How many carbs to protein to fat....

clohara wrote: »

I am back on the band wagon but don’t know how to determine how many carbs,fats and proteins to lose weight. I am 180 and wanting to get back to 150. I am starting at gym again x 4 times a week. Any help would be appreciated.

Macros are personal preference, with minimums required for good health for protein and fat.

I just started using the MFP defaults, looking at protein and fat (and fiber) as minimums to exceed and letting carbs fall where they may. After some time logging, I realized I was less hungry on days where my protein and fiber were higher, so I took 5% off of carbs and put it on protein.

clohara wrote: »

But how do I determine what my percents should be for protein, fats and carbs?

There is no 'should' other than to get a minimum of protein each day. There's no correct or right answer as it's purely down to personal preference.

I have never barely even glanced at my macros because my goal is to lose weight and macros don't matter for that goal, only calories so that's what I track and I let my macros fall where they may.

The correct macro split is the one that suits you. The one that makes it easier for you to stick to your calorie target or the one that helps you achieve a specific health or performance goal.

Weight loss is a very simple and straight forward process. Eat more calories than you use you'll gain, eat fewer calories than you use and you'll lose. It's as simple as that and really doesn't need to be needlessly complicated.

In order of importance you follow calories > protein > fat/carbs for fat loss. Exercise is just a bonus and calorie burns are going to be estimates, at best. What counts more is what you do when you're not voluntarily exercising.

clohara wrote: »

I just trying to calculate for my intake if I should have 35% fat and 35% protein and 30% carbs or should it be different. Please advise anyone who knows.

For weight loss it doesn't matter. For satiety and nutrition/health it might, but satiety tends to be individual and health allows for a broad range of different macros (including the MFP default).

MFP has built-in goals, so there's no reason not to start with those, as a default.

If I were to adjust it, I'd bump protein up a bit -- at 1350 the default 20% is about 67 g, and for me 25% would be preferable (I'd make it 45% carb, 25% protein, 30% fat). That gives you a minimum of 84 grams of protein.

I also tend to treat protein as a minimum and don't worry about carbs vs. fat (if you tend to undereat fat or aren't feeling satisfied, you could adjust macros, but to start with it's not something to worry about).

clohara wrote: »

I just trying to calculate for my intake if I should have 35% fat and 35% protein and 30% carbs or should it be different. Please advise anyone who knows.

Since you're determined to get an answer and since it absolutely doesn't matter...

You should have 40% fat, 35% protein and 25% carbs

There ya go. There's an answer for you. Good luck.

You are following MFP's guided setup, right?

And using something reasonable like aiming for 1lb a week of weight loss, right? I mean 2lbs a week is often suitable for people well in the 200 range, don't get me wrong. But it is not a suitable goal for EVERYBODY.

Well, guided setup does spit back some default macro percentages. Which you can double check against recommendations.

@lemurcat2 sort of went over it, and unless her abacus is broken her percentages sound as good as anything in terms of starting with something semi reasonable!

Adjust based on satiation past that... and on having a minimum protein level of 0.6g per lb of goal weight within the normal weight range, having a basic level of healthy fat intake equal to at least 0.35g per lb of goal weight within the normal weight range, and consuming at least 27g of fiber a day and meeting all other nutritional recommendations such as eating a good 440g of vegetables and fruits a day, while keeping in mind that NONE of this, OTHER than calories, matters in terms of achieving weight loss! (of course eating a healthy diet matters for other reasons, including making weight loss easier or harder on you... but your weight loss over the long term will be mediated by your energy balance of calories absorbed vs calories expended... and that's about it, other than the small detail of implementing the grand plan!)