Meeting Macros
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emilybeaver
Posts: 365 Member
No breakfast this morning as I wasn't hungry. I logged what I had for lunch. Dinner I logged projected what I will be eating. Should I eat more to meet my macros for protein/fat? Or leave it be?
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As far as I know, if you do not meet the goals one day, it is not too bad. However, you should meet at least proteins another day.1
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Don’t force-feed yourself if your goal is weight loss, it’s not a habit that leads to weight loss.
In general, the advice is to view protein goals as a minimum, carb goals as a max limit, and eat fat for satiety. Scanning over your diary page you listed, you may need to re-plan some of your meals so the ratios fit your goals a bit better. Sometimes I focus on the percentages at a meal, more than the specific grams. And I take the average over a week to gauge my progress, I find that very low-appetite days will sometimes balance out with a day when I’m more hungry. But, if you’re trying for strict ketosis the averaging may not be optimal, you might find it’s detrimental to jump in and out of ketosis.1 -
It depends.
If you are fasting regularly then on non-fasting Times you should try to meet minimum macros, especially protein. I fast regularly and have to make sure I don’t break a fast with a small meal and then go right into another fast since I’m not really hungry.
If, however, some days you eat less and then some days you eat more, which is a normal appetite variance, then it all evens out. Not to worry.1 -
If this is a typical day, I'd say your protein is way too low. If these numbers happen only occasionally then you're fine. It's good to aim for your protein goal as best you can while still eating to hunger levels. For example, if you're not very hungry and only want a small portion of something, then at least make sure the food you do eat has adequate protein.1
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Thanks everyone!
@River_Goddess this is not a typical day. Most day I'm either at or VERY close to hitting my protein goal.
I don't "usually" fast but I just found I had no appetite yesterday morning. This morning I had no appetite right away but was hungry by 10am so I ate my breakfast. I'll probably eat a small snack here in a bit and then eat dinner. I'm hoping to hit my protein goal or at least close!2 -
I wouldn’t stress over it as you fat adapt your appetite will decrease and over time you will find a new altered caloric need. Under 1000 cals a day is very low, but as others said once in a while won’t hurt you. I fast for a day every other week. So that’s 0 cals....0
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You don't need to force feed if you're not hungry, but on days you do eat, hit protein and hit it aggressively. Keto isn't as lean mass sparing as everyone makes it out to be. You'd actually need to eat more protein on keto levels of carb intake to spare as much lbm as possible.
The simple reason is this. The body needs glucose to function. Carbs aren't necessary for human survival, but glucose gets created from anything it can use; i.e. protein and fat. If it's breaking down protein for glucose, without enough dietary protein, it will start picking apart anything made of amino acids to use like skeletal and cardiac tissue. You don't want this. So eat enough protein to meet the demands of gluconeogenesis to spare your lean mass.
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You don't need to force feed if you're not hungry, but on days you do eat, hit protein and hit it aggressively. Keto isn't as lean mass sparing as everyone makes it out to be. You'd actually need to eat more protein on keto levels of carb intake to spare as much lbm as possible.
The simple reason is this. The body needs glucose to function. Carbs aren't necessary for human survival, but glucose gets created from anything it can use; i.e. protein and fat. If it's breaking down protein for glucose, without enough dietary protein, it will start picking apart anything made of amino acids to use like skeletal and cardiac tissue. You don't want this. So eat enough protein to meet the demands of gluconeogenesis to spare your lean mass.
Thanks for weighing in on this. Keto-folk are always skeerd of protein and that long G-word. Protein isn't something to be afraid of. When I was doing keto, I felt better and performed better with more protein. If you don't eat enough protein, your body will get it in a way you don't want. So give it enough.
You can usually use a keto calc to determine your protein range. The more active you are the higher in the range you want to keep it. That might still be low. @anubis609 How do you feel about the estimates provided by most of those calculators. Do they hit the mark or miss it miserably in your opinion? I like the ankerl calc b/c it clearly shows the calc protein range. Others you have to change settings and re-calc to find the min and max or are just too complicated. Thoughts?1 -
baconslave wrote: »You don't need to force feed if you're not hungry, but on days you do eat, hit protein and hit it aggressively. Keto isn't as lean mass sparing as everyone makes it out to be. You'd actually need to eat more protein on keto levels of carb intake to spare as much lbm as possible.
The simple reason is this. The body needs glucose to function. Carbs aren't necessary for human survival, but glucose gets created from anything it can use; i.e. protein and fat. If it's breaking down protein for glucose, without enough dietary protein, it will start picking apart anything made of amino acids to use like skeletal and cardiac tissue. You don't want this. So eat enough protein to meet the demands of gluconeogenesis to spare your lean mass.
Thanks for weighing in on this. Keto-folk are always skeerd of protein and that long G-word. Protein isn't something to be afraid of. When I was doing keto, I felt better and performed better with more protein. If you don't eat enough protein, your body will get it in a way you don't want. So give it enough.
You can usually use a keto calc to determine your protein range. The more active you are the higher in the range you want to keep it. That might still be low. @anubis609 How do you feel about the estimates provided by most of those calculators. Do they hit the mark or miss it miserably in your opinion? I like the ankerl calc b/c it clearly shows the calc protein range. Others you have to change settings and re-calc to find the min and max or are just too complicated. Thoughts?
I actually prefer to use current bodyweight as a basis for protein. Online calculators in general are "okay" but that's highly dependent on what formula they're basing it from.
I generally try to suggest something simple: if you are normal to slightly overweight, aim for ~1g/lb of bodyweight. If you have A LOT to lose (>30% bf) then aim for about 0.7-0.8g/lb of bodyweight. If you are underweight, aim for 1.2g/lb of bodyweight. But keep it constant on average. Protein doesn't get stored, per se, so a daily requirement is actually needed. And if you're under on one day, bump it up the next day. If you're over one day, then just get your normal amount the next day, etc.
In my opinion, getting less protein is more deleterious than getting more than enough.3 -
So I have found the last few days I have very little appetite. I had two protein drinks yesterday to just meet my protein goal. But only about 1200 calories. Scale didn't budge today (which is I fine I get it won't go down daily). Today I went to lunch with some coworkers. I shouldn't have went. I really wasn't hungry but wanted to go and a part of the "group. Now I feel almost sick. Guess I'll go back to listening to my body and only eating when I'm hungry. Yesterday I went from 930am-230pm without eating. Then from about 230-8pm with a protein drink for "dinner".1
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It almost sounds like a psmf the way you've set up your eating strategy. It's fine for short periods, just don't get used to eating this chronically low for very long, especially if you're already lean. You will experience days of hunger some time in the future, so go along with them, but be mindful that you're not triggered into a binge which is usually the outcome for most people their first time or two when rebounding back from extended periods of not eating much.1
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@anubis609 I am by no means lean. I have lots of "fat" to lose. I don't want to mess up my metabolism or make things worse. I should be able to get all my macros in tonight or at least the protein ones and close to the calories.
Since you seem educated in this manner. My husband has been doing keto and has hit his maintenance. He doesn't seem to eat a lot and I'm worried he isn't eating enough. He eats breakfast normally a 3 egg omelette with some kind of meat and cheese, very little for lunch maybe some nuts and cheese and then dinner. He works for a retail chain and is on his feet all day and probably walks at least 18,000+ steps a day. Does he need to up his protein/calories?1 -
Actually, it's really difficult to destroy your metabolism permanently. The Minnesota starvation study is cited in many articles which all support the argument for adaptive thermogenesis, but actual metabolism regulates itself and will adjust according energy supply and demand. So metabolism never actually gets damaged and will bounce back in an environment with an energy surplus.
There's a lot of nuanced things going on in this thread, so I'll try to keep it relative:
- Calories will always count on any diet in any living organism. It's the measurement of energy input and output.
- For fat loss purposes, being in a energy deficit is going to result in fat loss. The bigger the deficit, the higher the requirement for protein to retain lean body mass. Consequently, energy deficits put the body into a state of wanting to expend less as a way of adapting. The opposite is true; if there is more than enough energy in circulation, the body will expend more.
- Hunger is going to be completely subjective per person. In the early stages of keto, many people find difficulty in actually maintaining an eating schedule because hunger is reduced, presumably because the focus shifts over to protein from carbs; protein is the most satiating macronutrient between the three.
- The intensity of physical activity places an extra demand on protein to preserve lean mass. If your husband is happily walking around all day with minimal hunger, he's fine from an energy standpoint, and depending on his body fat level, he may very well be able to sustain it. The only priority on getting enough dietary protein to sustain his lean body mass.
- If you have excess body fat to lose, the same rule applies. There is no need to force feed, but protein will be a priority since you and your husband may perceivably be running a consistent calorie deficit.
*The reduced hunger on a keto/low carb diet is temporary. Your body will adapt to a glycogen depleted state in the long run and keto becomes just like any other diet out there where usual dieting symptoms of hunger, irritability, lethargy, etc. all manifest and are normal.
Strategies you can follow while hunger is reduced:
Eat easily digestible protein food if eating large meals is seemingly impossible
On days when hunger is there, feel free to focus on nutrient dense, whole food sources
Don't get too hung up on the day-to-day so much, focus on weekly averages of intake; some days might be more than others
Enjoy this period of reduced hunger because once it's gone, it doesn't really come back :P5
