Do Carbs/Protein/Fat Grams Really Matter?

mgobluetx12

My sister knows a lot about nutrition, but has been thin her whole life (I got my mom's body, she got my dad's). She told me to increase my cals since I'm not losing, which I think is good (and what you wonderful MFP-ers told me too!), but she said not to pay attention to how many carbs/fat/protein grams I eat. That scares me a little. She said it really doesn't matter...it's just calories. I eat clean 90% of the time.


What do you think?

McLifterPants

Depends. Are you trying to get skinny, or fit? If you just want to be skinny, eat whatever the hell proportions you want. If you want to be fit and lean and have actual muscle mass, and are doing things like lifting weights/other resistance training, making sure you get enough protein is essential, and you should pay more attention to your macro balance.

bulbadoof

Regarding weight loss, it's as simple as watching your calorie intake. Doesn't matter where they come from.

Regarding overall health, fitness, and just plain feeling good, it's very important to watch your macros. If I get too many carbs in a day, for example, I'll feel headachey and tired and far from my best.

For a happy medium, I'd say just watch your calories and pay attention to how the food makes you feel. If you don't like the way a certain macronutrient sits in your stomach, reduce it and try to find calories in something that makes you feel better.

Lina4Lina

You actually don't need a lot of fat or protein, even for muscle building, so you really have a lot of leeway. I'd monitor your ratios and see if you seem out of balance. I mostly ignore the ratios even though my goal is 60/20/20. I tend to fall somewhere near that.

mgobluetx12

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense.

My current ratios are 40/30/30, but at the calories I'm eating, that's 150g of protein and that sounds like a lot. There's so much contradicting info about how much protein to eat. I've seen 1 gram of protein for every .3-1 pound of body weight. That's a huge difference!