trial and error

nicolealbutt20
nicolealbutt20 Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i have not tried to loss any weight in a long time but now i need to !! i plan on having a slim fast shake for breakfast and lunch and then a healthy evening meal e.g fish and veg. i am planning on doing 3 workout a week (30mins workout) this sort of plan keeps me under the recommended 1200 a day. would this send my body into starvation mode? i am currently 161lbs and want to get to 124lbs. also what percentage of fat, protein and carbs are you meant to eat to loss weight.
advice is needed
thanks guys

Replies

  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
    Weight loss is about eating less. Macros like fat/protein/carbs can help meet your bodies needs but aren't required for strictly weight loss.

    Generally:

    Protein: 0.7 to 1.2g per pound of lean body mass.
    Fat: Not sure, like 25% of calories?
    Carbs: the remainder


    Slimfast shakes might be good to kick start a diet, but is it something you can do for the rest of your life? Try to find actual food that is just as satisfying.

    I'd advice not cutting your calories drastically at first. Slowly taper down over a week or two and eat as many calories as you can while still losing weight.
  • nicolealbutt20
    nicolealbutt20 Posts: 18 Member
    Hi,
    thanks for the reply i am having the shakes for breakfast and lunch only, i am only doing this for a max of 4 weeks then i will slowly introduct normal food into my diet. i have a trouble with lossing weight i have not been able to shift it since i had my child ( 4yeard ago).

    mfp says my goals are 50% carbs 30%fat and 20% protein but im not sure if this is correct :/
  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
    Hi,
    thanks for the reply i am having the shakes for breakfast and lunch only, i am only doing this for a max of 4 weeks then i will slowly introduct normal food into my diet. i have a trouble with lossing weight i have not been able to shift it since i had my child ( 4yeard ago).

    mfp says my goals are 50% carbs 30%fat and 20% protein but im not sure if this is correct :/

    It's definitely a better idea to adjust your protein percent to match the grams per lean body mass. Adjust the carbs or fat
    down accordingly.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    If you want to jumpstart your diet with slimfast thats fine, but as other poster said it is ideal to diet in a way you can maintain for the rest of you life or else you run into regaining and yoyoing. Since you do not seem to have any serious muscle gain or fitness goals in mind then you will probably be fine with the MFP macro settings. A thing to keep in mind is increasing fat and protein will help you stay fuller on less food, which would result in cutting your carbs some in order to not go over your calorie goals. I am not preaching carbs are evil, just a tip for feeling full :)
  • nicolealbutt20
    nicolealbutt20 Posts: 18 Member
    how do i work out what it should be ?? do you go by your bmi or something? im new to all this. sorry
  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
    how do i work out what it should be ?? do you go by your bmi or something? im new to all this. sorry

    There are calculators to estimate your body fat. Alternatively you can adjust your protein to just be like 30% of your calories.
    Fat2fitradio or something has some calculators.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    set your macros for 40c/30f/30p
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

    That post can be helpful if you want to custom set your macros, it is pretty informative.

    Like I said, since you are not trying to body build or anything there is no reason to get all crazy with the macros, it is more just about tricks to keep you feeling full to help you stick to your calorie goals.
  • nicolealbutt20
    nicolealbutt20 Posts: 18 Member
    my lean body mass is 106lbs which i found out on some wedsite calulator, but know i dont know how to work out what percentage of protein, carbs and fat i need
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    i have not tried to loss any weight in a long time but now i need to !! i plan on having a slim fast shake for breakfast and lunch and then a healthy evening meal e.g fish and veg. i am planning on doing 3 workout a week (30mins workout) this sort of plan keeps me under the recommended 1200 a day. would this send my body into starvation mode? i am currently 161lbs and want to get to 124lbs. also what percentage of fat, protein and carbs are you meant to eat to loss weight.
    advice is needed
    thanks guys

    First off pay close attention to your recommended calorie intake that MFP sets.

    You don't want to eat too low (this magical figure of 1200 keeps getting banded around), but everyone is different and have different starting points and lifestyles - so keep it simple and follow the MFP recommendation.

    Also be careful where your losing your weight from (lose steady and drop body fat, as opposed to lean mass) there is no quick fix - regardless of what Dr OZ says.

    Make protein your priority, then fat then carbs (protein is muscle sparing). Also try to incorporate some resistance training into your weight lose plan, it's the healthy option.

    Biggest advice I would give though is do your own research, you will get a lot of advice from the forums and it will likely be conflicting, so if you do see advice which is of interest don't blindly take it. Do the research, if stacks up -run with it. If it doesn't - drop it and move on to the next suggestion.

    Good luck with whatever path you go down and lose it healthily (that's not slimfast by the way). :smile:
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    It talks about that towards the bottum of the link I posted, it is a long read but very informative I promise!
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    You right it does, sorry skim read????
  • staveshabr
    staveshabr Posts: 74 Member
    my only concern is with starting with such a low calorie intake; once introducing the food back into the meal plan arent you running the risk of just gaining the weight you loss back????
    it would probably just be easier to eat food from the start instead of the shakes if you dont plan on doing it for the long run
    just my 2 cents:smile:
  • nicolealbutt20
    nicolealbutt20 Posts: 18 Member
    thanks for the reply,
    i am very confussed with what to do. do i keep my macros to what mfp set or do i customize them? i dont know what to customize them too or how to find out :/
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    thanks for the reply,
    i am very confussed with what to do. do i keep my macros to what mfp set or do i customize them? i dont know what to customize them too or how to find out :/

    As long as your close to you calories you play around with the macros and find what works best for you.

    High protein is very muscle sparing and will keep your appetite in check, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

    Maybe post a thread called what diet would you suggest and why, see what appeals to you and your life style do a bit of research and take it from there.
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    In terms of body fat, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. You will lose the same amount of weight eating 10% fat as 70% fat.

    Obviously you need to eat a nutritious diet to stay healthy, however.

    You may find that eating a low-carb diet helps with hunger. Also eating less calorie-dense foods or less palatable foods may help. Structure, including meal replacements, may also help.

    See two minutes (49:40 to 51:49) of this video from Dr. Leibel at one the Grand Rounds lectures from the National Institute of Health:

    http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=2993&bhcp=1

    In terms of weight loss, composition of diet does not matter. In terms of self-control, it might.
  • amrluvarr
    amrluvarr Posts: 52 Member
    I have been in the same boat as you. Not really sure how to set my macros or even beginning to understand any of that. So- I went with the KISS method for now...keep it simple! I set my goal to lose 1 lb per week and I follow the calorie limit that mfp has set for me. I've lost 17 lbs in about 2 months (I have at least 100lbs to lose though). My goals right now are to stay at or slightly under my calorie range (which is 1800), eat tons of protein and exercise at least 3 days a week. I've just started to do some research and will slowly start customizing my diet.

    I know if it's too complicated for me- I won't even start! I've done better following mfp than any thing else I've ever tried. :)

    Good luck and enjoy the journey!
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    I have been in the same boat as you. Not really sure how to set my macros or even beginning to understand any of that. So- I went with the KISS method for now...keep it simple! I set my goal to lose 1 lb per week and I follow the calorie limit that mfp has set for me. I've lost 17 lbs in about 2 months (I have at least 100lbs to lose though). My goals right now are to stay at or slightly under my calorie range (which is 1800), eat tons of protein and exercise at least 3 days a week. I've just started to do some research and will slowly start customizing my diet.

    I know if it's too complicated for me- I won't even start! I've done better following mfp than any thing else I've ever tried. :)

    Good luck and enjoy the journey!

    This sounds like a sensible way to go. At 1lb a week loss with high protein and exercise the likely hood is your losing it all off of your body fat (which is el perfecto).

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