The Pie Graphs in the latest app upgrade

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Two questions:
What is the basis for the standard percentages of carbohydrates (55%), fats (30%) and protein (15%)? and...
How worried should I be over consistently departing from them?

Although the pie graphs for daily balance vary more widely, the weekly averages are pretty consistent, but in my case show low fat (typically 25%) and high protein (about 17 or 18%), with carbohydrates about right or maybe a little high... (55 to 57%).

I am happy with my current weight, which has gradually trended down to my ideal, maintained over the last three months (thank you, MyFitnessPal).

If anyone has expert knowledge on what to make of this, I'd be grateful for you sharing it. I'm under doctor's orders to cut out milk products, which could easily account for the deviations, but I am concerned about possible long-term effects.

Replies

  • bubbab666
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    I'm not going to swear that I'm right, but those percentages look pretty close to the numbers the FDA and Health Canada used to recommend decades ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they have not been updated.
    The sad thing is that high carbohydrate diets are more associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome, and CV disease than traditional diets.[ North American pre-1960s, Japanese, Mediterranean ,etc.]
    I usually advise my clients to lower the carb amounts to [conservative] something more like the 40/30/30 to start with and down the road maybe something like a 20/60/20[non-conservative].
    Good luck sir.
  • taem
    taem Posts: 495 Member
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    Two questions:
    What is the basis for the standard percentages of carbohydrates (55%), fats (30%) and protein (15%)? and...
    How worried should I be over consistently departing from them?

    Although the pie graphs for daily balance vary more widely, the weekly averages are pretty consistent, but in my case show low fat (typically 25%) and high protein (about 17 or 18%), with carbohydrates about right or maybe a little high... (55 to 57%).

    I am happy with my current weight, which has gradually trended down to my ideal, maintained over the last three months (thank you, MyFitnessPal).

    I would also say I am not an expert, but I also agree those percentages are pretty in line with the national recommendations. However, I do say this as this was told to me many times and that is everyone is different and it behooves you to know what you need at your age, weight and gender to achieve quality of health and long life.

    I have no experience in what you are going through so I recommend you see an experienced health professional who will do a needs assessment on you and your goals so a proper percentage plan can be developed.


    For me, I try to consume less than or equal to 10% fat, no more than 15% protein and the rest carbs. But this is because I am a vegan and I need to lose weight. Again, everyone is different. If I fudge the numbers, I don't cry about it, but I do learn from it and move on.
  • Roger_Williams
    Roger_Williams Posts: 70 Member
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    Thanks for the two replies. If the standard values are recommended averages from decades ago I am not so worried about not meeting them. The hospital where I regularly get treatment offers free consultations for dietary advice. I'll ask for an appointment and get a professional opinion. This may take some time, but when I have some answers I 'll share them here.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    Thanks for the two replies. If the standard values are recommended averages from decades ago I am not so worried about not meeting them. The hospital where I regularly get treatment offers free consultations for dietary advice. I'll ask for an appointment and get a professional opinion. This may take some time, but when I have some answers I 'll share them here.

    The recommendations come from general guides for the average person - ie current Food Pyramid, etc. They're conservative with protein and generous with fat and carbs.

    They are very general recommendations though, and not gospel at all. Just sort of a default - most people will be healthy eating those ratios, but some people will do better with tweaking. As a general rule, for active people without metabolic issues (gout, diabetes, etc) it's ok to be somewhere in these ranges:

    Fat - between 12% and 25%
    Proteins - between 15% and 35%
    Carbs - between 40% and 60% (with 90% of those being complex carbs)

    But if you have it available to you, a consult with a dietitian is always a good thing to get a more precise plan tailored for you, that takes into account age, activity, etc.
  • Roger_Williams
    Roger_Williams Posts: 70 Member
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    Thanks, Ladyhawk. I've found that there are considerable variations in the "standard" percentages. The current FDA-recommended daily intakes of fats, carbohydrates and proteins are expressed in grams (65, 50 and 300), and when you multiply these by typical figures for calories per gram (4 cal/gm for protein and carbs, 9 for fats) you get 1,995 calories with a percentage breakdown of only 10% for protein, 30% for fats and a high 60% for carbs. This is already significantly different from the MyFitnessPal percentages, which on my iPhone come out as 15, 30 and 55. I am elderly at 74 and lead a fairly sedentary life, so I am maintaining weight and health with an 1,800 calories daily diet. I try to keep a healthy balance between tofu and nuts, and animal protein but the total is still a little high. Until I get professional advice it looks as if I'm on a slightly "low fat, high protein" diet.
  • song2sing
    song2sing Posts: 183
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    Thanks, Ladyhawk. I've found that there are considerable variations in the "standard" percentages. The current FDA-recommended daily intakes of fats, carbohydrates and proteins are expressed in grams (65, 50 and 300), and when you multiply these by typical figures for calories per gram (4 cal/gm for protein and carbs, 9 for fats) you get 1,995 calories with a percentage breakdown of only 10% for protein, 30% for fats and a high 60% for carbs. This is already significantly different from the MyFitnessPal percentages, which on my iPhone come out as 15, 30 and 55. I am elderly at 74 and lead a fairly sedentary life, so I am maintaining weight and health with an 1,800 calories daily diet. I try to keep a healthy balance between tofu and nuts, and animal protein but the total is still a little high. Until I get professional advice it looks as if I'm on a slightly "low fat, high protein" diet.

    I am so proud of you Roger!! You are very inspirational! Keep on keeping on!!
  • Roger_Williams
    Roger_Williams Posts: 70 Member
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    Wow, Song2sing, that's a very encouraging comment, thank you!
  • pixiechick8321
    pixiechick8321 Posts: 284 Member
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    Just one more thing...if you want, you can change the percentages for your individual needs....I upped my protein, for example, to 20% since I want to strength build.

    These numbers though are general guidelines and the thing to keep in mind for each of them is that healthy version should be eaten more...for example, avocados are high in fat, but they are good fat and fruit can have a lot of carbs, but they are good carbs. A piece of fudge is also high in fat, but it's bad fat and white bread is high in carbs, but they are empty.

    So as long as you try and eat well and balance meals (ie, protein AND carbs together), the percentages are secondary.
  • taem
    taem Posts: 495 Member
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    I would ask you to research the two longest living populations in the world, that's China and Japan (they have the most amount of people over the age of 100) and see what kind of data they are pulling out of those countries. I cannot name the report myself since I own the DVD but I can tell you that after people retired, they lived longer due to calorie restriction (about 10% every decade). Again, I don't recommend this to you but to inform you that there are ways to good health and long life. Again, your goals are different so please take advantage of any free but experienced care.

    My parents are both in their 70s and they do fine with line and ballroom dancing (at the senior's club) and going for walks twice a day along with house maintenance and daily activity. Good luck to you!
  • Roger_Williams
    Roger_Williams Posts: 70 Member
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    Thanks, Pixiechick. My wife takes care of the quality of what we eat, and I hardly ever see white bread; tofu and nuts complement chicken and fish for protein with very little pork or beef. So I think she's doing a great job. And when I had my annual checkup earlier this year ALL of the parameters in my blood tests were in the healthy range--for the very first time in my life! I take your point about higher protein for building strength. Maybe these higher protein percentages in my diet are a hint that I should be doing more strengh-building exercises, (grin).
  • Roger_Williams
    Roger_Williams Posts: 70 Member
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    Thanks, Taem. As I live in Japan, and have done for well over half my life, I am well placed to research Japanese diet! Also my wife is Japanese (I've made my foods public and anything with a "Mika" brand is one of her creations). So we eat about half and half western and Japanese food. I hope that we are eating the BETTER halves of them both!
  • pam933
    pam933 Posts: 13 Member
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    Can you get those pie charts online or are they only on the mobile phone apps? I'd like to use them, but I can't find them online.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    Okay, I will weigh in as a professional in the fitness and nutrition field. The Actual Recommendations come form the Institute of Medicine Board of Nutrition and are adapted by the various boards of various countries (Like the FDA). The actual recommendation are in ranges, not exact percentages, and are as follows:

    Carbohydrates--45 to 65% of total calorie intake
    Protein--10 to 35% of total calorie intake
    Fat--20 to 35% of total calorie intake
    Saturated Fat--Less then 7% of total calorie intake (This is included in the total fat number above.)
    Added Sugars--Less then 25% of total calorie intake (This is included in the total carbohydrate number above.)

    Protein also has recommendations based on grams per kilogram of body weight. The standard recommendation is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. I typically use that recommendation to determine the % of protein based on the calorie needs of my clients and then adjust the percentages of carbs and fat based on their other goals. If I'm working with a person who has different protein requirements (such as someone with kidney issues who have to have less then 0.8 grams per kilogram, or someone who is doing a lot of exercise who have to have more then 0.8 grams per kilogram), then I adjust it first and then rearrange the percentages based on the individual.

    Unfortunately, places like the FDA, MFP, and any other organization that is giving recommendations to large populations, they can't get specific to the individual needs of one person because it may be completely unhealthy for another person (IE: recommending a high protein diet for someone with kidney problems), so they tend to pick an arbitrary percentage somewhere in the middle of the range or the average % of the population they are advising to make it easier for them to figure. Unfortunately, for sites like this though, there isn't nutritional counseling that goes along with the recommendations to let everyone know that they should be in a range and not to stress if they aren't 100% perfectly on that one percentage used by the tool. Your percentages are in the ranges, so I wouldn't worry about adjusting them, honestly, unless you are having medical issues or are not seeing results from your program.
  • Roger_Williams
    Roger_Williams Posts: 70 Member
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    I couldn't find them on the website, either, Pam, but then I mostly use the iPhone app and only visit the site for forums like this one, so I'm not the best person to ask. Perhaps soeone else can help?
  • Roger_Williams
    Roger_Williams Posts: 70 Member
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    Thanks, Tony. Your professional opinion is in line with what I have been discovering from Internet searches and hints from the other responses. I guess that I was assuming the MFP target percentages were as important as the suggested levels for nutrients in daily diet. I take care to balance my diet using these, and was worried to see consistent departures from the overall percentages recommended (based on calculations from the daily nutrient entries). This apparent contradiction bugged me. I guess that comes from my scientific training... I think I have a better handle on things now. Incidentally, i am thinking of increasing my strength related exercise program as the healthiest thing to do with those "extra" protein calories I'm eating.