Jarrett2

I've been loosely following MFP's daily numbers that it calculated for me:

Calories: 2,260
Carbs: 283
Fat: 75
Protein: 113
Sodium: 2,300
Sugar: 85

Historically, I've only watched calories, but I'm starting to pay attention to the other numbers.

I regularly go over on sodium and sugar, but come in under on carbs, fat and protein.

Except for this week, I've been adding a little extra protein to the mix.

What's your formula? Which are better to go over/under on?

bassjones

If I ate what MFP said I should, I'd still weigh 400 lbs... I follow the plan my nutritionist set for me.

rodstewart

How long have you been following MFPs numbers? I only ask because they are, traditionally, very low. I don't worry much about sugar / sodium, I just watch my fat / protein / carbs.

If you are relatively lean, I would go with 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, but if you aren't very lean I would adjust that number to be 1g per pound of lean body mass.

From there, I set my fat at 20-35% of my total caloric intake and fill the rest up with carbs. For me, personally, I prefer fat over carbs so I'll usually up my fat and lower my carbs.

I would try to always hit your protein number and your minimum required fats, from that point I'm not that strict with it. Hitting my protein and staying below my total caloric intake goal are my main goals.

This is a good baseline for setting up macros:

Establish your total caloric intake: If you don't know this from historical reporting, you can estimate 14-16 calories per pound of bodyweight.

For weight loss, set total protein at 1.2-15g per pound of weight / lean body mass, set fat at 15-25% of total intake, fill the remaining calories with carbs.


For muscle gain, set total protein take at 1g per pound of weight / lean body mass, set fat at 20-35% of total intake, fill the remaining calories with carbs.

indyfabz

Formula? What's that?

rodstewart

I threw together a quick Google Docs spreadsheet that may help:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

indyfabz

I'm having grilled marinated rabbit with lemon and rosemary and probably a nice arugula salad for dinner. No app for that.

UrHuckleBerry

More details on the grilled rabbit, I've always prepared it in a thicker sauce style of stew.

brawlo

For me, I lean towards being a track sprinter. I race and I'm still carrying a decent amount of excess baggage.

Last year I found success in weight loss with doing the 5:2 diet. Now, I took that one on because of the added benefits of the diet, not necessarily the weight loss factors. I lost 10kg running up to Christmas last year. I'm kicking it on again this year to lose a bit more weight.

Now, the best thing I learned from doing that diet, which is easily learned by other means also, is to concentrate on calorie intake. But on top of that, there is a knowledge gained of the role of the fats, proteins, etc and how you can utilise their respective benefits in order to gain the most punch out of the calories you take in. Understanding that will mean you don't just eat like a rabbit and end up flipping out and putting weight back on by bingeing out on bad foods!

Mithrandir

I would say it's about 2/5 protein, 2/5 fat, 1/5 carb.

And MFP said I should eat 3000 calories a day. Nope. 1500 and I'm finally losing tons of weight.

Willbird

Right now, and this is not a mis type my goals are 1% carb, 10% protein, 89% fat. This is a new thing the last 3 weeks. Tough to juggle currently hitting carb goal but going over on protein, will sort it out though :-). Seems to be working :-). There is an on the bike adjustment period involved in this adaptation....feeling pretty good now. End result will be improved endurance with little or no caloric intake needed on the bike, albeit at endurance power output levels.

DrIsotope

Are you on a diet of bacon stuffed avocados to make those numbers? Because if so, count me in.

Midtown

Hey bassjones, may I ask what your nutritionist has set up for you?
Thank you.

Willbird

Actually avocado is a recent addition :-) and I did find a recipe for little bacon cups filled with gaucomole but have not tried it yet :-). Will bump carb up some eventually but probably only to 30-50g a day.

indyfabz

1 rabbit (around 2.75-3 lbs.) cut into 6 or 8 pieces
4 tbs. of EVOO
Juice of one small lemon
2 tbs. of chopped, fresh rosemary leaves
Coarse salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Whisk all of the above together to make marinade. Rinse rabbit and pat dry. Put rabbit in baking dish or shallow, wide bowl. Pour marinade over rabbit and coat well. Let stand for at least 30 min. Preferably 1 hr. Grill over medium-high heat. The trick is to start grilling the hind legs first as they are this thickest pieces and will take the longest. Add the remaining pieces to the grill in order of thickness.

UrHuckleBerry

I will have to try this after the first hard freeze.

superdex

I dropped 35 over the course of a year by doing a couple things:

* cut calories way back. I was in the 2000-2500 range. I cut off 1000 calories/day. At least, that was the goal
* I stopped snacking. 3 meals, maybe a 120 calorie Nutrigrain bar at ~4pm
* NO EATING after 7pm
* no cheese, no mayo, no cream sauces of any kind (that's easy, I don't like em anyway), dressings on the side

I didn't go crazy figuring out what % of what. I didn't cut out caffeine. I still had a drink when I wanted to. I just put less food in my mouth. Simple. (well, except for the first couple weeks of reprogramming. That was hard)

Breakfast: A raisin/cinnamon bagel (nothing on it) (270 calories) or two packets of instant oatmeal (240 calories)
Lunch: shoot for ~500 calories or less. I brought left-overs a lot
Afternoon snack: not always, but perhaps a nutrigrain bar (120 calories)
Dinner: "european" sized portion, suffer my family's ribbing for eating so little

That's around 1400 for the day, plus or minus. I'm 6'3" and went from 215 to 180 in a year...

bassjones

1500-1800 calories a day. One serving of starch per day and that is a high quality starch - usually steel cut oats. The rest of my calories are lean meat, Greek yogurt, vegetables and fruits.

Sample day:
Breakfast - Greek yogurt, steel cut oats
snack #1 - berries and a second Greek yogurt
Lunch - 4 oz steak, lean burger, or fish (fish at least 2-3x's per week), fresh veggies
Snack two - Apple, peach, grapes or cherries and cottage cheese
Dinner - repeat of lunch with a fresh spinach salad with olive oil and vinegar
Snack two - protein shake, Greek yogurt smoothie with berries or fruit, seeds, something along those lines

no calories from drinks - lots of plain water. I have coffee in the morning, maybe iced tea at lunch

raceboy

My secret formula: Eat less. Cycle more.

I use that mind set with the knowledge that there will be days I mess up and invert the formula. I've settled in at trying to keep it around 2000 calories a day and cycle 110 to 150+/miles per week, depending on how much daylight there is at that time of year. I've gone from over 235 to 180 and held it there for two years. Fingers crossed, it seems to be working so far.

indyfabz

BTW...Baste with the remaining marinade as you grill.

GravelMN

Numbers don't mean much without context. Current weight, bodyfat % (a reasonable estimate is fine), age, medical dietary restrictions (diabetic, cardiac, etc), fitness level and the current amount and type of activity all play into a nutrition plan. One-size-fits-all plans based on internet calculators are just a starting point at best.

Personally, I find that for weight control, about a gram of protein per pound of lean body mass and replacing about half of the "recommended" carbs with poly or monounsaturated fats works well for me. I shoot for about a 500 - 1,000 kCal deficit per day when trying to lose weight. When training hard on the bike, my pre-ride and on bike nutrition is mostly complex carbs and non-saturated fats with just enough simple carbs thrown in to fuel the workout. Everyone is different so even once you have a good starting point, you are going to have to tweek it until it works for you.

Willbird

I think our bodies are good at adapting too, so something may "work" well for some time, then stop working. Body builders "bulk" and lift to add muscle mass, then cut to a low body fat content to show off muscle, and many athletes time training for peak ability at strategic times. Those of us cutting a lot of weight may be on a journey that is a bit different from either of those things.

Willbird

Recently the Fitbit and other trackers have gotten some bad press as not "helping" lose weight but I still think they are an excellent tool to let us have some ideas on our TDEE. There is a lady who stocks our vending at work, most break rooms are second story, she hauls food and soda up flights of stairs all day,enough for 600 people for 8 hours, her TDEE is much higher than a cubicle dweller who makes one trip up and down those same stairs in 8 hours.

anyroad

What app or program are you all using to track your macros?

Jarrett2

MyFitnessPal

rodstewart

There actually is an app for that. That rabbit would contain, roughly, 3,137 calories with 196 grams of fat, 5 grams of carbs, and 417 grams of protein.