How much protein should I be having?

Hi I am a 55 yr old female. 5'3 weight 10st 10.
Have a sedentary job but endeavour to exercise at least 5 nights week following mix aerobics, dance, weights plus walking at weekend.
Could do with shifting a stone, I track my food calorie intake around 1400 per day - have been at this weight since before Xmas
Someone mentioned that if I increase my protein intake that would help
So how much protein should I be eating?
Do I need to adjust amount of carbs I eat as well
My daily calorie intake does that need to be reduced??
sorry so many questions!!
appreciate replies .......

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,905 Member
    edited January 2021
    The default protein on this site is 20%. That should be sufficient for your everyday activity.

    When you exercise, add that into the Exercise tab of your diary and you will be given a bit more food, so more protein on those days.

    The general rule of thumb is to eat 0.8-1.0 gram of protein per each pound of Lean Body Mass - NOT total body weight. So if you're sticking with that 20% and you're not under-eating in general, you're fine. You can eat more, but it's really not going to be the deciding factor in weight loss.

    Weight loss is all about calories in (eaten) being a little less than the calories you use.

    I would suggest just learning to log food accurately and stay in your calorie goals. Try to hit that 20% protein, but I wouldn't stress out over it.

    Here's a couple helpful posts for you:

    https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-whats-the-best-carb-protein-and-fat-breakdown-for-weight-loss/

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,905 Member
    edited January 2021
    On your calorie goal.

    I see your goal is a stone. I would set my goal at "Lightly Active" and "Lose 1/2 pound per week."

    Really, you're right on the edge of a healthy weight, so "Lose 1/2 pound per week" is probably the best you should expect.

    It's slow going when there isn't much to lose. I'd rather lose slowly than play the starve/binge game. It's a lot easier all the way around to take it slowly when you don't have much to lose. 1400 should be fine IF you eat a little more on days you do purposeful exercise and if you log accurately.

    Here's an additional source which suggests a protein goal for over 50 years old:

    https://examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-you-need/#summary6

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    I like the approach of basing your protein goal on a healthy goal weight. Usually .8 g/lb is a good goal (it's really more like .6-.8g, but like you I am over 50 and not losing muscle, especially when on a deficit, is important to me, and protein is protective). I am also 5'3, and picked 120 as my healthy goal weight so that works out to about 96 g. Generally, then, when at a deficit I aim to get somewhere between 85-105 g of protein, but don't mind if I go over and also am not bothered if I am a little bit under occasionally.
  • sanpjpaf
    sanpjpaf Posts: 2 Member
    thanks so much for your time in replying & for giving some links to read up - really is appreciated. I have always calorie counted worked out what my body needs and gone from there. As I have got older it doesn't work as well - so thought a change of tact might be worth a try!
  • gigius72
    gigius72 Posts: 183 Member
    edited January 2021
    I'll give you a couple of tips a dietician gave me many years ago which worked for me.
    1- our body is built on burning carbs. So if in a meal you eat carbs and fat, you'll burn carbs and store fat. Try to devide the 2 macros in 2 meals (separated by 3 or 4 hours, time to burn what you ate in the first meal).
    2- if you can, work out before breakfast. At night our body runs in a maintenance mode. It depletes our storage of carbs (glycogene) and runs on fats. So if you work out before breakfast, you will burn more fat.
    3- don't eat before going to bed. If your meal is too close to bedtime, you will refill your glycogene storage and you will not enter maintenance mode or enter it much later.
    I hope you'll find something that works for you.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    sanpjpaf wrote: »
    Hi I am a 55 yr old female. 5'3 weight 10st 10.
    Have a sedentary job but endeavour to exercise at least 5 nights week following mix aerobics, dance, weights plus walking at weekend.
    Could do with shifting a stone, I track my food calorie intake around 1400 per day - have been at this weight since before Xmas
    Someone mentioned that if I increase my protein intake that would help
    So how much protein should I be eating?
    Do I need to adjust amount of carbs I eat as well
    My daily calorie intake does that need to be reduced??
    sorry so many questions!!
    appreciate replies .......

    if you want to maintain muscle while you are losing wight it should be about .75 grams per pound of body weight...I find a good setting for macros to be 35/35/30 the 30 is fats