Macros and Exercise Rumors - Fact or Fiction?

geebusuk

I wouldn't get overly focused on calculators personally.

Try and keep a consistent amount of calorie measured over a few weeks. Work out the average for that period to work out your deficit. Use that to work out the calories you are taking in.
Ie, if you are eating 1500 calories and losing 1lb a week on average, you're in a 500 calorie deficit. If you only want to lose 1.2lb a week, bump your calories up by 250 and see how you go.

sparklefrogz

To cover the rest of your original post...the only points that I follow as "fact" are #13 and #15. You don't even have to do #13 to lose weight and keep it off (I lost the majority of my weight without counting calories or measuring food). And I follow #15 because it helps me feel fuller, longer.

You may find some helpful advice in these threads:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets Especially the "setting macro targets" section. Note especially the protein and fat macros are MINIMUMs; I personally do best on about double the fat minimum it recommends. (I take the calories for that out of what would go into carbs.)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/817188-iifym On whether what you eat matters. (Short answer barring specific health issues, food intolerances, and personal preference, there's no need to ban/restrict any particular food. For nutrition's sake you want a pretty balanced diet, but after that, have fun.)

They are both linked in the sexypants thread but there are a LOT of links and info in there that's easy to miss (or just have your eyes glaze over from information overload) so I figured I'd point them out specifically in case you still had questions about what food to eat and how to set your macro targets.

anglergirl3

Thanks, everyone! You have been very gracious and helpful.

lemurcat12

You said you go to the gym 5 days/wk for a little under an hour. That puts you at the high end of 3-5 hr/moderate. A good place to start is the 2223-20% = 1779. This is actually what my intake usually ends up being around that activity level. Much less than that and I get grouchy, tired, lightheaded, etc. I could probably eat a bit more and still lose weight but I'm an impatient lady. I still end up having about one day a week where I eat closer to maintenance, and I don't fret about that too much.

Sounds like you have some really good advice, but I just wanted to agree with this above. TDEE includes exercise, so you definitely would not be sedentary under that method, and so this would be a good number to start with (20% deficit=goal of about one pound a week here). As you experiment, you can adjust it up or down a little depending on results, as others have suggested.