Trying to find optimal carb/Fat/protein mix for weight loss

jleonidas

Hi Everyone,

I am struggling to get my weight down. I workout but not getting anywhere. Keto is an option short term but I don’t know if I can live on 20 grams of net carbs per day.
I know more protein helps but for someone who is 57, 223lbs works out 5 days a week what is an optimal net carbs/fat/protein per day?
Jim

yirara

Hi Jim, and welcome.

In order to help you, you need to help us. You've provided some information already. Can I ask you some more questions?

For how long are you trying to lose weight?
How often to you weigh yourself?
How long are you following your current exercise regime?
Do you use a digital foodscale to weigh your food or how are you measuring your food intake?

Cheers

PAV8888

jleonidas wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I am struggling to get my weight down. I workout but not getting anywhere. Keto is an option short term but I don’t know if I can live on 20 grams of net carbs per day.
I know more protein helps but for someone who is 57, 223lbs works out 5 days a week what is an optimal net carbs/fat/protein per day?
Jim

Why not use MFP as intended?
Plug in your numbers.
Choose the option for 1lb a week.
Log your intake to the best of your ability

without worrying too much about macros and, in the very beginning, without making much more than a good faith attempt to stick to the number you're given--after all this is a journey of discovery! But do spend some time thinking if the choices you're making are optimized for satiation either immediate or longer term.

Add in your exercise as you perform them... and, at least in the beginning, eat back about half the extra calories you see displayed**

Evaluate your rate of weight change after two or three weeks by comparing your expected rate of weight change to your actual.

Adjust!

**if the eating half is creating a more than 500 Cal discrepancy on top of your 500 Cal deficit you may need to revisit the exercise calories accuracy sooner than later. But otherwise I would let it roll in the beginning without beating myself up too much if I do (or do not) eat all of them or none of them back!

As long as you're meeting some basic protein, fat, and maybe even fiber minimums your successful weight loss has little to do with macros and a lot to do with the caloric balance you are achieving on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

Making choices that are satiating will help you achieve and adhere to the caloric balances you want. And once you've got calories controlled improving your nutritional choices and macros can become an excellent add on adventure to pursue!

The goal is to discover a way of eating you can keep to both now and in the future. Macros are fun to pursue but ultimately less important that hitting your calories and eating in a way that allows you to achieve your goals.

csplatt

It’s really not necessary. Just reach your calorie goal that MFP gives you for weight loss. I would pay closer attention to macros once I was at a size I was happy with but wanted to start working on shape (adding muscle more intentionally, etc).

kshama2001

jleonidas wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I am struggling to get my weight down. I workout but not getting anywhere. Keto is an option short term but I don’t know if I can live on 20 grams of net carbs per day.
I know more protein helps but for someone who is 57, 223lbs works out 5 days a week what is an optimal net carbs/fat/protein per day?
Jim

Hi Jim!

The optimal macro mix is one that keeps YOU satisfied while creating a calorie deficit. For people satiated by fat who are not fans of carbs, it's the keto macros. Doesn't sound like this is right for you though. For plant based eaters the carbs might be closer to 70%.

It's fine to start with the MFP defaults of 50% carbs, 20% protein, and 30% fat. See how you feel after eating meals of different macros and adjust accordingly. After you gain some insight, you don't need to micro manage yourself. For example, I learned that regular bread and wine are just empty calories for me, while potatoes and non-starchy veggies fill me up nicely. I no longer have wine with dinner and bread only on rare occasions, and load up on the veggies. I really just keep an eye on the protein macro these days.

Here's a reputable protein calculator:

https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/

I shoot for 500 calories of exercise per day, and when I achieve that, using the MFP default of 20% protein aligns with the protein grams recommendation from Examine. If I were completely sedentary, I'd need to bump it up to 30%.