Macros

eliyaher

Hey everyone.
I am 21, 5”8 weigh 142 lbs and I’m here to monitor what I’m eating and start making changes to my diet. Not here to specifically lose weight. The app says I should achieve a goal of 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein daily. However I am only at lunch and I have gone over my carb intake by 8% and that is from all the fruit I eat, and I plan on continuing to eat more fruit throughout the day. Any comments or suggestions about this? I am not to worried since it’s fruit and I am a vegetarian, but if anyone has any insight on carbs and fruit intake, it would be much appreciated! As a vegetarian it is difficult for me to achieve the 20% protein goal as well, I usually try to incorporate tofu, beans..etc. Into my dinner but I’m getting a little bored. Any vegetarian/vegan suggestions? I’m also lactose intolerant so no dairy either!!
Thanks everyone

Terytha

The 50, 30, 20 is a starting point that isn't customized to you. We all start there. If you find that those proportions are not working for you, you can change them however you like.

Protein is really important for muscle though, so if you're struggling to get enough maybe look into protein shakes or bars at the grocery store.

AnnPT77

Speaking as a vegetarian (for about 45 years now), waiting until dinner to get protein is probably not your best strategy. Try to get some at each meal, and little bits from many things you eat (not just the "one big protein per meal" thing that many omnivores do). Protein is important.

At 5'5", weight mid-130s, I shoot for 100g protein daily on maintenance calories, and usually exceed it (without using protein powder or protein bars: There's nothing wrong with them at all, and they're helpful to those who can't get enough protein from food, but I don't personally find them - or fake meat - very tasty or satisfying, so I almost never eat them).

IMO, carb intake can fall anywhere at all, and that's fine. It's important to get enough protein and fats, because your body can't manufacture all of those it needs from other nutrients: They have to be in your intake.

One note: Your macro percents aren't that helpful during the day, because the app is just telling you what percentage of your partial day is made up of each macro. As you eat more, the percentages can shift. For example (exaggerating), if I ate only fats for breakfast (ick! ), maybe my fats percent would be 100% after breakfast, but if lunch and dinner were protein and carbs, the fats would drop to a lower percent of the day's total, even though they were 100% of breakfast.

It's better to think in terms of the raw numbers. For example, if you're shooting for 90g protein by the end of the day, you could get 40g at breakfast, zero at lunch, and 50g at dinner, and hit your numeric target (which is what's important), but your protein percentage would jump all over during the day because you're consuming them unevenly across the meals. (I hope that makes sense.)