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Carbs vs Protein - settings to lose weight / body fat???

Dragonfly1996
Dragonfly1996 Posts: 196 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Hi

I have recently run a marathon & put my weightloss on hold whilst I was training & increased my carb intake at the same time. I have maintained my weight over the 16 weeks (bar putting on 4lb right at the start).

I have now altered my goal to 1/2lb a week loss & 126g carbs (35%), 126g protein (35%) & 48g fat (30%) per day. 1450 daily cals.

I currently weigh 140lb with body fat of 30% and am 5ft 3in & 44 years old. I am looking to lose a stone (14lbs) and get my body fat down by about 5%.

I run, cycle or spin up to 4 times a week with one kettle bells session & a strength / resistance training session. I have asked the gym to do me a proper strength training program that I can follow.

My question is are my settings ok on the food intake side as I have been back to this for 2 weeks & nothing has changed yet? Maybe too soon but just wanted to check I had my settings right. I am more prone to eating carbs being semi vegetarian (I eat fish) so its hard to reign that in. Having said that I am not stuffing myself with loads of processed carbs. In the same way getting my protein intake up is also hard as I dont eat fish every day. I do try to get in nuts & protein shakes & oily fish but then that can put me over on fat (albeit its good fats). Looking at the nutritional information for beans etc - the protein seems low against the carbs still!!

Should I really try & cut down quite a bit on the carbs - even complex for a while & try to eat mainly protein & vegetables? I dont want to sap my energy levels.

I am not the best person for cooking & its all quite basic stuff so am really not that knowledgable about all the ins & outs of food nutrition (apart from the obvious). It does my head in a bit but so wanting to get my fat percentage down (probably more so than losing more weight) and getting more definition which would make me look better.

Any advise / suggestions as always greatly apprieciated!!

Cheers DF :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • docktorfokse
    docktorfokse Posts: 473 Member
    Once you start serious strength training, you may want to raise your protein to 40-45% and lower your carbs to 25-30%, and have them mainly come from vegetables and whole grains.
  • UrbanRunner81
    UrbanRunner81 Posts: 1,207 Member
    How I figure out for me, 1g of protein per lean body mass. .5g of fat for total body weight. Then I fill in the rest with carbs. It works for me.
  • Dragonfly1996
    Dragonfly1996 Posts: 196 Member
    How I figure out for me, 1g of protein per lean body mass. .5g of fat for total body weight. Then I fill in the rest with carbs. It works for me.

    How do I work out what my lean body mass is? :smile:
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    How I figure out for me, 1g of protein per lean body mass. .5g of fat for total body weight. Then I fill in the rest with carbs. It works for me.

    How do I work out what my lean body mass is? :smile:

    Lean Mass = Weight - Weight * (BF% / 100)

    = 140 - 140*(30/100) = 98 lbs
This discussion has been closed.

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