What are healthy limits for loosing weight?
 

Hi; I'm new and only been counting carbs 20 daily - but I would like to know if anyone out there knows how much protein and cals I should be eating to lose weight? I'm 10lbs away from healthy weight and I just joined fitday. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I was shocked to see how much protein I eat and I haven't even calculated my dinner?:eek: I'm at almost 1200 cals, 20 carbs and 111 protein. Can someone tell me whats a healthy number?:confused:

Hi pinkylove, I'm new too. I went to the WebMD bmi calculator and followed the steps there BMI Calculator Plus: Personalized BMI for Your Body Type and Metabolism.

Thanks Elizasam. I just saw the pie chart on my foods eaten and my largest intake seems to be 60% of my cals are from my fat intake. I'm following Aitkins and feel pretty good when I keep my carbs at 20 but that turns out to be 5% of by cals are from carbs. AND 35% of my cals come from proteins. I'd like to know the healthy percentages... I'll check out that site. Thanks Elizasam:)

The Zone and Tony Horton's Power 90 program both suggest a 40-30-30 ratio. 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat. I tried this for awhile, but it really just seemed to be too much of a pain in the butt to keep track of.

Right now, I stick to 1200 calories. When I've reached my goal weight, I plan to switch into a muscle gaining regiment and will consciously increase my protein. But I've lost 77lbs so far without really paying attention to percentages and worrying more about total calorie intake.

All that being said, I also know that most health professions recommend less than 40 grams of fat per day.

Thanks Wydok. Now I understand why I always seem to stall at my last few pounds. My fat intake I think is way too high. I think I'm going to try for between 30 to 40% fat cals and see if that helps. Won't be as much fun, but the last 10 pounds never are:eek:

50-25-25
 

My goal tends to be 50% protein, 25% carbs and 25% fat. It seems to make the most sense where that I am doing about 30 minutes of cardio everyday and working weights for 4 days a week on different parts of my bod.

40-30-30 / 50-30-20
 

I honestly don't know, but I seem to remember seeing this ratio (40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein) a couple of places, so that's what I try to hit. I really don't know if that's right or not.


Here is some good info on nutrition, especially how it affects your workout, good fat vs. bad fat, etc.

Complete Nutrition Guide for Macronutrients and Vitamins


EDIT: OK, this page recommends 50-30-20

I think weight loss is more to do with total calories than where the calories come from. Some diets get you to do fancy arithmatic with food. It works by getting you to watch what you eat rather than by getting the arithmatic right. If you want to reduce calories reducing fat is easy 'cos it's rich in calories (and healthier too).
Protein seems to 'fill you up' more than fat and carbs, so maybe higher protein (within reason) is good?

Thanks for this link Elizasam! I have never seen this calculator, and it seems so much more reasonable for me than the standard BMI charts.

Read Eat to Live

For healthy advice
 

The Tufts University School of Nutrition, The Mayo Clinic website, and the American Dietetic Association all have reliable information and calculators to assist you with what might be healthy for you.

Google searches will get you to any of these. Best wishes!