Questioning MFP's carb/fat/protein recommendations

craftygeek

Hi All!

First let me start by saying I am by no means a nutrion expert. I guess, that's why I am putting this out there for you guys to chime in and help me out. Also, I love MFP so far...I'm fairly new to it, but I am loving every aspect of it so far. I do have one question.

My recommended calories per day is 1250 with a carb/fat/protein breakdown of 172g/42g/47g. Knowing that:
Carbs = 4 calories/gram
Fat = 9 calories/gram
Protein = 4 calories/gram

I calculate the calorie equivalents to be:
172g carbs => 688 calories
42g fat => 378 calories
47g protein => 188 calories

That breaks down percentage wise to be 55% carb, 30% fat and 15% protein. Is it just me, or does that seem very carb-heavy and very low-protein?

I don't really put a ton of weight in this breakdown, paying more attention to the overall calories until I get more into the swing of things. But I do know that when I did my fitness challenge with my gym in March, they gave us some great nutrition info and they had us following a 40/20/40 plan with 40% of our calories coming from carbs, 20% from fat and 40% from protein.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

TIA!

NickiChase

I altered my settings to the 40/20/40 recommendations given to me by both my dr and my trainer. I LOVE that you have the ability to modify so much on this site and really make it into THE tool for you.

tarapin

I'm going to school to be a RN and there is a nutritionist in my class and I asked him the same thing. He said that I should be getting 65% of my diets/calories from carbs and that they put diabetics on a 55% carb diet. That's for energy and cellular reproduction. I still do less than that though.

I also believe it's the type of carb you take in. I make most of mine whole grain and not from white flour or sugary type stuff. Hope that helps and good luck!

Donnarama

Got this from a website: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_gram.php

The Numbers Don't Always Add Up
If you check a food label you may find that the total number of calories listed doesn't match the number you arrive at using the 4-9-4 method described above. The reason for the discrepancy may be that the figure for carbohydrates includes insoluble fiber, and the food manufacturer has accounted for this in their figure for calories.

Insoluble fiber passes through your body without being converted to a form that provides energy, or calories. Knowing this, the manufacturer may subtract the caloric value of the insoluble fiber (4 calories per gram) from the total calories figure. When they do this, the 4-9-4 method will give you a higher figure for total calories than the one you find on the food label.

You might think that you could subtract the figure for fiber from the figure for carbohydrates to correct the discrepancy. But the figure for fiber will likely include both soluble and insoluble fiber, and you'd only want to subtract the insoluble fiber. Unfortunately you have no way of knowing how much of the fiber is soluble, and how much is insoluble.

lainey137

Ha! I just posted almost exactly the same question- very interested to see people's responses here.

Azdak

The MFP site acts as a central gathering point for a lot of fitness information. Any one who develops a site like this needs to follow the most widely used consensus guidelines when they make general recommendations. It would be irresponsible not to and it can open one up to liability exposure (when you are asked by a lawyer how you determined the guidelines you proposed, "the USDA nutrition guidelines" sounds a lot better than "some trainer told me this".

Obviously, general guidelines are not always appropriate for every individual--one of the nice things about MFP is that you can customize the guidelines to fit whatever macronutrient breakdown you prefer--even one you got from a trainer.

PJilly

That breaks down percentage wise to be 55% carb, 30% fat and 15% protein. Is it just me, or does that seem very carb-heavy and very low-protein?

That's definitely how it breaks down, and there are all kinds of opinions on whether those are good percentages or not. I am pretty active, and I actually function best with my carbs at around 50-55% (didn't have any trouble losing fat at those percentage either), so I have mine set at 55%, but I increased my protein to 25% and dropped my fat down to 20%. I feel gross if I eat too much fat, and on top off that, I really love food, so the lower my fat percentage, the more calories I get to spend on the stuff I DO like (primarily lean proteins and complex carbs).

Azdak

Hi All!

First let me start by saying I am by no means a nutrion expert. I guess, that's why I am putting this out there for you guys to chime in and help me out. Also, I love MFP so far...I'm fairly new to it, but I am loving every aspect of it so far. I do have one question.

My recommended calories per day is 1250 with a carb/fat/protein breakdown of 172g/42g/47g. Knowing that:
Carbs = 4 calories/gram
Fat = 9 calories/gram
Protein = 4 calories/gram



I calculate the calorie equivalents to be:
172g carbs => 688 calories
42g fat => 378 calories
47g protein => 188 calories

That breaks down percentage wise to be 55% carb, 30% fat and 15% protein. Is it just me, or does that seem very carb-heavy and very low-protein?

I don't really put a ton of weight in this breakdown, paying more attention to the overall calories until I get more into the swing of things. But I do know that when I did my fitness challenge with my gym in March, they gave us some great nutrition info and they had us following a 40/20/40 plan with 40% of our calories coming from carbs, 20% from fat and 40% from protein.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

TIA!

It can depend on your needs and activity level. That's pretty close to the ratio that I followed. People often place an almost cultlike level of faith in the magical power of protein. Rather than start with a percentage, you should allocate the recommended *absolute* amount of protein and work from there. The research I read supports a figure of about 1 g of protein per kilogram of body weight. I saw one study that recommended a minimum of 100g of protein for women, regardless of body weight.

I would start w/that figure (1g/kg), add in 25% for fat and allocate the remainder for carbs. To me, that is a macro ratio that is pretty easy to live with and can usually be achieved with a normal diet, which is always optimal.

craftygeek

Wow! Great responses everyone. I appreciate all the time in answering and the input!