Carbs, Protein and Fats

curvylady
curvylady Posts: 135
edited September 18 in Health and Weight Loss
For 1200 calories it says I should have:

Carbs / Day 165 g
Fat / Day 40 g
Protein / Day 45 g

I am 42, I have over 35 pounds to lose, lead a sedentary lifestyle (sit down full time job). I would like your advice as to whether I should decrease carbs and increase protein and if so, to how many grams.

Thanks.

Karen.

Replies

  • curvylady
    curvylady Posts: 135
    For 1200 calories it says I should have:

    Carbs / Day 165 g
    Fat / Day 40 g
    Protein / Day 45 g

    I am 42, I have over 35 pounds to lose, lead a sedentary lifestyle (sit down full time job). I would like your advice as to whether I should decrease carbs and increase protein and if so, to how many grams.

    Thanks.

    Karen.
  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
    Oh that is a good one!!!! I am bumping to see if anybody answers...would like to know myself. :flowerforyou:
  • rayneenie
    rayneenie Posts: 177 Member
    I think you might have a problem decreasing your carbs and not going over them very very often.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    The RDA of the macronutrients is just a recommendation. Some think that it's been heavily influenced by the agricultural industry to rely almost solely on grains for nutrients, but I think it's just fallen behind on current knowledge regarding the need for essential amino acids and essential fatty acids. There's really no need for you to eat 60% of your calories from carbohydrate unless you're a marathon runner, and relying on protein and fats for more calories will help you feel fuller, control your blood sugar, and even aid in muscle repair. At rest, your body will produce about 70% of its energy from fatty acids rather than carbohydrate, so if you're mainly sedentary there's really no need for that amount of carbs. I find that 40% carbohydrate, 35% protein, and 25% fat works well for me, but we're all different. Try to stay within 30-45% carbohydrate, 20-40% protein, and 20-30% fat for the best balance. Never eat below 15% protein or 20% fat because that can quickly lead to malnutrition (you'll lack adequate EAA's and EFA's).
  • curvylady
    curvylady Posts: 135
    Songbyrdsweet, can you convert what you say about percentages into grams?

    Protein 15% = ??? Grams
    Carbs 45% = ??? Grams
    Fat 20% = ??? Grams

    Thanks.

    I found your answer extremely intriguing.
  • deanea
    deanea Posts: 1,437
    The RDA of the macronutrients is just a recommendation. Some think that it's been heavily influenced by the agricultural industry to rely almost solely on grains for nutrients, but I think it's just fallen behind on current knowledge regarding the need for essential amino acids and essential fatty acids. There's really no need for you to eat 60% of your calories from carbohydrate unless you're a marathon runner, and relying on protein and fats for more calories will help you feel fuller, control your blood sugar, and even aid in muscle repair. At rest, your body will produce about 70% of its energy from fatty acids rather than carbohydrate, so if you're mainly sedentary there's really no need for that amount of carbs. I find that 40% carbohydrate, 35% protein, and 25% fat works well for me, but we're all different. Try to stay within 30-45% carbohydrate, 20-40% protein, and 20-30% fat for the best balance. Never eat below 15% protein or 20% fat because that can quickly lead to malnutrition (you'll lack adequate EAA's and EFA's).


    Hello, good to hear from you:flowerforyou: :smooched:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    Songbyrdsweet, can you convert what you say about percentages into grams?

    Protein 15% = ??? Grams
    Carbs 45% = ??? Grams
    Fat 20% = ??? Grams

    Thanks.

    I found your answer extremely intriguing.

    Well what you have there is only 80%. You want to be eating 100% of your calories, so you'd want to increase protein to something like 25% and fat to 30% (45+25+30=100).
    Carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram. Fat has 9 calories per gram.

    So to figure it out for 1200 calories:

    1200 x .45 (carbs)= 540 calories (from carbs)

    1200x .30 (fats)= 360 calories (from fats)

    1200x .25 (protein)= 300 calories (from protein)

    To figure out grams, we just divide the calories we need from each.

    Carbs: 540/4 = 135 grams

    Fats: 360/9= 40 grams

    Protein: 300/4= 75 grams

    (Hi deanea! :flowerforyou: )
  • commonsensefitness
    commonsensefitness Posts: 105 Member
    What about fiber and other nutrient. They should not be overlooked either.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    What about fiber and other nutrient. They should not be overlooked either.
    I agree! But fiber, vitamins, and minerals aren't considered macronutrients. Fiber should fall around 20-30g a day, and you should take a multivitamin every day. Women should also supplement with calcium if they're at risk for bone loss due to age (30yrs +), genetics, or a low-calcium diet. None of those provide calories so they aren't tracked like protein, carbs and fat.
  • nicole0177
    nicole0177 Posts: 377
    your suppose to have more carbs in your diet bc when you work out you burn carbs before you can burn fat. its takes at least 30 mins of working out to start burning fat but until then u just burn carbs
  • curvylady
    curvylady Posts: 135
    Thank you very much Songbyrdsweet.

    Following your comments, I went into Goals and changed my settings. For my body, I have always felt better when I eat higher protein and lower carbs. I weigh in tomorrow so the next 7 days will be following this revised format. I am quite intrigued to see how it varies in weight loss....

    Karen.
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