Carbs, protien, fat

Some plans concentrate on low fat/high carb/moderate protein. Some on high fat/low carb/moderate protein.
Some only on the calorie content.
You have to look through what is required on these and see which might work for you.

A high fat/high carb will pretty much be horrible.

Calorie deficit gives you weight loss. Low carb will cause most of it to be Fat loss, which is the goal.

marykprevost wrote: »

Thanks, I'm still trying to find which works best for me?! I just want to get the right amounts of each in a day. Kitship, explain the macro/micro. This might be worth understanding.

There is no right amount, although typically you'd want a balance.

The minimum protein necessary for good health is something like 1 g per kg of bodyweight (weight divided by 2.2). If overweight, use your healthy weight.

However, benefits from increasing protein beyond this for people exercising, trying to build muscle, or trying to retain muscle when losing weight (categories that fit most on MFP) have been found for protein amounts up to .65-.85 grams per healthy weight (or goal weight). As I result, I aim for at least .8 g/lb (I'm near my goal).

Carbs and fat are really personal preference, except it's good to include "healthy fats" -- stuff like nuts, olive oil, avocado, oils from fatty fish -- in your diet, and there's no need at all to do low fat or replace fat with highly processed carbs or added sugar. (Probably counter productive.) Similarly, carbs with more fiber and which are less processed (whole grains or whole foods like sweet potatoes, potatoes, vegetables, fruit) often are more filling for people than highly processed stuff like added sugar in soda or juices or (obviously) cookies or candy (most sweets like pastries that are called "carbs" actually get as many or more calories from fat, often saturated fat, however).

The MFP default is a good starting point (unless it puts your protein too low, if so adjust), and then see how you feel. If you find you are hungry, playing around with macros might help.

I tend to do 50 (carbs)-20 (protein)-30 (fat) when maintaining and 40-30-30 when losing (basically to keep my protein grams the same). IMO, the overall nutrition content of your diet is MUCH more important for health than macros, though, and neither is all that important for losing weight (except that I feel better and am not hungry when I'm eating a healthy diet and tend to have more energy). Macros tend to be somewhat overemphasized on MFP and contrary to what some will tell you carbs can be quite healthy foods (as can various foods that contribute fat and protein also) -- foods are different in many more ways than their macro content.