unknowledgeable when it comes to dieting

ladyraven68

I would start here.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912914-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

These links are excellent. The members who run the eat-train-progress group are very helpful

I don't think it's a good idea to post these links for a beginner, convoluting them with more numbers and ratios and math... can be demotivating and make them feel like a failure i they can't stick to a "specific" ratio...

You may want to click in the links - the first link does not say to stick to a specific ratio.

OP: keep it simple. Eat what you would normally eat, just portion control it. Look at what you are eating and swap things out where necessary to give you a better 'food bang for your buck'. You do not need protein powder unless you are falling short of your protein goal with your food - it is just to supplement it if you need it.

You are making recommendations in your link, of how much protein and fat. You don't consider that to be specific ratios?

No, Sara's is based on personaised numbers - it's the Roadmap thread that has ratios.

I think all the links are great, and I honestly think you should give the new readers the benefit of the doubt and not assume they won't get it.

Yes some people will be anal and worry about every last gram, but that will only be a small percentage, and anyone that doesn't understand can always ask a specific query.



I find it quite amusing that you have told people to ignore these just because you saw the one Sara wrote at the top, and never realised that one that you endorse and contribute to (IPOARM) was there too.

When I started here you were actually one of the people I found informative. You are obviously a knowledgable person, and could help a lot of people if you spent more time giving useful help and advise and less time stalking/baiting other posters.

SRH7

whey protein is good for cutting (loosing weight) with water. its important to eat regually, i like to eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. believe it or not but eating regually helps your body burn fats. make sure you get alot of fiber everyday also

:noway:

Nonsense! It's calories in, calories out - the timing of food does not make a difference (for example I'm not a big fan of breakfast so I often don't eat it but then have a big dinner or a snack before bedtime with the spare calories instead).

Lots of good advice already posted, but my best advice would be to eat normally but within your calorie counts (get a kitchen scale and weigh everything - even your milk). You will quickly get a feel for what foods are bulky but low calorie that you can fill up on without feeling deprived. This also leaves some calories for the foods you really love (I always leave some spare for chocolate or wine most days).

Another easy way to get a good balance is to divide your plate into quarters - one quarter protein, one quarter starchy carbs, two quarters veg/salad. For example a grilled chicken breast with a baked potato and heaps of salad drizzled with olive oil and herbs.

Sarauk2sf

The method Sarah and I both demonstrated. Is ratios. You figure out how many grams of protein you need, then the fat, and fill the rest with carbs. You have a ratio.

No it does not say that at all - you obviously did not read it properly. What it says is:

"Macronutrient goals should really not be based on percentages, but on grams which vary depending on your size and activity levels.

We would recommend, as a rule of thumb, the following:

1g of protein per lb of LBM as a minimum target

0.35g of fat per lb of total body weight as a minimum target

The balance can fall where you wish, taking into account performance, satiety and adherence."

"Remember, protein and fats are minimums and so do not worry about going over on these, carbs would be the variable in this case and you would be under on that macro in order to meet your calorie target."

Nowhere does it say to hit specific percentages or to fill the rest in with carbs.

So, it looks like we are back to you having an issue with the thread you were a contributor for only, putting the math aside.

Sarauk2sf

The method Sarah and I both demonstrated. Is ratios. You figure out how many grams of protein you need, then the fat, and fill the rest with carbs. You have a ratio.

No it does not say that at all - you obviously did not read it properly. What it says is:

"Macronutrient goals should really not be based on percentages, but on grams which vary depending on your size and activity levels.

We would recommend, as a rule of thumb, the following:

1g of protein per lb of LBM as a minimum target

0.35g of fat per lb of total body weight as a minimum target

The balance can fall where you wish, taking into account performance, satiety and adherence."

"Remember, protein and fats are minimums and so do not worry about going over on these, carbs would be the variable in this case and you would be under on that macro in order to meet your calorie target."

Nowhere does it say to hit specific percentages or to fill the rest in with carbs.

So, it looks like we are back to you having an issue with the thread you were a contributor for only, putting the math aside.

So you're saying just leave MFP as is, and hit the minimums recommendations? People would always be over in the red. I know what you mean by not hitting %.

You can hit the ratios with %. That's wht they really are at the end of the day. I'll pick a nice easy number 300lbs 200lbs of LBM. TDEE 3,000

200g protein
120g fat

To hit the TDEE it's a %.

800 cals protein
1080 cals fat
carbs = 2,400(20% cut) -( 1880) = 520 cals of carbs.

Now we have to get the ratios...
carbs (520/2400) * 100 = 21.6%
protein (800/2400) * 100 = 33.4%
fat (1080/2400) * 100 = 45%

if all the percentages add up to 100% (which they do) then it's correct.

Of course MFP doesn't have this type of precision. So recommendation is to round up your protein and fat. Let the carbs fall in to place. You set this at 35% protein, 45% fat, 20% carbs.

Those are your ratios, you meet your minimums and MFP is set up correctly.

I mean this is how i do it, if i was even going to do this stuff, if you do it differently then okay.

Nearly. If you read the thread I suggest over-riding the MFP settings to get the right minimums for protein and fats. The balance goes to carbs as it has to add up to 100% in the system. However, I explain that carbs is the variable at that if you go over on protein and/or fats you will by default go under on carbs. Having a minimum based on grams for two of the three makes it far more flexible than trying to hit specific targets for all three macros ( and is unnecessary anyway)

Fundamentally, it is the same as the alternative suggestion in the old IPOARM and from what I would believe comes out of the suggestion in the new worksheet you mention (unless you are telling people to hit the carb gram target also, which would by default mean you are suggesting people actually hit all three macros rather than treating the other two as minimums)

So really the % are only used because that is the way to get the minimums in grams for protein and fats into your diary - the math is basically what you used in your example.

As a side note, I really wish you could put percentages in to the nearest 1% and not 5% but for some reason the site does not allow it.


Edited for typos

auddii

Nearly. If you read the thread I suggest over-riding the MFP settings to get the right minimums for protein and fats. The balance goes to carbs as it has to add up to 100% in the system. However, I explain that carbs is the variable at that if you go over on protein and/or fats you will by default go under on carbs. Having a minimum based on grams for two of the three makes it far more flexible than trying to hit specific targets for all three macros ( and is unnecessary anyway)

Fundamentally, it is the same as the alternative suggestion in the old IPOARM and from what I would believe comes out of the suggestion in the new worksheet you mention (unless you are telling people to hit the carb gram target also, which would by default mean you are suggesting people actually hit all three macros rather than treating the other two as minimums)

So really the % are only used because that is the way to get the minimums in grams for protein and fats into your diary - the math is basically what you used in your example.

As a side note, I really wish you could put percentages in to the nearest 1% and not 5% but for some reason the site does not allow it.


Edited for typos

I haven't played with the diary settings in a long time, i don't even log. I forgot how design was. I see what you mean by setting protein and fat targets. You can see how many grams with the %.
In the spread sheet, and as i mentioned above, you will accomplish the same thing you're saying, but using the % feature. I remember trying to get my protein and fats to fit right, but it just didn't happen because as you know they increment by 5%. On the spreadsheet you can see the % where they fall exactly. I also recommend rounding up on protein and fat if the % isn't a multiple o 5. For example if you have protein at 33% round up to 35%. Same with fat.

The issue in this discussion is mostly verbal. You specifically have to say, "hit your protein and fat minimums." Yet MFP is set up as percentages. If you or I didn't make those recommendations "hit these minimums" then the user wouldn't know. They would most likely be trying to hit all the macros as what MFP shows.

In the end, we're in the same boat. We're both saying the same thing just a different approach. You're focused on grams, i am focused on the % of total calories of protein and fats which are really just grams. Of course no one is going to hit there diary goals perfect, but we do have something to strive for.

You keep throwing around the spreadsheet. Is this going to be different than Heybales's spreadsheet, or is it just an update to the same one? Multiple spreadsheets will get confusing...