Did I calculate my calories/macronutrients correctly?

[Happy33]

I followed the sticky on calculating calories & macronutrients. I used the Mifflin-St Jeor theory. This is what I got:

BMR: 1340
(9.99X47)+(6.25X165)-(4.92X23)= 470+1031-161= 1340

Calories: 1471
(1340)x1.2 (sedentary)= 1608

I put sedentary because I have a desk job. I do walk to and from the bus & maybe 20 minutes at lunch but other than that I am seated most of the day (then gym in the evening). Would I be considered sedentary?

My macros should look something like this:

Protein:
1.6g x 47kg= 75 G

Fat:
1g x 47kg= 47G

Carbs:
1608-(56X4)+(47X9)= 1608-224+423= 1807/4= 452G

Obviously that's WAY too many carbs. Do my protein and fat totals need to increased?

Thanks!

[pwincessami]

I followed the sticky on calculating calories & macronutrients. I used the Mifflin-St Jeor theory. This is what I got:

BMR: 1340
(9.99X47)+(6.25X165)-(4.92X23)= 470+1031-161= 1340

Calories: 1471
(1340)x1.2 (sedentary)= 1608

I put sedentary because I have a desk job. I do walk to and from the bus & maybe 20 minutes at lunch but other than that I am seated most of the day (then gym in the evening). Would I be considered sedentary?

My macros should look something like this:

Protein:
1.6g x 47kg= 75 G

Fat:
1g x 47kg= 47G

Carbs:
1608-(56X4)+(47X9)= 1608-224+423= 1807/4= 452G

Obviously that's WAY too many carbs. Do my protein and fat totals need to increased?

Thanks!

Hey! If you are exercising at least 3 times/weeks i would say you are lightly active maybe even moderately active.

I copied this from the sticky-->
1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise and desk job)
1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week)
1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week)
1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week)
1.9-2.0 = Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job)

1340x1.4=1875
Protein is wrong. It should be approximately 1.5x 103=155g (use pounds not kgs) and fat can be between 47g and 94g (47 is the minimum).
So carbs can be between:
1875-(620+423)/4=208g
1875-(620+564)/4=173g

[Happy33]

Hey! If you are exercising at least 3 times/weeks i would say you are lightly active maybe even moderately active.

I copied this from the sticky-->
1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise and desk job)
1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week)
1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week)
1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week)
1.9-2.0 = Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job)

1340x1.4=1875
Protein is wrong. It should be approximately 1.5x 103=155g (use pounds not kgs) and fat can be between 47g and 94g (47 is the minimum).
So carbs can be between:
1875-(620+423)/4=208g
1875-(620+564)/4=173g

Hey, thanks for taking the time to look that over! Hm, maybe I would be considered "lightly active". So you're saying I should be getting 155g of protein? That seems like ALOT. But the carbs definitely make a lot more sense now. I'd say that's about what I get per day. Usually I get about 90-100g protein, 50g fat and 200g carbs....give or take

[pwincessami]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to look that over! Hm, maybe I would be considered "lightly active". So you're saying I should be getting 155g of protein? That seems like ALOT. But the carbs definitely make a lot more sense now. I'd say that's about what I get per day. Usually I get about 90-100g protein, 50g fat and 200g carbs....give or take

I think that the minimum for protein is 1g per pound so you could eat between 103g-155g. Personally i prefer eating more protein and fat rather than carbs, so im using the higher numbers but it is up to you. Read the sticky again

[Happy33]

I think that the minimum for protein is 1g per pound so you could eat between 103g-155g. Personally i prefer eating more protein and fat rather than carbs, so im using the higher numbers but it is up to you. Read the sticky again

Ok, so I will aim for 100G and at least 47G fat with the rest allotted to carbs

Thanks

[andrerox80]

it's 1-1.5 g / lbw, not / lb

[Happy33]

it's 1-1.5 g / lbw, not / lb

Oh, thanks for clarifying that. How do you calculate your lean body mass? I've always been confused on that. I didn't see anything about it in the sticky...unless I'm blind

[kdiamond55]

Unless you get yourself professionally measured, you will never really know. I guesstimate that by using this link http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html but I'm pretty sure that's off by a little. Either way it will give you a close-enough figure.

You never mentioned (or if you did I didn't see) what are your goals? Lose weight, gain weight, maintain?

[Happy33]

Thanks! According to the calculator my LBM is 84 lbs and my BF percentage is around 19%.

My goal is to gain muscle mass, with an emphasis on working my abs. I actually posted another thread that goes into detail about my training/eating program to see if anyone had any other suggestions

[kdiamond55]

I just read that thread and here are my $.02.

Without seeing a picture of you, I can pretty much guess you are very thin. I am 5'4" and at one point I weighed around 102 pounds. Not really a pretty site, to be honest. I was too thin and had no muscle tone. So I did a mini bulk, relearned a lot and put on 8 pounds of muscle.

Your diet look OK but I think you need more calories. A little more at least. I eat 1800-2000 on my workout days and I am maintaining at that level. Take it from me, I have been there, you are going to kill your metabolism if you eat at a lowered calorie level and work out a lot. Been there, done that, it took a good year of ups and downs to get it back. Less is not more in this case!

Secondly your workout plan looks like a throw together beginner routine. Things like tricep kickbacks, adductor/abductor machines are things of the past. My body did not transform until I started doing compound exercises. If you are lost please pick up the book "New Rules of Lifting for Women". It just makes sense. I also do Crossfit which is a mixture of weights/calesthetics/cardio that is always changing and really gives you an amazing full body workout. Also, my abs are better now with my diet in check and doing very few isolating abs (like crunches and what not) than when I was doing ab work every day. You really don't need 100's of crunches to have rock hard abs. Core work comes from pretty much every compound exercise you do.

[Happy33]

I just read that thread and here are my $.02.

Without seeing a picture of you, I can pretty much guess you are very thin. I am 5'4" and at one point I weighed around 102 pounds. Not really a pretty site, to be honest. I was too thin and had no muscle tone. So I did a mini bulk, relearned a lot and put on 8 pounds of muscle.

Your diet look OK but I think you need more calories. A little more at least. I eat 1800-2000 on my workout days and I am maintaining at that level. Take it from me, I have been there, you are going to kill your metabolism if you eat at a lowered calorie level and work out a lot. Been there, done that, it took a good year of ups and downs to get it back. Less is not more in this case!

Secondly your workout plan looks like a throw together beginner routine. Things like tricep kickbacks, adductor/abductor machines are things of the past. My body did not transform until I started doing compound exercises. If you are lost please pick up the book "New Rules of Lifting for Women". It just makes sense. I also do Crossfit which is a mixture of weights/calesthetics/cardio that is always changing and really gives you an amazing full body workout. Also, my abs are better now with my diet in check and doing very few isolating abs (like crunches and what not) than when I was doing ab work every day. You really don't need 100's of crunches to have rock hard abs. Core work comes from pretty much every compound exercise you do.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to try to post some pictures soon. I am quite thin, but find it hard to put on sunstantial amounts of muscle. Maybe I'm not being patient enough, I don't know. I used to restrict calories a lot and did endless amounts of cardio...I know now that's not the way to get the body I want.

I am going to look for the NFOLFW...everyone keeps saying exactly what you just did: "do compound exercises", "you don't need isolated ab work to get good abs" etc. etc. I think I'm just lost on WHICH compound exercises to do. It sounds like this book does a good job of clarifying all that. I hope I can heal up 100% soon so I can really go "all out". I feel sort of restricted right now which kind of sucks...

As for the crossfit, where do you get your routines from? Also in the NROLFW, do they visually demonstrate specific exercises you should be doing? I looked at the book on Amazon and read the first few pages...definitely sounds like it will be a good read.

[sonti]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to try to post some pictures soon. I am quite thin, but find it hard to put on sunstantial amounts of muscle. Maybe I'm not being patient enough, I don't know. I used to restrict calories a lot and did endless amounts of cardio...I know now that's not the way to get the body I want.

I am going to look for the NFOLFW...everyone keeps saying exactly what you just did: "do compound exercises", "you don't need isolated ab work to get good abs" etc. etc. I think I'm just lost on WHICH compound exercises to do. It sounds like this book does a good job of clarifying all that. I hope I can heal up 100% soon so I can really go "all out". I feel sort of restricted right now which kind of sucks...

As for the crossfit, where do you get your routines from? Also in the NROLFW, do they visually demonstrate specific exercises you should be doing? I looked at the book on Amazon and read the first few pages...definitely sounds like it will be a good read.

Crossfit routines are either posted by the particular Crossfit gym that someone attends, OR they read the main page at http://www.crossfit.com (for example, today's is a deadlift workout)

And yes, NROLFW also demonstrates the exercises. If you can, get Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe along with the DVD, that's all you truly need to learn the main compound lifts.

[Freak4Fitness]

it's 1-1.5 g / lbw, not / lb

Oh, thanks for clarifying that. How do you calculate your lean body mass? I've always been confused on that. I didn't see anything about it in the sticky...unless I'm blind

I eat protein grams per lb not LBM, that's just me

[Freak4Fitness]

[QUOTE=kdiamond55;704591451]I just read that thread and here are my $.02.

Take it from me, I have been there, you are going to kill your metabolism if you eat at a lowered calorie level and work out a lot.

^^^^^
This could be me & that means I could be screwed now for months still

[Happy33]

Sonti- Ok, good to know. I'll check both of those out

Freak4Fitness- If I do 1-1.5G per LBM it equals 84G to 126G so the mid-range is around 100G. If I do 1G per lb it's 104G...So I guess either way I should be aiming for 100 G

Do you think I'm still eating too low cal? I feel like I eat A LOT. Especially since I sit at a desk for 7 1/2 hours a day :S There's never a point in the day where I'm actually super hungry. I just eat on the schedule I'm used to. Hm...

[kdiamond55]

Go out and get the book. It is very informative and will help you. You will need to raise your calories to sustain these workouts though! I think you need another 200-300 daily to start. What's the worst that will happen -- you'll gain a few pounds?

I eat 100-ish grams of protein a day, and I calc my LBM to be 88lbs or so...so I'd say you'll be good eating 100 grams. I wouldn't go TOO crazy with the macros, try to adhere to a basic zone (say 40/40/20 or 40/30/30) but don't get too crazy counting every single gram. That will just drive you insane.

[Happy33]

Go out and get the book. It is very informative and will help you. You will need to raise your calories to sustain these workouts though! I think you need another 200-300 daily to start. What's the worst that will happen -- you'll gain a few pounds?

I eat 100-ish grams of protein a day, and I calc my LBM to be 88lbs or so...so I'd say you'll be good eating 100 grams. I wouldn't go TOO crazy with the macros, try to adhere to a basic zone (say 40/40/20 or 40/30/30) but don't get too crazy counting every single gram. That will just drive you insane.

I think I got up to 2000 cals today. So I will keep aiming for at least 1800. Should I eat less on non-workout days?

It sounds like we have similar stats/macros...I think I need to start replacing some of my carbs with fats. I like carbs way too much lol.

Oh, and I added some "before" photos to my body space.

[kdiamond55]

You look good, you're at a good starting point. But yes, I see the lack of muscle. LOL

I like your attitude about eating 2000 calories a day on workout days...as long as you're lifting heavy with it, you're sure to get good results.

[Happy33]

You look good, you're at a good starting point. But yes, I see the lack of muscle. LOL

I like your attitude about eating 2000 calories a day on workout days...as long as you're lifting heavy with it, you're sure to get good results.

Thanks for the encouragement. So maybe non-workout days eat a little less? Around 1800?