macros help please

skrlec70

Hi All,

if I go above my macros a little - for example up to 10 , will it slow my weight loss or even prevent ?
I lost and gained 4 pounds, now im still at zero :grumble: , I lost when I went higher on my protein everyday and didn't stress about it, I became anal the last month and if I was at 0 protein or carb or fat I just wouldn't eat my remainder of calories, which at times was 300 or so,
which of course set me up for midnight snacking , which led to the gain, at now back to where I started.
I hope this made sense sorry if it didn't

CharloK2

Hiya Skrlec, thought I'd share some info I learned about macros. There is definately a lot to understand about nutrition goals (macros), energy balance and weight fluxuations as it pertains to weight gain/loss. Finding out what macros you need to set is a very individual thing as everybody has different metabolism. What you need to know firstly is that the breakdown of macros are: 4 cals/g (Carbs), 4 cals/g (Protein) and 9 cals/g (Fats). There are several calorie calculators online such as - http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html - enter your specs and it will give you a starting point "generic" of how many calories/day you would require based on your activity levels. From there you would define at macro ratio (e.g. 40% Carb - 40% Protein - 20% Fat). Some people respond better to different %'s of carbs/proteins/fats, so this is where you have to monitor how a specific macro ratio works best for you. I used a 40/40/20 ratio and then started tweaking from there. Don't worry about 4lbs as that could be water weight and your weight will typically change (+/- couple lbs during the day). I have a digital scale and weigh myself first thing in the morning (after pee - lol). Then I track my weight throughout the week and see how my body responds to my macro ratio. Try inputing your specs into the calorie calculator link and here is how you would calculate your macro ratio for your daily caloric needs....

Example: If my daily caloric needs are say 2000 cals..
1 gram carb = 4 cal 40% of 2000 divided by 4 = grams of carb
1 gram pro = 4 cal 40% of 2000 divided by 4= gram of pro
1 gram fat = 9 cal 20% of 2000 divided by 9 = gram of fat

I keep my protein fairly high & fixed during my weight cut because of my weight lifting and I want to spare as much lean muscle mass as possible during a caloric deficit. Play around with your carbs/fats (+/- 10 to 20g per week) and track weight loss. For nutrition philosophy I adopt a nutrient dense approach (e.g. micronutrients) and IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros). At the end of the day its calories in/out, you need to be in a caloric deficit (typically - 500 cals/day from your maintanence levels) to lose weight. So either eat less or burn more (e.g. cardio). I don't want to write you a big reply but I suggest perhaps checking out this youtube link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mic4IELz61w - part I, II, etc. It helped me a lot, hope you can get something out of it. Feel free to message me anytime if you review and still have more questions (have lots of other tidbits to share) or need help calculating a good starting point.

Hope this helps!

skrlec70

thank you, so the guideline MFP set out for me was basic ? thank you so much for your response, you validated the tweeking thought for me, ive always responded well to higher protein less carb. let the tweeking begin

missiontofitness

If you look at my ticker, that's what I accomplished in 70 days. I've gone over my macros numerous times, and my progress has not stalled. I wouldn't worry too much about it if you go a little over. Now, if you're going over 2,000+ for sodium, or 80g for fat, then that's cause to re-evaluate. But not eating the remainder of your calories for being just a few grams isn't something you need to do.