Anyone care to help me calculate my macros

[cynthia_waz]

i am not a math person in the slightest. i've been attempting to follow meal plans that i got out of Oxygen magazine... i started the meal plans about a month before i started lifting, and lost about a pound a week. never more than that. but now that i am lifting heavier - i am starving all the time! and even though i am trying to reduce bodyfat - i dont think i should be this hungry.
i think its time to try something new.
I am 29 years old
I am about 68-69 inches tall
I am weighing in at about 200lbs right now
I don't know what my body fat % is right now, other than too high
i work a boring desk job
i lift 3 days a week, and do cardio almost everyday. its usually just moderate cardio. i don't want to give up the cardio because i enjoy it, its good for my heart, and i feel like it helps make up for the desk job a little bit. plus, the dog needs his exercise too.
i calculated my BMR to be 1,675
adding in activity level put me at 2,512
with taking out 20% for weight loss (502) - i am left with 2010. which is anywhere from 100-300 more than i have been eating! (the thought of getting to eat a little more has me sooo excited!)
i figured my protein at 240g
fat at 100g
but carbs are where i got confused... i'm assuming that i base the carbs off of eating 2010cals a day... which leaves me with only 37.5 carbs. that doesn't seem like much at all. that's like a rice cake and an apple.
obviously i'm not doing something correctly.
anyone care to help?

[Emma-Leigh]

try here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703921

[bosgirlin09]

Didn't check the link Emma Leigh sent you, but..for one I think your protein is too high. I assume you're going with 1.5 gm per pound...well, thats per pound of lean body weight, not total body weight. I think you could do with 1 gm per lb of body weight if you wanted to do a little more protein than needed.

But you're right, once you get into a deficit the carb intake can suffer. Anyway...Im sure the first post has more valuable information ;)

Good luck...
Kim

[KimPossible98]

Cynthia, did you get this figured out?

Post up here or send me a PM if you still need help :)

[cynthia_waz]

Cynthia, did you get this figured out?

Post up here or send me a PM if you still need help :)

the link that Emma sent was the one that I used. but i'm math illiterate. i worked out some of the calculations, but i felt like the numbers were just running circles in my head. Kind of reminds me of - "if it were easy, then everyone would do it"
i think i had figured protein out at 1.4g per pound of body weight. i guess i'll just cut it down to 1g. that would allow more carbs right?
in the mean time, do my cals look correct? i think that could be a good enough place for me to start while i continue to tweak

[cynthia_waz]

The meal plan I'm following now is around 1800-1900 cals a day. Give or take a little in either direction. Which is about 120g Protein, Carbs are around 200g, and Fat is roughly around 50-60. each day is a little different.
The meal plan does not include my post workout protein. which is about 150 cals and 21g protein.
i think my cals themselves are spot on, but the carbs are kind of high and protein is low compared to how i figured out my macros... the meal plan does include quite a bit of fruit (all earlier in the day). i'm thinking i might try cutting the fruit servings in half to make room for more protein. thoughts? i don't want to cut out the fruit entirely. it's something i enjoy - especially when my sweet tooth is making me crazy.
thoughts?

[Freak4Fitness]

HI Cynthia, I think your cals are good but would have to agree that
#1 your post workout meal (whatever that is) needs to be included in your total daily cals
#2 You carbs are a little high & protein too low you should definitely be a 1G protein per lb body weight
If we take your total cals, let's use 1900 & divide that up by cals & macros it would look like this at a 40/40/20 split

Protein = 760 cals - 190G
Carbs = 760 cals - 190G
Fats = 380 cals - 42G
Now this is a basic split so you can tweak these numbers based on your lifting & cardio routine
I personally like a lower carb but not too low which is why I could NOT tolerate the Keto lol for more than 4 days, I snap!

I do 1 - 1.2G protein daily so my carb intake is a little less than this typical split

But honestly, don't get too involved in all the complicated stuff just yet I don't think you need to at this stage & that's what people should be advising noobs... once you are close to your weight loss goal it may become beneficial to know your macros for muscle gain purposes but for weight LOSS it's not necessary just the cals are....

This is my personal view so hope I don;t get attacked here but weight loss is different from muscle bulking

The main thing is to get the calories right for your needs based on body weight & current exercise routine, it's tough I am still trying to figure it out for me but that's because I now have to increase cals which is hard when you have been used to 1400-1500 for over a year!

So, hope this has helped a little :)

P.S you can also e-mail the fine folks here at BB.com which is what I did & they would be happy to help you as well :)

Karen