Weight loss

The important thing is the total calories you consume vs. how much you burn during the day. You burn calories all day, exercise or not.

The particular proportions of macros is less important, but you can use that to strike a balance that makes your calorie target easier to maintain.

momo_t90 wrote: »

itsthehumidity wrote: »

• When you learn enough to start caring about macros, set protein to 1g/pound of bodyweight per day. Set fat to 20%-30% of your total calories, and fill the rest of your calories in with carbohydrates up to the point of your calorie ceiling for the day

I'm pretty new too, so I found this info really helpful. I'm still working on not going over my calorie limit, but let me make sure I've got the last part right.

I'm suppose to be eating 1700 cal a day and I weigh about 250 lbs, so the macronutrient split would be as follows:

P: 250g = 1000 cal = 59%
F: 38g = 342 cal = 20%
C: 89g = 356 cal = 21%

Is this right?

That seems like an incredible amount of protein and I don't think I could meet that goal let alone every day.

Quick question, you weigh 250 and you want to eat 1700 calories per day? That's what I'm eating, at a relatively steep deficit, and I only weigh 159. I don't recommend you eat below your BMR (the amount of calories you'd burn if you were motionless all day).

Based on the info I could get about you, 25/F, 250 lbs, I assumed around 5'6, your BMR is about 2300. You'll make plenty of progress simply eating at BMR - every movement you'll make throughout the day will be contributing to weight loss, which is kind of a fun way to do it. As you lose weight, every 10 pounds or so, recalculate your BMR and adjust your daily calories accordingly.

Anyway, to answer your question I'm going to assume you are eating 2300 calories. You don't need 1g/pound of protein a day, especially if a lot of those pounds are fat. Feel free to adjust this to 1g per pound of lean mass, or fat-free mass. That's how much you'd weigh with 0% fat. Maybe you'd weigh 140 pounds, for instance. Set protein to that. Let's set fat to 25% of total calories (20% minimum, anything above that is fine so long as your calories are in check, but this range works well for most). 25% of 2300 is 575 calories from fat, which is 64 grams.

So far that's 140g protein, 64g fat, leaving 1164 calories for carbs, allowing you to eat 291 grams of them.

Summary, I recommend you set your macro profile as follows:

P: 140g
F: 64g
C: 290g

Of course, adjust according to what you think your lean mass may be. The leaner you get, the closer your total weight will be to your lean mass, which makes sense if how much fat you have is the difference between the two. There are several reasons to keep protein relatively high, including muscle building and preservation, but also the sense of feeling full; protein helps with satiety more than carbohydrates.

itsthehumidity wrote: »

momo_t90 wrote: »

itsthehumidity wrote: »

• When you learn enough to start caring about macros, set protein to 1g/pound of bodyweight per day. Set fat to 20%-30% of your total calories, and fill the rest of your calories in with carbohydrates up to the point of your calorie ceiling for the day

I'm pretty new too, so I found this info really helpful. I'm still working on not going over my calorie limit, but let me make sure I've got the last part right.

I'm suppose to be eating 1700 cal a day and I weigh about 250 lbs, so the macronutrient split would be as follows:

P: 250g = 1000 cal = 59%
F: 38g = 342 cal = 20%
C: 89g = 356 cal = 21%

Is this right?

That seems like an incredible amount of protein and I don't think I could meet that goal let alone every day.

Quick question, you weigh 250 and you want to eat 1700 calories per day? That's what I'm eating, at a relatively steep deficit, and I only weigh 159. I don't recommend you eat below your BMR (the amount of calories you'd burn if you were motionless all day).

Based on the info I could get about you, 25/F, 250 lbs, I assumed around 5'6, your BMR is about 2300. You'll make plenty of progress simply eating at BMR - every movement you'll make throughout the day will be contributing to weight loss, which is kind of a fun way to do it. As you lose weight, every 10 pounds or so, recalculate your BMR and adjust your daily calories accordingly.

Anyway, to answer your question I'm going to assume you are eating 2300 calories. You don't need 1g/pound of protein a day, especially if a lot of those pounds are fat. Feel free to adjust this to 1g per pound of lean mass, or fat-free mass. That's how much you'd weigh with 0% fat. Maybe you'd weigh 140 pounds, for instance. Set protein to that. Let's set fat to 25% of total calories (20% minimum, anything above that is fine so long as your calories are in check, but this range works well for most). 25% of 2300 is 575 calories from fat, which is 64 grams.

So far that's 140g protein, 64g fat, leaving 1164 calories for carbs, allowing you to eat 291 grams of them.

Summary, I recommend you set your macro profile as follows:

P: 140g
F: 64g
C: 290g

Of course, adjust according to what you think your lean mass may be. The leaner you get, the closer your total weight will be to your lean mass, which makes sense if how much fat you have is the difference between the two. There are several reasons to keep protein relatively high, including muscle building and preservation, but also the sense of feeling full; protein helps with satiety more than carbohydrates.

Thanks! I think I got it. I checked a couple of BMR calculators and they say 1880 cals is my BMR (I'm 5'5), but I have hypothyroidism so I imagine my metabolism is a little lower than the average rate for women with similar numbers as me. I'll up it to 1800 and redo the math for the macronutrients. Thank you so much!

Edit: I just searched "BMI and hypothyroidism" and apparently the BMI goes up not down. So maybe 2000 cals would be good to start with.

Sorry for hijacking the thread!

kimny72 wrote: »

itsthehumidity wrote: »

• When you learn enough to start caring about macros, set protein to 1g/pound of bodyweight per day. Set fat to 20%-30% of your total calories, and fill the rest of your calories in with carbohydrates up to the point of your calorie ceiling for the day

Just to provide a slightly different perspective, this is higher than the advise that is typically given. You will more commonly hear a range of 0.6 - 0.8 grams of protein per lb of body weight. For example, I weigh 130 lbs, and I would make myself crazy trying to eat 130 grams protein! I usually fall around 90-100 grams, which is @ .7-.8 grams per lb and it works really well for me.

And I am inclined to agree, which is why I later mentioned 1g/lb lean mass as a perfectly fine alternative to 1g/lb total weight.

I want to ask something that if I pass a day within my daily calories (that are 1100) and if I do exercise so that I put that exercise in a day when I exceeded my calories, is it okay to do so?

fourseazonz wrote: »

I want to ask something that if I pass a day within my daily calories (that are 1100) and if I do exercise so that I put that exercise in a day when I exceeded my calories, is it okay to do so?

Of course it's okay. Many people do that in one way or another. Some call it "calorie banking". 1100 calories is too low for most people though. Consider increasing it a bit. You don't want your weight loss to be unhealthy because it's hard to get enough nutrients from that tiny budget, not to mention it would be hard to stay on it for long.

itsthehumidity wrote: »

Welcome to the site. We all start somewhere. A few things:

• 2 lbs/week sounds great, but unless you're very overweight this is likely too aggressive. Typically, 1 lb/week is a safe way to go, which leads me to...
  
• Your TDEE, total daily energy expenditure (how many calories you burn in a day). You need to know this number. Search for TDEE calculators on Google, plug your stats into a bunch of them, find a round consensus.
• To lose a pound a week, subtract 500 from this TDEE number, and eat that much per day.
• Worry about total calories first, then your macronutrient split.
• When you learn enough to start caring about macros, set protein to 1g/pound of bodyweight per day. Set fat to 20%-30% of your total calories, and fill the rest of your calories in with carbohydrates up to the point of your calorie ceiling for the day

This is not needed and can get confusing. The MFP NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) method works well, and gives the OP the calories needed to lose weight automatically.

Until a regular exercise routine is well established it is prudent to enter each activity individually and eat back 50-75% of those calories to maintain good health while achieving ones weekly goal weight.