Big dawg trying to lose weight

[Theabbot]

I am good about the calorie deficit and calorie burn stuff. I have good grip on that. What I don't understand is the whole macro/carb concepts. Can someone break it down for me?
Right now I need 3000 to maintain, so I am setting a max of 2000 calls a day, with at least 30 mins of cardio a day. For the most part I am eating only chicken and seafood, very small servings of rice/potatoes, no sweets, sodas, fast food or any of that stuff. Just protein and veggies for the most part with oats, nuts and fruits for snacks.
How do those macros/carbs come into play though?

 

[The ADD]

I am good about the calorie deficit and calorie burn stuff. I have good grip on that. What I don't understand is the whole macro/carb concepts. Can someone break it down for me?
Right now I need 3000 to maintain, so I am setting a max of 2000 calls a day, with at least 30 mins of cardio a day. For the most part I am eating only chicken and seafood, very small servings of rice/potatoes, no sweets, sodas, fast food or any of that stuff. Just protein and veggies for the most part with oats, nuts and fruits for snacks.
How do those macros/carbs come into play though?

Carbs are a macro. One of three along with Protein and fat.

So if depends on your goals but generally speaking during a cut its suggested to eat 0.8 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound. If you weigh 160 pounds between 1281-160 grams a day. You can go higher than that but there doesn't seem to be a need. Fats at about .6 grams per pound. Carbs can be whatever you have left after the first two.

if 3000 is your maintenance 2400 cals is a 20% decrease which is kind of the floor of what you want to do. Depending on how long you plan to drop weight you may want to start at a higher daily cal allotment to allow room to drop down as you lose and your maintenance becomes lower.

 

[Adam3000]

Im only 165 and I wont even drop to 2000, the only reason you would need to go that low is if you are sedentary. Since you say you are doing 30 minutes cardio a day, 2400-2500 should be plenty low. Try it for a couple weeks and see if you are dropping weight. If you are, keep it up you are on the right track.

You can lose more weight faster by dropping down to 2000, but it will almost surely cause you to lose a lot more muscle mass. The body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat stores every day, there isnt a quick fix. 2000 calories also wont give you room to drop much lower once you plateau.

You are gonna have to look in the mirror and decide what is most important to you. Short term success or setting yourself up for long term success. The 20% defecit mentioned in the post above will likely be better for long term success. Having more muscle mass will make you look better as you lose weight.

As far as macros go, I wouldnt get too caught up in it ad long as you are getting a decent amount of protein. If you were asking me personally for advice, I would suggest you stick to whatever plan you had for 2000 calories, and add in 400 more calories of good carbs preferably for breakfast or post-workout because these are the times your body is craving quick energy most. Or split it up 200 calories during each of those times.

Weigh yourself once or twice per week in the morning after using the restroom and before eating. As long as you are trending downwards, no more advice is needed. You will be able to make adjustments as time goes by.

Good luck.

 

[TRFG]

Macros are protein, carbs and fat.
Protein is used for muscle repair and eating. They contain fewer calories compared to the other two macros. For weight loss you should aim to increase protein intake.
Carbs are used for energy. Try to limit your carb intake as excess carbs get stored as fat and sugar. Some carbs are good especially complex carbs like oats, sweet potatoes and yams. You would need to stay far away from processed food. There's a ton of unhealthy carbs in there.
Fat. The only type of fats you wanna consume are unsaturated fats (healthy fats) found in avocados, olive oil and salmon. Stay far away from saturated and transfats!

 

[Theabbot]

Im only 165 and I wont even drop to 2000, the only reason you would need to go that low is if you are sedentary. Since you say you are doing 30 minutes cardio a day, 2400-2500 should be plenty low. Try it for a couple weeks and see if you are dropping weight. If you are, keep it up you are on the right track.

You can lose more weight faster by dropping down to 2000, but it will almost surely cause you to lose a lot more muscle mass. The body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat stores every day, there isnt a quick fix. 2000 calories also wont give you room to drop much lower once you plateau.

You are gonna have to look in the mirror and decide what is most important to you. Short term success or setting yourself up for long term success. The 20% defecit mentioned in the post above will likely be better for long term success. Having more muscle mass will make you look better as you lose weight.

As far as macros go, I wouldnt get too caught up in it ad long as you are getting a decent amount of protein. If you were asking me personally for advice, I would suggest you stick to whatever plan you had for 2000 calories, and add in 400 more calories of good carbs preferably for breakfast or post-workout because these are the times your body is craving quick energy most. Or split it up 200 calories during each of those times.

Weigh yourself once or twice per week in the morning after using the restroom and before eating. As long as you are trending downwards, no more advice is needed. You will be able to make adjustments as time goes by.

Good luck.

Thank you for the outstanding advice. Yeah my lifestyle is very sedentary. Working at a desk for 10 hours a day usually. I am mixing in 2 to 3 days a week of weight training on top of the 5 days of cardio as well. I will heed your advice about the extra calories. Myfitnesspal recommended that exact amount, but I thought that sounded a little high.

Macros are protein, carbs and fat.
Protein is used for muscle repair and eating. The contain fewer calories compared to the other two macros. For weight loss you should aim to more protein.
Carbs are used for energy. Try to limit your carb intake as excess carbs get stored as fat and sugar. You wanna eat complex carbs like oats, sweet potatoes and yam stay far away from processed food. There's a ton of unhealthy carbs in there.
Fat. The only type of fats you wanna consume are unsaturated fats (healthy fats) found in avocados, olive oil and salmon.

Thanks for the knowledge!
I am fully motivated and commited to changing my lifestyle.

 

[Michael's Black Son]

Run, often

Eat less garbage

 

[TRFG]

You don't even need to exercise at this point. Just watch what you eat the you hit a plateau that's when you should start exercising. Watch this guys videos it can be a lot of help. Check out his SWC videos for grocery shopping help

https://www.youtube.com/user/PhysiquesOfGreatness

 

[Theabbot]

You don't even need to exercise at this point. Just watch what you eat the you hit a plateau that's when you should start exercising. Watch this guys videos it can be a lot of help. Check out his SWC videos for grocery shopping help

https://www.youtube.com/user/PhysiquesOfGreatness

 

[Exiled Martian]

I am good about the calorie deficit and calorie burn stuff. I have good grip on that. What I don't understand is the whole macro/carb concepts. Can someone break it down for me?
Right now I need 3000 to maintain, so I am setting a max of 2000 calls a day, with at least 30 mins of cardio a day. For the most part I am eating only chicken and seafood, very small servings of rice/potatoes, no sweets, sodas, fast food or any of that stuff. Just protein and veggies for the most part with oats, nuts and fruits for snacks.
How do those macros/carbs come into play though?

OP here is a full plan I drew up for one of my boys earlier this year, hope the layman terms breakdown added in the below write up helps you understand how to go about the whole process & helps your understanding of the macros composition fully;

As per our discussion, See guide below:

• Firstly read the info on the page beforehand & then enter your relevant figures to generate your Total Kcal intake for the day.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/bmr-and-daily-calorie-calculator.html

• Link for converting POUNDS to KG (just in case you want to know your stats in different units) & vice versa.

http://www.metric-conversions.org/weight/kilograms-to-pounds.html

Use above Calorie calculator & keep this base rule in mind - whatever figure it gives you (this is your maintenance calorie) in order to put on size you NEED to eat +300-500 calories on top of the given figure to attain growth (Bulking).

DIET NOTES For Results Given Above :

In order to CUT/ Lose weight ( lose fat preserve muscle gained ) as a RULE OF THUMB you need to eat -500 calories less, so subtract 500 from your given figure.

For maintenance simply eat the ACTUAL figure given everyday & you should more or less remain at same weight give or take a daily 2-5Lbs fluctuation.

MACRO ADVISE (Protein/Carb/Fat ) :

Before I go into detail below REMEMBER these IMPORTANT figures below:

1 Gram of Protein = 4 calories
1 Gram of Carbs = 4 calories.
1 Gram of FAT = 9 calories

So now that we know above this is how you workout your MACRO composition depending on Goal:

• 
  
  
  • PROTEIN - Always keep this high & by high consumption I mean = 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So figure your weight out in KG then convert to pounds & that's your protein intake taken care of for e.g I'm 89Kg = 198Lbs = so my protein intake is ~200 grams everyday (rest day or training day). So e.g if my total Kcalorie for day is 2500Kcals then 200 grams of protein will equate to 800Kcals (200 grams X4Kcal per gram). So 2500Kcal - 800 = 1700Kcals remaining to factor my Fats & Carbs for the day.

• 
  
  
  • FATS - This needs to be 20% of your Total Calorie. again lets take my e.g my total KCalorie for the day is 2500, 20% of that is 500Kcals (divide this by 9 to get number of grams) so my fat intake = 55 grams (55 X 9 calorie per gram formula).

• 
  
  
  • CARBS - So now that my Protein and Fat (KEY MACROS) are out the way last but not least rest of your allowance is all Carbs. Again using my e.g. 2500 - 800 + 500 = 1200Kcal left again we divide this by 4 to get our grams = 300 grams of carbs.

To Summarize everything:

• 
  
  
  • Go to Two links posted above get the BMR Calorie figure.
  • Depending on your goal (if weight loss/ leaning out) minus 500 from it & that's your TOTAL KCAL per day.
  • Next work out your MACRO using above notes & make sure they fit your daily Kcal requirements set.
  • Remember protein always high/ fats moderate/low & Carbs always LAST.
  • Plug these figures into your Myfitness app & record as you eat throughout the day.
  • Lift, Eat sleep & attain linear weight loss at about roughly 1Lbs- 1.5Lbs per weak.... Job done

 

[Theabbot]

OP here is a full plan I drew up for one of my boys earlier this year, hope the layman terms breakdown added in the below write up helps you understand how to go about the whole process & helps your understanding of the macros composition fully;