FREE Customized Personal Weight Loss Eating Plan! (Not Spam or MLM)
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Bump5
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Can someone please help me on setting this up correctly ? I’m really having a hard time understanding the macros and how to calculate properly? Many Thanks in Advance1
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76h5v4cycg wrote: »Can someone please help me on setting this up correctly ? I’m really having a hard time understanding the macros and how to calculate properly? Many Thanks in Advance
First, the MFP default macros aren't terrible as a starting point for most people.
If you want to use the suggestions in the OP of this thread, tell me what your healthy goal weight is, or - if you don't know a goal weight - tell me how tall you are, and whether male or female. I can show you the arithmetic to calculate estimated values. It might help to know your age and current weight-loss goals (how many pounds/kg per week); your current weight; and your current daily calorie goal if you've estimated one already.
There's nothing sacred about the macro ranges I recommend: They're what I use, there's some others who advocate similar, but you can fine tune based on your own circumstances.
So, ideally:
* Age
* Sex
* Height
* Current Weight
* Healthy Goal Weight (if you have one)
* Target Weight Loss Rate
* Current Weight Loss Calorie Goal (if you have one)
Caveat, just in case the situation arises: I'm not going to do the arithmetic for lots and lots of people. I'll do the arithmetic for one, and show how it would be done. Others can follow the model.4 -
For Later0
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@AnnPT77 when I come even close to meeting the macros set up for me by MFP, I am WAY over on calories (1000+ over) and in most values on the chart when I look at nutrition in the food diary. I know it's because I've ate pure junk and ate way too much. But when I eat well and within calorie count, my macros are not any where close. I do not understand the macros and get really confused when I see these macro values. I am just using the free version of MFP. Right now, I'm more curious about this than determined to fix it--because my head has just not been in the game lately, and I am not in serious Just Do It mode. Obviously, contrary to that, I'm still hanging in, tracking, and trying to figure a way. So, without delving deep, taking up much time or thought or effort on a project that's close to not putting in that effort herself, can you surface skim this with a why for me? Should I try to change the macros or just ignore them? By the way, your free plan is excellent advice, and would be a winner if one was to Just Do It----Thank you for your well thought out knowledgeable contributions to these boards!2
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@Sparkuvu I’ve felt like you regarding macros. The advice that helped me the most was not to worry about it, just track calories and make sure I’m getting enough grams of protein daily. That was way easier and less of the all day mental gymnastics of trying to figure out what to eat. To determine your daily protein intake, you can multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36. It’s perfectly fine to overshoot that, consider that a minimum.1
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@AnnPT77 when I come even close to meeting the macros set up for me by MFP, I am WAY over on calories (1000+ over) and in most values on the chart when I look at nutrition in the food diary. I know it's because I've ate pure junk and ate way too much. But when I eat well and within calorie count, my macros are not any where close. I do not understand the macros and get really confused when I see these macro values. I am just using the free version of MFP. Right now, I'm more curious about this than determined to fix it--because my head has just not been in the game lately, and I am not in serious Just Do It mode. Obviously, contrary to that, I'm still hanging in, tracking, and trying to figure a way. So, without delving deep, taking up much time or thought or effort on a project that's close to not putting in that effort herself, can you surface skim this with a why for me? Should I try to change the macros or just ignore them? By the way, your free plan is excellent advice, and would be a winner if one was to Just Do It----Thank you for your well thought out knowledgeable contributions to these boards!
@Sparkuvu -
My why? Best odds of long term good health. I want future Ann to have a happy, healthy, independent life for as long as possible, and good overall nutrition is one of the foundation blocks for that. Somewhere along the way, this became visceral for me, not just theoretical.
I'm 67. Over the last few years especially (but even starting a decade or more ago), so, so sadly many of my age peers are getting into really unpleasant places as habits of sub-ideal nutrition and inactivity catch up with them. Their quality of life is poor, objectively poor. They can't eat those things they used to eat (because of diabetes, heart disease, medication interactions, etc.). They can't do the things they'd like to do (too much walking, too many stairs, etc.) They're sick more often, recovery takes longer, their many prescription drugs have side effects, . . . . It's Just. Not. Good. Watching it happen, I don't want to participate if I can avoid it.
I'm lucky: I enjoy eating many nutrient-dense foods (veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, dairy in my case). That was true even when I was overweight/obese. I gather not everyone feels the same way. IME, there is a little bit of a "training effect": Our old habits are comfortable and comforting. Change is stressful. But sometimes with a little repetition, the new habits have benefits and even joys that weren't obvious at the start.
I can't tell you what your life goals should be, so I can't tell you whether ignoring macros is the right answer for you, or not. I will say these things for you to think about if you do decide you do care about macros/nutrition:
* You don't have to be perfect or exactly exact: Just go for reasonably close, on average, over a few days to a week or thereabouts.
* You don't have to reach your goals instantly. This is one of the cases where you can chip away over a period of time, gradually. Example: Think about your routine habits and patterns. Is there one thing you can change to shift a little bit in a positive direction? If you're short on protein and long on carbs, and you routinely have a sandwich for lunch, could you go for the thin-sliced bread or an open-faced sandwich, and increase the meat or calorie-efficient cheese . . . or maybe just try a new brand of bread with a little more protein? Is there a place where you routinely eat cookies/biscuits/chips where you could make an apple or banana your routine go-to instead? Small changes that you can turn into routine habits are really powerful, if you keep chipping away one tiny bit at a time, over a longer time period.
* Is your calorie goal too aggressive? That makes everything harder. Shooting for a slow loss rate that's achievable routinely (not going over calories often) can sometimes get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than a theoretically faster loss rate that triggers compensatory over-eating or long breaks, maybe even giving up altogether. (If materially overweight, I would for sure target calories first, as I think I said - meant to say, anyway - in the OP.)
This "plan" is supposed to be a gradual, one focus at a time kind of thing: Calories and satiation, then macros, then energy level if needed, then long-term practicality/tolerability. You could shift the order of those things, too, if something seems like a higher priority to you; or make some progress on one front, move to another, then revisit the first again: Gradual, experimenting, establishing habits/routines. If it takes weeks or months or longer to get all the way to wherever you think you need to be, that's OK. If you make some good progress when motivation is high then hold steady for a while, that's OK.
This is all about lifetime habits, not about a temporary project with an end date. Weight management is a forever endeavor. It has to be practical, reasonably enjoyable, relatively easy. If it takes lifelong motivation, willpower or even discipline, it's not going to happen, for me. I need to find relatively tolerable routine habits that I can practice then do almost on autopilot. That's not a quick fix thing, in my world. It's a cycle of monitoring, analyzing, experimenting, changing, assessing, practicing . . . and repeating the cycle as needed, and as I have the emotional energy.@Sparkuvu I’ve felt like you regarding macros. The advice that helped me the most was not to worry about it, just track calories and make sure I’m getting enough grams of protein daily. That was way easier and less of the all day mental gymnastics of trying to figure out what to eat. To determine your daily protein intake, you can multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36. It’s perfectly fine to overshoot that, consider that a minimum.
I would go with healthy goal weight as the basis for any protein calculation. We don't need bunches of protein to maintain our fat mass: It's for maintaining lean tissue of various types. Using an overweight current weight as the basis can be overkill in some scenarios.
As you know from my OP, I personally want and would recommend more protein than that 0.36/pound, but I'm not arguing, because we each have different needs and priorities.3 -
@AnnPT77 Is my math wrong here? For a woman weighing 150lbs that would be 54 grams of protein. On the other extreme a man weighing 400lbs would be 144 grams of protein, is this correct? That does seem low to me, at least on the woman’s side of things. I personally shoot for around 80. Is there a better equation for this?1
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@AnnPT77 Is my math wrong here? For a woman weighing 150lbs that would be 54 grams of protein. On the other extreme a man weighing 400lbs would be 144 grams of protein, is this correct? That does seem low to me, at least on the woman’s side of things. I personally shoot for around 80. Is there a better equation for this?
As per the OP, I'd normally suggest 0.6-0.8g per pound of healthy goal weight per day, and say that more is OK. If a person had a good estimate of lean body mass, 0.8-1g per pound LBM would be a reasonable minimum, close to that 0.6-0.8g/pound goal weight for a lot of people. Of course some would say more, maybe up to 1.2g or so per pound LBM. Most people really don't have a good idea of LBM, especially if substantially overweight, though.
For a more nuanced estimate, there's this, which does use current weight, but IIRC the accompanying guide suggests it can be OK to use a lighter weight if substantially overweight:
https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/
That calculator estimate will usually overlap with the 0.6-0.8g/pound goal weight rule of thumb IME.
I'm 5'5", prefer to weigh about 125 pounds, but currently wandering around 130. I shoot for a 100g minimum daily, which I figure is a bit above 1g/pound LBM. I often get more: 110-120g is pretty typical. It was lower when losing because of the reduced calories, but usually at least 80s-90s.
Maybe I'm wrong here, but I can't wrap my head around using current weight as a basis for protein: If I were at 250 pounds, BMI 41.6, do I need lots more protein than if I'm at 200 (BMI 33.3) or here at 130 (BMI 21.6)? I admit, I will probably lose some lean mass while losing fat, but ideally not a huge fraction.
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Thanks, Ann, for your reply, and ddsb1111! I found helpful stuff in there! I started in 2019 with just one really simple goal, and slowly (very) added to that. But, I get feeling 'off' like now, and while not going up like before, I'm still bouncing.
I'm 68, and my why for keeping on even when I'm moving in circles is almost identical to yours, Ann. Except I didnt have to look at friends, all I had to do was feel it coming on for myself, lol.
My why question, though, was why when my MFP-set macros are almost spot on, Ive ate horribly, my calories are ENORMOUS and just about every nutrition count is also way over? And when I eat well, and within calories, I'm not even close to macros? It seems to not make sense to me.
I'm already getting a glimmer though, I think....is it because I'm not planning out those little changes to purposely add macro numbers, like, the bread you suggested?0 -
Thanks, Ann, for your reply, and ddsb1111! I found helpful stuff in there! I started in 2019 with just one really simple goal, and slowly (very) added to that. But, I get feeling 'off' like now, and while not going up like before, I'm still bouncing.
I'm 68, and my why for keeping on even when I'm moving in circles is almost identical to yours, Ann. Except I didnt have to look at friends, all I had to do was feel it coming on for myself, lol.
My why question, though, was why when my MFP-set macros are almost spot on, Ive ate horribly, my calories are ENORMOUS and just about every nutrition count is also way over? And when I eat well, and within calories, I'm not even close to macros? It seems to not make sense to me.
I'm already getting a glimmer though, I think....is it because I'm not planning out those little changes to purposely add macro numbers, like, the bread you suggested?
Fat is 9 calories per gram
Protein is 4 calories per gram and
Carbs are 4 calories per gram
The calories and macros should match up at the bottom of your food diary.
If your calorie needs and your macro totals are not multiplying out correctly, then you are using incorrect database foods.
Many people don't even enter macros, or they enter them incorrectly when creating database food. If you don't check them against a reliable government database (Like USDA in the U.S.) then you will have all kinds of calculation errors.
Either pick correct ones, enter new ones yourself or just don't worry too much about it (not my decision, I've vetted every food I use.)
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Thanks, Ann, for your reply, and ddsb1111! I found helpful stuff in there! I started in 2019 with just one really simple goal, and slowly (very) added to that. But, I get feeling 'off' like now, and while not going up like before, I'm still bouncing.
I'm 68, and my why for keeping on even when I'm moving in circles is almost identical to yours, Ann. Except I didnt have to look at friends, all I had to do was feel it coming on for myself, lol.
My why question, though, was why when my MFP-set macros are almost spot on, Ive ate horribly, my calories are ENORMOUS and just about every nutrition count is also way over? And when I eat well, and within calories, I'm not even close to macros? It seems to not make sense to me.
I'm already getting a glimmer though, I think....is it because I'm not planning out those little changes to purposely add macro numbers, like, the bread you suggested?
When we try to limit calories and get excellent nutrition (like well-rounded macros) at the same time, we're juggling two separate variables. That's inherently more difficult than working on one variable while ignoring the other, right?
It makes total sense that if your calories are huge, you can get adequate macros; but if your calories are limited, the macros are less optimized. In one case, you've optimized macros. In the other, you've optimized calories. It's harder to optimize both simultaneously.
Yes, I think that making small positive tweaks to nutrition gradually is a good way to go. At least, that helped me.
Most of us have routine eating patterns from day to day: Not exactly the same foods every day, of course, but some of the same things in rotation with moderate variations each time, perhaps. Maybe we tend to have eggs or oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich (varying types) or salad (ditto) for lunch, a meat/fish main at dinner with some veggie/grain sides. (That's just an example. It doesn't matter what the foods are, could be Cap'n Crunch, Big Mac/fries/Coke (sugared), frozen dinner as meals.)
Once you have your calories going pretty OK most of the time, start looking for your personal patterns in your diary, kinds of meals you have on frequent repeat. Do that in context of where you're short on protein or fat a lot of the time, so your weekly average is noticeably under goal. Pick one of the two, protein or fats, to work on.
For most people, protein is the bigger problem one, so let's use that as an example. I'll use one of my real examples, a little simplified from reality.
One of the breakfasts I've eaten a long time is oatmeal, and coffee with skim milk (yes, I preferred skim even when overweight). I started out with something like 2 packets of the regular instant oats; honey, syrup, or brown sugar; a little milk on the oatmeal.
Over time, gradually, I switched to plain old-fashioned oats cooked in the microwave; used nonfat Greek yogurt instead of milk on the oatmeal for more protein; for sweetness, used a small amount of blackstrap molasses (more micronutrients) and Ceylon cinnamon plus berries (eventually frozen berries thawed in the microwave f or convenience); reduced the oats a little and added some broken-up walnut meats; started putting more skim milk in my coffee and heating it in the microwave first so the coffee would still be hot.
When I went to maintenance calories, I added a small amount of hemp hearts and milled flaxseed, and later some peanut butter powder.
I've found I need to allocate a good chunk of calories to breakfast for satiation, and I need to get a good bit of protein in it . . . now I have an oatmeal breakfast that I love, that fits in my overall daily calorie goal, that will keep me full for many hours, and that has 38 grams of protein, plus great micronutrients, some healthy fats, and 14 grams of fiber.
That's a result of looking at one of my common meals, and thinking about substitutions that would improve things a little to get a little more protein, and make other nutrition improvements I wanted. I didn't make those changes to all of everything at once, more like tried one or two substitutions, and saw how it went. Some other variations got rejected along the way as inconvenient, less tasty, less nutritious, or whatever.
This doesn't have to be a giant total project that a person focuses on constantly for weeks. Just pick one meal you commonly eat, and make some positive changes. Make the ones you like a habit. Later, when you have some more motivation/energy, pick another couple of changes in that meal or some other common meal and improve that one. Anytime you have the energy, analyze your diary (or just think about your patterns, if you're not logging) and make some changes, then practice them to make them your routine. Keep repeating that, and you'll make progress.
Fixing everything all at once is overwhelming. Just find one or two workable improvements, and make them a habit. You'll be surprised where it takes you, over a period of time.
Try one change for a few days, to give it a fair try. Is it OK from a taste, nutrition, calorie, convenience, etc. standpoint? If so, keep it. Then try something else. Keep going. Remodel.
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Thanks, Ann. I think that cleared up the mystery of why eating terribly meets macros. And I think the light bulb lit, adjust your foods so that you get the good stuff you need to be your best and still meet your calorie plan.
I have done a tiny bit of adjusting, yogurt to Greek, Kashi to granola that has nuts in it, just a tiny amount into the yogurt, but I need to look at sugars and fat because both those are over almost daily while protein and fiber suffer. I did better on getting good info when I could scan. MFP took that away on the free plan. Thought about using a different tracker, but I know me---must avoid too many have to's or I tend to rebel.
I will look again to see how MFP came up with recommendations too.2 -
I weight 213.7lbs
how much protein should I aim for? I figured 20-30g every meal?1 -
I weight 213.7lbs
how much protein should I aim for? I figured 20-30g every meal?
Back in the first post on this thread, I suggested getting at least 0.6-0.8g protein per pound of healthy goal weight (approximately equivalent to 0.8-1g per pound of lean body mass for most people). But more is fine, within reason.
If you don't know a goal weight, use the middle of the BMI range for your height. (I know, I know, BMI is not popular . . . but it's plenty close enough to use for this purpose.)
Since you don't mention your height, that's as specific as I can get.
If you want a more goal-specific protein estimate, consider this:
https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/
Put a goal weight into that calculator (as the linked guide suggests), assuming you have a fair amount of weight to lose.
Sure, spreading the protein total across all of your meals is a good thing, particularly if you're an aging person like me. Even for others, doing it that way may help with appetite management.
Best wishes!4 -
Ann,
thanks for this post/thread, it is one I've come back to many times and is always helpful!
Kim3 -
Can someone provide an explanation of what the acronyms are in PAV8888's post?
gF?
gM?
TDEE?0 -
Tdee = total daily energy expenditure. In other words, the calories burned by the average person of a certain age, sex, height, weight and amount of movement on an average day.
There are lots of good tdee calculators on the net. Google it. I like sailrabbit because it has so much info and allows you to play with possibilities.
gM = abbreviation for gram?
GF = I don't know either.
@stevenwilliams5120 -
stevenwilliams512 wrote: »Can someone provide an explanation of what the acronyms are in PAV8888's post?
gF?
gM?
TDEE?
gM - yes, grams, I think. Not sure where he got the 38, though. I've usually seen 25 for women, 35 for men. 38 might be the number some sources recommend for men, but I don't know because I'm not a man so haven't much researched it.
gF - might be grams of fat, but I'm not sure because later he says "Personally I would say that males can go down to 0.25 to 0.35g per lb in normal weight range for daily fat intake and females 0.3g to 0.4g, i.e. just a touch lower than Anne suggests.", so I'm not sure. Also, while men may be able to go lower on fat than I suggest, I'd encourage women not to lowball it.
By the way, it's "Ann". Ann.
TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, the number of calories a person burns all day, in all ways, from the combination of just being alive, doing daily life stuff (job, home chores, non-exercise hobbies, etc.), intentional exercise, thermic effect of food (TEF, calories needed to metabolize the food), and probably some other small stuff I'm forgetting.
@PAV8888, would you care to clarify gM and gF, if I guessed wrong?
Quoting PAV below so there's context, since it took me some time to figure out it was all back on page 1.U forgot a couple of extras
*These are all appropriate for people not under direct doctor supervision. If under direct supervision then follow doctor's orders assuming you've done your due diligence to ensure they are appropriate to your conditions (second opinions etc)
*Trending weight app and measurements (if can be taken consistently) for progress.
*At least 26gF, 38gM fibre
*Exercise is not *necessary* for weight loss, but the WHO exercise
recommendations are not a bad place to start and their strength training minimums may help you retain more lean mass than you otherwise would.
*choose appropriate deficits: 20% off of TDEE max (25% while obese). Cross reference to losing no more than 0.5% to 1% body weight per week on average over 4-6 week period for pre menopausal females, 3-4 weeks for the rest of us. Morbidly obese ok to hit 1.5% if that can be done using the tdee % deficits specified above
*Personally I would say that males can go down to 0.25 to 0.35g per lb in normal weight range for daily fat intake and females 0.3g to 0.4g, i.e. just a touch lower than Anne suggests. CAN does *not* mean MUST.
*There are no prizes, other than saving a few pennies, for eating the least you can. The winner eats the most they can, want, and enjoy while still able to meet their reasonably chosen goals!
*Hard to review your logs, progress, and decisions if you regularly only do a half *kittened* job of keeping records.
*Up to the individual to review if they have medical conditions that render any of these suggestions inappropriate.
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I'm reading it as 26 g if female/38 g if male, of fibre.3
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SuzanneC1l9zz wrote: »I'm reading it as 26 g if female/38 g if male, of fibre.
Thank you. That would make sense. But I don't know where the 26 comes from, either.
But hey, I usually get 40+ grams of fiber daily, so I don't personally pay that much attention to the minimums, TBH. If people follow the "5+ servings of fruit and veg" suggestion in the OP, I think they'll get their fiber minimums, as I mentioned in my initial reply to PAV.
Again, thanks for the sensible interpretation.
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I think one of the somewhat confusing things in Mfp and other programs is that maybe your goal is 100 g of protein and 25g of fiber and 200g of carbs and 2300 mg of sodium…and if you were at 120g of protein or 35g of fiber (“over”) that could be good but being at 260g of carbs or 3000 mg of sodium is not what you wants…so some things we would prefer to be under on, and others we would rather be over on…0
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@AnnPT77 no problem! 🙂2
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In reference to the almost 7 year old PAV8888 post (thank you for pointing out that it was on page 1 because I had no clue what the references were about)... I have it on good authority that gF and gM in that post were in reference to grams of fiber for Females and grams of fiber for Males
I am willing to concede the 25g vs 26g argument for Females, though for 9 to 18 yo, pregnant and breast feeding the recommendations seem to be 26g, 28g and 28g... so I don't know that 26g is too far out of whack as an aspirational target!
Male recommendation is 38g for 14 to 50 yo. Drops to 30g at 51+... though I don't intend to change my target even though I was already in the 51+ range... 7 years ago
i would suspect that caloric requirements and grams of fiber per certain amount of calories may be underpinning some of these recommendations but I won't swear to that.
I would also suspect that, as Ann (without-an-e) has mentioned, by the time you eat your 5+ servings of veggies you're a good way into acquiring enough fiber for the day.
USDA recommendation seems to be 25g women and 38g men up to age 50, dropping to 21g and 30g after. Canadian recommendation is similar: https://cdhf.ca/en/recommended-daily-fibre-intake/
AND (happy dance)... a reference to my above voiced suspicion: 14g per 1000 Cal per https://www.eatright.org/health/essential-nutrients/carbohydrates/easy-ways-to-boost-fiber-in-your-daily-diet
In terms of happy dances -- October 2020 to today, I am happy to report 43g fiber on a 2611 Cal intake or 16.47g per 1000 Cal.
BUT, I owe a debt to whoever brought this up... because, apparently, I have to start remembering my bunnies! And to maybe stir in some gratuitous fiber!
Several years back and even looking back at 12 months things still look ok (
12 months: 38.4g per 2668 Cal = 14.39 Cal per 1000 Cal)
BUT
6 months 34.4g per 2549 Cal = 13.485 (gulp)
3 months 35.6g per 2596 Cal = 13.71 (OMG)
4 weeks 35.3g per 2766 = 12.76 <---eeeeeek.....
So instead of cookies I better be looking for some carrot sticks come morning -- even if I am well over 50!!!3
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