When to adjust macros/calories?

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Fitandfabspring
Fitandfabspring Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss

Hi all, I started my health journey about 17 weeks ago. A family member passed away and it was a difficult time for me and my family. In my grief, I focused on how I can adopt a healthier lifestyle so that I can age as well as I can. I read the book OutLive and it was eye opening. All that said, I have been tracking my food/macros, walking as much as I can (most days hitting 10k steps) and strength training 3 days a week. I feel great. I’ve lost 12 pounds so far. While I’d love to see quicker great loss, I’m still very happy with the rate of loss. I’m hoping to keep this as a lifestyle and I know there are no quick fixes. I’m focused on the long game!

I was wondering, at what point do I adjust my macros? They were based on my weight twelve pounds ago. I have noticed this week that I’m hungrier than normal (but that could also be my cycle timing). Though I would expect at a lower weight I should be eating less. Can anyone point me to a resource on when to adjust macros/calories?

Thanks in advance!

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Replies

  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 1,068 Member
    edited August 7

    Personally, I adjust calories when I maintain for about a month. If you’re hungry try eating in volume and dial in your nutrition. If you’re still hungry you can either -reduce your deficit and lose slower or -take a diet break. Nothing wrong with a mental and physical reset after 17+ weeks of dieting.

  • ria1441986
    ria1441986 Posts: 1 Member

    Agreed. I took a month break and am starting the regime again. Good news is that I've only changed half a kilo after a month of not actively dieting or exercising the way I was in the regime, so the long game really does work!

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 2,073 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48718497#Comment_48718497

    That's good. Ideally during a diet break they say you want to stay right around your maintenence calories.

  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 997 Member

    When I was losing, I re-saved the Goals - Guided Set Up in MFP (which recalculated my required calories based on my new weight) every 5kg, which would be roughly every 10lb.

    Re hunger, play around to find out what works for you - I find that more protein keeps me feeling fuller but I also found that swapping bread, potatoes, rice and/or pasta for a huge plate of salad or vegetables (plus protein) did wonders as I was eating a lot of food for not so many calories. Others find they fill up for longer on more carbs or more fat; we're all different. I also played around with finding lower calorie versions of things - so I know which brand of bread has the lowest calories per slice (as they're thinner) for the rare occasions I want toast (helpfully bread freezes), I buy specific crackers for my post-dinner snackette as they're thinner, I know that some berries in my (zero sugar, no fat, non-dairy) yoghurt have fewer calories than others etc. I swapped my lunchtime packet of crisps for lentil curls (until Tesco's stopped doing their own brand; I didn't like any others and realised I didn't really need them anyway and was just eating them out of habit).

    My shopping basket has definitely changed over the years, but I still have cheese on crackers after dinner etc. My new habits are for life, so I had to find things that I'd actually like to eat.

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