kkotelman

I look at it this way. Just eat real food most of the time. Shoot for fresh veg, meat, fruit, nuts, and fat in that order of volume. When I eliminated processed food I didn't need to count carbs, they were just low.
When the weight loss stalled I started upping the exercise. I added more low GI carbs such sweet potato, or more fruit like apples, pears, or banana; and tree nuts.
I learned to listen to what my body needs. I have learned; more carbs on HIIT days, more protein on lifting days, fast or fat on a long slow walk/jog days, no exercise or recovery eat balanced or whatever till satiated. Some days I eat like 3500 calories and others 800.
Everyone’s different. Use low carb to kill insulin resistance and remind your body how to burn fat as fuel; then adapt the carb level based on your activity. Some thrive on med-long term very low carb while others do well with a lot more.

Borg-mx5

Glad you wrote that all up instead of me! My current ratios are 25% fat (9% Saturated), 57% Carbs and 18% Protein. My protein is that high because it is just too easy to get protein (and fat) in a typical American diet. Knocking it down to 10-15% would be a chore.

As was mentioned. Nice write up. I agree 100%

perfectparanoia

Sorry, guys. I just can't agree with you. It's fine and dandy to say that 65% carbs and 10-15% fat works for you but some of us just can't do that.

If I were to aim for that, I would have two really big problems:

1. If I eat that many carbs, I just keep wanting more carbs. It is a recipe for overeating for me. (Yesterday, I was at 55% carbs because someone ordered a pizza and I am paying for it today.)
2. That little fat makes me very, VERY hungry. I need some fat. Nuts are my go-to but without a reasonable (25-30%) fat level I just want to eat. ALL THE TIME.

So, I am also aiming for 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. I feel full most of the time and I don't feel like bingeing.

I strongly believe that if you are getting your nutrients and are losing (or gaining or staying the same whatever your goals) that you should just tweak the percentages until you are comfortable with them.

RunbikeSki

Yup, that's about what I shoot for too. If I am trying to drop a couple of pounds, I'll lower the carbs and up the protein and let the fats fall where they may.

And I totally agree about the addictive nature of carbs, once I start down that road... a chip here, a cracker there... it is very hard to get it back under control

CRAZYNAN68

Could anyone suggest what these ratios should be for myself--I am 68 and have about 85 pounds to lose--cannot seem to find any info on this on this site--Thanks--Nancy

catebert

Hi Nancy, I think you will just have to work that out for yourself as everyone is different and therefore the ratios are dependent on what works for YOU.

Some people can lose on low-calorie plans, others on low-fat plans, but for myself, I am doing Atkins (Low-carb) because I am diabetic and needed to lower my blood sugar drastically and quickly or I would have to go on insulin injections. I'm happy to say after about 24 hours low-carb my blood sugar stabilized at near-normal levels and that is no longer an issue.

My ratios are about 65% fat, 23% protein and 12% carbs. I have lost 7 lbs. so far on this ratio and I am now working on trying to lower the fat content a little and would like to boost the protein up to about 30% while keeping the carbs at 12% or lower. I do not eat sugar of any kind, bread, wheat, oats, pasta, white rice, potatoes, or any other starches, all my carbs come from veggies, and only recently I have added back a little yogurt and some (few) berries now and then. I have to really watch my carbs because if I go much over 30 grams/day I will stop losing or even gain.

I think there are a couple of other threads discussing the carb/protein/fat ratio, but I'm sorry I don't know how to link to them. Hope this helps.

CRAZYNAN68

Having sAID WHAT i SAID LAST NIGHT--WENT LOOKING AND FOUND WHAT i NEEDED--IT EQUALS OUT TO ABOUT--CARBS,45-60;Fat,15-20;Protein20-25--youi are so right--I will try this and if need be dio some adjusting--everyone is different--you sound like you are doing well--hang in--Nancy