I need help with my nutrition goals!

NinaLeeCubana

I am so confused about what I should set my nutritional goals at, and the more I try to research it, the more confused I get. Let me give you the numbers first. 27yrs old, 200 lbs. 5'3" BMI 57% I'd say I'm sedetary, I work at a desk all day. After work I play on the living room floor with my kids, do light cleaning and cooking, and then I do an intense workout for 1 hour 6-7 days a week(Zumba/running).

I tried just doing MFP's recommended goals, but they have my daily carb intake at 165g, which for me seems too high, I can honestly do without that many carbs, I generally eat around 100g a day. My protein is only at 45g so I always end up going over, and I like eating high protein, it makes me feel full longer. My sugar is at 24g so I always go over on that too, and I don't even like candy or sweets, I go over every morning with just my fruit and almond milk smoothie. Also my fiber is only at 14g, I feel like I should be having more of that too.

I also tried calculating my TDEE, which I've gotten answers from different websites ranging from 1700-2400 calories.....if I were eating that many calories a day I'd basically be eating like I was before, and gaining weight! I'm at 1200 calories now, and I feel that is a comfortable number for me. I would like to set the rest of my numbers correctly so that I can feel like I'm on the right track, I don't want to get discouraged from my weight loss goals.

If anyone could help me out with this I'd really appreciate it.

Firefox7275

You can change the macronutrient goals to whatever you want but you will get numerous different answers as to what is right from this thread. Fibre definitely get up to the recommended - 14g per 1000 calories in the US I think. If you are choosing to limit wholegrains and beans or lentils you need to substantially up your intake of nuts and seeds for minerals and fibre. 1200 kcals seems VERY low for someone of 200lb exercising regularly, you are absolutely not classed as sedentary just because your job is.

Consider cutting back your exercise to four to five days a week because exercise breaks tissues down - your muscles, tendons and ligaments need rest days to recover. Nobody can truly go intense seven days a week and it is not recommended by the experts, your body just tells you that you are working hard because it is chronically under-recovered and you are at much higher risk of injury. Even professional athletes cycle their training through harder and easier sessions, harder and easier weeks. The harder you are able to work in an individual workout the greater the afterburn - your metabolism can be raised for up to two days or so. This is most pronounced with intense strength workouts and, to a lesser extent, cardio intervals.

acogg

IMHO, you shouldn't even track sugar if your sources are healthy. Aren't there fiber additives you can mix into your smoothie? I like your high protein/lower carb count. That's great. As a young woman, you should ditch the sugar and fiber count and replace with iron and calcium tracking. If you are mentally and physically comfortable with 1200 cals, go for it. At 5' 3", 1200 probably isn't much lower than your maintenance calories.

acogg

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Consider cutting back your exercise to four to five days a week because exercise breaks tissues down - your muscles, tendons and ligaments need rest days to recover. Nobody can truly go intense seven days a week and it is not recommended by the experts, your body just tells you that you are working hard because it is chronically under-recovered and you are at much higher risk of injury.

I can attest to the truth in this. I pushed myself too hard and sustained a fairly serious muscle injury. Now I am having to drop out of exercise for days, possibly weeks. Whatever I thought I was gaining from daily vigorous exercise, I am now losing more than I would have by giving myself more rest days.

NinaLeeCubana

I know I don't need to workout everyday, and sometimes I do just walk for the 60 minutes. But I actually enjoy the exercise because it makes me feel good. I hear about people's body going into starvation mode, and I question at what point will my body go into starvation mode. It's so hard to know what's working and what's not. I've been on this diet for 2 weeks and haven't seen any weight loss on the scale but I can fit back into my size 14 jeans and my normal 16/18 pants are falling off.

I feel like my body hasn't caught up to my diet yet.

lirr10185

I had to adjust a bunch of things too at first. MFP suggested 1400 cals for me, I would never eat as many carbs as suggested, and I would always go over on my fat and protein. I would try to follow it as much as possible but I was not seeing any results. Once I stopped obsessing over my numbers is when I started to see the scale go down. I eat what I feel comfortable, around 1200 cal. If I am feeling more hungry then I go up to the 1400 cal. Just listen to your body rather than the numbers on here. If you are eating a well balanced diet the numbers will fall into place according to your nutritional needs.

Chief_Rocka

Your instincts about carbs, protein and sugar are correct.

I would get those calories up to at least around 1500 though.

cwolfman13

manage your macros...you can manually adjust these to whatever works for you. Zone works best for me 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. The hardest part for me is meeting my protein goal, even though I have a good amount of it 5 times per day. As long as I'm within a few % points of my macro goals, I'm happy.

WendyTerry420

I'd say I'm sedetary, I work at a desk all day. After work I play on the living room floor with my kids, do light cleaning and cooking, and then I do an intense workout for 1 hour 6-7 days a week(Zumba/running).

I'd say that you are lightly active. I thought I was sedentary too until I logged for several months and found out that my average daily burns are closer to "lightly active." I work a desk job then do a little light cleaning and cooking in the evenings. I don't do Zumba or running though.

WendyTerry420

Your instincts about carbs, protein and sugar are correct.

I would get those calories up to at least around 1500 though.

^^ This too. In face, I am one inch taller than you, and weight 13 pounds more, and I am losing a pound a week on 1900-2000 calories a day. My TDEE is 2550.

bcattoes

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Consider cutting back your exercise to four to five days a week because exercise breaks tissues down - your muscles, tendons and ligaments need rest days to recover. Nobody can truly go intense seven days a week and it is not recommended by the experts, your body just tells you that you are working hard because it is chronically under-recovered and you are at much higher risk of injury.

I can attest to the truth in this. I pushed myself too hard and sustained a fairly serious muscle injury. Now I am having to drop out of exercise for days, possibly weeks. Whatever I thought I was gaining from daily vigorous exercise, I am now losing more than I would have by giving myself more rest days.

What you gain from daily exercise is less disease risk. And there is no guarantee of injury by working out everyday. I'm 51 yo and I did 55-60 min of Zumba everyday while I was losing and I had no injuries, no loss of energy, no indication of muscle breakdown or loss. I still workout almost everyday. Some days are more intense, and when I do strength training I don't work the same groups 2 days in a row, but a healthy human body is capable of exercising everyday without problems if you do it correctly.

The NECON-HSPH Healthy Weight Control Guidelines says: A physically active lifestyle is characterized by a minimum of 1/2 hour per day of moderate to vigorous activity, such as brisk walking. For effective weight control this may need to be increased to one hour per day.

**NECON-HSP = A Collaborative Initiative between the New England Coalition for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (NECON) and the Harvard School of Public Health

NinaLeeCubana

So basically I need to find more GOOD calories, correct? I don't want to go around slamming cheeseburgers to get my calorie intake up.

NinaLeeCubana

I did do something to my knee while running, I could hardly walk for the past 2 days. I think for one I'm putting too much pressure on my knees because I'm so overweight, and also, I notice when I push myself to keep running when I'm tired my form isn't correct, I start running all sloppy because I'm tired. I was trying to do the Couch to 5K programs, but I've been stuck on week 2 for the past 3 months lol.

I think I should just stick with Zumba and walking, because I've NEVER had any leg pain from Zumba.

jchrisman717

So basically I need to find more GOOD calories, correct? I don't want to go around slamming cheeseburgers to get my calorie intake up.

Yes - go in and set your own calorie goal and set your macros as the above poster suggested to the percentage - I did some research and I think I set mine to 40/30/30 -- you are going to want more protein for sure. Eat things like natural Peanut Butter, nuts, do protein shakes, etc. Its the balance of eating your calories but keeping your carbs/protein/fat macros level that gives you the best weight loss - at least for me this works.

jchrisman717

You can get just as good of a workout from brisk walking without the pressure on your knees. Move your arms as if you were skiing - it will really bump your heart rate up. Also, and sorry if I missed this on your OP - but if your not doing i - add some weights - even a small routine with weights can make a big difference.