Micronutrients / Calories / Exercising - lots of info here..

I sent this information to someone in an email this morning, and since I worked so hard on putting it all together, I thought I'd share it with everyone. I've made it a little more generalized here, and removed the parts that were specific to my friend's question and personal situation....

Most people are in fact "normal" insofar as what micronutrient ratios they should be eating....unless you a bodybuilder or trying to cut your body fat only (as opposed to trying to generally lose weight), you don't need super high protein....unless you are a distance runner, you don't need super high carbs....unless you are following some particular highly structured exercise plan, you don't need a diet custom tailored to anything specific. Basically, you just need a regular, balanced diet, like most people who are not elite athletes.

For various reasons - injuries, medical issues, etc. - some people just can't exercise. But that's doesn't mean you can't lose weight. You can absolutely still lose weight, it just might not be as fast a process without the exercising/weight training to build lean muscle mass which increases how fast you burn calories while at rest. All that truly matters is calories in - calories out. Cardio and weight training helps the process along by speeding it up, and by changing the composition of fat/muscle in your body, hence changing how fast you burn calories while at rest.

Some think that without exercising it will be a lot harder to lose weight.....not true. It just might take longer. Like I said above, WEIGHT loss is all about calories in vs. calories out, not the micronutrient ratios. Micronutrients come more into play when we are talking about elite athletes who need to specifically lose FAT only, or specifically build MUSCLE only, or specifically get quick access energy only. For example, you truly can lose weight by eating nothing but twinkies, as long as you eat less twinkie calories than you burn each day. In the end, you will feel crappy and sluggish due to lack of real nutrients and sugar highs/crashes, but the calories vs. calories principle still works. So, while WHAT you eat doesn't matter strictly for weight loss (only calories do), WHAT you eat does matter for how you will feel when all is said and done, and it does matter if you need a specifically tailored plan for a specific exercise program or training regimine. So, please don't eat just twinkies all the time.

As for what ratios you in particular someone should be eating, I would say the first thing you need to do is go to the MFP >> My Home >> Settings >> Update Diet/Fitness Profile page and fill it out.....the most important thing is to be honest with the "How would you describe your normal daily activities?" category. On the "How many times a week do you plan on exercising?" question, be honest and stick to that plan. If you'd rather not exercise, or if you can't exercise, leave it at all zeros. And then choose how much weight you want to lose per week (2 pounds per week if you are truly obese, 1 pound per week if you are 10-20 pounds from your goal weight, and only 1/2 pound per week if you are less than 10 pounds from your goal weight....that's the safe and most long term effectice amounts to lose per week). The system will then determine how many calories you should eat each day to reach that goal, but it will never let you go below 1,200 per day (that's the minimum safe level for everyone). After that's determined, you can follow MFP's standard micronutrient ratios, or adjust them to your liking at the Home >> Goals page. Like I said above, unless you are some sort of elite athlete, or have any specific goals other than general weight (not fat only) loss, about 20-30%-ish protein per day is good....up to 30% fats per day is okay, and the rest can be filled in with carbs.

Also, make sure you are accurately measuring (or more preferable, WEIGHING) your foods.....a lot of times people end up finding out that they weren't losing weight because they were making mistakes in counting their foods thus unknowingly overeating all along. A good food scale can be gotten at your local home store for less than $20. It's a godsend, I swear.

After you lose some weight, do the analysis again, and again after you lose some more....because as your weight drops, so will your caloric needs. Finally, when you get to maintenance, you will have to increase your calories a bit so as to stop losing weight.

Also, don't ever eat less than 1,200 calories NET per day.....that means if you do exercise, burning for example 300 calories, you need to eat 300 more calories that day. This is a hard concept for a lot of people to understand, and there are people all over this site who are more than willing to help otheers out with understanding and implementing it. Just ask.

I personally am currently eating 50% protein, 30% carbs and 20% fats.....because I am following an elite athlete, super FAT (not necessarily weight) cutting exercise program, and that's what it calls for. As I move along in my exercise program, my ratios will change and eventually end up at something normal for maintenance.

I hope this all makes sense, and if it helps just one person, it will have been worth the time.

Cheers!
-Robin :flowerforyou:

(Edited for spelling)