help with Macro goals for Prediabetic

joyfuljan77
joyfuljan77 Posts: 26 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I am looking for help from many of you who have been in my situation and lost weight to become healthy. I am 58 years old, 5'5" and weigh 200 lbs. I have multiple sclerosis so I am pretty sedentary other than "easy" yoga on days that I am able and a little walking as my legs allow.

Because I am on the prediabetic borderline I need to lose 50 lbs to become healthy. My goal is to lose slowly as to keep the weight off. My calories range from the doctor is 1350 - 1400 a day. The dietitian had originally put me on 1250 calories and I gained weigh. :( The endocrinologist felt the calories given by the dietitian were too low. I know I need to change and eat primarily good carbs and less total carbs than I am eating now. I have my goals set at carbs 40% / proteins 30% / fats 30%. The carb grams fall within the range I was given but the protein grams seem high.

I would appreciate any advice as to how you were able to lose your weigh and how your goals were set to enable you to lose. Thanks!!

Replies

  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    I lost by measuring my food on a digital scale. It is very unlikely (I actually think it is completely impossible) at your stats to gain weight on 1250cal. Most likely you underestimated your intake. Or you ate at 1250 for too short a period and mistakenly took a fluctuation for a gain.
  • joyfuljan77
    joyfuljan77 Posts: 26 Member
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    I lost by measuring my food on a digital scale. It is very unlikely (I actually think it is completely impossible) at your stats to gain weight on 1250cal. Most likely you underestimated your intake. Or you ate at 1250 for too short a period and mistakenly took a fluctuation for a gain.

    Thanks for replying. It seems crazy but my body is weird. I was enrolled in an 8 week hospital based program with a dietitian. I weighed (on a digital scale) and measured my food religiously. I also recorded everything on MFP to which the dietitian had access. Because I gained weight I was referred to an endocrinologist. He was the one who bumped up the calorie intake. He said that if my calorie consumption was too low that it could cause my body to not release the weight. Concept seems silly but I trust him especially since I have lost a couple of lbs. in the past month. I have also changed the macro goals since seeing the doctor. I am finding it very difficult to eat all the protein grams suggested by changing the goals though.
  • Cbestinme
    Cbestinme Posts: 397 Member
    edited October 2016
    Hi Joyful,

    I thought I'd sent something but my phone seems to act up. Have you considered looking at grams of nutrients? Like try to eat about 0.6-0.8grams of protein for each pound of your target weight. Example: 0.6grams × 150pounds = 90grams of protein daily.

    The reason I'm suggesting you consider looking at grams is that you are likely tracking your sugar in grams, aren't you? Since you are likely to be doing that, you are likely looking at the Nutrition page daily in your mfp app. If that is the case, it may be easier to work with grams and find what number of grams of each nutrient will work best for your body.

    With your health care team you could review that protein goal, and also review how much fats suit you. Are you getting about 25 grams of fiber or more or less? Have you enough information to know which nutrients make your body feel satisfied? If there are a range of foods that you like that give you the nutrients your body needs you may start to actually enjoy eating 1400 calories.

    Fyi, my personal experience when I started eating about 1400 calories worth of nutrient rich foods I was surprised that my body was actually satiated and got used to those calories. I started seeing weight loss. At first my mfp loss goal was 1 pound per week. I later changed to 0.5 lbs per week. I've lost a bit more since my body is now more used to 1400 calories. I also was sedentary. I started walking a little at a time as I got stronger and more energy.

    Fyi2, to be honest those percentages quite frankly are too confusing for my personal situation to try and use them. In fact I was losing weight for 2 months without ever using any percentages, i didn't even know what macros were until I started asking questions on mfp. As I look back when I started counting calories, it would have been too confusing to monitor percentages which would change daily since I eat what I like. Not sure that makes sense. In any case please feel free to reach out if I could be of help somehow, eg support and encourage

    Edit: I still don't use macros or percentage and I'm still losing weight. If 0.6grams per pound is too much protein for you, use whichever one works for you. Also find which number of grams of healthy fats work for you. Etc.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    I followed Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. A great book for minimizing your insulin and lowering blood glucose. It's a low carb, high fat plan. Works great for many. I lost 40 lbs in about 5 months on it and my BG are mouch more stable.

    Carbs are kept low, at 5-10% or so. Protein is moderate at around 20%. Fat is the rest.

    The Wahl's Protocol might be a good approach too. It can be used to treat MS too. It's a lower carb plan but higher in veggies than Bernstein's plan.
  • joyfuljan77
    joyfuljan77 Posts: 26 Member
    Hi Cbestinme,

    Thank you for the very helpful reply! I have my food diary set up to show me the nutrients in grams. Is this what you are referring to? Yesterday I reset my macro goals using 1400 calories. Carbs are at 45% or 158 g, Protein at 25% or 88 g, and Fat at 30% or 47 g. So the protein is right at what you calculated. The doctor does not have me tracking sugar grams. His directions were to concentrate on complex carbs. Approx 30 g for breakfast and lunch and 30-45 g at dinner and then 2 snacks of approx. 15 g. which totals 120-135 g a day. When he looked at the food journal I had done he did say that I need to increase my protein from what I was eating. So basically I am trying to figure this all out and plan out meals so that I can get a feel of what I should be eating. A bit overwhelming at the moment. :)

    I have my weight loss goal set at .5 lbs per week as the doctor only wants me to loose 2-3 lbs. per month. He said in his experience I would be more likely to maintain the loss if I lost the weight slowly.

    Thanks again for the advice!!
  • joyfuljan77
    joyfuljan77 Posts: 26 Member
    Hi nvmomketo,

    Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am not familiar with either of these but will definitely look into them. Have a great weekend!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories