Pro Tips

christinazeledon166 wrote: »

As a new member I think it would be great to learn more about macro nutrients and why a certain percent of macro nutrients are recommended for our age, weight, height, and gender would be helpful. It would also be helpful to learn why those ratios are important and more ways to be successful hitting those macro nutrient goals. Also, the grams vs percent confuse me. I believe the percent is the total for the day or is it for the meal your logging? The pie charts are helpful because I can see what I need to improve on or eat less of. A little clarification would definitely help me meet and maintain my macronutrient goals... I wonder if anyone else would find this helpful?

The MFP macros are just a default. MFP defaults to 50% carbs, 20% protein and 30% fat for everyone regardless of age, weight, height, gender, etc. They have to have some kind of default because a macro breakdown is required to generate calories. protein and carbohydrates are 4 calories per gram and fat is 9 calories per gram. The app translates the %s into grams. The pie chart gives you a point of reference for that snapshot in time...so after breakfast or something it might show a large chunk of one particular macro and make it look like you're over...but it's just the snapshot at that moment in time and it's best to look at that at the end of the day if it's important to you...otherwise the grams are your targets.

There is no one sized fits all optimal macro distribution. For most newcomers I suggest getting the calorie thing under control...ultimately, that is what matters for weight management, not your macro distribution. Your macro distribution can be manually changed to suit your preferences once you get to that point. A lot of people manipulate their macro distribution for performance purposes...ie a lot of endurance athletes prefer a higher distribution of carbohydrates to fuel long endurance training and events. They can also be altered to fit with various dieting plans...ie a person doing a keto diet would set their fat macro very high and their carb % very low...a vegan on the other hand or vegetarian or other person eating a substantially plant based diet is more likely than not to have a higher, often much higher carbohydrate target than the default.

Again, I would promote getting a handle on calories first and foremost and go from there. A lot of people don't even pay attention to macro distribution.