Macro and Nutrients

amygail24

Hi, should I try adhering to the macro/ nutrients percentage goals? It’s confusing bc my calories don’t come. Lose after I have net nutrients percentage.

quiksylver296

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking, but I'll give it a shot. First goal - nail down your calories. Once you are consistently hitting your calorie target, then look at your macros. Where are you falling short? (hint: usually protein) Start slowly tweaking what you are eating to get closer to your macro goals.

westrich20940

I agree with @quiksylver296 --- in the beginning it's easiest to focus on hitting your calorie goal and not focusing on macros.

Once you have a decent handle on your daily calorie goal - you can see where you are lacking or you can try to find patterns in your own meals that help you. For example - I have two breakfast meals I tend to vacillate between on weekend days. Once is higher in fat/protein...one higher in carbs - as far as the macro split goes. I noticed that I would get hungry about 1.5-2 hours earlier when I ate the higher carb breakfast (they both had roughly the same calories)....so I know that if I am wanting my meal to sustain me for a longer period of time, I will focus on it having a bit more protein, and maybe a bit more fat in it. It tends to keep me fuller longer. So really, you need to get to know your own body/hungry cues a bit better before figuring out what the 'best' macro split is for you personally. MFP gives generic ones.

But, ultimately if you don't find that you are so hungry that you are eating above your TDEE, then it's not really super super super important to pay attention macros. I'd say, focusing on making sure you are getting enough protein is important just because it can help maintain lean muscle mass during weight loss and lean muscle mass is good for overall health in general.

AnnPT77

Good advice above, 100% endorsed. I'd add one other thing:

When you reach the point of wanting to work toward better nutrition, and therefore pay more attention to macro goals, close is good enough, and close on average is good enough. A few grams under on protein one day, a few grams over on fat or carbs, but kind of averaging out reasonably close to goal over a couple/few days: Perfectly fine.

If persistently under on protein or fat day after day, that's worth chipping away at changing eating patterns/habits to improve. Protein and fats are essential nutrients, in the sense that our bodies can't make those out of any other nutrient, so we need to eat enough. (Most people don't struggle to get enough fat, but a few do.)

Carbs are more flexible, in that technical sense, because our bodies can make carbs-equivalents out of other nutrients. If as an individual you need to actually eat more carbs (to keep energy high) or fewer carbs (because they spike your appetite), you'll figure that out with experimenting and observing.

Best wishes!