calorie, carb, protein, fat goals

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Leila2289
Leila2289 Posts: 23 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So my goal is to lose 1.5 lbs a week so they have me on a 1200 calorie diet. The percentages of protein, carbs, and fat were already preset. Should I just follow these percentages? Or did any of you guys change them?

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  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
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    You can leave them as is, unless you are following a particular diet. I think of the protein goal as a minimum, and then let the others be a little less than goal.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    Leila2289 wrote: »
    So my goal is to lose 1.5 lbs a week so they have me on a 1200 calorie diet. The percentages of protein, carbs, and fat were already preset. Should I just follow these percentages? Or did any of you guys change them?

    How much weight do you have to lose? What is your exercise routine? What is your goal?
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    edited July 2016
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    Opinion: 1,200 a day is hard to keep up with and easy to break. Leads me to bingeing. Unsustainable.
    To lose weight you just have to remain under calories. Does not matter how many carbs, protein or fat you eat.
  • Leila2289
    Leila2289 Posts: 23 Member
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    MelaniaTrump? that's a umm interesting user name
  • girl_inflames
    girl_inflames Posts: 374 Member
    edited July 2016
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    MelaniaTrump wrote: »
    Opinion: 1,200 a day is hard to keep up with and easy to break. Leads me to bingeing. Unsustainable.
    To lose weight you just have to remain under calories. Does not matter how many carbs, protein or fat you eat.

    I have maintained a 1200 calorie diet for 6 months. It's sustainable. You just have to learn to eat smart. And honestly, it does how many carbs, proteins, and fats you eat. Proteins help to keep you satiated throughout the day, and they're all helpful for energy.
  • Leila2289
    Leila2289 Posts: 23 Member
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    I have done it before but many years ago. I am only 5'2 so if I don't work out at all I can barely eat anything to maintain my weight anyways
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    Leila2289 wrote: »
    I have done it before but many years ago. I am only 5'2 so if I don't work out at all I can barely eat anything to maintain my weight anyways

    Even though you have done it, doesnt mean its ultimately the best choice to achieve your overall goals, unless its only a weight based goal. Many of the short women i have worked with lose weight in the 1600 to 1900 calorie range. But obviously mileage varies based on activity level. If you are sedentary it mighy be unlikely to lose that much.


    To answer the op its based on grams.

    Protein: .8 to 1g per lb of lbm (~.75g per lb)
    Fats: .35 to .6g per lb of lbm
    Carbs rest.


    But that can be altered based on goals, satiety and personal preference.
  • beatyfamily1
    beatyfamily1 Posts: 257 Member
    edited July 2016
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    No, everyone has different macro percentages. The preset percentages may work if you are much larger in size to begin with, but you will have to adjust as you start to stall in weight loss. Here's a macros calculator that I used: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutrients_calculator.htm?searchTerm=macro calculator
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    beatyfamily1 wrote: »
    No, everyone has different macro percentages. The preset percentages may work if you are much larger in size to begin with, but you will have to adjust as you start to stall in weight loss. Here's a macros calculator that I used: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutrients_calculator.htm?searchTerm=macro calculator

    Was that in response to my post or the OP?
  • CoachJen71
    CoachJen71 Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Leila2289 wrote: »
    So my goal is to lose 1.5 lbs a week so they have me on a 1200 calorie diet. The percentages of protein, carbs, and fat were already preset. Should I just follow these percentages? Or did any of you guys change them?

    I set mine to 45% carbs, 30% fat, and 25% protein but for me it's more about grams than percentages. I try to get my protein to at least 120g/day.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I upped the protein and fat and lowered the carbs (from mfp's default setting ).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    On 1200, the default protein is usually too low. psulemon's way of getting a better protein goal is accurate, but since people often don't know their lbm, another way is .8xgoal weight, for total grams. For example, I'm 125, and that's close to goal, so I aim for .8x125=100 g. At 1200 calories, that would be .33% (when I started and was doing 1250 I aimed for 35%, but now at more calories I aim for 25%). If I go over, that's fine. I don't worry much about carbs vs. fat, as I don't really have trouble getting plenty of either.
  • beatyfamily1
    beatyfamily1 Posts: 257 Member
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    psulemon wrote: »
    beatyfamily1 wrote: »
    No, everyone has different macro percentages. The preset percentages may work if you are much larger in size to begin with, but you will have to adjust as you start to stall in weight loss. Here's a macros calculator that I used: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutrients_calculator.htm?searchTerm=macro calculator

    Was that in response to my post or the OP?

    To the OP.

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