How to set the right macros given the disparity in my default calories and the amount I really burn

rauch22
rauch22 Posts: 2 Member
in Getting Started
I have my settings at a low activity level because I spend most of my waking hours sitting at a computer. But I get a lot of exercise and per my Garmin burn 1,000 active calories most days. This all works out for my calorie goals, because I sync the Garmin with MFP and get a reasonable estimate for calories burned at the end of the day.

My problem is with setting macro goals. I want to set my protein goal to 120 grams, taking into account my full calorie burn with exercise, but it seems this doesn't quite work on this app?

Replies

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited October 2019
    rauch22 wrote: »
    I have my settings at a low activity level because I spend most of my waking hours sitting at a computer. But I get a lot of exercise and per my Garmin burn 1,000 active calories most days. This all works out for my calorie goals, because I sync the Garmin with MFP and get a reasonable estimate for calories burned at the end of the day.

    My problem is with setting macro goals. I want to set my protein goal to 120 grams, taking into account my full calorie burn with exercise, but it seems this doesn't quite work on this app?

    I believe you can set a specific amount of grams in Premium, but don't quote me on that. I'm on the free version and you can only set by percentage.

    I aim for 100g and just try to eat that regardless of what my diary ends up saying after exercise is synced. If your exercise calories are pretty consistent daily, you could try to math what percentage of your total calories at the end of the typical day would be 120g and set the percentage there, so then it will only be wrong on the days you don't exercise. But yes, no way is going to work correctly every day if you have a specific gram goal, you just have to keep it in mind.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    I would advise against trusting your Garmin or any other calorie burning watch.

    The best thing to do is set your calories and stick to them. If you haven't lost after a month of honest tracking and logging (and weighing your food yourself--not going by the entries already in MFP) then lower by 100 calories. Keep doing this until you are losing steadily.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited October 2019
    So as I understand it, your pre-activity default goal is something like 1200, but you eat 2200 most days? The approach could be to figure out the percentage of your calories you want as protein given the usual goal, so 4x120=480, and 480 is about 22% of 2200 (obviously use whatever your real numbers are), so you could choose 20% or 25%.

    That would give you a low goal pre exercise or on non exercise days -- 25% is 75 g of protein if at 1200 -- but if the higher goal is what you typically eat it would work out, and you could aim for a flat protein goal even on lower cal days.

    I actually ignored macro percentages, however, as I don't think they are relevant. I aimed for about 100 g of protein and 30+ g of fiber (not a macro, but something I care about), and otherwise let the numbers fall where they did. I know I eat plenty of fat without thinking about it, so didn't worry about fat vs. carbs. That approach worked when I was using my Fitbit with MFP.
  • Yidrey
    Yidrey Posts: 20 Member
    I agree with @cwolfman13. My BMR is 1940 and I also have a desk job. So with 5000 steps daily from walking in my breaks, my TDEE is around 2200. I have a garmin watch also and I think it is a good guideline. What I do is taking 400 callories of my TDEE which comes about 1800 cals per day. I hit the gym 5 times per week only light weight lifting, which is around 300 cals. And I am pushing the limit of calorie intake. If you burn a lot of calories daily from excersise you should definately count it in your daily schedule. But to answer the question of the TS. If you want to set a daily macro goal you have to be a premium member. It is 50 euros per year or 10 euros per month. I find it usefull so paid for it.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    Yidrey wrote: »
    I agree with @cwolfman13. My BMR is 1940 and I also have a desk job. So with 5000 steps daily from walking in my breaks, my TDEE is around 2200. I have a garmin watch also and I think it is a good guideline. What I do is taking 400 callories of my TDEE which comes about 1800 cals per day. I hit the gym 5 times per week only light weight lifting, which is around 300 cals. And I am pushing the limit of calorie intake. If you burn a lot of calories daily from excersise you should definately count it in your daily schedule. But to answer the question of the TS. If you want to set a daily macro goal you have to be a premium member. It is 50 euros per year or 10 euros per month. I find it usefull so paid for it.

    You can set macros in 5% increments on the free version. That's close enough for anyone's goals.

    I think the OP's problem may be that when s/he exercises or uses the input from his/her device then the calculations change.

    That's a good thing. More activity means a greater need for more calories. The only way to keep goals set (as in her example of 120g protein) is to not record exercise, which is pretty self-defeating as the body needs more calorie with more activity.



  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I set my protein goal in grams (1g / lb of estimated LBM) but simply just kept that goal in mind when I looked at my diary - if I exceeded it that was absolutely fine.

    With a very high but variable exercise regime percentages would have been a pretty dumb idea for me on a big exercise day but like @cmriverside says you can change your percentage to be in the ballpark for a day with no exercise.

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