Macros Question & Don't Blow Any Tops
collegefbfan
Posts: 346 Member
I know a lot of you hate the macros thing and say eat until satiated and things like that. Well, the thing is the eater that I can be is a scary creature. I can eat two suppers for example. So, I need some sort of guide. Macros are it. So I guess I have been under eating. I looked at a ton of calculators and wonder if this sounds right. Male 233 pounds, 5 feet 8'inches tall. 42 years old. No real exercise except walking at my job about 4-5 miles a day. Need to lose weight.
Calories: 1836
Carbs: 20
Protein: 102
Fat: 149
Only posting this because you all are the experts with great advice. Many thanks.
Calories: 1836
Carbs: 20
Protein: 102
Fat: 149
Only posting this because you all are the experts with great advice. Many thanks.
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Replies
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Do you know your approximate BF%? What is your goal weight?0
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This sounds like a great starting point. After a month or two, you may adjust the numbers up or down based on newly developed hunger signals and energy levels.0
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Approximate bf percent:: 25 - 300
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Goal weight maybe 180 to 1950
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That looks good to me. When I was really going hard at my weight loss I would have had somewhat fewer Cals. Also, some intermittent fasting is helpful. For example I no longer eat lunch.0
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With ~164lbs of LBM, I would up protein a bit, but if you feel good on these macros and are achieving desired results then, party on.
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Thats what I have my macros set at...but To be soo honest, I pay most attention to carbs ✌1
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I personally think what matters are carbs and cals. I keep my fats up to keep me satiated, yes. However, if I eat 2000 cals a day I'm not going to lose like I want to. Protein for me is a last thing to look at as I have no issues that would worry me if I eat a lot of lean meat one day. Though I just generally have my meat with some sort of fat too. 4 ounces of meat with a tablespoon of garlic olive butter, for example. Tonight I'm making Scotch Eggs with pork rind breading and the meat is 1/2 pork sausage and and 1/2 ground beef at 73%. I would never worry myself over protein like that. Almost no carbs, plenty of fat and protein.
I've gone so long without logging now that I really have no idea what I'm eating macro wise but I still avoid carbs. - I don't advocate going without logging; I've just become very lazy lately for some reason and think in my mind I'm waiting for the shoe to drop when I realize I'm eating those 2000 cals a day and start gaining. Sometimes we sabotage ourselves I suppose and even as I write this I know I should log but have no desire to do so, regardless of the self sabotage I know I'm doing.1 -
It looks spot on to me as a start. What you have there is ~5% carbs (80), ~22% protein (408) and ~73% fats (1341) if I did my math right. If you haven't entered that in MFP yet, just know unless you have the premium MFP version, you'll have to enter them in 5% increments so maybe 5c/25p/70f.
The 1836 you have there are calories to eat and it is less than your estimated TDEE (which is living, breathing and all those steps you average every day). Give it a few days/week and see how you feel with it. Tweak and adjust along the way. Give it time. You won't eat the same amount every day and you won't meet/stay under all your macros every day. It's OK. They are a guide. Keep the carbs down and find what works for you.1 -
The crazy thing is people say they eat fat and lay off carbs. Fill the rest in with protein. Don't they have to have a little guidance on how much protein and how much fat? Carbs are set for me. Less than 20 grams. I hate guesstimating.2
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I always thought of (when I was counting)
protein as a goal
Carbs as a hard limit and
Fat as a suggestion but based on hunger...
On any day that I happened to be extra hungry, I would just try to add extra fat in or have a little more meat at dinner. Hopefully one that is already a fatty meat...
any day that I wasn't very hungry, I would try to get the protein in and not bother adding extra fat. For example, I might go easy on the cream or cheese sauce on the veggies or meat at dinner or skip the cream in my afternoon coffee.6 -
KetoLady86 wrote: »Thats what I have my macros set at...but To be soo honest, I pay most attention to carbs ✌
Ditto. I'm 10/25/65% but I only ever hit (ok go over) my carbs. However, that's before fiber is deleted. I'm around 35g net carbs. I rarely even look at my other macros/or calories.3 -
collegefbfan wrote: »The crazy thing is people say they eat fat and lay off carbs. Fill the rest in with protein. Don't they have to have a little guidance on how much protein and how much fat? Carbs are set for me. Less than 20 grams. I hate guesstimating.
I said that above, and it's not crazy. My macros are set to keep me at my personal caloric intake. If I keep carbs correct I only eat fats and proteins to meet or stay under my calorie goals. That is exactly a guide for me and I'm not guestimating. When I input my BPC in the morning I know exactly how much to go until I hit carbs and cals the rest of the day. When I log I then log dinner and I know exactly how many cals with my macros broken out I can eat between my BPC and my dinner. How that's broken up, for me, with fats and protein is high fat, moderate protein. If I should eat more protein then I back off the fat a bit and vice versa.2 -
Didn't mean crazy I n a bad way. Info sorting through gets me crazy.0
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I always thought of (when I was counting)
protein as a goal
Carbs as a hard limit and
Fat as a suggestion but based on hunger...
On any day that I happened to be extra hungry, I would just try to add extra fat in or have a little more meat at dinner. Hopefully one that is already a fatty meat...
any day that I wasn't very hungry, I would try to get the protein in and not bother adding extra fat. For example, I might go easy on the cream or cheese sauce on the veggies or meat at dinner or skip the cream in my afternoon coffee.
That's how I think of it exactly.1 -
So in thinking this way, and I am not knocking it by any means. Protein as a goal. Carbs a hard limit. Fat based on hunger. Is it possible to have fat less than protein on some days?0
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collegefbfan wrote: »So in thinking this way, and I am not knocking it by any means. Protein as a goal. Carbs a hard limit. Fat based on hunger. Is it possible to have fat less than protein on some days?
Yes, if your protein is higher than fat and you're simply not hungry, then no need to cram more fat in. It's fine.
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So having more protein than fat is okay? If so, that is against a lot of my readings. Wow.1
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collegefbfan wrote: »So having more protein than fat is okay? If so, that is against a lot of my readings. Wow.
No, I don't think that's right at all.0 -
There are two ways that protein might be higher than fat. The first, and most obvious, is when looking at grams. This is totally fine and often expected. That's because fat has more energy density. If you eat 100 grams of protein and 90 grams of fat, that is still 67% calories from fat and 33% calories from protein. As most places that talk about ratios are talking about calorie ratios, this is perfectly fine even in their book. There's nothing wrong with this. Actually, my ratio of fat to protein is very near 1:1 a lot of the time. I usually have more fat grams than protein, but not always by a lot.
What about having more protein calories than fat calories? 200 grams of protein and 60 grams of fat. That would be 800 calories of protein and 540 calories from fat. This is likely unsustainable long-term when weight stable. But, it could be fine once in a while when losing weight. If your body needs 2,400 calories a day, and you only eat 1,340 calories (540 from fat), the other 1,060 calories need to come from somewhere. They come from body fat. You're still running at a 33% protein and 67% fat ratio, except the fat is coming from body stores and not diet.
When it comes to protein, it is impossible to get all your calories solely from protein. That's rabbit starvation and is a bad time. But, if you're eating even a little amount of fat and/or losing weight, you'll be fine. When you are weight stable, the majority of your dietary calories will be from fat. But, losing weight is another story.
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collegefbfan wrote: »So having more protein than fat is okay? If so, that is against a lot of my readings. Wow.
You are focusing on the grams though when this is really referring to percent of calories that each provides to your total daily consumed calories. And you're forgetting that any fat you're not eating is coming from your body. Your body is still using more fat for energy than protein. It's just coming from the cubbords around your middle instead of your fork.
You have taught your body to use fat for fuel. So, eat the protein you need, limit carbs and consume fat to satiety. If you aren't very hungry one day and are under calories because you didn't eat enough fat and you happen to have eaten more protein calories than fat that's fine. Your body will still use stored fat to make up the difference.0 -
I do keep forgetting the 4, 4, 9 thing especially when I gauge by calories only or at least try to. I am guessing the part I am not understanding is the part of what fat I eat and what fat comes from my body. I am afraid of overeating. I feel that I won't overeat if I have some guidelines and restrictions. That is why I have questions related to macros and calories and such. You all are explaining everything well, but I just feel like the guidelines are better than saying eat until satiated. I mean I am the guy that used to eat two suppers. lol1
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collegefbfan wrote: »I do keep forgetting the 4, 4, 9 thing especially when I gauge by calories only or at least try to. I am guessing the part I am not understanding is the part of what fat I eat and what fat comes from my body. I am afraid of overeating. I feel that I won't overeat if I have some guidelines and restrictions. That is why I have questions related to macros and calories and such. You all are explaining everything well, but I just feel like the guidelines are better than saying eat until satiated. I mean I am the guy that used to eat two suppers. lol
I think it will come with time. You're still learning, so I think once your relationship with food changes, you will learn when you're satiated.
A lot of people came here with a bad relationship with food. I used to binge eat in the dark. I still have trouble sometimes, but it is definitely better than it was a year ago.
If you feel like at this moment in time, guidelines and restrictions are going to help, then by all means, set them.
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collegefbfan wrote: »I do keep forgetting the 4, 4, 9 thing especially when I gauge by calories only or at least try to. I am guessing the part I am not understanding is the part of what fat I eat and what fat comes from my body. I am afraid of overeating. I feel that I won't overeat if I have some guidelines and restrictions. That is why I have questions related to macros and calories and such. You all are explaining everything well, but I just feel like the guidelines are better than saying eat until satiated. I mean I am the guy that used to eat two suppers. lol
Here's how I look at it. If it is 9 p.m. and I have 300 cals left for the day and I am hungry for a snack I would prefer to eat some fat to fill me up vs a chicken breast. However, if it's Noon, I have 1100 cals left for the day and I'm hungry, I eat protein with some fat. If it's breakfast and I've had no cals yet and I want to fill up for several hours and keep my body happy I eat fat (for me that's BPC). I think you aren't keeping your calories in your mind. You can't eat fat with abandon forever and lose weight. You really have to keep your cals at a deficit eventually. You have a gauge to stop you from eating "too much" that's your calories. How you break up those calories by macro is up to you. If you want to be Keto/LCHF then keep your carbs very low, protein mod and fat to satisfy.2 -
collegefbfan wrote: »I do keep forgetting the 4, 4, 9 thing especially when I gauge by calories only or at least try to. I am guessing the part I am not understanding is the part of what fat I eat and what fat comes from my body. I am afraid of overeating. I feel that I won't overeat if I have some guidelines and restrictions. That is why I have questions related to macros and calories and such. You all are explaining everything well, but I just feel like the guidelines are better than saying eat until satiated. I mean I am the guy that used to eat two suppers. lol
Use a reasonable calorie goal as your hard calorie limit. You won't overeat as long as you don't ever eat more than what is required to maintain your weight.
So, you reach your protein and carbs are nice and low and it's 8pm, you've had dinner and you're thinking you're hungry... what do you do?
First, are you really hungry? Not just bored?
How many calories have you eaten?
Did you stay under your calorie goal for losing weight? Then eat. You still have calories left.
Did you reach your calorie limit for losing weight? If you're not just bored, then eat something high fat, it's ok if it has some protein too as long as it's not lean chicken breast or similar food. Or have a fatty coffee or tea or broth. Or whatever works for you.
What if you reached your maintenance calories and still find yourself hungry? Actual, real hunger. Not boredom or craving the ice cream your SO is eating in front of you. Then eat. Don't ignore real hunger. That doesn't mean you need an entire meal. Again, have something high in fat. I really turn to fatty beverages for times like this to help me not go overboard. Eggs are another one that works great for me when only solid food will do.
You don't need to worry about overeating on a day by day basis. It's the average of weeks and months that really matters. Gotta work on learning and following real hunger queues more than macro grams. Just use them as a guide.
If one day protein is 102 and fat is 149 and the next day P is 87 and F is 160 and another day P is 123 and fat is 97... it's fine. There will be variances from day to day. You gotta eat food. Not macros.2 -
Well, ladies... very nicely stated. Millions of thanks.0
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collegefbfan wrote: »I do keep forgetting the 4, 4, 9 thing especially when I gauge by calories only or at least try to. I am guessing the part I am not understanding is the part of what fat I eat and what fat comes from my body. I am afraid of overeating. I feel that I won't overeat if I have some guidelines and restrictions. That is why I have questions related to macros and calories and such. You all are explaining everything well, but I just feel like the guidelines are better than saying eat until satiated. I mean I am the guy that used to eat two suppers. lol
I can completely relate. Growing up poor, we ate all we had and were rarely full. The exceptions were when we went to a pizza buffet about once a month after church. That is when I learned to really pack it away.
Here I am decades later and still struggle with the idea that if there is food in front of me, I don't have to eat it. It is ok to stop if I am not hungry and not eat to the point of pain.
Even though I am at goal weight, and I am active enough I can burn off extra if needed, I know it is not healthy to eat the volume I do sometimes. I don't think all of us feel satiety the same way.
What I can say that helps some is making sure I only take out the portion size I know I should eat and make it as much of an inconvenience as possible to get more. From that standpoint, I definitely understand your personal need for the guidelines to avoid looking back and realizing you doubled your planned calories.1 -
collegefbfan wrote: »I do keep forgetting the 4, 4, 9 thing especially when I gauge by calories only or at least try to. I am guessing the part I am not understanding is the part of what fat I eat and what fat comes from my body. I am afraid of overeating. I feel that I won't overeat if I have some guidelines and restrictions. That is why I have questions related to macros and calories and such. You all are explaining everything well, but I just feel like the guidelines are better than saying eat until satiated. I mean I am the guy that used to eat two suppers. lol
Yesterday you indicated you should eat about 1800 calories and couple of us concurred that given your stats of 5'8", male, 233 lbs, sedentary: 1800 is about right for weight loss.
THE BASIC GUIDELINE IS THIS: don't eat more than 1800 calories.
With your stats, you need about 2500 calories per day to maintain 233 pounds. 2500 is your TDEE.
Your desire is to lose.
If you eat only 1800 calories per day, that gives you a 700 calorie per day deficit.
700 calories x 7 days = 4900 weekly calorie deficit
4900 divided by 3500 calories (in a pound) should result about a 1.4 pound loss per week which could be considered about 1.4 pounds of fat loss per week.
2500 calories minus 80 calories from carbs minus 408 calories from protein minus 1312 calories from fat leaves a remainder of 700 calories NOT EATEN which is the calorie deficit. The 700 calorie deficit is the fat that comes from your body.
2500-80-408-1312=700 calorie deficit aka fat loss
Plan your food each day so that you:
Don't go over the 5% carbs which is about 80 calories of carbs. Stay under on carbs.
Stay around the 25% proteins which is about 408 calories. Shoot for the target.
Plan to not exceed the 70% fat which is about 1312 calories.
On days that you're not so hungry: go shy on the fats but stay under your carbs, shoot for the protein (to maintain lean body mass). Anything you don't eat of the 1312 in fats, is a additional deficit to the 700 calorie deficit you have already built in (from the 2500 needed to maintain) thus additional body fat loss. This is where the thought "if you're not hungry don't eat" or "you don't need to eat all the fats" comes in.
Again, stay under your carb goal of 5% (80 calories), shoot for your protein goal of 25% (408 calories) and if you're not hungry don't worry about getting in all the fats. If you're hungry and low on protein have something with protein to be in proximity to your protein goal and maintain lean body mass. If your hungry and you've reached your carbs and proteins, eat fat.4 -
@cstehansen "I don't think all of us feel satiety the same way."
Thanks you so much. I thought I was crazy there for awhile there.
@kpk54
That outlines it perfectly!!! I was being told by some that 1800 was still too low. Okay, well now the provided posts above really have me feeling better.0 -
@baconslave - this is a fabulous post about hunger and how to figure out how to eat for yourself... Is this already covered in the sticky??0
