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Macronutrients Help!

nicolealison
nicolealison Posts: 27 Member
edited November 10 in Social Groups
Here I am again, seeking help. I need to lose weight. A LOT of weight. I am enjoying how good I feel so far on Paleo, but the number seems to have stopped moving. So .... my question is, what should my macronutrient levels be set at? Right now, I had them at 55/30/15. But, I've seen so many variations of this with other people on this forum. The most common is 70/20/10. But the carbs are then soooo low I feel like I could only have one vegetable and then nothing else.
I really want to be good at this. I want this to become my lifelong lifestyle. First, I need to lose the weight. So, I'm looking for weight loss paleo tips. I have come across countless people who are "maintaining" and their numbers won't work for me, obviously.
Today, I was very carb heavy because I had some meat and veggies and a small portion of strawberries. I saw where my sugar went awry and won't be doing that again.
This is just such a thought in my mind all the time and I want this to become second nature.

Replies

  • godslilgerl
    godslilgerl Posts: 64 Member
    i saw those percentages on a lot of peoples diary's too and i didn't get that because in the mark sisson's primal book it says to stay under 100 carbs to lose weight and only having 10% carbs on my diary puts me at like 30 carbs for the day...i set mine at 25%carbs (for 105 grams of carbs) 30% protein and 45% fat... hoping that by staying under my carbs i will lose the weight...i definately don't have an issue reaching protein or fat...actually i had to stop monitoring fat because it still freaks me out that its that high (still hard to get over the notion that fat is not the enemy)
  • ganesha303
    ganesha303 Posts: 257 Member
    I get 1 to 1.25 grams of protein per day per pound of LBM and I shoot to get under 150 grams of carbs daily (I go higher than 100 b/c I am 6'5", 220 lbs).

    This puts my MFP settings around 35% Protein / 40% fat / 25% carbs. I do not sweat the details if I get over 180 grams of protein and under 150 grams of carbs and keep my calories under goal.

    So my % goals are very close to godslilgerl's. Hope that helps.
  • QuakerMom
    QuakerMom Posts: 56 Member
    actually i had to stop monitoring fat because it still freaks me out that its that high (still hard to get over the notion that fat is not the enemy)

    I hear you.
    My fat total today was over 50%. Guess that might be a little too high, but I'm not sure it matters for one day.
  • godslilgerl
    godslilgerl Posts: 64 Member
    i doubt it matters that you went over 50%...i had a crazy hungry day and i ate like 1900 calories (still paleo though) w/a lot of nuts and it didn't affect me at all...did i mention i love that!!!! if i ate that many calories w/grains involved i would have been retaining some serious water and prob would have gained at least 1/2 a pound
  • Anathama
    Anathama Posts: 82 Member
    It might help to remember that from a paleo standpoint, meat was the focus. The tribe followed the meat as it migrated, picking whatever vegetables and fruits they could along the way. The fruits and vegetables are also going to be extremely seasonal. During fall and winter months, there would be virtually no produce to be found at all. It seems reasonable to me that if you averaged out the hunter/gatherer diet, over the year, vegetables and fruits would be rather low.
  • monkeydharma
    monkeydharma Posts: 599 Member
    It might help to remember that from a paleo standpoint, meat was the focus. The tribe followed the meat as it migrated, picking whatever vegetables and fruits they could along the way. The fruits and vegetables are also going to be extremely seasonal. During fall and winter months, there would be virtually no produce to be found at all. It seems reasonable to me that if you averaged out the hunter/gatherer diet, over the year, vegetables and fruits would be rather low.

    I'm going to disagree a little bit. If you look at modern hunter/gatherers, meat may be the highlight, but roots, berries and veg comprise the bulk of their diet.

    You are correct that tribes followed the game - but they also followed water sources and fruit/veg as well. While fruits, vegetables and roots were seasonal - aggregately, some combination of them were available year-round.

    Gathering nuts, berries, fruit, roots and leaf was a daily chore, while the hunters might not bring back game for days at a time. That suggests that while meat was important - it wasn't a consistent part of the diet. On top of that, the prized portions of a kill were usually the fatty organs, etc.

    So, all in all, while one needs - and should get - enough meat and fat in their diet, I'd argue that bringing home the kill was the icing on the cake - rather than being the whole bakery.

    Now, having voiced my opinion, I'll stand with Anathema in solidarity. Regardless of whether one leans towards the meat or leans toward the veg - if you lean toward the grains, you'll fall right over. THAT's the main bad boy. :)
  • charlesguimont
    charlesguimont Posts: 6
    but the number seems to have stopped moving.

    To burn fat there is other factor, like your intake of calorie and your basal metabolic rate. Your body will alwase try to reach homeostasis .... On the very long run The Paleo Diet should bring you back to you ideal weight but it may take some years ...

    To burn fat here a trick, zigzag your calories.

    Like :
    SAT SUN over maintenance
    MON TUE WED eat under maintenance
    THU FRI eat maintenance

    Your body will alwase try to match your IN and OUT, so by doing that, each week end you will boost your metabolism then just after burn fat and then start the cycle again ... it work very well, you can also cycle weeks, like A week you eat maintenance, next week you cut down ... but generally after 5 days of low calorie intake, your metabolism will slow down quickly ...

    By the way in nature, the calories alwase fluctuate ... you would not eat 2000 cals a day ... this cycle would append naturally ...
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