

If that's the case, start with 40 carbs, 30 protein, 30 fat. There is nothing wrong with dietary fat. You can go as high as 1g/lb of body weight while cutting and it will be beneficial to retaining LBM.

jenillawafer

Thanks for the info!

JumpingDog

I eat by a 20% protein, 25% carb, 55% fat breakdown. 20% protein is my minimum. I'm 5'0", 122 lbs and have a similar amount of lean mass as my bf% is ~30. I don't lift weights at this point though and my exercise regime is inconsistent at best. I imagine what you eat depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

jenillawafer

I do a small amount of strength training (not enough to brag about).
I was thinking about upping my fat intake (healthy, of course) because I'm constantly hungry.
Gotta' love carbs though! I'm honestly ready to call it quits with macros all together and just eat sensibly.
I don't think it will reverse all of my hard work, right?

michellekicks

I lost all my weight ignoring carbs and fat... just aiming for a protein target in grams (my LBM of 120lbs meant 120g protein daily) and my calorie target. Once I hit that protein target, I'd let fat and carbs land where they will.

Carbs are not bad. They are fuel for both aerobic and anaerobic activities. When you over-eat protein and fat, you cheat yourself out of energy-boosting carbs. You don't need more than 30% calories from fat (but should stay above 20%) and you don't need more than 1g protein per pound of body weight while cutting. Other than that, go for the carbs because the more carbs you can eat while still achieving your goals, the more energy you'll have and the more ability to cut something more once you plateau.

So to start, keep carbs up. No need to go with a ketogenic diet unless nothing else is working or you have a short term goal and a deadline to meet. The average person doesn't.

haroon_awan

mrsbigmack is right (great username by the way!) carbs are great for fuel and 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight is the most you'll need when dieting, but it can be very useful because of its protein sparing nature. Some people even find protein + fat more filling than protein + carbs, for some it's the other way around. Personally, I get very hungry on a protein + fat diet because of the lack of fibre (aside from nuts, veggies and some fruit). It might be useful to start tracking your fibre intake rather than saturated fat and sodium as it sounds like you can avoid high amounts of these if you can follow the eat sensible idea you mentioned.

So find your maintenance calories, which you've done and go for
1g of protein per lb of lean body mass - bodyweight
0.4-5g of fats per lb of bodyweight
Remainder with carbs.

I think the difficulty in this situation is that your maintenance calories for someone of your height and weight are quite high, that's why your protein % is at 20-25% only. But if your activity level requires it and you've clearly been at a good weight for a while now if I remember correctly so it must be about right. In which case feel free to up your protein to meet your hunger needs. Take my diary, on Friday I had 119g of protein and stayed under my calories, but on Thursday I had 209g of protein and stayed under my calories.

If you are looking to lose weight, then it's a matter calories in v. calories out. If you are looking to lose fat and retain lean body mass, then it's a matter of calories in v. calories out, adequate protein intake and a structured weight training program. But because you are maintaining, just keep your calories at about the level you need, aim for at least 1g per lb of lean body mass and just eat whatever you feel you need. If you need more carbs, then eat more carbs, if you need more fat, then eat more fat, if you need more protein, then eat more protein. The adverse affects of "excessive protein/carbs/fats" has been massively over-hyped by the media, your body will be fine if you eat 500g of protein tomorrow, unless you have a pre-existing kidney issue for example.

Hope this helps! Feel free to message me if you need anything x

jenillawafer

I appreciate the help. Great info! I've been maintaining on this intake for about 8 months, so I'd like to stick with the overall calorie goal. I just need to stop obsessing so much!

lovingangel4uau

You might like to hear this before putting up your protein.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDXxo5Sussk

erikkmcvay

I've tried pretty hard to stick to 55/25/20 but find on workout days I'm 40/30/30 most often.

You can eat as low as 15% of your cals in protein and MFP actually sets the default here. You don't need 1g per lb of LBM but for muscle retention that's what a lot recommend (I've seen lower like .85). For increased muscle size (bulk) I've done as much as 2-3g/lbm but that's for those who want to bulk up IMHO

lovingangel4uau

Also great book to read about all of this is.. Crazy Sexy Kitchen

timkane46

When setting your macros you need to know caloric values of food. Protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram for example if you are eating 2000 calories per day and you follow 30 % F. 30 % P and 40 % carbs you would eat 200 grams of carbs a day, 150 grams protein and 67 grams of fat to equal your 2000 cals

jenillawafer

Angel, I'm not giving up meat!

haroon_awan

You might like to hear this before putting up your protein.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDXxo5Sussk

I don't feel like wasting 50 minutes of my life. The title of the video says it all.

"Animal protein (meat and dairy) causes cancer"

There is no study in the history of science that shows eating meat and dairy cause cancer. They only show a correlation, and as far as I can remember, most of the studies were done on overweight and untrained individuals, and hardly any external factors were controlled, such as activity level, mood, mental health, major life events, illness etc. Causation and correlation are two completely different things. Giving up meat and dairy because a doctor on a youtube video implies or states they cause cancer is plain silly.

lovingangel4uau

You obviously didn't hear this lecture by scientists to Drs and scientists, who actually have done studies.

This doesn't mean you give up meat or protein altogether just less of the amount we are told by the FDA who are run by most industries namely Monsanto's. Tell us what to have. Interesting that. Most of the board members on the FDA are paid also by Monsanto's. Who regulate how our food is farmed what goes on it. That's another Pandora box. Please don't comment on this unless you know what your talking about and the facts. And if another is interesting there is plenty of information.