Ah, ok so macros are the three main components to log on my calculator...i have noticed these but they are on default settings i have only logged one day food diary but have already exceeded carbs and fats no doubt.

I assume if i stay on my target of 1400 calories, but go over my macros i will still lose weight?

My principle aim is to introduce exercise and then pay more attention to my diet once i have established a routine... not sure if this is a good way but don't want to overwhelm myself in the beginning.

weight loss/gain is all about calories in vs. calories out.

nutrition is about what you eat and your macros.

to get started, your first goal is to get in the habit of logging everything accurately and honestly. make that a habit. then we can look at your diary entries and see where your food choices could be improved.

i believe in eating any and all foods you enjoy. i do not advocate any sort of food restrictions. that leads to failure in the long run in my opinion. however, there are some practical reasons to adjust your dietary choices. those reasons will either be for better overall nutrition or because some foods fuel your hunger for them. i love pasta. i used to eat pasta a lot. 1 box of 1lb of spaghetti with a jar of pasta sauce is going to set you back about 2000 calories. and when i ate pasta twice a week, i was always hungry again later. so i learned that for me, i had to scale back how often i eat pasta. not that there is anything wrong with pasta... it's just that i like it too much and it is a lot of calories for something that leaves me hungry an hour or two later. so i eat much less of it.

so no food is bad or good. it's all just food. some foods will be better for meeting your nutritional needs. some foods you may find you need to eat less of for reasons of willpower. anyway, start logging and after a week or so we can look at how you're doing and we can then see where/why you may be falling short on your macro goals. but the first step is to start logging everything. you have to be honest and accurate about that or none of this will work.

strength training serves 2 purposes. when you are eating at a calorie surplus, strength training will cause your muscles to adapt and grow. this adds muscle mass and strength. more muscle mass means better health, more definition (i.e. that mythical "tone" people talk about), a higher BMR, and a better overall appearance. when you are eating at a calorie deficit, strength training will help preserve your muscle mass (while also eating sufficient protein) and will help you get stronger (neuro-muscular adaptation). you generally won't add muscle mass while eating at a calorie deficit, but as you maintain your lean body mass (LBM) while losing fat, your BF% will decrease. when losing weight, you want the maximum about of fat to be burned, while preserving LBM. this is always the goal!

we call this "heavy lifting" on here because you lift heavy enough weights so that you fatigue your muscles within a certain range of sets/reps for a given weight. as your muscles get stronger over time, you add heavier weights so that you can still fatigue your muscles in that certain range of sets/reps.

here's an old thread which i believe helps explain it better.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/978565--lifting-heavy-what-does-that-really-mean-for-women

not being a woman, i don't have any practical experience with what women go through getting started lifting for the first time in their lives, but one very popular beginner's program is New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROL4W). there are many thread on here about that program, as well as a couple of groups. those would be the best places to find out more:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/102-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/12971-nrol4w-spring-2013

BTW, "New Rules of Lifting for Women" (NROL4W) is a book. you can buy it from amazon.com or other sources.

the ratio approach used by MFP is done for simplicity, but it's not really strictly correct.

your protein goal should be determined by your lean body mass (LBM), not the amount of calories you eat.

your fat goal should be determined by your bodyweight, not the amount of calories you eat.

your carbs are the rest of your leftover calories.

in this way, you first meet your macros, then meet your calorie goal.

here are the current recommendations from the ETP group (based on current research).

daily fats (minimum) = 0.35g/lb of bodyweight
daily protein (minimum) = 1.0g/lb of LBM

these are set to make sure you meet your actual body needs.

you can figure these out based on your bodyweight and BF% and then determine the ratios with some simple math.

for example, if you weigh 165lbs and have a BF% of 35%, then your LBM = 107.25 (i.e., your LBM is everything that is not fat, so 100% - 35% = 65% and 65% of 165 = 107.25)

let's say your calorie goal is 1550 calories.

your protein goal would be 107.25g = 107g

your fat goal would be 57.75g = 58g

since protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram, and fats are 9 calories per gram, you can figure out how many calories those are...

107 x 4 = 428 calories from protein
58 x 9 = 522 calories from fat
1550 - 522 - 428 = 600 calories from carbs

428/1550 = 27.6% protein
522/1550 = 33.7% fats
600/1550 = 38.7% carbs

you can round those to the nearest 5% to give you a 25%p/35%f/40%c ratio in this hypothetical example.

so to get your specific starting macros, we need to get an estimate for your BF%.

in this picture, which BF% looks closest to your own? we don't need to be precise... an estimate works just fine for BF%



along with your bodyweight, we can calculate your proteins and fats goals. what's left over is carbs.

then with your age, height, and gender we can estimate your BMR.

factoring in your exercise goals, we can estimate your TDEE.

then we can set your daily calorie goal based on your current weight, goal weight, and your speed of weight loss (goal).

with your BF% of ~40% and your current weight at 196lbs,

we can determine your fats and proteins goals.

fats = 0.35 x 196 = 68.6g = 69g
protein = 1.0 x 0.6 x 196 = 117.6g = 118g

69g fats = 69 x 9 = 621 calories
118g protein = 118 x 4 = 472 calories

621/1233 = 50% fats
472/1233 = 38% protein
which leaves 12% carbs

as you can see, you need more calories in this scenario (for carbs) and you get those by doing cardio regularly to earn them back. however, if you were to enter into MFP a goal weight loss rate of 1.5lbs per week, then to get your macro settings aligned with what you actually need, you'd want to enter 50% for fats, 40% for protein, and 10% for carbs. that sounds like a low carb diet, but it's not... in the back of your mind, you should be planning on eating an extra 250 calories per day and those should be carbs to give yourself ready energy and to keep you from feeling lethargic.

do you think you'd like to shoot for a slower weight loss rate of 1lb per week? do you feel that your daily activity is more than sedentary? do you think you can budget 1750 calories worth of cardio per week? etc.

this is the point where we determine what your true goals should be based on what you think is sustainable for yourself so that we can tailor the program to reality.

to give you an example of how much cardio is required to burn 1750 calories, we can choose walking as an example...

http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uccalc1.htm

as you can see, if you walk at a comfortable pace of 3mph, you only need to walk 17 miles to burn about 1750 calories at your current weight. that's a 2.5 mile walk each day or a 5 mile walk every other day. this is quite doable (it's about a 6 hour commitment each week). if you can do more, you can eat more too!

other exercise can burn calories more quickly, like jogging or running. once we find what you can do, we can start locking in some recommendation and goals.

Thanks so much for doing all this for me

I would like to be able to eat more, so I would prefer to burn the 1750 calories pw! I already walk about 1.5 miles each day, so will try to increase this or find another cardio activity i can incorporate at home.

personally, i prefer not to bundle my exercise calories into my TDEE calculations. i treat them as extra calories on the days i do them, but i also don't really worry about being over one day and under the next. so long as everything averages out weekly and monthly, it all works.

here are your real goals then.

- try to eat about 1480 calories per day.
- try to include 69g of fat (or more) into those calories every day.
- try to include 188g of protein (or more) into those calories every day.
- try to walk at least 17 miles a week at a comfortable pace (3mph). if you go faster than that, your calorie burn may actually go down a little bit.
- any extra weekly cardio you do is extra calories that you can eat that week while sticking to a 1.5lb per week loss rate.
- add strength training as/when you are able to. start with bodyweight/calisthenics if you need to.
- eat whatever foods you enjoy. you don't have to restrict anything from your diet. unless you don't like a food or unless you are certain you don't have any willpower with certain foods, make your food choices to meet your macro and calorie goals.
- the extra calories you eat due to cardio should probably be most carbs. that fast energy from carbs will help keep you from feeling lethargic. ~100g of carbs a day (or more) is an old rule of thumb i learned in my teens to help keep your brain alert. 100g of carbs is about 400 calories. some people can get by with less than that. if you find your mind wandering or unable to focus and your carbs for the day are low, eat some carbs!

note - the 1480 calorie goal and the 17 miles or more per week of walking are tied together. fewer miles means fewer calories, more miles means more calories.

Thanks for your guidance, I am following your recommendations and to put is simply i am aiming to eat 1480 each day and burn 250 daily or 1750 weekly.

One thing i know for sure is that i am way over my carbs, as i have been eating what i like. What effect if any, will this have on my weight loss?

not really any effect. carbs are just energy. however, if you're way over on your carbs, that sounds like you might be under on your fats and/or protein. so over the next few weeks, you'll want to start making changes to your dietary choices (if that's the case) so that you are closer to meeting your fats and protein goals.lots of people find that eating fats and proteins help them feel "full" for "longer" and lots of people complain that carbs fuel their appetites, so the dietary changes you make could also help make it easier to meet your daily calorie goal.

you still want to eat enough carbs to feel energetic all day and to have your brain "sharp" however. there's nothing wrong with carbs at all. i quite enjoy them myself.

My fats are indeed low and proteins even lower....i'm eating a lot of processed food which i think is the logical explanation. But being able to scan barcodes is giving me a reasonably accurate calorie intake (i hope).

Once iv got the hang of logging the calories I've eaten and burnt accurately and i'm used to eating a set amount each day, then i will try and tackle the macro's (that's the plan anyway)

Out of curiosity do you know what kinds of things i could be eating that are low carbs, high fat and protein?

meat, dairy, breads = high in protein
nuts = high in fats

i personally use protein shakes to increase my protein intake. i use peanut butter to increase my fats intake.

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/good-protein-sources
http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_fats.htm

Why did I lose 5 Ib in the first week?

when you first start eating at a calorie deficit, you lose "weight" faster than expected.

here's why using a simplified analogy...

your body has 3 fuel tanks.

1) short term, small tank = glycogen reserves stored in your muscles + liver
2) long term, large tank = stored fat
3) long term, large tank = muscle mass

at the beginning, your energy needs are met from your short term tank (glycogen reserves). this is readily available energy that your body uses during the day for everything. as you eat food and it's digested, you are constantly replenishing the fuel in this tank. when you eat at a deficit however, you are not able to fully replenish this tank because you're not replacing all of the fuel being used. so your body turns to the long term tanks to make up the difference (fat and muscle mass). that's good and bad... we want the fat to be used, we don't want the muscle to be used. to minimize the muscle mass being used, we eat lots of protein and do strength training and we also don't eat at too high a calorie deficit. that helps our body get most of the extra energy from stored fat. this is the situation we are striving for.

here's why you've lost extra "weight". at the beginning , when you first begin depleting the fuel in your short term tank (glycogen reserves), you also use/shed the water that is stored with it. what you are seeing on the scale is some fat loss (expected), but also water loss that goes with keeping your short term tank full. if you were to start eating at a small calorie surplus again today, you'd gain back all of that water weight as those reserves are replenished.

this is the "trick" that all fad/gimmick diets use to trick you into spending money on them! if you've ever seen somebody advertise an "eat bananas and drink coffee and lose 10lbs in 10 days!" diet... well this is why it "works". it doesn't actually work though. it's simply a calorie deficit that leads to water weight loss. 1 gallon of water weighs about 8lbs. if you can shed 1 gallon of water weight, then your scale will see an 8lb loss. it's not actually fat though. this happens for everybody at the beginning when you switch from eating at or above your TDEE to eating below your TDEE. however, this doesn't continue for more than perhaps 2 weeks or so because you don't have a lot of glycogen reserves (it's a small fuel tank), so it will level off and you'll start seeing weight loss in the more expected 1-2lbs per week range after that point.