Macros help!

I personally try to hit my protein goal, then let the rest fall wherever. Playing with macros is mostly meant to aid you get the important nutrients in (namely protein) and help you figure out a distribution that makes dieting easier for you. My carbs actually hover between 40% and 70% depending on my calorie allowance and I have lost 100 pounds so far without having to overcomplicate things.

Dieting for body type is not a real thing, so don't worry about that article's recommendations. Eat the way you are comfortable eating, and as long as you are within your calorie budget your weight loss should be fine. Note if you decide to eat more carbs you may see some water weight gain. This is not a real gain and will only cause a temporary stall before you continue losing. Don't panic if this happens.

Saying that everyone should do carbs as the least macro is not right. Everyone has a different metabolism. It's going to depend more on how many calories you need to maintain weight. Here is the general breakdown of what I use (for someone that is not really overweight)
Protein: 0.8-1.2 g/lb of bodyweight
Fat: ~20-30% of daily calories
Carbs: the rest of your calories

Naturally, if you're at a low calorie intake, then the carbs will be less. I'm sitting at 2417 cal/day goal with a goal of 268 g of carbs/day (~45%). My friend Dave maintains weight at 3400 cal/day and probably is in the ~60% range for carbs. It's more complicated than what that article makes it sound like.

I think that you should do something that you can sustain and make progress on. I also think that you should eat as many calories as possible while making progress towards your goal. If you're at a weight you're happy with, then I would suggest you SLOWLY get your calories up over time with a reverse diet. This sets you up for better long-term success

I don't know what "body types" you were reading about, but in most cases, they don't relate to diet/macros unless:
> diabetic "type" - tends to do better LCHF
> endurance athlete "type" - tends to prefer HCLF

There are rule of thumb minimums for protein (varies depending on goal/activity) and for fat. It's smart to track fiber and get a minimum of that, too. It's more meaningful to hit your macro/micronutrient minimums in grams than to worry over percentages.

terbusha wrote: »

Protein: 0.8-1.2 g/lb of bodyweight
Fat: ~20-30% of daily calories
Carbs: the rest of your calories

Protein is variable. I usually see:
0.8-1.2 g/lb LBM, not total body weight for muscle sparing in a deficit
Eating in a surplus, muscle sparing isn't an issue, so much less protein is ok . I often see 1g/kg bodyweight.
Bulking is surplus eating, but slightly more protein can help.
It depends on goals and activities.

Also for fat, I generally see 0.35g/lb body weight.
For fiber, 20-25g for women & 25-30g for men.

Sounds like you were told you're an endomorph - me too! While controversial, I do think there's something to the body types thing actually. There has to be some explanation for why certain people are thin no matter what or how much they eat and then there's us who just look at food and gain weight!

The way you should calculate your macros is to set your protein first- base this on your height, weight, activity level, and wether or not you lift weights. Then determine your calories, calorie deficit, then fats, then whatever is left is your carbs.

MFP gives automatically set macros, I think only the calories are determined by the info you input. I'd suggest using a different source to calculate your macros and then manually set them in MFP (you can do this from the "goals" menu).

Macros are important, but if it's too confusing then just make sure you hit your protein goal and your calorie goal and you should be fine.

Don't feel bad. I was over on carbs and calories yesterday.

LOL, gotta cut the vodka, you won't get results how you like. Been there, done that