Macros/Protein help

hazzaram

Hi everyone. I come to you in my confusion and hope to clear a few things up.

1. I have a hard time staying within my macros. I've done some reading on here and a lot of people say that macros don't matter as long as you have a calorie deficit. Is that really true? Can I eat what protein, carbs etc. that I want as long as I stay under in calories?? That just feels wrong to me. Every time I go over on a macro and see that red, I feel immediately guilty so I try my best to stay below.

2. I've also read that people should consume .8g of protein per 1lb of body weight. Is that correct? So weighing 250 lbs, I should be consuming 200g of protein/day? That seems like a lot but that might account for why I'm always hungry. MFP recommended 81g of protein per day and I try my best to stay below that but I'm always hungry.

3. Can someone please explain what a calorie deficit is? I feel a little stupid for asking. Is it just having calories left at the end of the day that you didn't use?

cecsav1

1. Yes, you can lose weight without managing macros. Macros have more to do with body composition than body weight.
2. .8g protein per pound is *about* right. There's some confusion re: pounds vs kg, body weight vs lean mass, etc. But 200g protein is doable, if you decide to go that route (assuming you're at the proper number of calories). I regularly consume 150g or more of protein, and I shoot for between 1200 - 1300 calories daily. (I'm about 165 pounds)
3. Yes, calorie deficit is simply eating less calories than you burn.

Kullerva

1. Macros only matter if you're worried about certain goals--preventing or treating diabetes, building muscle, treating IBS, etc. If you don't have any major health concerns and just want to lose weight, calories are your metric and your god.
2. .8g of protein per pound of lean mass is how I've heard that advice told. Not .8g for how much you weigh, but .8g for how much you'd like to weigh at your leanest. Of course, you can eat more if you're bodybuilding (and may need more if you're morbidly obese), but again that's a guideline, not a requirement. As long as you're eating enough protein to maintain your current muscles, you're fine. (Usually only vegetarians/vegans and people who subsist entirely on processed food have issues eating that amount of protein on their own.)
3. A calorie deficit means you're eating less than what it takes to maintain your body, resulting in weight loss in the form of fat and muscle. Eat too many calories and you gain; eat too few, and you lose. Hang out in the beginner forums to get a feel for what CICO means (calories in/calories out), and don't listen to anything that sounds too good to be true or too crazy to be sustainable. Good luck!

malibu927

1. Correct. As long as you're in a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight. To help with the red numbers, look at your fat and protein goals as minimums to hit rather than maximums to stay under.
2. There are many suggestions as to protein intake. Rather than .8 grams per pound of weight, I'd suggest .8-1 grams per pound of lean mass. If you can figure out your BF%, then divide that by your weight that will give you an approximation of how much fat you're carrying. The rest will be water, muscle, bone, organs, etc. Once you get that calculated, you can adjust MFP's macro percentages from the default to approximately what you need.
3. A deficit means you eat less than you burn. MFP already subtracts the deficit when you sign up, so your goal is what you should be eating to lose .5-2 pounds per week, whichever rate you chose.

leanjogreen18

You can lose weight without managing macros however if you eat too many refined carbs you may not feel or stay full for long.

While the CICO is true for weight loss it is not true in terms of feeling hungry or full on lower calories. Thats where the macros come in. I personally don't pay attention to my macros BUT I do try to have protein every meal and I've noticed I need to replace some of my carbs with more fruits and veggies and cut down on refined carbs.

kommodevaran

You can eat however you want and lose weight as long as you have a calorie deficit - which is eating less than you burn, or taking in less energy than your body requires to do what it does - it means that it takes the remainder from stored body fat. Don't feel guilty for eating. Hit your calorie goal. Eating too little means you are just making it harder for yourself. You say you are hungry. There's a reason for that. Your body says NO. You will lose weight, but healthily, when you eat the right amount of calories.

Set protein goal to 0.8 grams per pound of total body weight at a healthy weight. Regard this as a minimum. At any rate, do no try to stay below MFP's protein goal. Because it's based on percentages of energy, and doesn't adjust for weight goal, it can be too low for dieters.

hazzaram

Thank you guys! I've been so stressed trying to manage my macros and I think that's been the issue. I've been giving up because of frustration but if I don't have to try and micro-manage that stuff, I think everything will be much easier on me. I feel so much relief already, lol.

I will head to the beginner forums and do some reading, thank you

Kullerva

Re: being always hungry. I get that! It's true of me, too. Drink lots of water and eat high-volume foods with lots of water and fiber in them. Here's my go-to list:

1. Water
2. Jello (sugarless has fewer calories)
3. Zucchini, squash or cucumber (fried in Pam cooking oil with garlic and other spices; it's 50 calories of yum)
4. Water (it can't be overstated)
5. If the above don't do it, I'm usually craving fat or protein. Time to eat a serving of cheese, nuts or (if you're into that) meat.

LazSommer

The wolf living inside you requires at least 300g protein every day and 30 bowls of ramen.

hazzaram

Seriously, thank you for the replies everyone! I am feeling so much better already. I think I was beating myself up a lot for not staying under the macros!

So here's another question - how do you know if you're eating less than you burn? I have a Fitbit Zip but I don't think it calculates anything like that.

LazSommer

hazzaram wrote: »

Seriously, thank you for the replies everyone! I am feeling so much better already. I think I was beating myself up a lot for not staying under the macros!

So here's another question - how do you know if you're eating less than you burn? I have a Fitbit Zip but I don't think it calculates anything like that.

Elite ninjas are very active. Use the website to calculate your TDEE. Jutsu is very intensive, but if you're not logging many steps you are likely sedentary.

malibu927

You burn plenty of calories just by going about your day (work, school, socializing, errands, even just basic bodily functions such as breathing and heartbeats). Say you chose to lose a pound a week and with your stats and activity level, MFP gives you a goal of 2000 calories. That means they believe you burn 2500 calories every day before exercise. You can connect your Fitbit to MFP and any calories above and beyond that will be added to your total that you can choose to eat back.

hazzaram

Ah, okay. This is all starting to make sense!

mlgirton

It's not 0.8g per pound body weight, it's 0.8 - 1.0g per kg body weight!!!! so at 250 lbs you are 113.6kg and should be eating about 90g protein per day.

BillMcKay1

hazzaram wrote: »

Thank you guys! I've been so stressed trying to manage my macros and I think that's been the issue. I've been giving up because of frustration but if I don't have to try and micro-manage that stuff, I think everything will be much easier on me. I feel so much relief already, lol.

I will head to the beginner forums and do some reading, thank you

Just an FYI but you can change your macro ratios here on your MFP settings. MY home/goals then hit edit on your Daily Nutrition Goals. Figure out your .8-1g grams of protein per lb at target weight (higher end if you are resistance training). Take those grams of protien and x4 (4 cal per gram of protein) then figure out the percentage based on your daily calories.

Example.

My target goal is between 175 and 185lbs. So for round numbers I use 1g/lb 175g of protein. I just played around with those percentage targets until I settled on 45% protein which gives me a target of 174 g of protein. Fats and carbs are can be very individual choices. You need dietary fats for absorption of some nutrients. Some people go low carb higher fat and some people the other way. I tend towards a middle ground 30% fat 25% carbs as the target, but if it goes the other way on a day no biggie.

kommodevaran

hazzaram wrote: »

Seriously, thank you for the replies everyone! I am feeling so much better already. I think I was beating myself up a lot for not staying under the macros!

So here's another question - how do you know if you're eating less than you burn? I have a Fitbit Zip but I don't think it calculates anything like that.

You know that you are eating less than you burn when you lose weight. Weigh yourself regularly and under similar circumstances every time. But you can figure out how much you should eat to lose weight by using one of the TDEE calculators (MFP's setup is a rough TDEE calculator), log your food intake correctly and consistently, hit your calorie goal every day, and do this for a while (months, even years if there's a lot to lose).

AnnPT77

mlgirton wrote: »

It's not 0.8g per pound body weight, it's 0.8 - 1.0g per kg body weight!!!! so at 250 lbs you are 113.6kg and should be eating about 90g protein per day.

The minimal (malnutrition-avoiding) recommendation from USDA, WHO etc. tends to be around 0.8-1g per kilogram of healthy bodyweight. Many people (me included) believe that a more optimal level is 0.6-0.8g (or even 1g) per pound of healthy body weight. I suspect that's what @kommodevaran is getting at.

There's decent research suggesting that people who are in a calorie deficit benefit from extra protein beyond the minimal, as do people who work out regularly, as well as those who are aging (OP isn't, this last, I believe). In some disease conditions, it's unhealthful to get excess protein, but for healthy folks, it's fine, within reason . . . so why not eat a bit more than the minimum needed to avoid malnutrition?

Since protein is used to maintain lean body tissues, there's no need to add a bunch of extra protein based on one's fat mass - so basing it on healthy body weight, goal weight, etc., is an approximation that's easy for most people.

Maxematics

AnnPT77 wrote: »

mlgirton wrote: »

It's not 0.8g per pound body weight, it's 0.8 - 1.0g per kg body weight!!!! so at 250 lbs you are 113.6kg and should be eating about 90g protein per day.

The minimal (malnutrition-avoiding) recommendation from USDA, WHO etc. tends to be around 0.8-1g per kilogram of healthy bodyweight. Many people (me included) believe that a more optimal level is 0.6-0.8g (or even 1g) per pound of healthy body weight. I suspect that's what @kommodevaran is getting at.

There's decent research suggesting that people who are in a calorie deficit benefit from extra protein beyond the minimal, as do people who work out regularly, as well as those who are aging (OP isn't, this last, I believe). In some disease conditions, it's unhealthful to get excess protein, but for healthy folks, it's fine, within reason . . . so why not eat a bit more than the minimum needed to avoid malnutrition?

Since protein is used to maintain lean body tissues, there's no need to add a bunch of extra protein based on one's fat mass - so basing it on healthy body weight, goal weight, etc., is an approximation that's easy for most people.

Agreed. I'm 108 pounds and I wouldn't dream of having my daily protein be anything less than 80 grams and I only go as low as 80 on a rare day. I usually get no less than 100 grams.

jdx301

Just incase if you wanted to know how to come up with the numbers for your self - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=156380183