Can someone help me count my macros?
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billyeann90
Posts: 86 Member
I have never done anything under a low calorie diet. It always causes relapse and back to my old ways because I get depressed. I'm 110% determined and disciplined to make a lifestyle change! I have been doing so much research on the most healthy ways to lose weight, keep it off, and live an active healthy life. I have never counted macros before but I understand the concept and need help figuring out how to get the amount of macros I need in a day. Any and all help appreciated!!
Also feel free to add me for inspiration and support!!
Also feel free to add me for inspiration and support!!
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Replies
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Are you trying to lose weight or maintain?1
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Lose weight. I weighed 242 last time I weighed myself. I'm 5'6
I really cannot believe I ever let myself get this big.. I had my daughter a year ago and it was like after I had her I couldn't swing my depression. My doctor prescribes me Zoloft and I recently just starter taking phentermine. I started my journey 9 days ago. I'm 125% dedicated to this journey. I'm really starting to pull out of the funk.
That being said any help and all help is 100% appreciated.1 -
First you need to figure out how many total calories you will consume to lose a pound or two per week. Have you used a TDEE calculator? Or what does MFP tell you? There are macro calculators online. I just personally set mine to .8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, or lean body mass (when heavier), .35g of fat per pound of body weight, and the rest in carbs. The carbs will be where I mainly make the deficit, as my fat intake doesn't vary much between weight loss and maintenance.3
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How many calories a day did MFP come up with for after you set your goals to lose one pound a week?
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Calorie consumption will dictate weight loss.
'Macros' are carbohydrates, fats and protein. 1g of each contain 4, 9 and 4 calories respectively.
When people talk about counting macros they are not only looking at overall calorie consumption but also at the constituent make up of macronutrients in their overall diet.
However, the amount of overall calories will dictate weight loss/maintainance/gain.
You need to consume less calories than you use, so your body has to make up the deficit by utilising it's stored reserves of energy, one of which will be bodyfat.
'Macros' alone will do nothing for weight related goals if calories are not at the desired level.
As for what macros you need, as long as you're hitting minimum recommended amounts it's really personal preference, whatever promotes adherence and maximises athletic performance.
Maybe start with the macros listed above by @bbell1985, accurately track and monitor results and tweak as you feel necessary.4 -
I have similar starting stats as you, 5'5" and 228lbs.
I started this time around doing a 40 carb : 30 protein : 30 fat macro split on my calories (1670 calories gave me 167g carbs, 125g protein and 55g fat).
I found trying to make sure all my macros were right too fiddly, so now I focus on getting my 125g of protein and let the other two macros fill up until I hit my calorie limit. Last week my split was 40c:31f:29p and the week before was 39c:31f:30p so even though I'm not focused on the other two, they stay about where I wanted them, originally. Probably, because I've found a mix of protein, fat and fibre keep me from feeling hungry.
I'm about 9 weeks in and have lost 21lbs by doing the above and eating back around half of my exercise calories.3 -
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40% carbs/ 30% fat/ 30% protein is a good breakdown and easy to set (edit) in your goals, here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals- Also, DON'T under eat. 1330 is probably even too low.
- 40/30/30.
- Eat all your calories; focus on Protein.
- When you exercise enter it into the Exercise tab here and eat those extra couple hundred calories.
Eating too little leads to binges, depression, irritability, sleep problems, lack of energy, hair loss, brittle nails and dry skin and worst of all leads to giving up. Slow and steady wins the race.9 -
billyeann90 wrote: »
1100 is very low, suggest eating the 1330 and doing a bit more exercise, you'll still lose weight and will be less hungry1 -
Calorie consumption will dictate weight loss.
'Macros' are carbohydrates, fats and protein. 1g of each contain 4, 9 and 4 calories respectively.
When people talk about counting macros they are not only looking at overall calorie consumption but also at the constituent make up of macronutrients in their overall diet.
However, the amount of overall calories will dictate weight loss/maintainance/gain.
You need to consume less calories than you use, so your body has to make up the deficit by utilising it's stored reserves of energy, one of which will be bodyfat.
'Macros' alone will do nothing for weight related goals if calories are not at the desired level.
As for what macros you need, as long as you're hitting minimum recommended amounts it's really personal preference, whatever promotes adherence and maximises athletic performance.
Maybe start with the macros listed above by @bbell1985, accurately track and monitor results and tweak as you feel necessary.
Thank you and bell so much for the insight! Its helped a lot. Mfp tells me to eat 1330 calories a day and I usually try to hit mfp chart goals but I feel as of 150-200 carbs a day is too many. which is what lead me to wanting to learn to count the macros to keep a well balanced diet that will still promote weight loss while staying at 1100;1200 calories a day.
Macros may be too advanced for me right now though and as long as counting calories work I'll continue to figure out the rest and incorporate all over time.
You guys are awesome0 -
billyeann90 wrote: »Calorie consumption will dictate weight loss.
'Macros' are carbohydrates, fats and protein. 1g of each contain 4, 9 and 4 calories respectively.
When people talk about counting macros they are not only looking at overall calorie consumption but also at the constituent make up of macronutrients in their overall diet.
However, the amount of overall calories will dictate weight loss/maintainance/gain.
You need to consume less calories than you use, so your body has to make up the deficit by utilising it's stored reserves of energy, one of which will be bodyfat.
'Macros' alone will do nothing for weight related goals if calories are not at the desired level.
As for what macros you need, as long as you're hitting minimum recommended amounts it's really personal preference, whatever promotes adherence and maximises athletic performance.
Maybe start with the macros listed above by @bbell1985, accurately track and monitor results and tweak as you feel necessary.
Thank you and bell so much for the insight! Its helped a lot. Mfp tells me to eat 1330 calories a day and I usually try to hit mfp chart goals but I feel as of 150-200 carbs a day is too many. which is what lead me to wanting to learn to count the macros to keep a well balanced diet that will still promote weight loss while staying at 1100;1200 calories a day.
Macros may be too advanced for me right now though and as long as counting calories work I'll continue to figure out the rest and incorporate all over time.
You guys are awesome
Carbs do not make you fat. Excess calories make you fat.
Personally I would aim to reach my protein goal (0.8g per lb) and not worry so much about fat and carbs. Just aim for your calorie goal (1330 plus exercise calories) - the number mfp gives you has a deficit calculated in to it. It's a goal to reach, not a number to be under.6 -
billyeann90 wrote: »
1,100 calories isn't enough. 1200 calories before exercise is MFP's DEFAULT minimum. 1200 is for very petite AND sedentary women. 5'6" isn't petite.
You've said that you tried and failed before (always relapsed). Drastic calorie cuts and extreme changes lead to relapse. Besides you don't learn about current eating habits. You need to LEARN about your behavior to maintain.
Set your weekly weight loss goal for no more that 1.5 pounds a week and meet those calories. As you get closer to goal move that goal down to 1 pound a week, then 1/2 pound a week. If you add exercise, eat 50% of those calories too.
Macros - protein, fat and carbs help you figure out what is satiating. Macros are for medical issues. Macros are for training/fitness goals.7 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »billyeann90 wrote: »Calorie consumption will dictate weight loss.
'Macros' are carbohydrates, fats and protein. 1g of each contain 4, 9 and 4 calories respectively.
When people talk about counting macros they are not only looking at overall calorie consumption but also at the constituent make up of macronutrients in their overall diet.
However, the amount of overall calories will dictate weight loss/maintainance/gain.
You need to consume less calories than you use, so your body has to make up the deficit by utilising it's stored reserves of energy, one of which will be bodyfat.
'Macros' alone will do nothing for weight related goals if calories are not at the desired level.
As for what macros you need, as long as you're hitting minimum recommended amounts it's really personal preference, whatever promotes adherence and maximises athletic performance.
Maybe start with the macros listed above by @bbell1985, accurately track and monitor results and tweak as you feel necessary.
Thank you and bell so much for the insight! Its helped a lot. Mfp tells me to eat 1330 calories a day and I usually try to hit mfp chart goals but I feel as of 150-200 carbs a day is too many. which is what lead me to wanting to learn to count the macros to keep a well balanced diet that will still promote weight loss while staying at 1100;1200 calories a day.
Macros may be too advanced for me right now though and as long as counting calories work I'll continue to figure out the rest and incorporate all over time.
You guys are awesome
Carbs do not make you fat. Excess calories make you fat.
Personally I would aim to reach my protein goal (0.8g per lb) and not worry so much about fat and carbs. Just aim for your calorie goal (1330 plus exercise calories) - the number mfp gives you has a deficit calculated in to it. It's a goal to reach, not a number to be under.
This^^. There is no benefit to eating too restrictively calorie wise. Protein is the most important macro so hit that. As long as the rest is a reasonable amount of fat and carbs, your good. !330 is tight, 1100 is just unnecessary. While eating more more take more time to lose the weight, you will preserve muscle mass and learn habits for when you are at goal and maintaining.2 -
It's important to get enough protein because as you lose weight eating enough protein helps you retain your muscle. At your current weight I would suggest you use the percentages,25 or 30. Going with .8-1 grams of protein per pound of body weight would be 193-242 grams of protein. That's 772-968 calories of the 1330 calories only for protein...doesn't leave you much room for anything else
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Eat all your calories please, eating less may help you to fail. I eat the calories advised by MFI and let them worry about the macros. 1
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billyeann90 wrote: »
At your height of 5'6" (same as me) and weight of 242, at 1100 calories a day, you are undereating, which can lead to burnout and binging.
I've been your weight, and I know a pound or two a week feels frustratingly slow. However, the time will pass before you know it.
When I started focusing on foods that satiated me and slowly adding exercise, I immediately felt better, and that was more important than big losses on the scale every week.3 -
Yes I don't know what Macros is used for either!1
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billyeann90 wrote: »Thank you and bell so much for the insight! Its helped a lot. Mfp tells me to eat 1330 calories a day and I usually try to hit mfp chart goals but I feel as of 150-200 carbs a day is too many. which is what lead me to wanting to learn to count the macros to keep a well balanced diet that will still promote weight loss while staying at 1100;1200 calories a day.
You've got good advice already about reasonable calorie goals, so please do take that on board.
But I have one other point that might be useful to carry with you into this journey...
Do you feel that 150-200g carbs a day is too many in your head or in your body?
If it's your brain having this wacky idea, then just try the MFP calories and macros for a month or so, and see how it goes. Tracking 4 things really isn't that much worse than tracking one, although initially I found that it can lead to some rather peculiar dinners if you haven't paid attention to your macro split earlier in the day! (Hint: turn your phone sideways on the diary screen to get the macro split to show.)
If over that time it becomes clear that it's actually a physical feeling, then by all means start to tweak your macros to get the calories you need in a way that makes your body happy.
I honestly think that being able to isolate your brain's ideas from the signals your body is actually sending is really important in being successful with reaching body goals in general.
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Since everybody else has the advice portion pretty well covered, I am confused on a point...
At one spot you are 110% committed to this.
At another you are 125% committed.
Is the truth that you are 117.5% committed?
If so how is one more than 100% committed at any given time?2 -
MatthewRuch wrote: »Since everybody else has the advice portion pretty well covered, I am confused on a point...
At one spot you are 110% committed to this.
At another you are 125% committed.
Is the truth that you are 117.5% committed?
If so how is one more than 100% committed at any given time?
This.
If your 100% really is 100%, then it's impossible to do more.
Just make darn sure it really is 100%!
3
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