MACRO Percentages

daniedoublele · May 2019

Hey guys! So, I know to lose weight, I need to be eating around 1700 calories per day. I’m 5’8, 178 (20 pounds of baby weight to lose). I am a teacher and workout about 3 times a week.

How am I supposed to know what percentages of fat, protein and carbs to eat?! I used an online tool recommended by a well known trainer in my area, and it has me at 36% carbs, 34% protein, and 30% fat. A friend of mine said that was all wrong and now I’m stressing out! She said too much fat, way too many carbs... and even too many calories.

How do you know what’s right and wrong when it comes to percentages?

cmriverside · May 2019

If I listened to everyone out there who had an opinion about my food I'd have a nervous breakdown. So I don't talk about it to the general Jane Doe out there.

Here, this is helpful. From the Sticky Posts under the, "Most Helpful Posts," here in the forums:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

Theoldguy1 · May 2019

For most people with no restriction due to heath, following are the recommend macro ranges.

This report is the fifth in a series of reports from the Food and Nutrition Board presenting dietary reference values for the intake of nutrients by Americans and Canadians.

This new report establishes ranges for fat, carbohydrates and protein and stresses the importance of balancing diet with exercise. Highlights of the report include:

Adults should get 45 percent to 65 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 20 percent to 35 percent from fat, and 10 to 35 percent from protein. Acceptable ranges for children are similar to those for adults, except that infants and younger children need a slightly higher proportion of fat (25 -40 percent).

www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2002/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-for-Energy-Carbohydrate-Fiber-Fat-Fatty-Acids-Cholesterol-Protein-and-Amino-Acids.aspx

There are 4 calories in a gram of carbohydrate or protein, 9 in a gram of fat.

The macros from the tool the gave are within the recommended ranges. Unless your friend is a dietitian that is aware of any special issues you have they are incorrect saying those splits are "all wrong".

Now people may find they feel/perform better with certain splits within the ranges shown. For the most part that determination is based on personal experience.

Best of luck.

daniedoublele · May 2019

Thank you!

xxzenabxx · May 2019

Those macros and calories that you listed are just fine. I wouldn’t listen to your friend.

kgirlhart · May 2019

I just used mfp's default macro split of 20% P, 30% F and 50% C. And I mostly just try to hit protein and let the carbs and fats fall however they fall. Calories are most important for weight loss and the macros help for saitey and adherence. If you like your macros the way they are set then that will be fine.

mmapags · May 2019

Your macro split is fine. Your friend doesn't know what they are talking about.

Clarisse_McClellan · May 2019

The recommendation for protein for women is supposed to be around 46 grams per day. I shoot for 60-70, around 18% of my daily intake. Fat is supposedly between 44 to 77 grams per day. Again, I shoot for around 50-60, around 35% of my current daily intake. (These numbers are per Harvard Med. School.) The rest I leave to carbs. That seems to work for me. You might be different, and if you're satisfied with what you're doing and losing weight, don't worry about what anyone else has to say.

kshama2001 · May 2019

daniedoublele wrote: »

Hey guys! So, I know to lose weight, I need to be eating around 1700 calories per day. I’m 5’8, 178 (20 pounds of baby weight to lose). I am a teacher and workout about 3 times a week.

How am I supposed to know what percentages of fat, protein and carbs to eat?! I used an online tool recommended by a well known trainer in my area, and it has me at 36% carbs, 34% protein, and 30% fat. A friend of mine said that was all wrong and now I’m stressing out! She said too much fat, way too many carbs... and even too many calories.

How do you know what’s right and wrong when it comes to percentages?

The MFP default macros are 50% from carbohydrates, 20% from protein and 30% from fat. Many of us, myself included, do better with a little more protein and a little less carbs, and your trainer's recommendation is aligned with that.

If you friend thinks you should have less far and way less carbs, that would have you eating an entirely unnecessarily high amount of protein. Stick with what you're doing

She's probably also bought into the "Women must eat no more than 1200 calories in order to lose weight" myth. That's only true for very very short and sedentary women, which you are not.

https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/

lorrpb · May 2019

MFP gives you macro % that should work just fine.

lynn_glenmont · May 2019

People can lose weight and maintain health on a wide range of macro distributions, so pretty much anybody who insists you need to adhere to some specific split, or to adhere to any split really strictly, or to adhere to the same split every day -- barring someone with medical training trying to address a real medical condition that you have -- is demonstrating that they either don't know what they're taking about, or are trying to sell you something.

MACRO Percentages

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