Hellobee Boards

50/30/20 is a really good baseline macro to start at. What do you normally eat? Protein is the obvious thing to add--things like your standard meats (chicken breast over thighs, for example), or edamame can really bump that up. I've totally had "snacks' of steamed veggies and 4 oz of chicken breast. You'll want to weigh your food and portion it out carefully (weighing is far more accurate than volumetric). I do greek yogurt but I watch the carbs on that, which is tough. I also really like nonfat cottage cheese when I'm tracking macros carefully (if i'm not, i grab the 4% stuff)....1 cup is only 150 calories or so, maybe less, and 23 grams of protein or so. I do egg white bakes with some kind of turkey sausage or ground turkey in the morning. I'll snack on a piece of chicken sausage or meatballs and a couple of boiled eggs. And, in order to get a huge boost of protein all at once, i do a protein shake made with egg whites. It'll net me about 40 grams or so, which takes the pressure off having high protein meals later in the day.

I do have a really hard time hitting 20% fat intake. it's very low and can be really tough. 40/30/30 is another macro I have better luck hitting.

50% is a lot of carbs if you don't exercise....but it depends on the person. Try it for a few weeks, see if it works. Plus, you want them to be good carbs--not crap carbs. Half a sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa, beans, etc. If it's not working, then change it up a little and see what DOES work, since every body is different.

I actually have a hard time meeting my fats. What are you eating? The biggest offenders are usually dairy, salad dressing and peanut butter, ways to cut your fat and add protein - egg whites, chicken breast, low fat/fat free cheese, fat free salad dressing (walden farms makes a good ranch flavor).

@gotkimchi: Oh yeah, prep is 100% key here. It's a hassle, but it's the only way I know I can succeed. I try to make a couple things on Sunday for the week. Like breakfast and portion out snacks. I just don't have time on weeknights!

@gotkimchi: the calories are probably fine. A good rule of thumb is .4/lb for fats. 1g/lb of protein, and fill the rest with carbs. Although, if you aren't active, you could go lower in protein, maybe .8g/lb or so. Based on your calories, I calculated you at 45g of fat per day, which would be 30% of your daily intake. You could go down to 20%, but you have to play around with your numbers and see what works best for you. You do not really need 50g/day at a minimum, everyone is different and needs different calories.

@gotkimchi: you can use this equation to check your calories....if you aren't losing in about two weeks, lop 100 calories off. I made the mistake for years of aiming for 1700, when really, i need 1900-2100, and it definitely caused me trouble!

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

PS macros are really hard at first, but once you get the hang of them, you can really see some results! I was really impressed with what it did to my body before I got pregnant