What are your macros? page 3

[sbhikes]

I no longer count. I'm a woman of a certain age, too. I'm lifting weights and that seems to make all the difference in the world. My typical meals are:

- can of salmon over a potato
- half quart plain yogurt
- steamed veggies and meat
- meat veggies and potato

So, it's whatever that works out to.

[LauraSB]

I've only been counting for a few weeks, but I'm consistently coming in around 50:30:20 (C:F:P). Unfortunately I think this is the optimal ratio for weight gain?! ha.

My ratios are pretty similar, though some weeks carbs and fat are both closer to 40%. I started tracking a few months ago, thinking higher fat might help me be less hungry on fewer calories. It didn't seem to help. Now I just use it to mentally remind myself to eat a little more protein, because I have a tendency to drift downward with that macro. I am continuing to slowly lose weight on what theoretically ought to be maintenance calories, despite very little exercise, so I call BS on "optimal" ratios.

Perfect health diet. Cripes. This is so confusing. First it's eat more fat, very low carb. In the blue print it's 50g carbs or less for fast weight loss, but now it's 500 calories in carbs, but don't count vegetables?

Human beings love certainty. And they love magic. If someone can give them a magic formula that will guarantee weight loss, they will tie themselves into knots in order to comply.

Just eat primal foods. Which ever ones make it easiest for you to maintain at least a modest caloric deficit most of the time.

[gopintos]

I'm consistently coming in around 50:30:20 (C:F:P). Unfortunately I think this is the optimal ratio for weight gain?! ha.

When I started out CW of weight loss, those were my macros. (per sparkpeople) And I was losing 8-10lbs every month.

[CiKi90]

Whenever it says x amount of carbs or less, does that count ALL carbs or net carbs? While I can easily eat 80g-100g carbs in a day sometimes, usually I also get in about 30 or 40 grams of fiber, too... So would I subtract that?

[Timthetaco]

Probably somewhere around 60c/20f/20p, though I may be overestimating the fat. Too much in the way of fat and protein destroys my energy and mood. That ratio might be where I ultimately end up, though, as it seems to suit my tastes pretty well. Maybe a little higher on the protein.

[gopintos]

Mark counts all carbs. KISS I think.

end of PB there.

******************

But my personal experience - I track all in my tracker, but I also show my net, and that is what I look at to determine if I can eat anything else.

However a few months ago, I quit counting veggies. A BAS could have a number of carbs, and that 10 or 15 or 20 might be what would send me over. So I quit tripping on that if that is what I felt like eating. I doubt Mark meant for us (me) to be so anal about it and afraid to eat a salad.

[primal_alex]

I try to stay as close as possible to the following values:

Fats: 140.000g (1260.00 Kcal) = 63.64%
Proteins: 120.000g (540.00 Kcal) = 27.27%
Carbs: 40.000g (180.00 Kcal) = 9.09%

The reason is that I found carbs to be not that important for me, still I do not renounce to salad, peppers, zucchini, broccoli, asparagi, berries and other. Fats are very high, the natural replacement to the missing carbs, they come from meat, fish, ghee, oil of olive, coconut oil and nuts. Proteins are a bit less than 2g per 1 Kg of bodyweight (I am 62Kg).

I found this to be the perfect balance to keep my current physical form -which I consider good- with my current physical activity (45 minutes x 4 times/week of intense weightlifting + walking a lot). Sprints coming back soon, it's just too cold out there right now

I also enjoy the fact that I eat much less in terms of volume and weight thanks to the denser caloric count of fats. This allows me to stay active all day long without post lunch blues, bloating, etc.

[YogaBare]

Perfect health diet. Cripes. This is so confusing. First it's eat more fat, very low carb. In the blue print it's 50g carbs or less for fast weight loss, but now it's 500 calories in carbs, but don't count vegetables?

Just go with the PB .... Probably best not to float on the forums for at least 6 months from start date. Some of the advice on here could be detrimental to your health. Not saying the PHD is bad (its another health book), but its more likely to just confuse you if your just starting out.

I agree with NH. There are tonnes of weight loss diets out there and many of them work (in the short term anyway) - so long as you stick with the one approach. Keep with the PB and if it stops working for you then consider trying something else.

From what I've observed the attraction of this WOE is that it's as much about overall health as body composition, so people tend to stick to it and not regain.

[YogaBare]

When I started out CW of weight loss, those were my macros. (per sparkpeople) And I was losing 8-10lbs every month.

My ratios are pretty similar, though some weeks carbs and fat are both closer to 40%. I started tracking a few months ago, thinking higher fat might help me be less hungry on fewer calories. It didn't seem to help. Now I just use it to mentally remind myself to eat a little more protein, because I have a tendency to drift downward with that macro. I am continuing to slowly lose weight on what theoretically ought to be maintenance calories, despite very little exercise, so I call BS on "optimal" ratios.

Ah, good to know. I'm not actually gaining weight, but I read somewhere that high fat, high carb is the best way to do it. I was thinking I should up my protein and lower my fat, but these are the macros I'm falling into by just listening to my body and eating what I want. It seems to be working too - this is definitely the fittest and strongest I've felt, and I can see a big improvement in my athletic performance.

Human beings love certainty. And they love magic.

Lol

[YogaBare]

Probably somewhere around 60c/20f/20p, though I may be overestimating the fat. Too much in the way of fat and protein destroys my energy and mood. That ratio might be where I ultimately end up, though, as it seems to suit my tastes pretty well. Maybe a little higher on the protein.

Interesting - I totally have that experience when my carbs drop too low. I wonder if low carb may turn out not to be suitable for people who suffer from depression...