Help with Macros!

bellaa_x0

I am a 25 year old female weighing 190lbs at 5'10". I exercise 5-6 times a week, lifting weights and doing minimal cardio (30 minutes per session). I am looking to drop more weight/body fat and am eating at the current macro break-out; however, I'm not sure if this is correct as I haven't seen much of any results on the scale! (note: I have been following this break-out for almost 2 months now)

protein - 170g/day
carbs - 195g/day
fats - 54g/day

matthawthorneisamyth

Macros matter, but total caloric intake matters more. If the diet is working (looks like you've lost 34lbs) then there is no reason to change it at this point. That being said, you could probably benefit from a little more protein and a little less in the carb department.

bellaa_x0

Macros matter, but total caloric intake matters more. If the diet is working (looks like you've lost 34lbs) then there is no reason to change it at this point. That being said, you could probably benefit from a little more protein and a little less in the carb department.

i usually consume around 1900 calories give or take on the macro breakdown i mentioned.. i haven't lost much of any weight in a while which is why i am looking to see what i need to tweak in order to see some sort of loss.

bellaa_x0

anyone?

Julieboolieaz

I'm in a similar situation myself. I'm not looking to create too large of a deficit, as I want to maintain muscle, but also would like to shed some more fat! I dropped my cals to 1500 the past 2 days thinking if I drop more I'll lose more, but btw being hungry and recognizing that it's not as good an idea, I'm back up to 1650/day (TDEE 20-25%).

For me, I will be practicing patience (6 weeks so far with no loss for me), tracking BF% with calipers, celebrating strength gains, taking measurements, and fiddling around with my macros every 2 weeks. I've recently upped my fats , and evened out my macros to 35% carb, 35%protein, 30% fat. I will give that a while to see if anything changes.

Another option I'll use if I still stall, is to zig zag my calories and average out to the same number by the end of the week. Like 1800, 1350, 1500, 1650, 1880...so they come out to average 1650/day at week's end. It's a BFFM suggestion I will implement eventually.

Hang in there and celebrate the changes you know are happening in your body. I see all the amazing success stories and believe it'll happen for us too, in good time.

Julieboolieaz

I am a 25 year old female weighing 190lbs at 5'10". I exercise 5-6 times a week, lifting weights and doing minimal cardio (30 minutes per session). I am looking to drop more weight/body fat and am eating at the current macro break-out; however, I'm not sure if this is correct as I haven't seen much of any results on the scale! (note: I have been following this break-out for almost 2 months now)

protein - 170g/day
carbs - 195g/day
fats - 54g/day

btw...wow on the high protein level! I struggle with getting mine to a high enough level, and it's not as high as yours!! How do you get so much protein?

bellaa_x0

I am a 25 year old female weighing 190lbs at 5'10". I exercise 5-6 times a week, lifting weights and doing minimal cardio (30 minutes per session). I am looking to drop more weight/body fat and am eating at the current macro break-out; however, I'm not sure if this is correct as I haven't seen much of any results on the scale! (note: I have been following this break-out for almost 2 months now)

protein - 170g/day
carbs - 195g/day
fats - 54g/day

btw...wow on the high protein level! I struggle with getting mine to a high enough level, and it's not as high as yours!! How do you get so much protein?

i usually have about 2 protein shakes a day (1 for breakfast, 1 post workout), 4 oz of protein with my lunch (chicken, beef, turkey), a quest bar, some form of protein before a workout (usually hardboiled eggs), another 4 oz of protein with dinner and if i still have room i'll have some greek yogurt as well

J72FIT

you could probably benefit from a little more protein and a little less in the carb department.

I disagree. With the amount you train I would lower protein and raise both carbs and fats.
I have you at roughly 2000 per day with the following macros…

Protein: 135 grams = 540 calories
Fat: 65 grams = 585 calories
Carb: 215 grams = 860 calories

Just my thoughts...

ana3067

I work out ~5 hours a week, 4 hours being for weight lifting. I strength train btw, hypertrophy training will be picked up once I start my bulk next year.

I currently eat 2100 (previously 2000) for cutting, and I'm 175lbs. 2100 for me is roughly 15-20% of a deficit.

I entered in your info into one of the calculators I like, just estimating that you do 6 hours total of moderate exercise (counting the weight training and cardio for this), then 9 hours of sleep/reclining, and 1 hour of walking. The rest goes to sitting and standing for this calculator. This put your estimated needs at about 2500. Entering the info into another similar calculator that gives higher estimates, you're at 2900. I also get a range of a few hundred between the sites.

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html
http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

So TL;DR, basically you probably can eat a few hundred more calories, which might benefit your gym performance and weight loss better.

I do not agree with lowering your protein that low, unless your lean body mass is around 135lbs. But I do agree that 170 is probably not needed. If you stick to 1900 calories, then 150-160 is likely going to be enough. In the last few months, I've found that 150g is my absolute minimum, while my LBM is ~130lbs. I'm set at 155g for protein and can easily get up to 170g some days. It basically is just under 30% of my calorie intake, and I'm probably going to up it to 160 or 165g now that I'm at 2100 calories. This is all through trial and error; any time I eat below 150 for more than a few days and my weekly protein intake is a bit low, I notice problems.

My breakdown:
P = 155g (minimum)
F = 65g
C = 224g

Protein is my minimum, which means some days I go way over on fat and way under on carbs, other days it's the other way around. I often don't even reach 65g though for fat, I'm just not a big fat eater by nature. But if I eat fattier meats or junk food or lots of PB then I meet it just fine. I'm also going to be introducing re-feeds soon.. I'm thinking either this weekend of the next, doing it 1-2x a month where I'll eat around 2600 calories, meeting my protein minimum and the eating the rest (primarily) in carbs.

With all that being said, macros aren't going to make or break weight loss. Overall calorie consumption will. Looking over your diary, you are both consistently eating below your calorie intake by quite a bit and logging things with different measurement methods. Some things look weighed, others measured, others aren't measured in any way. I weigh everything; I go to take out one of my glazed donuts that's supposed to have x macros for 53g of donut and most of the time they are 59-60 grams each. I also monitor my macro tally and add those together to figure out where i"m actually at for calories. This is especially important for foods that are high fiber, as the calorie count will only use net calories (so removing the calories from fiber). Although I personalyl have created personal food entries for every food I eat more than once, so I don't generally have this problem anymore nad my calorie count is within 20 cals of my actual intake.

So 1) start actually eating enough, either by eating back 50% of your exercise calories (as it appears you are using MFP's method) or by entering in your average TDEE-20% into custom goals and always eating up to that amount, 2) try being more consistent with how you are tracking things. If you weigh things, then weigh everything (even pre-packaged foods). If you measure things, then always measure things. Being consistent in HOW you log across all your food will make it a lot easier to change how many estimated calories you need to eat to attain your goals.

ETA: You're also either really under-eating some days or not logging half of what you're eating. Which can lead to under or overeating very easily. Try to be consistent with logging everything for a full month, every day.

J72FIT

My breakdown:
P = 155g (minimum)
F = 65g
C = 224g

I don't necessarily agree that 155 grams of protein has to be a minimum but overall those look like solid macros.

I am 5'10", weigh 180lbs and train 6 days per week and my protein is set at 130g per day. As long as overall calories are sufficient there is no detriment. I also realize it can be very individual from person to person.

MikeyM1982

Watch and learn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M_4_ulozA0&list=UUxUqBcX8-LoJzQokJIIST_Q

BarbellApprentice

I am a 25 year old female weighing 190lbs at 5'10". I exercise 5-6 times a week, lifting weights and doing minimal cardio (30 minutes per session). I am looking to drop more weight/body fat and am eating at the current macro break-out; however, I'm not sure if this is correct as I haven't seen much of any results on the scale! (note: I have been following this break-out for almost 2 months now)

protein - 170g/day
carbs - 195g/day
fats - 54g/day

I just quickly looked at your intake for the last month. You have a few 1800+ calorie days but many days with much less. So your average intake is actually closer to 1500 for the last month (rough guess). Are you weighing and measuring food? Are you logging everything? It is difficult to know how to make adjustments if the current data is not accurate.

bellaa_x0

I work out ~5 hours a week, 4 hours being for weight lifting. I strength train btw, hypertrophy training will be picked up once I start my bulk next year.

I currently eat 2100 (previously 2000) for cutting, and I'm 175lbs. 2100 for me is roughly 15-20% of a deficit.

I entered in your info into one of the calculators I like, just estimating that you do 6 hours total of moderate exercise (counting the weight training and cardio for this), then 9 hours of sleep/reclining, and 1 hour of walking. The rest goes to sitting and standing for this calculator. This put your estimated needs at about 2500. Entering the info into another similar calculator that gives higher estimates, you're at 2900. I also get a range of a few hundred between the sites.

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html
http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

So TL;DR, basically you probably can eat a few hundred more calories, which might benefit your gym performance and weight loss better.

I do not agree with lowering your protein that low, unless your lean body mass is around 135lbs. But I do agree that 170 is probably not needed. If you stick to 1900 calories, then 150-160 is likely going to be enough. In the last few months, I've found that 150g is my absolute minimum, while my LBM is ~130lbs. I'm set at 155g for protein and can easily get up to 170g some days. It basically is just under 30% of my calorie intake, and I'm probably going to up it to 160 or 165g now that I'm at 2100 calories. This is all through trial and error; any time I eat below 150 for more than a few days and my weekly protein intake is a bit low, I notice problems.

My breakdown:
P = 155g (minimum)
F = 65g
C = 224g

Protein is my minimum, which means some days I go way over on fat and way under on carbs, other days it's the other way around. I often don't even reach 65g though for fat, I'm just not a big fat eater by nature. But if I eat fattier meats or junk food or lots of PB then I meet it just fine. I'm also going to be introducing re-feeds soon.. I'm thinking either this weekend of the next, doing it 1-2x a month where I'll eat around 2600 calories, meeting my protein minimum and the eating the rest (primarily) in carbs.

With all that being said, macros aren't going to make or break weight loss. Overall calorie consumption will. Looking over your diary, you are both consistently eating below your calorie intake by quite a bit and logging things with different measurement methods. Some things look weighed, others measured, others aren't measured in any way. I weigh everything; I go to take out one of my glazed donuts that's supposed to have x macros for 53g of donut and most of the time they are 59-60 grams each. I also monitor my macro tally and add those together to figure out where i"m actually at for calories. This is especially important for foods that are high fiber, as the calorie count will only use net calories (so removing the calories from fiber). Although I personalyl have created personal food entries for every food I eat more than once, so I don't generally have this problem anymore nad my calorie count is within 20 cals of my actual intake.

So 1) start actually eating enough, either by eating back 50% of your exercise calories (as it appears you are using MFP's method) or by entering in your average TDEE-20% into custom goals and always eating up to that amount, 2) try being more consistent with how you are tracking things. If you weigh things, then weigh everything (even pre-packaged foods). If you measure things, then always measure things. Being consistent in HOW you log across all your food will make it a lot easier to change how many estimated calories you need to eat to attain your goals.

ETA: You're also either really under-eating some days or not logging half of what you're eating. Which can lead to under or overeating very easily. Try to be consistent with logging everything for a full month, every day.

i am not utilizing the MFP method - i simply log my exercise for my own reference. i always weigh out everything, but sometimes when you scan a barcode it shows the measurement in cups for example versus the equivalent serving in grams, which is what i measure out and consume.

i do admit i have not logged consistently on weekends and even some weekdays, which i am now aiming to do better at.

bellaa_x0

I am a 25 year old female weighing 190lbs at 5'10". I exercise 5-6 times a week, lifting weights and doing minimal cardio (30 minutes per session). I am looking to drop more weight/body fat and am eating at the current macro break-out; however, I'm not sure if this is correct as I haven't seen much of any results on the scale! (note: I have been following this break-out for almost 2 months now)

protein - 170g/day
carbs - 195g/day
fats - 54g/day

I just quickly looked at your intake for the last month. You have a few 1800+ calorie days but many days with much less. So your average intake is actually closer to 1500 for the last month (rough guess). Are you weighing and measuring food? Are you logging everything? It is difficult to know how to make adjustments if the current data is not accurate.

i am weighing and measuring everything i have logged.. i have slacked in logging on most weekends and some weekdays.