macros..? suggestions please! :) thanks!

AimersBee

what should my macros be for losing weight? i'm 150 lbs, wanting to get down to 135 at least, and i'm 5'4. the last few months i've been eating at 1440 calories without exercise, but i just put my calculations in again and i'm now up to 1500 calories w/out exercise.

as for my macros currently, i have them set at (and have had them set at for a couple months)
40% protein
35% fats
25% carbs

but i looked up suggested macros online for weight loss.. (i do want to lose weight, but tone at the same time) and the quote on the livestrong site was:

"acceptable balanced diet is 20 percent of your calories from proteins, 30 percent from fats and 50 percent from carbohydrates

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/303969-the-protein-fat-and-carbohydrate-ratio-for-losing-weight/#ixzz2DX4EaDzB"

anyways, so i'm just asking you all what you think, maybe you've been here a while and have experience with what macros work best, etc..


thanks!

testease

calculate them by hand and select % based off the numbers you get.

.8-1 g/lb of body weight for protein

.25-.5g /lb of body weight for fat.

Rest made up of carbs.

AimersBee

calculate them by hand and select % based off the numbers you get.

.8-1 g/lb of body weight for protein

.25-.5g /lb of body weight for fat.

Rest made up of carbs.

is this "desired body weight" or "current body weight?

AimersBee

so if i do your calculations by my current weight.. it'd be...

120-150g protein
37.5-75g fat
(rest carbs)


therefore my macros would be once changed:
131 protein
58 fats
113 carbs

that sound right?

AimersBee

help!

FitBeto

so if i do your calculations by my current weight.. it'd be...

120-150g protein
37.5-75g fat
(rest carbs)


therefore my macros would be once changed:
131 protein
58 fats
113 carbs

that sound right?

Sounds good! Remember your macros arent that important (for weight loss) , just remain in a caloric deficit!

ahviendha

it also kind of depends what exercise you're doing. regardless, 50% carbs sounds like a lot to me. i'm not filled eating so much bread, tortillas, etc.

if you want to build muscle, eat more protein (more towards 1 gram per pound of lean body mass). if you're running a lot, you'll be needing more carbs than someone who is strictly interested in building muscle.

your current macros which you listed above seem spot on!

AimersBee

it also kind of depends what exercise you're doing. regardless, 50% carbs sounds like a lot to me. i'm not filled eating so much bread, tortillas, etc.

if you want to build muscle, eat more protein (more towards 1 gram per pound of lean body mass). if you're running a lot, you'll be needing more carbs than someone who is strictly interested in building muscle.

your current macros which you listed above seem spot on!

i'm currently trying to do a mix of weights and cardio.. 1 day weights, 1 day cardio..

AimersBee

oh ok. awesome! thanks ppl!

testease

so if i do your calculations by my current weight.. it'd be...

120-150g protein
37.5-75g fat
(rest carbs)


therefore my macros would be once changed:
131 protein
58 fats
113 carbs

that sound right?

Sorry!! yes of your current body weight. And those look like good macros. Great middle of the road choices.

BernadetteChurch

Very useful information here. Thanks people, and OP for asking the question! I'm not remotely bothered about macros at the moment, but the day may come!

LeenaRuns

it also kind of depends what exercise you're doing. regardless, 50% carbs sounds like a lot to me. i'm not filled eating so much bread, tortillas, etc.

if you want to build muscle, eat more protein (more towards 1 gram per pound of lean body mass). if you're running a lot, you'll be needing more carbs than someone who is strictly interested in building muscle.

your current macros which you listed above seem spot on!

Don't forget, fruits and veggies are carbs as well. I used to have my macros set to 40/30/30, but was diagnosed with Diabetes Insipidus and had to decrease my protein. I now eat at 45/30/25 (c/f/p).

californiagirl2012

what should my macros be for losing weight? i'm 150 lbs, wanting to get down to 135 at least, and i'm 5'4. the last few months i've been eating at 1440 calories without exercise, but i just put my calculations in again and i'm now up to 1500 calories w/out exercise.

as for my macros currently, i have them set at (and have had them set at for a couple months)
40% protein
35% fats
25% carbs

but i looked up suggested macros online for weight loss.. (i do want to lose weight, but tone at the same time) and the quote on the livestrong site was:

"acceptable balanced diet is 20 percent of your calories from proteins, 30 percent from fats and 50 percent from carbohydrates

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/303969-the-protein-fat-and-carbohydrate-ratio-for-losing-weight/#ixzz2DX4EaDzB"

anyways, so i'm just asking you all what you think, maybe you've been here a while and have experience with what macros work best, etc..


thanks!

All that matters is calories for losing weight. Seriously. Trying to eat certain macros makes it way too complicated. It does not have to be exact every day, every meal. Just eat enough protein, enough carbs for energy, add some fruits and veggies. I've found I get enough fat from foods, I get enough protein from foods, adding fat and adding protein powders are unnecessary (at least for me because I eat meat, fish, poultry, and dairy products and those have all the fat and protein I need). But all within your calorie budget for a calorie deficit.

Just think about what you eat. If you had fruit, veggies, protein, and carbs kind of spread out in a balanced manner. If you had two macros at one meal, have another two at another meal, if you had more of one macro yesterday, switch it up today. The %'s in MFP are close enough to start. I tend to like a little less carbs and more protein for weight loss (but by no means low carb!!) and so I changed the % in MFP goal setting.

There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

As far as calories…

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

If you plug in all your info (typically age, gender, height and weight) into one of those calculators what you get is the average metabolic rate of a group of people who share your age, sex, height and weight. What you DON’T get is YOUR EXACT calorie needs. It's a place to start.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.


You want to eat as healthy as you can because it makes you feel better and perform better, and makes you healthier. There are a bunch of tricks and clean eating; reducing sugar (especially HFCS), fiber, white flour vs whole grain, low carb, low fat, on and on. All that matters is calories for weight loss. If you need to eat a certain way for health reasons or to feel better do it, but extensive good food and bad food lists will drive you insane at some point, it’s a constantly moving target. Just eat what you like, mostly healthy, mostly balanced, within a calorie budget. We all know what healthy is by now, just do it.

Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).

If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

I am short, petite, small; my RMR is low compared to others. With my doctors approval I had to eat less than or right around 1000 calories to lose weight. We are all different. There is no one size fits all. Even people my height and gender are different and some need more calories than I do. My doctor checked my hormone levels throughout my 60 lb weight loss journey (from obese down to 10% body fat) and everything was fine. I got stronger and stronger at the gym, my running and weight lifting strength improved even while eating on a significant calorie deficit. My DXA scan proved I did not lose lean body mass or go into starvation mode.

Also you do not have to eat the same amount of calories every day. You can think of it as a weekly calorie budget. You can eat low some days and high some days. You can be flexible. You can find what is sustainable for you.

For me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.

When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.

Wishing you the best! -Bobbie

kooltray87

bump

dia77

bump

AimersBee

wow long post, haha but a great read! thanks.