Help with macros

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venusjourney
venusjourney Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
Looking for someone who can explain how macros work and how to use them.

Thanks in advance,

Venus

Replies

  • fjmartini
    fjmartini Posts: 1,149 Member
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    Macros are your carbs, protein, and fats. Carbs and protein both equal 4 calories per gram and fat equals 9 calories per gram. Depending on what your fitness goals are and how you'd like to eat during the process will determine how you set them.
  • romans_6_18
    romans_6_18 Posts: 13 Member
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    Most food you add to MFP will include the appropriate amount of macros (carbs, proteins, fats) in grams. You set the percentage of each macro to your calories in your profile. Then, let's says, you exceed your daily desired amount of carbs, MFP will notify you. It helps you balance your diet, and prevents you from over eating too much of a particular macro.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Everything you eat is made up of some combo of carbs, protein, and fat. It's fine to start with the mfp default %s. Many folks look at the protein and fat numbers as minimums to hit or surpass, and let carbs take up whatever is left.

    Calories are for weight loss.
    Macros are for satiety, health, and some fitness goals. Satiety is very individual, once you've been logging for awhile, if you find you are hungry alot, you can play with your macro distribution to find where you are more comfortable.
  • JustRobby1
    JustRobby1 Posts: 674 Member
    edited September 2017
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    To the OP: You will get a multitude of answers to this question depending on who you ask. That said, adherence to any particular macro ratios won't make you lose any more weight. I pretty much ignore macros nowadays. I have probably looked at my chart here with serious intent maybe twice in the last 6 months. For the most part, unless you are a competing bodybuilder or professional athlete, it's a waste of time.
  • 62apples
    62apples Posts: 132 Member
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    Setting Your Macros keep you from over and under eating in one area.

    All Calories are equal. 500 calories of vegetables is not the same as 500 calories of pastries. Everything in life has the Goldilocks effect. Too little is not good; too much is not good. You need protein but don't over do it. You need fat. You need carbohydrates. And the type of carbohydrate is important too. If all your carbs were from cake then you would not have the fiber or vitamins that your body needs.

    People that diet incorrectly can break their internal monitoring system and end up fatter after the diet. I can only lose weight by a combination of max calories 1700 and macros 5-10% net carbs, 35% protein, balance is fat. But I know I need fiber which comes with carbs. So an avocado is great. I am on the keto diet.

    My daughter is able to lose weight by just calories and macros. We determined what her correct weight should be and how many calories a person at that ideal weight needs for maintenance. At that calorie level, she has lost ten pounds in two weeks. She also has to keep her macros balanced. And her carbs need to be mostly from vegetables. One fruit a day is enough. This method lets her practice eating that amount of food for the macros and calories, seeing what that amount looks like, and letting her stomach get used to what that amount feels like. She will eat this way for the rest of her life. It is not technically a weight loss diet, but she is losing weight.

    Back to macros. People that habitually eat too little protein end-up unable to stand up correctly. Children with poor posture also tend to lack adequate amounts of protein. A lack of protein causes muscle wasting and slows down the metabolism. Dr Axe says that high cholesterol is also a symptom of protein deficiency. Macro levels are important. Get your advice from the body builders, not the diet or health communities.

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