I need to drop about 60 pounds and a big part of that is addressing my diet.

I saw a nutritionist last week and she recommended a daily net calorie intake of 1,800 and the following split: 33% fats, 33% carbs, 34% protein.

I have no basis for this so I was curious what other people do and if this would align with my weight loss goals.

Thoughts?

There is no right or wrong way for weight loss. I think the most important thing is for you to find what splits works best for you so that you can stick to the 1800 calorie limit for the long haul.

Me personally I'd want more like 40/40/20 fat/protein/carbs.

Yep, completely agree. I aim for the same amount of protein each day. Then I vary the carbs based on what I'm doing that day and how active I am. The rest from fat. I'm also not trying to lose weight currently, but I'd do the same if I was.

I've done 35-45% protein for about 4 years now. The exact amount depends on whether I'm trying to lose fat or maintain my weight. I'm very near my goal weight, though, so losing fat is much harder for me.

I give myself more flexibility now when it comes to carbs and fats. I prefer carbs, so often I will eat more of them and less fat, keeping overall calories at my target.

Just remember 1 g of fat has 9 calories but 1 g of carbs and 1 g of protein have 4 cal each. So it's easy to exceed your calorie goal if you aren't accurately tracking how much fat you are consuming.

1800 cal at 34% protein is only about 150 g of protein. Depending on what and how much you are accustomed to eating, you could probably push this higher (up to 170-180 g) and drop some fat and/or carbs. Protein will make you feel more full and satiated. You just have to be sure to eat lean protein, because fatty protein will cause you to exceed your calorie goal (you will consume too much fat with the protein)

Protein should be your priority, and you should always hit your protein target, as that's the nutrient you need to maintain your muscle mass as you lose weight. Your body doesn't selectively burn fat when in a deficit. It burns whatever energy is available. That's why people who use GLP-1s tend to lose so much muscle (especially if they aren't weight training). As you approach your goal weight and have less fat to burn, you will lose muscle if you don't actively try to preserve it.

I hope at that calorie deficit you are also incorporating some weight/resistance training to also help maintain (and maybe even build) your muscle mass.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm using the LoseIt app to track all of this by the way. I know doing that will make me more disciplined…sort of a built in accountability. Getting the splits isn't an exact science but I've managed to be pretty close. I did learn about the gram to calorie conversion for fats/proteins/carbs. I did the math based on my 1,800 calorie limit so I have my daily macro goals down to the gram for each of those.

Sounds like I need to be lifting.

I'll preface all of this by saying I'm not a nutritionist or health specialist; this is all an anecdotal perspective from a layman

Tracking macros is great...for a week or two. It's an absolute slog to do long term and most people doing it are the gym rats for whom fitness takes up nearly all of their free time/energy. If you can stick to it you can hit any weight goal you want but personally I've never been able to, and that's coming from someone who has enough discipline to hit the gym for an hour 3 times a week and run a few miles twice a week.

My weight has fluctuated the past few years depending on how lazy I get with my diet, but when I do decide to cut 10 or 20 pounds of body fat I've found sticking to two simple rules has worked without fail:

1) Do not drink any calories.

No soda, no sugar in your coffee/tea, alcohol (if possible haha) etc. There's an unbelievable amount of sugar in what many people drink and they don't even realize it. It's the worst kind of carb for gaining fat and on top of that if you're drinking it you don't even get a satiety effect like you would if you ate the sweets instead. There's conflicting evidence on artificial sweeteners, I personally stay away from them because they're not helping your sugar addiction; even if there's no calories on consumption I find they just make me crave more food/sweets afterwards.

2) Prep/Cook your own food

This is a big ask due to the time and effort involved but it's almost a prerequisite to macro counting anyways. It's very difficult to keep up with the macros if you're eating out 3 nights a week and buying premade meals at the grocery store. I found if I stopped counting calories or macros for a day or two I almost never got back on that horse; it's easy to go back to the kitchen and make some steak.

This one also uses laziness to your advantage, big win there. It takes 10 minutes to cook some tilapia and rice on the stovetop. If you want fried catfish and french fries you have to cut up the potatoes, bread everything, lug the fryer out, heat up the oil, and clean up is a pain in the ass. You'll never do it, or at least I won't lol. I struggle to cook a meal as junky as anything I'd eat at a restaurant.

And for whatever reason, after a date night or work lunch pig out, it doesn't feel like the habit of cooking is being wasted like it does with those counting apps. Something about having to go in there and enter your 3000 calorie afternoon at a football tailgate just makes you never want to open the app again.



I'm not trying to discourage you from macro counting. Give it a shot and if you're able to stick to it, more power to you, you'll be able to lose as much weight as you want. But I've always thought of it as a tool to use after you've already lost those 60 pounds and want to hit single digit body fat%, and after you have a host of healthier eating habits and a workout routine. So don't give up if you fail at it. I think it benefits from accountability and discipline far more than it builds it, and if you're trying to drop 60 pounds there are far easier (or at least simpler) ways for that first 30 or 40 to come off.

40 protein
30 fat
30 carbs

if working out a lot i'd do 40 carb 30 protein 30 fat

use the free version from myfitnesspal and start weighing and tracking what you eat. I'd highly suggest tracking it.

you also must be in a calorie defecit. burn more than you consume.

Great advice on here.

Protein should be the highest. Id shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of lien body mass. (Its not your total weight, but that can work too). Then, adjust fat and carbs from there to hit your weight loss macros..

Once you get used to what 150-ish grams of protein looks like, tracking exactly everyday doesn't become so critical. Especially if you are prepping your own food and eating the same foods most days.

Where it's easy to go off the rails is 1) eating out (restaurants always use WAY more fat to cook food than you think), 2) mindless eating/grazing (like at a party or something), 3) alcohol (both the calories in alcohol itself and the extra calories you tend to consume when drinking).

But, if you make a consistent effort to hit your protein goal every day, that will make you less likely to over eat other foods. You will be full from the protein you've eaten. And when you do go over, it won't be as bad.

Recognizing what 4-6 oz of lean protein looks like becomes easier with time, too. So, even if you splurge on a "fatty" restaurant meal, make sure that it contains at least 4-6 oz of lean protein (like a chicken breast, lean fish, or shrimp). And maybe minimize your carb intake to account for the extra fat.

Hitting my protein goal is really what keeps me "on track", even if I'm not tracking all macros.

I started using Foodvisor and it's awesome. You can take a picture of your meal and it figure out what all is there. Really makes it easier to track your food.

Track and lean toward lean proteins and hit that goal
If on Instagram check out coryamstrongfitness and follow his reels. Super easy to learn and adopt

I personally have a hard time macro counting or using apps every day sustainable for me in the long run:

1. Meet your protein and calorie goals
2. Limit how often you eat outside of what you prepare
3. Remember that fruits and vegetables won't kill you

Logging and taking pictures of my food every day is too much work. It doesn't sound like much for a single day but imagine doing it every day? Yeah… it gets exhausting.

Just counting protein and calories is a lot easier to do. Trying to maintain calories when having almost one meal from restaurants a day (average for Americans) simply isn't sustainable. Restaurants normalize bigger meals. Fruits and vegetables provide loads of nutrients and high volume for little calories. Eating a lot of those makes meeting your protein and calorie goals a LOT easier.

I'm dubious of anything low carb. As mentioned above, a gram of fat is so many more calories than a gram of protein or carbs that small misses (and everybody misses small on these things somehow) every day accumulate into bigger misses to your objectives.

OP I would encourage you to try to stick to tracking with the apps. I know some have said it's difficult for them long term but I know a lot of people who have made it work using them long term (myself included). I've done it for close to 15 years! Started with MFP but switched to paid version of LoseIt!

I think it's just up to the individual if it's something that works for you or not but it certainly is doable long term.

Any of y'all have an opinion on the carnivore diet? I've been looking at it and my diet utilizes some aspects. I would say I'm more keto as I keep some vegetables. But a couple of items I am trying to do is eat a lot of eggs, especially the yolk because of how nutrient dense they are. I am also avoiding processed foods and trying to stick to single ingredient foods. Learning how bad many items that were supposed to be good like vegetable oils, margarine, etc can be.

you do not have to hit any kind of macro ratio for weight loss...however, actually attaining a calorie deficit that doesn't make you hate your existence is hard with a diet unless it is satiating.

A diet with a high % of the CALORIES as protein, usually has this covered.

If you actually hit that high of a % of your calories as protein, you'd likely lose weight just from that (without even having to go out of your way to calorie count because the macros do it for you), because you can't reasonably pack a diet with a lot of crap at that high of a protein %.

Weight lifting as you do this has so many benefits, the biggest being that the weight you lose will be mostly or all body fat (and water weight) doing that diet. But moreover, you're just gonna look a HELL of a lot better if you achieve your weight loss goal while lifting than without it.

bam02 said:

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OP I would encourage you to try to stick to tracking with the apps. I know some have said it's difficult for them long term but I know a lot of people who have made it work using them long term (myself included). I've done it for close to 15 years! Started with MFP but switched to paid version of LoseIt!

I think it's just up to the individual if it's something that works for you or not but it certainly is doable long term.

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Yeah… it's doable and it's not difficult. But… it's another built in chore when it comes to eating. Same with macro counting. I think another way to put it is if you don't like chores, then full macro balancing and app tracking will never stick.

I personally prefer a really simple framework to stay within.

I agree. But I think I'd you're a "beginner" and this is your first foray into something like this, it's important to track for 6 months to a year just to get an idea of different foods and their breakdowns.

If you're like me, I'm a creature of habit and 90% of what I eat is highly repetitive.

Now that I've become familiar with it and stuck with it for years, I only aim for a protein goal based on my body weight and add carbs/fat depending on difficulty of workouts and my energy level.

Yes, I agree. That combined with using a kitchen scale and actually measuring out things is great for any beginner. After a while, yes you can ditch the scale and ditch the app because you'll have a pretty good feel for all that anyway anyways.

Need to track to get a roadmap
To see what you need to do.