Conflicting advice and now confused as ever.

Honestly I would probably go with your personal trainer, because they know you and your body on an individual level. Jillian Micheal's information and MFP is more of a general coverage of people, but everyone is different and your trainer knows the specifics. I'm not an authority on the subject, but that is how I look at the situation

Pick one and run with it. There's so many different programs / methods out there it can get confusing, you can't follow them all at once.
How long have you had the trainer?
I've read so many different plans on the internet, different methods in different magazines, each one seems to contradict another. Just pick one and give it time, "we" didn't get to the way we are overnight, it also won't disappear overnight.

I follow 40/30/30 because that's what works for my body. You have to find .the ratios that work for you and your body.

You do need fat. You can get lower than 20% body fat if you want to, women can get down to about12% before it starts messing with the reproductive system. It depends on how athletic you are/want to be/look.


Follow your trainer's advice and see how the ratios work. It you're not losing, tweak the ratios.

Fat does not cause you to get fat. Healthy fats are an ESSENTIAL key to burning fat, in fact.

I was told by my pt to stick around 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat.I stick to 45/30/25 MYSELF. Fat is a very important part of your diet... but only in natural form. Also... every person needs different amounts of each depending on how your body uses it. This is called oxidizing. Look up an oxidizer test and see what results you get from that quiz. It takes information about your diet, your cravings and your reactions to certain types of food to determine what % is best for your chemistry. Give it a shot. I would not recommend going much over 20% fat when trying to lose weight but again..... make sure that fat is natural: dairy, oils (sesame, olive, peanut, safflower), nuts and lean meats being a few examples..


fyi the 40/30/30 is JM's general formula (balanced oxidizer, which I am) which she suggests in cases that she is unaware of the actual oxidizing rate of the people on her site or reading her books. I have read 3 of her books and she has a quiz available in a couple of them to determine which is your best fit. Also, fast, slow and balance oxidizers use all different foods differently and there may be suggestions on what meats to eat more of or less of for YOUR body's benefit. But again, every person is different and you can find a quiz online that may help you find (or narrow down) this information. It makes sense to me that your nutritionist would suggest a significant amount of carbs, protein and fat.... your body needs them all to function healthily.
This is a great question and is really important to know. Props to you for wanting to know. :-D
You are correct... unless you are an athlete there is no reason for a healthy woman to be below 20%. Whether or not you can get 135 pounds really depends on your current body fat percentage. As long as you are a healthy BF% and you are happy with yourself and you are healthy... who cares what the scale actually says; right?

I'm doing:

Low Carb Days: 30% Carbs, 45% Protein, 25% Fat
High Carb Days: 50% Carbs, 30% Protein, 20% Fat

I was on your boat a few months ago as well. It is a frustrating thing to feel. Im not a nutritionist at all but i have based my breakdown based on just reading alot of the net. You also gotta take into consideration what your trying to accomplish. i created my breakdown based on the fact that i'm more interested in losing weight than gaining muscle/toning at this time of my weight loss journey.

i do: 45/35/20

if you talk to a body builder they eat tons and tons of protein. my friend competed in "body figure" and she had to get down to 7% body fat and accomplished that by eating a whole lot of protein, very little fat and carbs.

This is the best way I can explain the proportions and it's how my naturopathic doctor told me to measure- You need about a handfull (with hand stretched out) of carbs, a palm full of protein, and a thumb full of healthy fat. Now, your trainer may alter yours a bit depending on the workouts you're doing as far as portion sizes, calories, etc.

This is the best way I can explain the proportions and it's how my naturopathic doctor told me to measure- You need about a handfull (with hand stretched out) of carbs, a palm full of protein, and a thumb full of healthy fat. Now, your trainer may alter yours a bit depending on the workouts you're doing as far as portion sizes, calories, etc.

Is that like a homeopath?

This is the best way I can explain the proportions and it's how my naturopathic doctor told me to measure- You need about a handfull (with hand stretched out) of carbs, a palm full of protein, and a thumb full of healthy fat. Now, your trainer may alter yours a bit depending on the workouts you're doing as far as portion sizes, calories, etc.

Is that like a homeopath?

Here's kind of a short difference.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_naturopathy_and_homeopathy

Also, my doctor used to be an ER doctor, but she realized one day she wasn't where she was meant to be, and went on to do 30 years of studies. I learned as much from her as I can, however now she is busy writing books and doing seminars, so she only practices a couple times a week. She is a very smart woman. (Her name is Margaret Merrifield M.D. from Richland, WA if you want to look her up). It took me 8 years to get diagnosed correctly with gluten intolerance and dairy sensitivity. Other physicians had me on several presrciptions for so many things. I now take 0 prescriptions and no longer have the several medical issues I had been dealing with. Now all the problems I have deal directly with my weight...and that is what I am working on!

The advice you've been given mostly strikes me as odd because it's near impossible to achieve 40% protein while keeping to 10% fat. Basically, as long as you are burning more calories than you are taking in then you will lose fat (and of course, maybe some muscle as well). For health, generally recommendations are 15-20% protein, 30% fat and 50-55% carbs. 30/30/40 is a bit of a hazy area in that some professionals suggest it is a happy medium between low carb and standard recommendations but there are still those who argue the downside of having the extra protein, which is more evidence-based I suppose.

I personally think 15-20/30/50-55 and 30/30/40 are both good. I wouldn't generally recommend aiming for higher protein that that.

According to Jillian Michaels you should do 40% carbs 30% protein and 30% for fat, and be around 1200-1500 cal/day. MFP says 1240 net cals for me.
I want to be 135lbs but my trainer says both Jillian and MFP aren't correct. My trainer feels that I should be at 50%carbs 40% protein and 10% fat because I am wanting to burn fat so why intake 30%. She also feels that I should be around 1400-1500 cal/day and insists that I will never be 135lbs.
Reason for why I won't be 135lbs is because my lean muscle mass is already at 125lbs and you should have at least 20% body fat.. so being 135lbs is virtually impossible. So now I have confused myself and would like to know which do I follow?

I'm sure you're even more confused now because of all the different responses you got. :laugh: Here's adding to the confusion!

40/30/30 is fine. 50/40/10 is fine too. I personally go for around 40/40/20... at the end of the day, unless you have carb/insulin issues and/or have specific athletic goals that require more or less carbs during training it's not going to make a significant difference.

However, I'd be more than a little wary of listening to your trainer for nutrition advice because he/she suggested that the fat you eat has some kind of influence on your fat loss/gain. It doesn't.

According to Jillian Michaels you should do 40% carbs 30% protein and 30% for fat, and be around 1200-1500 cal/day. MFP says 1240 net cals for me.
I want to be 135lbs but my trainer says both Jillian and MFP aren't correct. My trainer feels that I should be at 50%carbs 40% protein and 10% fat because I am wanting to burn fat so why intake 30%. She also feels that I should be around 1400-1500 cal/day and insists that I will never be 135lbs.
Reason for why I won't be 135lbs is because my lean muscle mass is already at 125lbs and you should have at least 20% body fat.. so being 135lbs is virtually impossible. So now I have confused myself and would like to know which do I follow?

I'm sure you're even more confused now because of all the different responses you got. :laugh: Here's adding to the confusion!

40/30/30 is fine. 50/40/10 is fine too. I personally go for around 40/40/20... at the end of the day, unless you have carb/insulin issues and/or have specific athletic goals that require more or less carbs during training it's not going to make a significant difference.

However, I'd be more than a little wary of listening to your trainer for nutrition advice because he/she suggested that the fat you eat has some kind of influence on your fat loss/gain. It doesn't.

I would ammend that statement only in this: Your trainer has the wrong idea about fat percentage. He/she has the relationship backwards. 10% fat isn't going to get you to lose weight as fast as 30% fat will. That said, the fat you take in must not have any trans fat to attain the most success. That low of a percentage is hard to achieve anyway. Look at other people's diary when you can to get an idea. My experience is that no matter how clean or poorly I ate, if I wasn't doing enough cardio I only maintained or put it on slowly. When I do more than 30 minutes fasted cardio EVERY DAY, I lose at least two pounds a week. This week I lost three after just maintaining for a couple months nursing a tendonopathy so I couldn't do as much running as I would have liked. Now that I'm back at it, I'll be dropping steadily every week. Eating the percentages is important only to a point. Once you plateau, you have to kick it up a notch.

I have found that not one trainer or website agrees on what's right for weight lose, maintaining current weight, building muscle, etc. Everyone is different; do one suggestion for a month and if you don't see any results, switch to another....find which works for YOU. Good luck!