Identifying appropriate macros

surfbug808

New to macros...

I achieved my goal weight earlier this week. That goal was based on what I weighed in my twenties when I was slim and active. I have now switched to maintenance calories. There are many macro calculators, articles, general guidelines/starting points... and I'm feeling a confused about what is most appropriate for me. Currently I'm experimenting with what foods energize me and when etc. Any tips or more specific suggestions for a direction or how to hone in are most welcome.

About me:

Female, age 44
5'5, 130lbs
Active: long distance ocean swim and/or surf 2-3x/week, soccer 1x/week, strength train (progressive resistance weight-lifting beginner) 3x/week
Current diet: aim 110-130 grams protein, 58 grams fat, the rest is carbs
(protein based on my gym trainer's suggestion, fat based on default free MFP app, and just letting the carbs be whatever gets leftover)
Maintenance cals (according to MFP): 1740
My priority: Getting stronger, lowering body fat%

I normally spread my protein throughout the day, and will go higher on carbs just prior to weight-lifting, endurance swim or soccer. Lately though, I've been feeling weaker, and I think I may not be eating enough, or I need to change my macros.

I'm not sure what determines more specific macros, so I included my personal priorities etc. Like I said, I'm just getting started and so far, I feel like I'm shooting in the dark. Generally, I feel better with animal/fish protein, and understand it helps with strength training/muscle repair, while carbs fuel exercise. I've seen the 40/30/30 breakdown also, and so maybe I need to up my fat intake... ("healthy fat")... I don't know. Overall, I eat "clean" whole foods, tons of veggies, non-processed...

Insights?
What determines more specific individualized macros (sex, age, goals, type of exercises, calories, recomp vs. diet vs. bulking/cutting vs. etc)?
Any suggestions on a clearer way of calculating my personal macros?

surfbug808

Or, if anyone has come across a reliable macro calculator that would be great.

Here are a couple that I'm basing myself on right now...

https://www.transparentlabs.com/pages/calculator

https://healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-calculator

lemurcat2

An active normal weight woman in her 40s might want to aim for .6-.8 g of protein per lb, or for you 78-104 g (average being around 91) as a minimum, because women find it harder to maintain or add muscle, especially as we get older, and in general more protein is recommended for active people (this is a good basic article: https://examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-you-need/).

Beyond that, fat vs carbs doesn't really matter for most healthy people so I'd just track where you tend to end up and what feels good to you.

For me eating nutrient dense foods and more fiber is more significant than fats vs. carbs (I do focus on sources of Omega-3 like fatty fish, fiber, and other healthy fats like nuts, seeds, olives, avocados, which is often more about servings of veg, fruit, and having some beans as a protein, fish regularly, a serving of nuts or seeds daily, and the like vs macros).

surfbug808

Thank you, your insight and that article is very helpful. I'm still figuring out what to focus on as I maintain weight and also lose BFP. It helps to see that counting macros is not the only way, and that there are options such as looking at nutrient density and fiber instead or in combo. I definitely thrive on lots of protein and can easily go beyond the minimum you mentioned. I also sometimes go beyond the recommended MFP fat intake, but it's often because I eat a lot of avocados and fatty fish. I wasn't sure if that was a problem or not. Having other perspectives helps!

AnnPT77

lemurcat2 wrote: »

An active normal weight woman in her 40s might want to aim for .6-.8 g of protein per lb, or for you 78-104 g (average being around 91) as a minimum, because women find it harder to maintain or add muscle, especially as we get older, and in general more protein is recommended for active people (this is a good basic article: https://examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-you-need/).

Beyond that, fat vs carbs doesn't really matter for most healthy people so I'd just track where you tend to end up and what feels good to you.

For me eating nutrient dense foods and more fiber is more significant than fats vs. carbs (I do focus on sources of Omega-3 like fatty fish, fiber, and other healthy fats like nuts, seeds, olives, avocados, which is often more about servings of veg, fruit, and having some beans as a protein, fish regularly, a serving of nuts or seeds daily, and the like vs macros).

I pretty much always agree with lemur on things like this, and do here, too.

The one thing I'd say is that (IIRC) she's said in other threads that she generally gets adequate fat without giving it close attention, but I don't - I can easily undereat it, to my experience-determined detriment. In that context, I shoot for 0.35-0.45g minimum fat daily per pound of healthy goal weight, which for you would be 46-59g daily (rounded). I agree with what she said about trying to get much of that from monounsaturated/polyunsaturated vs. saturated fats, and making it a point to get Omega 3s (harder for me as a vegetarian, so I supplement them as well as using whole-food sources like some nuts and seeds).

I do think that it's also a really good plan to eat plenty of varied, colorful veggies and fruits for micros and extra fiber (certainly at least 5 servings daily, IMO ideally more), but it sounds like you're doing that. I think lemurcat2 tracks at cronometer sometimes, which does more detailed micronutrient tallying. I rely more on variety and volume of veggies/fruits, plus occasional spot checks on nutrients I'm concerned I might under-eat.

If you want to compare what other calculators say to USDA recommendations, they have a personalized calculator here, including micros:

https://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/dri-calculator/

Based on the Examine link lemur gave you, I think the USDA recommendations are lowball for protein, but it's interesting in some other respects, as another input. (P.S. Examine.com is a good and useful site; you may find other things of interest to you there, if you look around.)

As far as whether you're eating enough, or not, how your weight behaves is your best clue, and energy level right behind that (i.e., if you think undereating-related fatigue could be sapping activity calories out of your day, you could consider a slow calorie increase to see if weight stays steady and energy picks up: It will, for some, anecdote here suggests.).

In terms of your other questions, it's likely that true endurance athletes may benefit from relatively more carbs, probably just using some of their exercise calories to "buy" those carbs, especially to fuel continuous activity longer than an hour or two. (Some endurance athletes choose to train lower carb in pursuit of optimizing ability to metabolize fats, but some still usually include carbs as part of fueling long activity even so.)

The Examine article speaks to protein-needs differences in varied contexts. I'm not aware of any generalized contingencies around fat intake, except that I've read that women may do better a bit on the higher end of the range suggested above, whereas men might be OK a little lower.

As far as I understand, fat and protein needs are based primarily on bodyweight (lean mass, predominantly), with the protein needs varying based somewhat on lifestyle/demographics. To me, that means it's more realistic to derive minimum goals in grams per day, and let "excess" calories buy whatever macros you like, once needs are met. (I'm assuming you'd experiment and adjust, in any context, based on performance and how you feel). Personally, I set round-number minimum goals that were easy to remember for protein and fats, and just hit those daily. (I set my MFP %s to come close to those, for before-exercise calories, but if my totals are a mix of red and green, I just pretend it's Christmas ).

You might glean some useful info from this thread, as well:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

surfbug808

Thank you thank you thank you! All of this is very helpful. I'm learning step by step what matters and when for me... macros and micros are whole new worlds! I'm on the free MFP version so I have a lot of red and green since I don't follow their default protein recommendations (to low for me). I'll take a look at cronometer, and also what other articles are on examine.com The other links are very informative - I'm eager to learn! So far, I do believe I'm eating relatively well, and having further more specific tools can help me improve on that.

I've always been active and haven't ever eaten terribly. I did deliberately switch to a higher protein and lower carb diet while losing weight. However, I didn't incorporate strength training as I should have initially since I wasn't aware of the importance to maintaining muscle mass. So I lost weight, but not as much fat as I would have liked (I didn't know the difference at the time between weight loss and fat loss). Since then, I've been strength training more heavily, and doing less endurance than I have previously. I have raised my carbs so they are now deliberately above my protein, particularly prior to work-outs as I mentioned earlier, while still keeping protein relatively high, and am now slowly feeling greater energy come back. My trainer also said that now that I'm gaining more muscle, my maintenance calories might be higher than what the calculator is giving me... so yes, I think it's a good suggestion and I am slowly adding more calories to see if that helps, while watching what the scale then does at the same time.

I like what you said about deriving minimum goals. I was looking at the macro numbers more like maximums...! I thought going over was a bad thing. But reversing that thought process so that it's about at least meeting the minimums and then allowing for excess (provided I stay within my appropriate overall calorie goals and what feels nutritious to me) makes it less restrictive, much more positive, successful and achievable for me. That information is very clarifying.

I realize it can get a little nerdy with all this counting etc., but I'm quite excited about learning all this stuff and seeing where it continues to take me.

AnnPT77

surfbug808 wrote: »

Thank you thank you thank you! All of this is very helpful. I'm learning step by step what matters and when for me... macros and micros are whole new worlds! I'm on the free MFP version so I have a lot of red and green since I don't follow their default protein recommendations (to low for me). I'll take a look at cronometer, and also what other articles are on examine.com The other links are very informative - I'm eager to learn! So far, I do believe I'm eating relatively well, and having further more specific tools can help me improve on that.

I've always been active and haven't ever eaten terribly. I did deliberately switch to a higher protein and lower carb diet while losing weight. However, I didn't incorporate strength training as I should have initially since I wasn't aware of the importance to maintaining muscle mass. So I lost weight, but not as much fat as I would have liked (I didn't know the difference at the time between weight loss and fat loss). Since then, I've been strength training more heavily, and doing less endurance than I have previously. I have raised my carbs so they are now deliberately above my protein, particularly prior to work-outs as I mentioned earlier, while still keeping protein relatively high, and am now slowly feeling greater energy come back. My trainer also said that now that I'm gaining more muscle, my maintenance calories might be higher than what the calculator is giving me... so yes, I think it's a good suggestion and I am slowly adding more calories to see if that helps, while watching what the scale then does at the same time.

I like what you said about deriving minimum goals. I was looking at the macro numbers more like maximums...! I thought going over was a bad thing. But reversing that thought process so that it's about at least meeting the minimums and then allowing for excess (provided I stay within my appropriate overall calorie goals and what feels nutritious to me) makes it less restrictive, much more positive, successful and achievable for me. That information is very clarifying.

I realize it can get a little nerdy with all this counting etc., but I'm quite excited about learning all this stuff and seeing where it continues to take me.

You know you can change macros and ither goals in the free version, yes?

In free MFP, macros can only be changed in percents, and from (possibly faulty) memory, I think maybe only in 5% increments. I think some of the other goals are more flexible.

lemurcat2

Yeah, the macros can be changed, but only be set in 5% increments. I aimed for at least 90 g when logging at MFP and set my protein to the closest %, but ignoring the percentage and just looking at grams is easier, especially if you are logging back exercise (I included my typical exercise in my overall goal after the first few months).

The thing to do is to just think of them as ones you want to exceed and then see the red as a positive. I did that with protein and fiber when I was logging at MFP (which I don't do anymore).

surfbug808

Ha! I'm still figuring my way around MFP (and all it's glitches), I didn't realize I could change the macros... thank you. I missed it for some reason or misunderstood that it was locked. I now see that micros can be edited too... I'll have to look at what my minimums are. I appreciate all this feedback and info. I quickly looked up a general micronutrient calculator... as in recommended intake and to see if I was meeting it given my usual diet. So far, I seem to be good. But I will do some daily tracking to get a better idea and dial in more specifics to meet my individual needs.

I am used to grams since that's all I really know as a newbie on MFP, and log my exercise, so that's my main reference point. But now that I can change the % that will help a lot.

I love thinking of the red as a positive. That shift in mindset makes a huge difference!

Well, I've got more research and experimenting to do now, but all of this is already moving me forward with greater clarity. If you come up with other recommendations, I'm always ears. Thanks again!

ElizabethKalmbach

Hey, ma'am! In addition to all these fine recommendations on your nutrition, I think you should also look into the symptoms and balancing measures for over-training. You have a rather extensive activity list there, and I feel like over-training is something you should be aware of now and as you progress toward your impressive fitness goals.

Just thinking about some of the things you've mentioned from your last few posts.

surfbug808

You're experience knows and shows Yes, that's something I've started monitoring and recently talked to my trainer about. I've always been very active, and have experienced burn-out and injury in the past. Since I was getting tired in the last few weeks, aside from calorie/diet re-adjustments, I have cut back on the type of swimming I've been doing (less distance/speed, instead more leisurely), surfing (smaller surf instead of big challenging waves), and my soccer team is now on break for a month (less practice too). I have also cut back on my strength training periods (I was doing up to 90-120min sessions sometimes because I also have physio also), but have capped it at 60 min now. So far, all of that also is helping. I surf, swim and play soccer purely for the fun of it, and didn't/don't consider it strictly for the purposes of "exercise". Those activities are recreational and if I can do it, I can, and if not, that's fine. It's a bonus that it happens to be exercise! My main priority is to get my strength up.

As obvious as this may sound to some, I just learned I need to switch my stretching routine too. I was doing static and dynamic stretches before lifting, and realize it should optimally just be dynamic. Then focus on the static after the workout. I didn't realize the impact any static would have on lifting movements and re-adjustments if I did those beforehand. All these things make such a difference... I feel a bit like I'm re-inventing the wheel with all the puzzle pieces that influence fitness goals... I hope to find a comprehensive site that puts at least all the basics together in one place!