Keeping the Balance Right

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fionarama
fionarama Posts: 788 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I just started and find it very hard to get the balance right between carbs, protein and fat. Is this important? Does it make a difference weight loss wise? Today with only 60 g of smoked salmon for lunch and 150 g grilled chicken for dinner my protein amount is double what it should be, and despite having the right number of calories the carb amount is way less than I'm suppposed to have. How do I address this without eating hardly any meat and loads of carbs (which will then put me over the calorie allowance)?

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  • gothicprophet
    gothicprophet Posts: 189
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    I just started and find it very hard to get the balance right between carbs, protein and fat. Is this important? Does it make a difference weight loss wise? Today with only 60 g of smoked salmon for lunch and 150 g grilled chicken for dinner my protein amount is double what it should be, and despite having the right number of calories the carb amount is way less than I'm suppposed to have. How do I address this without eating hardly any meat and loads of carbs (which will then put me over the calorie allowance)?

    I've been curious about this as well so bump!
  • fionarama
    fionarama Posts: 788 Member
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    I just spent quite a while playing with tomorrows menu. Now to keep somewhere near the right ratios the only meat I am having is 50 g of grilled chicken, but I am eating loads of carbs oatmeal for breakfast, two (TWO!!!! count em - thats big deal for a normally no carb girl like me!!!!) slices of bread for lunch AND - shock, horror, perish at the thought!!!! - POTATOES and vegetables for dinner!!!!!!
    is this normal eating???? not for me its not, its really really different to what I normally do. Which seeing as I have really been struggling to get anywhere for years weight loss wise I'm thinking this might be a good thing.

    would welcome any comments anyone has on this. It still seems really weird to eat such a small amount of meat.
  • foreverloved
    foreverloved Posts: 220 Member
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    For weight loss and muscle development you should get as much protein as you can, there really isn't 'too much'. As for carbs and fat most diets give you plenty and more of the carbs you would need unless you exercise like crazy. Fat is of course as little as possible and the most healthy types as possible (from nuts, olive oil, etc.).

    It sounds like you're TRYING to fit in too many carbs.
  • kitinboots
    kitinboots Posts: 589 Member
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    I just spent quite a while playing with tomorrows menu. Now to keep somewhere near the right ratios the only meat I am having is 50 g of grilled chicken, but I am eating loads of carbs oatmeal for breakfast, two (TWO!!!! count em - thats big deal for a normally no carb girl like me!!!!) slices of bread for lunch AND - shock, horror, perish at the thought!!!! - POTATOES and vegetables for dinner!!!!!!
    is this normal eating???? not for me its not, its really really different to what I normally do. Which seeing as I have really been struggling to get anywhere for years weight loss wise I'm thinking this might be a good thing.

    would welcome any comments anyone has on this. It still seems really weird to eat such a small amount of meat.

    That sounds like a perfectly healthy days eating to me. Like my mum used to feed me when I was a kid/teenager and at an ideal healthy size for my height/age.
  • yeahfatty
    yeahfatty Posts: 228 Member
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    my dietrician told me that because i'm losing weight but want to keep my muscle mass at the same time, it's important to get A LOT of protein so i take it as a good sign when i go over my protein level which is every single day!

    disclaimer, don't sue me .. this is just what my dietrician told me personally. ;-)
  • fionarama
    fionarama Posts: 788 Member
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    has anyone else played with the ratios like I have, and changed drastically their eating as a result, and found it got them results?
  • Timdog57
    Timdog57 Posts: 102 Member
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    Have you adjusted your goals in MFP? The default ratios might not be the best (55% carb). There was another post about this recently, but many of us have adjusted our ratios to be 40% carb, 40% protien, and 20% fat. Another rule of thumb here is that you should have around .8-1 gram of protien for every pound of lean body mass you have. For instance if you weigh 150 pounds and have 20% body fat, you have 120 pounds of lean body mass so you should be getting 96-120 grams of protien per day.
  • Timdog57
    Timdog57 Posts: 102 Member
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    Also, the ratios may not nessicerily effect your wieght loss as much as they effect your body composition. Weight loss is generally a simple "burn more than you take in" situation, but your body composition is at least partially determined by what kind of calories you take in. If you want to maintain (or gain) lean body mass, you should make sure to get enough protien into your diet.
  • yoshikosc
    yoshikosc Posts: 5 Member
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    Yes! This was messing me up too!

    Go to Home-Goals-Change goals- Custom

    You can adjust the balance to whatever ratios you feel are best for you. As Timdog57 mentions 40%-40%-20% is pretty popular, but depends mostly on your body. Personally I have No energy if I'm eating less than 40% carbs.

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