Setting Your Calorie and Macro Targets
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Thank You for this information and Bump.0
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This is awesome information!0
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Are either of these more accurate/better to go by than the other?
I'm 5'3" , 203 lbs, and would like to lose 2 lbs a week.
MFP sets me at 1,390 (eating back what I exercise)
TDEE-20% sets me at 2374 (not eating back what I exercise)
They aren't too far off from one another considering what I work out, doing Insanity and Ripped in 30.0 -
Are either of these more accurate/better to go by than the other?
I'm 5'3" , 203 lbs, and would like to lose 2 lbs a week.
MFP sets me at 1,390 (eating back what I exercise)
TDEE-20% sets me at 2374 (not eating back what I exercise)
They aren't too far off from one another considering what I work out, doing Insanity and Ripped in 30.
If you input the information accurately they should theoretically have the same starting point. However, TDEE -20% =/= 2lb a week which is why you are getting a difference. In your case it would equal a little over 1lb a week.
With the amount of weight your ticker says you have to go, you will be ok at a 2lb a week cut for a little while if you want (less is obviously fine also if you want to go slower).
TDEE less 1,000 calories (which = 2lb a week) would be more like 2,000 calories. The difference between the two is a little large to account for exercise.
What activity level did you pick for the TDEE calculation?0 -
I believe I put the 5-6 hours a week of exercise, I used the http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ website0
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Thank you0
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Bump! Thanks!!0
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I have a peculiar situation. I am 5" tall and weigh 105 pounds. I am 55 years old/young.I do free weights 3 times a week. I do a lot of leg movements while watching TV to strengthen my core. I also do push ups, dips and crunches. Sometimes I do seated cardio or Tracy Anderson arm exercises.
I would like to lose at least 7 more pounds. Right now I have some fat on my midsection and upper arms.
The problem is I have polio. So whatever weight is on my body, they are on the upper portion of my body.
So far I have lost something like more than 20 pounds. I have some curves that I did not know I still had.
I would like to further tone my body. What should be my macro?
I am from India where food is high on carbs.I don't log my food here. I do so on my plate in livestrong.com as they have a lot of Indian foods on their data base.
I am getting only 30-40 gm of protein. Is it enough?
If I am to increase my protein level , I will have to take protein powder as all source of Indian food will increase my carb level as well.
I am at a plateau. I have tried calorie zigzagging without any result.
Also I think taking protein powder supplement will help me break the plateau as well as bat wings.
I can also look at lowering my carb level without lowering my total calorie.
I am quite comfortable with 1200-1400 calories..........what I mean is my weight has stabilized there.I never do any diet plan that I cannot do long term.
Please help me.0 -
I have a peculiar situation. I am 5" tall and weigh 105 pounds. I am 55 years old/young.I do free weights 3 times a week. I do a lot of leg movements while watching TV to strengthen my core. I also do push ups, dips and crunches. Sometimes I do seated cardio or Tracy Anderson arm exercises.
I would like to lose at least 7 more pounds. Right now I have some fat on my midsection and upper arms.
The problem is I have polio. So whatever weight is on my body, they are on the upper portion of my body.
So far I have lost something like more than 20 pounds. I have some curves that I did not know I still had.
I would like to further tone my body. What should be my macro?
I am from India where food is high on carbs.I don't log my food here. I do so on my plate in livestrong.com as they have a lot of Indian foods on their data base.
I am getting only 30-40 gm of protein. Is it enough?
If I am to increase my protein level , I will have to take protein powder as all source of Indian food will increase my carb level as well.
I am at a plateau. I have tried calorie zigzagging without any result.
Also I think taking protein powder supplement will help me break the plateau as well as bat wings.
I can also look at lowering my carb level without lowering my total calorie.
I am quite comfortable with 1200-1400 calories..........what I mean is my weight has stabilized there.I never do any diet plan that I cannot do long term.
Please help me.
Hi! Can you start a new thread with your questions. Also, please could you complete the questions from here in that thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/910257-the-new-and-improved-asking-questions-about-your-intake
Thanks0 -
Thanks. Will do.0
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Hi!
I'm most grateful for this thread. Thank you!
I'm hoping that some of the more knowledgeable of you wouldn't mind looking at my diary and giving me a constructive critique. I'd welcome varying opinions as well. I am trying to eat what I enjoy and what makes me feel good, but still unsure of how to stay within some sort of macros guidelines and just how accurate I need to be with that.
I think I want to keep my protein levels higher, because I am exercising pretty heavily. Also, over the years, I've figured out that grain based carbs are not my friend. They cause me to have cravings and I seem to gain more when I regularly eat bread, pastas, etc...
I do eat a lot of fruit and veggies, which have always seemed to satisfy.
Most the fats I eat are from very healthy sources, salmon, tuna, raw, sprouted nuts and seeds, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, avocados, raw cacao, eggs, etc...
I tend to prefer foods that are considered healthy anyway. I don't really have issues with "junk food" cravings, so I'm lucky there.
I'm trying to lift heavy at least 3 to 4 days per week and I generally get in a very good, intensive cardio workout 5 to 6 days per week. My job is sometimes physically active, sometimes mostly driving. I have to travel a lot to get to job sites, so I'm sitting during travel time, obviously. Once on site the level of physical activity can vary so much, from unpacking and installing furniture and technology, Smart Boards, computers, etc...to simply sitting and training on the technology. It gets very complicated trying to calculate anything based on my daily activities, so I've just used the setting, "Light" and then try to log all my exercise calories burned accurately.
A couple of things have been fairly discouraging to me. I lost most of the weight I've lost, between Jan. 4th of this year and the end of Feb. Then, in March, I hit a plateau that wouldn't budge. I read so many MFP threads that stated that 1,200 calories as a goal, was not going to be enough and I began to feel that maybe I'd put my body in starvation mode. So I worked hard, in March, to vary up my calorie intake and get more calories. I did lose 3 more pounds toward the end of March, but have been in a plateau again for the last couple of weeks. Now I'm feeling like I may have upped my calories too high or I'm not adding in the correct calories burned in exercise. (See my comments below.)
I did some research and found out that the MFP default protein goal is likely too low for the amount of heavy lifting and other exercise I've been doing, so I researched some more and found a couple of protein supplements that are in keeping with my love for clean and organic foods...Garden of Life's "Raw Protein" and "Tera'swhey Grass-Fed, Organic Protein", which has really helped me to get my protein levels up. However, I still have been unable to lose any weight or inches for 2 or 3 weeks.
Another discouraging thing I have just stumbled across here is reports that the model of HRM I have, the Polar FT7, gives grossly inaccurate readings for calories burned in a woman's workouts. I'm pretty bummed about that. That would mean that all this time, I've been actually netting much higher amounts of calories than I thought.
The formulas for coming up with a more accurate reading are pretty complicated and my head was spinning a bit from trying to read them, so I'm just figured I'd go with one poster's suggestion of simply subtracting 10% of whatever the heart monitor states I burned.
Thank you for reading this and for any advise you can give!
Oh, and I'm 55-years old, 158 pounds, 5.5 tall. I have no health conditions and tend toward being pretty high energy and healthy.0 -
Hi!
I'm most grateful for this thread. Thank you!
I'm hoping that some of the more knowledgeable of you wouldn't mind looking at my diary and giving me a constructive critique. I'd welcome varying opinions as well. I am trying to eat what I enjoy and what makes me feel good, but still unsure of how to stay within some sort of macros guidelines and just how accurate I need to be with that.
I think I want to keep my protein levels higher, because I am exercising pretty heavily. Also, over the years, I've figured out that grain based carbs are not my friend. They cause me to have cravings and I seem to gain more when I regularly eat bread, pastas, etc...
I do eat a lot of fruit and veggies, which have always seemed to satisfy.
Most the fats I eat are from very healthy sources, salmon, tuna, raw, sprouted nuts and seeds, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, avocados, raw cacao, eggs, etc...
I tend to prefer foods that are considered healthy anyway. I don't really have issues with "junk food" cravings, so I'm lucky there.
I'm trying to lift heavy at least 3 to 4 days per week and I generally get in a very good, intensive cardio workout 5 to 6 days per week. My job is sometimes physically active, sometimes mostly driving. I have to travel a lot to get to job sites, so I'm sitting during travel time, obviously. Once on site the level of physical activity can vary so much, from unpacking and installing furniture and technology, Smart Boards, computers, etc...to simply sitting and training on the technology. It gets very complicated trying to calculate anything based on my daily activities, so I've just used the setting, "Light" and then try to log all my exercise calories burned accurately.
A couple of things have been fairly discouraging to me. I lost most of the weight I've lost, between Jan. 4th of this year and the end of Feb. Then, in March, I hit a plateau that wouldn't budge. I read so many MFP threads that stated that 1,200 calories as a goal, was not going to be enough and I began to feel that maybe I'd put my body in starvation mode. So I worked hard, in March, to vary up my calorie intake and get more calories. I did lose 3 more pounds toward the end of March, but have been in a plateau again for the last couple of weeks. Now I'm feeling like I may have upped my calories too high or I'm not adding in the correct calories burned in exercise. (See my comments below.)
I did some research and found out that the MFP default protein goal is likely too low for the amount of heavy lifting and other exercise I've been doing, so I researched some more and found a couple of protein supplements that are in keeping with my love for clean and organic foods...Garden of Life's "Raw Protein" and "Tera'swhey Grass-Fed, Organic Protein", which has really helped me to get my protein levels up. However, I still have been unable to lose any weight or inches for 2 or 3 weeks.
Another discouraging thing I have just stumbled across here is reports that the model of HRM I have, the Polar FT7, gives grossly inaccurate readings for calories burned in a woman's workouts. I'm pretty bummed about that. That would mean that all this time, I've been actually netting much higher amounts of calories than I thought.
The formulas for coming up with a more accurate reading are pretty complicated and my head was spinning a bit from trying to read them, so I'm just figured I'd go with one poster's suggestion of simply subtracting 10% of whatever the heart monitor states I burned.
Thank you for reading this and for any advise you can give!
Oh, and I'm 55-years old, 158 pounds, 5.5 tall. I have no health conditions and tend toward being pretty high energy and healthy.
Hi! Could you start a new thread and in it. complete the questions that can be found here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/910257-the-new-and-improved-asking-questions-about-your-intake
Thank you
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Done and thank YOU! 0
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every newbie should read this! Very informative...thank you0
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bump for future reference. thanks!0
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reference bump, thanks!0
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Excited to be trying this set up today thanks so much for this info.0
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bump0
