Macros not making sense

30/30/30 (ish - so more like 33.33 each) is a common macro split. Are you sure you got your numbers right? Sounds like a miscommunication.

sadietowler wrote: »

A nutrition coach suggested my macros should be at 30P, 30C, 13F per meal.

This makes no sense to me. Doesn't it need to total 100% and aren't the numbers supposed to be in increments of 5?

Thanks for any insight!

Thats grams. So your coach is suggesting that in each meal you should get 30g of protein, 30g of carbs and 13g of fat.

sadietowler wrote: »

I do strength training consistently and have for several years but I haven't been able to lose or achieve definition. My goal in seeking the nutrition counseling was to start paying close attention to macros in order to both lose weight and help build muscle. I know there are different ways to achieve this but I do not have enough knowledge of all that to do this on my own. Feeling pretty duped and disappointed right now.

Disappointed, sure. Duped I'm not sure. The thing is it's easy to earn the credentials as a nutrition coach or trainer because they only test your knowledge. Coaching is way more about listening, observation, communication, and motivation. Lots of coaches out there with all the right credentials who suck at what they do. You couldn't know until you know.

So...the great fitness paradox...getting bigger and smaller at the same time. It's not a crazy involved process to understand, but not always easy to pull off. Let's back up a step. What has your diet been like...consistent? satisfying? healthful? is your weight stable? If those things are mostly true you might only need little adjustments on food choices and not bog down with a new program. Do you have a trainer you work with? Is your training progressive or are you doing the same stuff you've always done?

sadietowler wrote: »

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

Echo o Far and away, total calories make the biggest difference.

This may very well be my issue. It's so hard for me to accept but through journeling the last few weeks, I may need to eat more. I'm not meeting the calories. My meals are well balanced but I am finding it impossible to meet calories. I end the day with a ton of calories left.

If you are losing weight (on average over a month or more), then you are eating too few calories if your goal is to keep weight steady but increase muscle. If you are trying to lose weight - which I hope would be trying to lose very slowly as it sounds like you have muscle-gain goals but may not be extremely overweight? - and you aren't losing over a period of a month or more, then you may be eating at maintenance calories.

Note: If you are trying to lose slowly, but have ramped up exercise intensity or volume (especially strength exercise), it could take 2 or more months to see the fat loss on the scale, because it can play peek-a-boo with water retention for a really long time. If you're an adult woman not yet in menopause, only compare weights at the same relative point in two or more different menstrual cycles, to get averages.

It is narrowly possible to be eating fewer calories (by a bit) than you could be eating, and still maintain your weight (or lose slower than expected) and to therefore be underfueling your exercise. The mechanism for that possibility is subtle fatigue, essentially. You might perceive it, or you might not. Think hard: Are you resting more? Feel fatigued? Sleep more? Drag through your day more often? Put off more energy-intensive home chores? Feel less interested in non-exercise hobbies/activities that require physical movement? Hair thinning? Nails brittle? Feel cold frequently? etc.

If you think this could be you, then eating a little more might be helpful. (Gradually adding 50-100 calories daily, then waiting a week or two for the next add, is the common way to try to bump things up in the "not losing, should be, maybe eating too little" scenario).

For sure, 800 calories (if accurate) is disaster poised to happen. Increase from that to a sane level for your current weight and weight loss/muscle gain goals in one go, and don't freak out if you get a water-weight/digestive contents leap on the scale immediately when you do so.

I'm going to snip/repeat this good remark, for added emphasis:

sijomial wrote: »

Can't emphasise enough that it's primarily your calorie balance that determine your weight loss and the quality of your training that provides the driving force for building muscle. They are the two areas to get right - macros can be widely individually variable to support the processes.

Truest truth! It's the training that builds muscle, with appropriate calories and good nutrition as supports. Building muscle happens quite slowly, under the best of conditions: Weeks to months and years. Still worth pursuing.

However, if you are carrying a bit much body fat, you can build a good bit of muscle and it will not show, particularly if female (because of how our body fat is distributed).

Personally, I'd been active for over a decade while overweight (just over the line into class 1 obese, 183 pounds (83 kg) at 5'5" (165cm) when I started losing weight. It wasn't until I got down to maybe 135 pounds (61kg) that it started to show up a bit, and realistically 10 pounds (5kg-ish) lower makes a bigger difference in appearance. Those exact weights wouldn't apply to others. (I have a pretty narrow build, so need to be lighter than some would at similar height.)

But the general concept does apply, that one needs to reach a reasonably low body fat level, for women probably in the mid/low 20 percents zone or lower, for muscle to show. (It could be a lower percent for men, likely, but I'm not a man so know less about that.)

sadietowler wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

[. Feel fatigued? Sleep more? L Hair thinning? Nails brittle? Feel cold frequently? etc.

Yes, since I had COVID, all of this! I've always run hot, sweltering regardless of season. Since COVID, I have had days lately where I just could not get the chill out of my bones the entire day. I always say a room temp should never go above 68 and the other day had it at 72 because I was so cold. I just had a doctor's appointment and all my bloodwork and tests are all good.

Adaptive thermogensis (loosely, down-regulation of calorie expenditure through fatigue and slowed baseline body processes) won't show up on a blood test. It might show up on a sports-lab resting metabolic rate (RMR) test ($$$) of the type where they put a mask on you and monitor exhalates - but but not in a lean-mass-based RMR/BMR estimation).

Your case is complicated (without such objective valid testing) because of the Covid. Also, the Covid could still have you retaining some water, if there are long-term symptoms, or just from the stress, and that would complicate scale results as a metric (plus maybe ditto for tape measurements).

Adaptive thermogenesis won't prevent fat loss at sufficiently low calories - if it did, people wouldn't ever starve to death, which sadly they do worldwide daily in large numbers . . . and they aren't fat when it happens. Adaptive thermogenesis just slows things down, maybe makes a routine that previously yielded slow loss result in even slower or no loss at the same calories.

I'm far from expert at any of this, but there are threads here from more knowledgeable that may be helpful:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

That one has some information about adaptive thermogenesis, the science behind it, and ways people can maybe shift the situation. From memory, I don't think it talks about "reverse dieting", which I believe I mentioned above. (That's more a strategy one might use at goal weight, IMO.)

There is also this about adaptive thermogenesis specifically:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1

Anything that post says that disagrees with me, believe it, not me.

This one also has some good stuff in it:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/761810/the-starvation-mode-myth-again/p1

There's an article someplace that I can't put my fingers on right now, that's sometimes linked here on MFP, that talks about stress, stress-inclined personalities, cortisol, and how "going hard" can make things worse for scale-weight loss. (I don't know whether that fits you, or not.)

Also:

sadietowler wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Suggest you have a read of this and my bet is it will give you far better guidance..

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

Can't emphasise enough that it's primarily your calorie balance that determine your weight loss and the quality of your training that provides the driving force for building muscle. They are the two areas to get right - macros can be widely individually variable to support the processes.

Thank you for this link. I will take a close read and see where I can adjust. My calories, as I mentioned to others, may be a big factor

If you're wanting to be losing fat, and you aren't, it's 100% about the calories (as a direct matter; nutrition can have some indirect effects).

The more common situation is that someone needs to cut calories a bit more - by far more common. (Sometimes logging issues are behind thinking that one is eating low calories, not losing as expected - also very common. This is not a dig: Food logging to count calories is a surprisingly subtle skill, all of us needed to work at it over time.)

It's more rare, but non-zero, that someone will have a more satisfying fat loss result by increasing calories by a little. If the problem isn't fat, but muscle growth, then yes, good nutrition (especially but not exclusively adequate protein), and adequate calories (maybe even a small suplus, i.e., weight gain) could be factors.

However, if your rough-estimated body fat percent is above maybe 25% or so (wild guess) as a woman, I'd put stronger probability on the idea that subcutaneous fat is still hiding muscle definition that may be present, and might mean fat loss is a higher probability play for looking defined . . . only in a context where there's been good strength/muscle development previously over a quite long time period, months at minimum, maybe more like years (which could apply to you, depending on your program, consistency and nutrition).

You haven't said as far as I recall (and we haven't asked) how tall you are, how much you currently weigh, whether you have any estimate of body fat percent (and from what type of source), what the nature of your strength program is (progressive? full body? named program? freeweight? machines? circuit type (high rep, lower resistance)? etc.). If you shared more info (maybe even including a photo in 2-piece bathing suit or sports bra & close-fitting shorts, not undies), we might be able to say something more helpful about where you are - hard to say.

P.S. I'm 100% with Springlering62: Being over 50 is not a major issue. The only way in which it may IMO apply directly is that as we age, muscle mass gain may be slower than when we were 20. Can still happen, though, with the right stimulus. (ETA, FWIW: I'm 66, F.)

AnnPT77 wrote: »

[. Feel fatigued? Sleep more? L Hair thinning? Nails brittle? Feel cold frequently? etc.

sadietowler wrote: »

Yes, since I had COVID, all of this! I've always run hot, sweltering regardless of season. Since COVID, I have had days lately where I just could not get the chill out of my bones the entire day. I always say a room temp should never go above 68 and the other day had it at 72 because I was so cold. I just had a doctor's appointment and all my bloodwork and tests are all good.

Just wanted to make sure a bunch of iron tests were included as they are not necessarily standard. I have all of those symptoms when my anemia is not under control. My hematologist looks at at least 5 tests.

kshama2001 wrote: »

springlering62 wrote: »

If you’re eating at a deficit, doing some cardio and/or weight training regularly, something should be happening.

I’m pushing 60 and this is my third anniversary working with a trainer. In 2018 I was well into obese BMI range, but now a little over 21% body fat per my last DEXA. I don’t do particularly heavy weights, but I’ve been taught to do them effectively. I eat a lot (usually about 2500-2700 but I’m cutting right now) and if I didn’t have a boatload of extra skin from weight-loss around my midsection, I’d probably be sporting a six pack. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m not a unicorn. I just work out consistently and hard and try to eat comparatively nutritiously.

Are you weighing and logging carefully? You may be eating more than you think, or crediting yourself for too many exercise calories. I don’t even count calories from the weight room against my diary because it’s such a stop and go workout.

My trainer (2x/week) changes it up on me all the time. It might be normal bar bench presses, or, like yesterday, bamboo presses. She only repeats a workout once or twice a month and even then she makes sure it’s different.

I also make sure I have a wide variety of activity- yoga, Pilates, walk, aquafit. I’m thinking of taking some swimming lessons to learn how to swim laps, since I can’t run for a while due to an issue.

I think having such a variety has done wonders for flexibility, strength, and building muscle

“Past 50” is - and I’m saying this gently and kindly because I wholeheartedly believed it, too- an excuse.

If you’re looking for results, you have to buckle down and look at everything you’re doing, specifically and as part of an overall plan.

Good for you for doing what you are doing. Regular exercise and being “fit and functional” are nothing to sneeze at.

I’m always flabbergasted when someone just five years older than me is hobbling and complaining. I just feel really sorry for them. That could still be me and you.

I love swimming and highly encourage you to take lessons. If you start to get bored swimming, get a waterproof MP3 player. I have a Sony and love it.

A few years back I met a woman who was 91 and a Senior Olympian. What an inspiration!

My 84 year old very active mother is also an inspiration. If she ever ends up in a rehab, it won't because she doesn't have enough leg muscles to go to the bathroom by herself - it will be because she fell off a ladder cleaning gutters >.<

With apologies to OP for the digression:

Oh, heck, yeah, @springlering62 ! I still hate swimming (🙄), but I'm very glad I took lessons . . . when I was around 50, I think? I started with adult learn-to-swim (though I could already flop around some & stay afloat), followed up with lap swimming classes. It was really useful, and I did reach the point of being able to swim laps. (A rower needs to be able to swim. I still try to practice some in Winter, but have skipped it during the pandemic. Realistically, it doesn't take much for me to skip it - I don't love being immersed, not scared, just don't enjoy it . . . but most sensible people do enjoy it, and lessons are very doable.)

kshama2001 wrote: »

springlering62 wrote: »

If you’re eating at a deficit, doing some cardio and/or weight training regularly, something should be happening.

I’m pushing 60 and this is my third anniversary working with a trainer. In 2018 I was well into obese BMI range, but now a little over 21% body fat per my last DEXA. I don’t do particularly heavy weights, but I’ve been taught to do them effectively. I eat a lot (usually about 2500-2700 but I’m cutting right now) and if I didn’t have a boatload of extra skin from weight-loss around my midsection, I’d probably be sporting a six pack. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m not a unicorn. I just work out consistently and hard and try to eat comparatively nutritiously.

Are you weighing and logging carefully? You may be eating more than you think, or crediting yourself for too many exercise calories. I don’t even count calories from the weight room against my diary because it’s such a stop and go workout.

My trainer (2x/week) changes it up on me all the time. It might be normal bar bench presses, or, like yesterday, bamboo presses. She only repeats a workout once or twice a month and even then she makes sure it’s different.

I also make sure I have a wide variety of activity- yoga, Pilates, walk, aquafit. I’m thinking of taking some swimming lessons to learn how to swim laps, since I can’t run for a while due to an issue.

I think having such a variety has done wonders for flexibility, strength, and building muscle

“Past 50” is - and I’m saying this gently and kindly because I wholeheartedly believed it, too- an excuse.

If you’re looking for results, you have to buckle down and look at everything you’re doing, specifically and as part of an overall plan.

Good for you for doing what you are doing. Regular exercise and being “fit and functional” are nothing to sneeze at.

I’m always flabbergasted when someone just five years older than me is hobbling and complaining. I just feel really sorry for them. That could still be me and you.

I love swimming and highly encourage you to take lessons. If you start to get bored swimming, get a waterproof MP3 player. I have a Sony and love it.

A few years back I met a woman who was 91 and a Senior Olympian. What an inspiration!

My 84 year old very active mother is also an inspiration. If she ever ends up in a rehab, it won't because she doesn't have enough leg muscles to go to the bathroom by herself - it will be because she fell off a ladder cleaning gutters >.<

Sorry as this is also a hijack but… a few years ago I was swimming in a local pool. I was a good swimmer, was faster than most men in the pool and swam at that rate for 1.5 miles at a time. One day a lady kept on lapping me, she did three lengths to every two I did. But from above water her stroke look effortless, she just glided through the water. Awesome technique. Then she got out and a lifeguard brought over a wheelchair. She had one leg. So that brought my ego down to size 🤣🤣