Need help to determine carb/protein/fat percentages please

Debutante55

I'm pretty new at this and I'm having a very hard time figuring out what to set my "goals" at in terms of daily intake of carb/protein/fat. (I know how to make the changes, I just don't know what they *should* be.)

Right now, I'm consuming 1200 calories/day and MFP set my goals at 55% carb, 15% protein, and 30% fat. My current weight is 115.5 and my endpoint is going to be 110 lbs, I've lost about 11 pounds so far, over about a 3.5 month period.

From what I understand, I need to increase my protein intake *dramatically* to build muscle, which is what I need to do at this point. I'm beginning light weight training and doing cardio. I'm just very unclear on how much to increase it (daily grams) and what I should do with the carbs and fat percentages as well.

ANY information or guidance would be very much appreciated!

ShaneOSX

Shoot to eat your body weight in protein every day. A spectrum of .8-1g protein per pound is good. For me that's about 55% of my calories.

Ideally shoot for 25% of your daily calories to come from GOOD fat. 20-30% is good.

Whatever's left over is carbs.

AnvilHead

I can only offer my personal opinion, but I know it's shared by others here and also recommended by Helloitsdan in this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I have mine set to 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat. This gives me right about 1g protein per pound of LBM.

MrsBioChem

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/NU00200
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-kitchen-11/how-much-protein


The upper limit of a healthy diet puts you at 35% protein. I would recommend shooting for 20 to 25% protein for now. After you start training harder, increase that to aim for 25 to 30% protein.

Debutante55

Okay, this is great advice. Lots of excellent reading material that will help get me sorted out for sure.

Thank you everyone!!! :flowerforyou: