Macro help!

MaChew94 · January 2017

Hey all! I've been trying to get help with my macros on various sites to no avail - I wonder if any of you can help. Basically, I was under the impression that to lose weight you need to eat 1g protein for each 1lb of body weight - for me, weighing 240 lb, that would be 240. I've just gone on to my fitness, joined and set up an account, and inputted my data. I weigh 17.2 stone now, and I want to be 14.1 by 1 August this year. That's 108kg to 90kg. This is fine, but looking at my macros, they're not at all what I was expecting. My calorie count is 1,600ish, not 2.8k as I was led to believe, and my macros weigh in (sorry for the pun) at 96 g protein, 64 g fat and 239 g carbs.

My question is is this to be trusted? It seems a lot less to eat that I thought I would need. I'm heading to the gym tonight and will ask a worker there about dieting and macro tips, and see if he can set me up a meal plan or get my head around my macros. Can anyone help? are these numbers about right? for clarity, i'm 5ft 10 and weigh 240 lb (some muscle mass, some fat still left to come off).

Further, are there good apps for meal planning? I know this is good for tracking, but what about planning, and then inputting here for a log?

Thanks all

demorelli · January 2017

Where did you get the 2.8k figure from?

StealthHealth · January 2017

Not knowing your stats makes it a little hard to comment accurately but I'd expect a 240lb male to be able to lose on much more than 1600. Of course, your level of activity and whether you exercise or not has a large impact on your calories.

Plug your stats into this and it will spit out a few different calorie targets depending on your goals:

http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

At your weight you'd be safe on 2lb per week in the beginning but you'll need to lower that rate of loss as you approach your goal.

On the protein front - top end would be 1g per lb of lean body mass and many would argue that even this is overkill. Calculating Body Fat % is tricky but as a very rough estimate you could guesstimate that at your target weight you would be 15- 17% body fat and use that to figure out your target lean body mass and therefore your current %BF.

MaChew94 · January 2017

@demorelli the 2.8K figure was from a few other "macro" and calorie programmes, but this app is coming up with 1.6 - 1.9k (1.9K comes up when I enter the calories lost when running).

@Stealthhealth I'm moderately active - I have a desk job but i'm at the gym 3 times a week doing cardio and calisthenics, and enjoy walks and such on the weekend.

I went through my goals setting up this account, and want to drop 18 Kg by August - I'm going to a festival and want to be in good shape (i want to be in good shape in general but this seems like a nice target). I've heard that 2lb a week is a good rate, may I ask why I'd need to slow down as I get to my goal? Is 2 lb a week dangerous the lighter you are?

So, I'm 240 lb (17.2 St, honestly I thought I was still 15.5ish - I don't look 17.2, that is to say it's not all fat, I have a well developed upper body and decent muscle mass in that area, it's just my stomach! I'd guess I'm towards the top end of 17& BF, maybe even into the twenties area, I'll have a look at calculating it soon.)

Based on this, would you say that the macros given to me when plugging in my stats are correct? i.e. 96 g protein, 64 g fat and 239 g carbs? 239 seems hard to hit - looks like carbs with every meal!

One final question before I try your link out - do your macros change as you lose weight? For instance, let's say by this time next month I've lost the 8 lbs I wanted to - do I require SLIGHTLY less on each one, and if so what is the rate? Sorry for all the Q's - I've been researching this but there's so much conflicting information, and it's hard to find a clear answer!

Thanks for your help

StealthHealth · January 2017

MaChew94 wrote: »

a week is a good rate, may I ask why I'd need to slow down as I get to my goal? Is 2 lb a week dangerous the lighter you are?

As you get lighter you need less calories to continue to lose weight. Close to target you may find that this means that you're eating very little, which is a pain in the *kitten*.
Aggressive weight loss when close to normal BMI has been shown to include the loss of lean mass (muscle etc) which is something that you don't want. To mitigate you should take the last stages of your loss more gently (and ensure you eat adequate protein and perform some strength work as part of your exercise regime)

MaChew94 wrote: »

Based on this, would you say that the macros given to me when plugging in my stats are correct? i.e. 96 g protein, 64 g fat and 239 g carbs? 239 seems hard to hit - looks like carbs with every meal!

I'm probably going to get crucified by the "protein is bad for humans and the environment" brigade here but I'd be aiming for more protein (I eat at least 150g per day and sometimes much, much more) at the expense of the carbs. Why? Because protein is filling and muscle sparing when in deficit. But, that said, it's really a personal choice and some people do much better on high carb. To be clear, I'm not saying carbs are bad, but that my experience is that I feel much better on higher protein, and because we don't want to lose all those good fats and so maintain a decent amount of fat in the diet, the only thing to cut out is some of the carbohydrate.

MaChew94 wrote: »

One final question before I try your link out - do your macros change as you lose weight? For instance, let's say by this time next month I've lost the 8 lbs I wanted to - do I require SLIGHTLY less on each one, and if so what is the rate? Sorry for all the Q's - I've been researching this but there's so much conflicting information, and it's hard to find a clear answer!

I am a simple creature and this is what I have found works for me - I have a minimum protein and fat target which I hit regardless of my weight, whether I am cutting, bulking , or maintaining. I then flex my carbs to allow me to hit my calorific target for the day. In practice this means that when I'm bulking (trying to add muscle) i get to eat a lot of carbs, but when cutting much less (but still over 100g per day - so not Keto or anything like that).

So, I use:

1g per lb LEAN BODY MASS for protein.
0.4g per lb current weight for fat (my weight doesn't fluctuate that much so my fat is reasonably static - for you you may find that the fat allowance drops slightly every stone or so. But, don't stress over it too much, just get some decent fats in your diet for the good of your health).

TavistockToad · January 2017

MFP's default settings are fine for your macros.

0.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight is what i aim for 1g per pound is excessive unless you're bulking.

StealthHealth · January 2017

TavistockToad wrote: »

MFP's default settings are fine for your macros.

0.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight is what i aim for 1g per pound is excessive unless you're bulking.

If you're over 20% BF then 0.8g per lb total body weight is more than 1g per lean body weight.

OP is 240lb so 0.8g per lb would mean 192g. If we guesstimate his BF as 45%* 0.8g per lean body weight would be 132g.

*Guestimate based on height of 5'10" = 155lb at BF15% so LBM = 132lb which puts OP at 132 LBM + 108lb fat = 45%BF (I think!).

Plus, my understanding was that you needed more protein when cutting (to preserve LBM) than when bulking?

TavistockToad · January 2017

StealthHealth wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

MFP's default settings are fine for your macros.

0.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight is what i aim for 1g per pound is excessive unless you're bulking.

If you're over 20% BF then 0.8g per lb total body weight is more than 1g per lean body weight.

OP is 240lb so 0.8g per lb would mean 192g. If we guesstimate his BF as 45%* 0.8g per lean body weight would be 132g.

*Guestimate based on height of 5'10" = 155lb at BF15% so LBM = 132lb which puts OP at 132 LBM + 108lb fat = 45%BF (I think!).

Plus, my understanding was that you needed more protein when cutting (to preserve LBM) than when bulking?

OP had said 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, not LBM, thats why i suggested a lower amount.

MaChew94 · January 2017

Ok, a lot of info coming in here. Based on what you said, what should my macros be? According to this site, when plugging in the weight I want to drop (2lb a week) I need 1.6k Calories, 210g carbs, 96g protein and 64g fat. Today, I was 16g carbs over (I'm gonna be teething for a while before I figure out my portion sizes and whatnot) but according to My fitness pal, when I uploaded today's diet (coming in at VERY slightly under each thing -6 calories under, 5g protein under) I'd weigh 16.6 Stone in 5 weeks - that's 4kg in 5 weeks, coming in at 8.8 lbs over 5 weeks, which is almost at my desired weight loss - I want to be 90Kg by July/August.

So, what do you guys think? According to this site, if I stick to those macros I will lose my desired weight. Are these numbers to be trusted? Is there somewhere to add manual weight to the site so that macros jiggle automatically?

Again, sorry for the Qs, but you guys are more experienced in this than me, and I want to get rid of this weight now! Again, thanks for the help!

Side note; 1.6k cal was not hard at all, I didn't get hungry in the day, and I cooked a lovely chili tonight that I can have for lunch tomorrow - comes in at 700 cal and almost 100g of carbs with a packet of rice, however!

P.S. I'm aiming for 3 square meals - do you guys advocate snacks? i.e. smaller portion sizes of main meals, and maybe have a snack at 11am or so (i usually eat B'fast at 8:30, lunch at 1ish (when work times allow) and dinner around 5, with the exception of Tuesdays where I eat at 7:30).

P.P.S - how hard is it to keep the weight off when you've lost a lot?

TL,DR; eating to the recommended macros today felt good, I can finally start meal planning and budgeting and according to this site I'm on track to lose 8lbs in 5 weeks. Can this site be trusted or is there a very scientific macro calc, or do I just need to trial it for a month or so and see the results?

Thanks all!

lemurcat12 · January 2017

MaChew94 wrote: »

Basically, I was under the impression that to lose weight you need to eat 1g protein for each 1lb of body weight - for me, weighing 240 lb, that would be 240.

That's common broscience, but it's wrong.

To maintain muscle when losing weight (not to lose weight, but I still think it's important) it's good to eat around .8-1 g of protein per lb of lean body mass. Since most don't know LBM, a good proxy is around .8 g per lb of healthy goal weight. So if your goal is 200, you'd go with 160 g. (If you are aiming for 12% BF at some weight and think it would be realistic I suppose you could calculate LBM from that number and use it, but really it doesn't have to be that specific -- .8 g of a healthy goal in lb will be plenty.)

I've just gone on to my fitness, joined and set up an account, and inputted my data. I weigh 17.2 stone now, and I want to be 14.1 by 1 August this year. That's 108kg to 90kg. This is fine, but looking at my macros, they're not at all what I was expecting. My calorie count is 1,600ish, not 2.8k as I was led to believe, and my macros weigh in (sorry for the pun) at 96 g protein, 64 g fat and 239 g carbs.

MFP goals are BEFORE exercise, so you add exercise back. That's part of the difference.

You probably told MFP 2 lb/week, and TDEE calculators use percentages, so that probably had a slower loss rate (if that's where you got the 2800).

You also may have told MFP sedentary -- are you really? Most are at least lightly active.

I suspect 1600 is (far) too low, so you'd want to increase it or log back exercise or both. I can't guess at the right numbers without knowing more about you, though.

Further, are there good apps for meal planning? I know this is good for tracking, but what about planning, and then inputting here for a log?

Thanks all

I've always just used MFP for planning, but I think this is supposed to be helpful: https://www.eatthismuch.com/

I think there's a free option (or there used to be). If I'm wrong and it's all pay, ignore this -- you can find what you need without paying.

MaChew94 · January 2017

Ok, I've been doing this for a week and the eating is going well - sticking to the calories is easy and I'm not feeling hungry or anything like that.

I feel I may have used wrong data - i.e. my scales are funky. 6 days ago it told me I'm 17.2 stone, I went on yesterday and it told me I'm 16 st, 6 lb, which is obviously way out. I used the same conditions, same scale, same everything. I'm going to try it again tomorrow morning (I've recently eaten) and see what it says, but I feel I'm more around the 16.6 stone mark. EDIT just weighed myself and I'm 17st again, though I have just eaten..

This is gonna throw my macros around, so I'll have a juggle, but what I wanted to ask was 239 g of carbs is proving downright silly, if I'm honest. I don't usually like to eat a huge amount of carbs, but I'm struggling to hit the limit, and that's with every meal having carbs. Can someone give me some insight as to how to change my macros around? my protein goal of 96 is also low, I'm hitting above that usually.

The exercise also seems hard to input on this, so I haven't bothered, but I know roughly the amount of calories I'm burning. I think I did input myself wrong, I put sedentary because of my desk job, and I put weight loss as the main goal despite me working my upper body 3 times a week with pullups, dips etc. preparing my body for calisthenic programmes.

TL,DR; 1.6k calories is fine but seems quite low - I can stick to it, however. How can I juggle my macros and basically how do i know that the macros I'm following is right? I can eat what this is telling me, but if I'm eating 100g more carbs than I should per day I won't shift *kitten*. It's getting really frustrating because I'm putting in a lot of hard work both in resisting temptations and eating clean (with the odd cheat meal here and there) and with the exercise, and I just want to shift this weight off, but there's so much information people are telling me and I've found out through researching but nothing but this site to go off in terms of the quantities I should be eating.

TL, Really DR; I think I'm around 17st, maybe a few lb less, and I'm doing OK but I need to know the macros this site are giving me are the right ones - I'll stick to it for a few more weeks, and if I start seeing results great, but I really feel these macros are a little out, and short of you guys telling me what's recommended I don't know what else I can do but go with it and see what happens - I'm feeling really lost.

Macro help!

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