Setting Your Calorie and Macro Targets
Replies
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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.
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
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Thanks for the info. Looking forward to starting my changes.0
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Help!!! So I am a 49 year old female and weigh 191 lbs. My maths is shocking but having waffled about forever I am now trying to educate myself sufficiently to lose over 50 lbs. I have worked out my tdee and set my cal goal at 30% less which is 1310. The problem is I just tried to work out my macros using your formula and it suggests 20% crbs, 35% protein and a whopping 45% fat. Can this be accurate???0
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Help!!! So I am a 49 year old female and weigh 191 lbs. My maths is shocking but having waffled about forever I am now trying to educate myself sufficiently to lose over 50 lbs. I have worked out my tdee and set my cal goal at 30% less which is 1310. The problem is I just tried to work out my macros using your formula and it suggests 20% crbs, 35% protein and a whopping 45% fat. Can this be accurate???
Should have added my LBM is 113 and body fat 78 lbs. Any help would be hugely appreciated.0 -
Help!!! So I am a 49 year old female and weigh 191 lbs. My maths is shocking but having waffled about forever I am now trying to educate myself sufficiently to lose over 50 lbs. I have worked out my tdee and set my cal goal at 30% less which is 1310. The problem is I just tried to work out my macros using your formula and it suggests 20% crbs, 35% protein and a whopping 45% fat. Can this be accurate???
Should have added my LBM is 113 and body fat 78 lbs. Any help would be hugely appreciated.
What settings are you using to calculate your TDEE? Is this including exercise?0 -
Help!!! So I am a 49 year old female and weigh 191 lbs. My maths is shocking but having waffled about forever I am now trying to educate myself sufficiently to lose over 50 lbs. I have worked out my tdee and set my cal goal at 30% less which is 1310. The problem is I just tried to work out my macros using your formula and it suggests 20% crbs, 35% protein and a whopping 45% fat. Can this be accurate???
Should have added my LBM is 113 and body fat 78 lbs. Any help would be hugely appreciated.
What settings are you using to calculate your TDEE? Is this including exercise?
No not including exercise as I have no set routine yet.0 -
Help!!! So I am a 49 year old female and weigh 191 lbs. My maths is shocking but having waffled about forever I am now trying to educate myself sufficiently to lose over 50 lbs. I have worked out my tdee and set my cal goal at 30% less which is 1310. The problem is I just tried to work out my macros using your formula and it suggests 20% crbs, 35% protein and a whopping 45% fat. Can this be accurate???
Should have added my LBM is 113 and body fat 78 lbs. Any help would be hugely appreciated.
What settings are you using to calculate your TDEE? Is this including exercise?
No not including exercise as I have no set routine yet.
The reason why you are getting such a low amount of carbs and a high fat % is that your calories are so low. The reason is that you picked sedentary - and will be eating back exercise calories I assume. The cut off your TDEE is actually not unreasonable as it approximates 1lb a week.
This is one of the reasons I prefer the static calories where you bake exercise in - you can get screwy numbers, but I do get why people prefer the eating calories back method, especially when exercise is unpredictable.
The recommendations for macros are assuming that someone exercises. For someone with a higher base TDEE, that does not cause such an issue with how the numbers fall out, even if using the TDEE of sedentary. Also, when they do exercise tthey can just use the excess that they get from exercise primarily for carbs - which makes the macros make sense.
However, in your case, this does not quite work, so I am going to suggest a slightly different method. I have a recommendation, but I want to bounce it off SideSteel the next time we talk, and will get back to you when we have.0 -
Help!!! So I am a 49 year old female and weigh 191 lbs. My maths is shocking but having waffled about forever I am now trying to educate myself sufficiently to lose over 50 lbs. I have worked out my tdee and set my cal goal at 30% less which is 1310. The problem is I just tried to work out my macros using your formula and it suggests 20% crbs, 35% protein and a whopping 45% fat. Can this be accurate???
Should have added my LBM is 113 and body fat 78 lbs. Any help would be hugely appreciated.
What settings are you using to calculate your TDEE? Is this including exercise?
No not including exercise as I have no set routine yet.
The reason why you are getting such a low amount of carbs and a high fat % is that your calories are so low. The reason is that you picked sedentary - and will be eating back exercise calories I assume. The cut off your TDEE is actually not unreasonable as it approximates 1lb a week.
This is one of the reasons I prefer the static calories where you bake exercise in - you can get screwy numbers, but I do get why people prefer the eating calories back method, especially when exercise is unpredictable.
The recommendations for macros are assuming that someone exercises. For someone with a higher base TDEE, that does not cause such an issue with how the numbers fall out, even if using the TDEE of sedentary. Also, when they do exercise tthey can just use the excess that they get from exercise primarily for carbs - which makes the macros make sense.
However, in your case, this does not quite work, so I am going to suggest a slightly different method. I have a recommendation, but I want to bounce it off SideSteel the next time we talk, and will get back to you when we have.
Thank you do much - I really do appreciate the help0 -
Help!!! So I am a 49 year old female and weigh 191 lbs. My maths is shocking but having waffled about forever I am now trying to educate myself sufficiently to lose over 50 lbs. I have worked out my tdee and set my cal goal at 30% less which is 1310. The problem is I just tried to work out my macros using your formula and it suggests 20% crbs, 35% protein and a whopping 45% fat. Can this be accurate???
Should have added my LBM is 113 and body fat 78 lbs. Any help would be hugely appreciated.
What settings are you using to calculate your TDEE? Is this including exercise?
No not including exercise as I have no set routine yet.
The reason why you are getting such a low amount of carbs and a high fat % is that your calories are so low. The reason is that you picked sedentary - and will be eating back exercise calories I assume. The cut off your TDEE is actually not unreasonable as it approximates 1lb a week.
This is one of the reasons I prefer the static calories where you bake exercise in - you can get screwy numbers, but I do get why people prefer the eating calories back method, especially when exercise is unpredictable.
The recommendations for macros are assuming that someone exercises. For someone with a higher base TDEE, that does not cause such an issue with how the numbers fall out, even if using the TDEE of sedentary. Also, when they do exercise tthey can just use the excess that they get from exercise primarily for carbs - which makes the macros make sense.
However, in your case, this does not quite work, so I am going to suggest a slightly different method. I have a recommendation, but I want to bounce it off SideSteel the next time we talk, and will get back to you when we have.
Thank you do much - I really do appreciate the help
Can you please quantify your activity for us over the course of a week or two? We'd like to know what sort of activity you are doing. If it varies a lot from day to day or week to week that's fine, but we need to get an idea as to how active/sedentary you are.0 -
I am currently off work so very sedentary indeed. My return date is in a month approx. I have started the C25K again and do some walking but not much else other than maybe 45 mins swimming or a little zumba. When at work I am on my feet a lot and I do a reasonable amount of exercise running 30 k a week, 1/2 swimming sessions, a couple of circuit classes and an hour of pilates. I will be working my way back to that over the next few months. Even if you gave me approximate figures for now I could come back to you when I get back into my old routine0
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I am currently off work so very sedentary indeed. My return date is in a month approx. I have started the C25K again and do some walking but not much else other than maybe 45 mins swimming or a little zumba. When at work I am on my feet a lot and I do a reasonable amount of exercise running 30 k a week, 1/2 swimming sessions, a couple of circuit classes and an hour of pilates. I will be working my way back to that over the next few months. Even if you gave me approximate figures for now I could come back to you when I get back into my old routine
So currently you are doing:
C25K
Some walking
45 minutes of swimming
zumba
Can you please further clarify -- is this 45 minutes of swimming daily? Is this 45 minutes/week?
The more specific you can be, the better we will be able to adjust your current intake to at least get you to a reasonable starting place.0 -
I am currently off work so very sedentary indeed. My return date is in a month approx. I have started the C25K again and do some walking but not much else other than maybe 45 mins swimming or a little zumba. When at work I am on my feet a lot and I do a reasonable amount of exercise running 30 k a week, 1/2 swimming sessions, a couple of circuit classes and an hour of pilates. I will be working my way back to that over the next few months. Even if you gave me approximate figures for now I could come back to you when I get back into my old routine
So currently you are doing:
C25K
Some walking
45 minutes of swimmingk
zumba
Can you please further clarify -- is this 45 minutes of swimming daily? Is this 45 minutes/week?
The more specific you can be, the better we will be able to adjust your current intake to at least get you to a reasonable starting place.
Sorry yes.I currently average c25K 3 times a week, 45 mins breaststroke slow paced once a week, 60 mins walking 3 times a week and 30 mins of zumba once a week.0 -
I am currently off work so very sedentary indeed. My return date is in a month approx. I have started the C25K again and do some walking but not much else other than maybe 45 mins swimming or a little zumba. When at work I am on my feet a lot and I do a reasonable amount of exercise running 30 k a week, 1/2 swimming sessions, a couple of circuit classes and an hour of pilates. I will be working my way back to that over the next few months. Even if you gave me approximate figures for now I could come back to you when I get back into my old routine
So currently you are doing:
C25K
Some walking
45 minutes of swimmingk
zumba
Can you please further clarify -- is this 45 minutes of swimming daily? Is this 45 minutes/week?
The more specific you can be, the better we will be able to adjust your current intake to at least get you to a reasonable starting place.
Sorry yes.I currently average c25K 3 times a week, 45 mins breaststroke slow paced once a week, 60 mins walking 3 times a week and 30 mins of zumba once a week.
Thanks, one of us will get back to you later today.0 -
You guys are awesome - thanks0
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I would set your intake as follows as a starting point:
1600 kcals/day
130p
57f
140c0 -
I would set your intake as follows as a starting point:
1600 kcals/day
130p
57f
140c
That feels quite scary as I have been eating max 1310 but I will def give it a shot. I really appreciate all the time you have spent helping me, clearly I was getting it all wrong. Hopefully now I can really make progress towards a healthier future.
moderator edit to fix quotes0 -
I would set your intake as follows as a starting point:
1600 kcals/day
130p
57f
140c
That feels quite scary as I have been eating max 1310 but I will def give it a shot. I really appreciate all the time you have spent helping me, clearly I was getting it all wrong. Hopefully now I can really make progress towards a healthier future.
moderator edit to fix quotes
How long were you eating at the 1,300 calorie mark for?0 -
I would set your intake as follows as a starting point:
1600 kcals/day
130p
57f
140c
That feels quite scary as I have been eating max 1310 but I will def give it a shot. I really appreciate all the time you have spent helping me, clearly I was getting it all wrong. Hopefully now I can really make progress towards a healthier future.
moderator edit to fix quotes
How long were you eating at the 1,300 calorie mark for?
For the last month or so - that was my tdee - 20%0 -
I would set your intake as follows as a starting point:
1600 kcals/day
130p
57f
140c
That feels quite scary as I have been eating max 1310 but I will def give it a shot. I really appreciate all the time you have spent helping me, clearly I was getting it all wrong. Hopefully now I can really make progress towards a healthier future.
moderator edit to fix quotes
How long were you eating at the 1,300 calorie mark for?
For the last month or so - that was my tdee - 20%
What did your weight do in that time and do you use a food scale to measure and record things?
How did you feel on that intake?
I think you're possibly underestimating your activity. The list of exercise you just gave me (swimming, walking regularly, C25K) would not put you in a sedentary category and consequently I think you're underestimating your TDEE.0 -
bump0
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I would set your intake as follows as a starting point:
1600 kcals/day
130p
57f
140c
That feels quite scary as I have been eating max 1310 but I will def give it a shot. I really appreciate all the time you have spent helping me, clearly I was getting it all wrong. Hopefully now I can really make progress towards a healthier future.
moderator edit to fix quotes
How long were you eating at the 1,300 calorie mark for?
For the last month or so - that was my tdee - 20%
What did your weight do in that time and do you use a food scale to measure and record things?
How did you feel on that intake?
I think you're possibly underestimating your activity. The list of exercise you just gave me (swimming, walking regularly, C25K) would not put you in a sedentary category and consequently I think you're underestimating your TDEE.
I weigh and measure pretty carefully. I lost 13lbs in a month eating 1310 net and wasnt hungry but I did eat most of my exercise calories back. Most of all I want to get the macros right. The plan is to start lifting to help minimise muscle wastage and improve my strength and wellbeing. My aim is to get healthy not just thinner.0
