Macros help

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megoozer
megoozer Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am new to eating exact macros and want to make sure my targets are appropriate
I am a 5'7" female who weighs 165 lbs
I exercise 6 days a week for 30-60 min I do cardio 5X and lift 2X a week. I want to lose about 10lbs.

current macros:
calorie goal 1203
carbs 241g (58%)
fat 36g (15%)
protein 105g (27%)

right now I am able to consistently hit these macros and feel satisfied but my weight isn't budging despite exercise so I am assuming my problem is nutrition

Replies

  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    how long are you trying?
    And do you use a food scale to weigh all your food...so not using any cups/spoons or serving sizes?
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited July 2015
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    megoozer wrote: »
    I am new to eating exact macros and want to make sure my targets are appropriate
    I am a 5'7" female who weighs 165 lbs
    I exercise 6 days a week for 30-60 min I do cardio 5X and lift 2X a week. I want to lose about 10lbs.

    current macros:
    calorie goal 1203
    carbs 241g (58%)
    fat 36g (15%)
    protein 105g (27%)

    right now I am able to consistently hit these macros and feel satisfied but my weight isn't budging despite exercise so I am assuming my problem is nutrition
    From your macros, your calorie goal is 1708, not 1203.
    carbs 241x4=964 calories (~56%)
    fat 36x9=324 calories (~19%)
    protein 105x4=420 (~25%)

    Ultimately, for weight loss, you need to take in fewer calories than you use. The macro balance can be tweaked for what works for you within some pretty wide ranges.

    Check out this helpful chart:
    nbsj3b0xxmyz.jpg
  • SunnyPacheco
    SunnyPacheco Posts: 142 Member
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    Try playing around with your macro percentages. Specifically upping protein a bit and lowering carbs. Is 1708 a deficit for you?
  • megoozer
    megoozer Posts: 5 Member
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    aLl i know if that my fitness pal tells me i should be eating 1203 a day but here is a picture of my macros that the app calculated for me...
    cflwmsvoxk9t.png
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    how do you know you eat 1203 calories?
  • megoozer
    megoozer Posts: 5 Member
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    after I inputted my current weight, goal weight and activity level it gave me that #

    f539azqp24ts.jpg
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    i mean how much do you eat now do you weigh your food on a food scale?
    All your food
  • megoozer
    megoozer Posts: 5 Member
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    I weigh my meat but I use measuring cups/spoons for most items. maybe that's my problem?
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    yes i think so
    here look at this couple of minutes shocking

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    You eat probably much more calories than you think
    Start weighing ALL your food :)
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Your goal is 1203 but you ate 1708.

    The pie chart page is showing the percentages and grams of what you actually ate, not your goal. You ate more of everything but you ate close to an equal amount of extra calories in each.

    The percentage shown is a ratio, not an amount.

    Think of it this way:

    10 is 10% of 100
    20 is 10% of 200
    50 is 10% of 500

    Those are all 10% but the actual amounts are different.
  • SunnyPacheco
    SunnyPacheco Posts: 142 Member
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    megoozer wrote: »
    aLl i know if that my fitness pal tells me i should be eating 1203 a day but here is a picture of my macros that the app calculated for me...
    cflwmsvoxk9t.png

    But the 241g of carbs alone there is 964 cals. 1200 would be too low for your height regardless. Agreed you should weigh all of your food, not just your meat. That may help and if not try different percentages.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited July 2015
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    For 1200 calories and your desired percentages, here's how many grams you need of each macro:

    carbs - 58% - 174g
    fat - 15% - 20g
    protein - 27% - 81g

    Also, as stated above, use a food scale for all solids so that you get accurate measurements.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    edited July 2015
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    As already stated, the pie chart you've posted are the macros you ate, not your MFP goal macros.

    The MFP default macro setting is:

    50% carb
    30% fat
    20% protein


    The 15% fat you have posted is much lower than the recommended 30% - fat is essential and shouldn't be cut too low. It would be advisable to follow the guides MFP has set.

    In terms of grams on a 1200 cal diet this would give you:
    150g carb
    44g fat
    60g protein
  • LiftAndBalance
    LiftAndBalance Posts: 960 Member
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    I keep reading around 0.64–1 x your weight in lbs as a protein goal (in grams), and 0.35–0.45 x your weight in lbs as a fat goal (in grams). Those would both be minimums, and the rest can be filled in according to preference (more protein, more fat, or carbs). So that would give you a minimum of 106g of protein and 58g of fat. At your height, weight and activity level, you should most probably be eating more than 1,200kcal though.

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