Accurate Macro Calculator

[AmberFL 879]

HI guys!

I am being more strict on my macros till I can work out again, lots of sites and all different outcomes, these are what I have gotten:

Macros for Weightloss while not working out:

1838 Calories

167g of Protein

61g Fat

155g Carbs

OR

2035 Calories

153g of Protein

79g Fat

178g Carbs

Macros for Body Recomposition

2725 Calories

170g Protein

222g Carbs

99g Fat

Macros for Weightloss while working out:

2473 Calories

170g Protein

224g Carbs

100g Fat

[SpartanMaker 880]

What struck me here is not really the macros and much as how different the calories are. The thing is, no calculator is going to tell you what the calorie count should be.

My suggestion would be to simply track your existing calories for 1-2 weeks to see where you're at now. I assume your looking to maintain based on the fact you are showing to be at goal. If that's not accurate, then we might need to make some adjustments to what I'm about to propose.

At this point, you can completely ignore anything a calculator spits out in terms of calories since by tracking your calories at your current weight, you know exactly where YOU need to be to maintain. Let's say for the sake of making the math easy, you determine that 2000 calories is working for you at maintenance. Skip the calculators and do this: Protein should be somewhere between 1 and 2 grams per kg. If you are inactive, 1 gram is probably minimally sufficient, but if you are very active or shooting for body recomposition, then you need to be closer to 2 grams per kg. 1.5 to 1.6 g/kg might be a good target if you are working out, but not super active, or are not really trying to add any muscle.

The next thing to determine is grams of fat. If you are just maintaining, anywhere between 1 and around 1.5 g per kg is probably fine. If you are actively trying to lose or recomp, it would be better to be closer to 0.7 g per kg. Carbs is next and really will just be the rest of your calories, vs. a specific number of grams.

Here's how that looks in practice:

• Again, just to beep the math simple, I'm going to stick with 2000 calories at your current weight of 170lbs, which translates to about 77kg.
• If your goal is body recomp, then 2g/kg should be your target protein, which equates to 154g per day.
• 154g at 4 calories per g equals 616 grams from protein per day.
• Fats when doing a "recomp" would be 77 x 0.7 = 54 grams of fat.
• 54 grams of fat at 9 calories per gram would be 486 calories from fat
• If we subtract 616 and 486 from 2000, we'd get 898 calories from carbs. This would be roughly 225 grams of carbs per day.

A few notes:

• This is all based on research, but I also am not "carbophobic". My personal experience is that sufficient carbs are needed to fuel workouts.
• Some people have success with fewer carbs and more fat. I have no problem with that approach if it work for you. If so, feel free to adjust fat up and carbs down.
• Either way, the protein is the key, since you'll need that to build muscle.
• If recomp is not your goal, feel free to run the numbers with lower protein and correspondingly higher fat and carb numbers.
• Don't go lower than 0.7 g of fat per kg. You need a minimum level of essential fatty acids to stay healthy.
• In terms of how to change this if you are working out more than you are today, it really comes down to both the types of workouts (endurance sports virtually demand more carbs), but also how vigorous your workouts are.
• If you are trying to lose weight, I would recommend eating back at least half your calories from your workouts. Any less and you're likely to feel too rundown to put the proper effort into the workouts. If you just skate through workouts, then you lose a lot of the benefit of them.
• If you are trying to maintain or recomp, then you really should eat back all the calories from your workouts.

[AmberFL 879]

@SpartanMaker I am not wanting to lose weight really, I am at maintenance however since I got PS surgery I am on the higher end of my maintenance and I would really like to get down to 160-165 as opposed to 165-170. I know not much of a difference especially with my height and build but in my head it makes me feel better. LOL

When I was working out (which I will get back into hopefully soon) I was eating anywhere from 2200-2400 calories and staying in that 160-165 number, now I am eating anywhere from 1700-2000 and I am on the 165-170 end. I have to assume that my lack of working out is keeping me where I am at. Which I do want to recomp, I want to get a 360 body lift but want to see how lean I could get before making that decision. I may just want to save the money and pain if I look decent enough LOL

For reference yesterday my day was 1961 calories, 185g carbs, 175g Protein, 72g fat, 34g Fiber. If I was working out and burning 700-800 calories like I was then this is great I would stay at the lower end of my maintenance. But what I am gathering I should be focusing more on the carbs, protein and fat as opposed to calories?

[SpartanMaker 880]

41 minutes ago, AmberFL said:

But what I am gathering I should be focusing more on the carbs, Protein and fat as opposed to calories?

I think the way I'd put it it's best to is nail down your calories first, then depending on your goals, you can tweak your macros to better accomplish your goals. Since you're looking to drop a few more pounds and limited in terms of workouts right now, I'd probably recommend something more like this:

• 1600-1700 total calories a day. You could go as low as 1400 or so, but you may feel lousy if you do, so don't go that low for more than 2-3 weeks at a time.
• Target ~1.5 grams per kg of protein, or more. Thus ~115 grams minimum. If you are not struggling to get up to say 150 grams or so, that certainly won't hurt and may help you feel better.
• Fats around 70 or so should be just fine and will mean you're likely to be less hungry. You can go lower if you're comfortable doing so, but it will likely mean you're hungrier. Don't go below about 50 grams.
• Whatever's left over, make up for in carbs.

[SpartanMaker 880]

I should have added, there really is no right or perfect way to structure your diet. it's all about what works for you. As such, try what I'm suggesting above if you feel like you need some guidance, but feel free to tweak it if you find yourself struggling.

[AmberFL 879]

@SpartanMaker okay I have all my food prepped and ready for this week so I am going to follow up with you next week, once I figure out my foods for the week! Thank you for all the advice and taking the time to go through this with me!

[ShoppGirl 4,999]

You have been tracking your macros and measuring activity far longer than me but from my little bit of experience and what the nurse practitioner told me I would basically just cut out your extra carbs while you are being less active to maintain and then decrease your calories a bit to lose but I wouldn’t cut too too much. Your body is healing so just don’t be in too much of a hurry and be at a significant calorie deficit. We had no choice with the bariatric surgery because we had to protect our healing, intestines and stomachs with the tiny portions during recovery but it is not ideal to recover from a surgery at a such a calorie deficit. Our bodies actually need extra calories and Protein for wound healing so you may actually find that your body is burning more calories than you would be if you were just being a couch potato for no reason. Just something to consider or do a little research on. The reason I say just decrease the extra carbs is because before my activity, I was eating a certain way, and then the nurse practitioner learned how active I was being from my activity logs and she told me I just needed to increase my carbs to sustain that level of activity and decrease it if I slowed down and it has worked like a charm. So basically just reversing that is what I would do if I were in your situation. You could also reach out to your dietitian or nutritionist who gave you your original macro guidelines if that is the plan that has been working for you and ask him or her what they would change given your much lower activity for the time being.

[ShoppGirl 4,999]

Okay so I was curious to know exactly how much more our bodies burn while we are healing so I asked Google and this is copied from AI response. Basically if we need more calories to maintain as your healing you really may be good by just cutting back a tad on the extra Carbs since your carbs were much higher due to a very high level of activity, which you’re not sustaining but honestly if I was you I would Just wait until your through this to worry about losing you could take even longer to get back on track if you try to lose now

“Yes, your body burns more calories during the healing process after surgery. This is because your body's metabolism increases to help heal the incisions, fight pain, and prevent infection.

Explanation

Hyper-metabolic state

After surgery, your body enters a hyper-metabolic state, which means your metabolism increases. This causes your body to break down muscle Protein, fat tissue, and neurotransmitters to provide energy for healing.

Calorie needs

During the healing process, you should consume more calories than normal. A general rule of thumb is to consume 15–20 calories per pound of body weight.

Protein needs

In addition to calories, you also need more protein during the healing process. Protein is a key building block of the body and is necessary for tissue growth and repair.

Hydration

Drinking plenty of fluids, mostly Water, helps deliver nutrients to the wound site.

What to eat

Eat a balanced diet with a wide variety of foods

Eat nutrient-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, lean fish and chicken, grains, Beans, and nuts

Take a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement if you don't get enough nutrients”

This is from HSS.com

“How many calories should I be consuming since I will be inactive?

Now is NOT the time for weight loss! When people are immobilized, they worry about gaining weight. However, you should NOT decrease your calorie intake because you will be inactive. In fact, your calorie needs are now greater than usual because your body requires energy from nutritious foods to fuel the healing process. You will need to consume about 15-20 calories per pound (using your current body weight). If your overall energy and protein needs are not met, body tissues such as muscles and ligaments will begin to break down. This will compromise healing and may prolong your recovery period”

Edited Saturday at 03:45 AM by ShoppGirl

[AmberFL 879]

@ShoppGirl that is very interesting! Ok this makes me feel less bad LOL

[SpartanMaker 880]

@AmberFL I must have missed that you are recovering from surgery. While I probably wouldn't recommend a significant fat loss diet while healing, I'd also be a bit cautious about using Google AI recommendations. The idea that you need 15-20 calories per pound of current body weight to heal just doesn't pass the smell test. If this were true, none of us would have properly healed from our bariatric surgery. Keep in mind that 15-20 pounds for you right now would be roughly 2500 to 3400 calories. At your starting weight, that would have been about 4500 to almost 6000 calories a day!

Looking through the scientific literature, I couldn't find a single reference that this level of calories was needed to promote healing after surgery. There were some references to additional calories being helpful in the event of significant wounds, thus your calorie needs may be somewhat higher for more involved surgeries vs simple ones. I apologise, but I have no idea what "PS surgery" is, so that doesn't really help narrow things down. I think my recommendation would be to base this more on feel. If you are feeling really rundown, that's probably a good indication you may need to up your calories. You're always going to feel somewhat tired after any major surgery, so I'm talking about feeling excessively tired.

If you do feel the need to add more, my recommendations above regarding macros still stand. We do know that wound healing requires adequate Protein (thus 1.6g/kg is a good minimum target). We also want to make sure you're getting adequate essential fats, so shooting for a minimum of 50g is still good advice. If you are more like 70 to 80g, especially when not on a fat loss diet, that's just fine. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going much higher that that on fats because if you do, if will mean you would likely be subtracting calories from carbs. Good whole food sources of carbs like whole grains, vegetables and fruit have tons of nutritive value that you really shouldn't be skipping right now. In short, protein first, essential fats next, and carbs for the rest of the diet.

[ShoppGirl 4,999]

1 hour ago, SpartanMaker said:

@AmberFL I must have missed that you are recovering from surgery. While I probably wouldn't recommend a significant fat loss diet while healing, I'd also be a bit cautious about using Google AI recommendations. The idea that you need 15-20 calories per pound of current body weight to heal just doesn't pass the smell test. If this were true, none of us would have properly healed from our bariatric surgery. Keep in mind that 15-20 pounds for you right now would be roughly 2500 to 3400 calories. At your starting weight, that would have been about 4500 to almost 6000 calories a day!

Looking through the scientific literature, I couldn't find a single reference that this level of calories was needed to promote healing after surgery. There were some references to additional calories being helpful in the event of significant wounds, thus your calorie needs may be somewhat higher for more involved surgeries vs simple ones. I apologise, but I have no idea what "PS surgery" is, so that doesn't really help narrow things down. I think my recommendation would be to base this more on feel. If you are feeling really rundown, that's probably a good indication you may need to up your calories. You're always going to feel somewhat tired after any major surgery, so I'm talking about feeling excessively tired.

If you do feel the need to add more, my recommendations above regarding macros still stand. We do know that wound healing requires adequate Protein (thus 1.6g/kg is a good minimum target). We also want to make sure you're getting adequate essential fats, so shooting for a minimum of 50g is still good advice. If you are more like 70 to 80g, especially when not on a fat loss diet, that's just fine. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going much higher that that on fats because if you do, if will mean you would likely be subtracting calories from carbs. Good whole food sources of carbs like whole grains, vegetables and fruit have tons of nutritive value that you really shouldn't be skipping right now. In short, Protein first, essential fats next, and carbs for the rest of the diet.

Well, it wasn’t exactly an AI generated recommendation. It was an AI generated summary of all the articles that applied to the question I asked Google. So basically One of the articles them gave that recommendation is below and you can read the full article of course and determine whether it’s a reputable source and applies to you. I agree with not going by a cookie cutter approach regardless of where it came from. Especially the Internet, but it logically does make sense to me so it would definitely be worth talking to your doctor about and asking for a specific plan for you.

I know for me, my body is fighting cancer and processing chemo right now which both increase metabolism. Currently I’m logging like 1000-1500 cal more a day and still losing (albeit a little slower to appease my doctors). It changes your metabolism when your body is fighting something and it does burn more calories during times like this. How many that would be something your surgeon may be able to help you with a refer you to someone who can. I am very fortunate that I am at a big fancy breast center and they have an oncology dietitian that is helping me throughout all of my different treatments that I have in store for me over the next year to keep me on track for both that and my bariatric journey.

i think the most important part would be to just be mindful of the fact that healing does require adequate nutrition and not to be at too much of a calorie deficit because yes, we will heal like we did from our bariatric surgery but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was the ideal circumstance or that we we’re healing as fast as we could have. I know you are itching to get out and back to your activity asap as I would be and good nutrition is very important for faster healing.

I’m not saying that means you need to eat as much as you were eating when you were working out like crazy, but if it was me, I would focus primarily on fueling my body to get better faster, without gaining of course, and really focus on the weight loss once I was back on track (it won’t be that long). I mean if you can lose a bit great but if your body is screaming out for nutritious food it’s probable that there is a reason. The nutritionist that I am working with would not give me a specific calorie amount instead she told me to still try to avoid Cookies and chips, but to eat when my body was craving nutritious food and she checks in with me every week to see how I am doing and make tweaks

Does your surgeon have a nurse practitioner that you could talk to if you give them a call? Or was your dietician from pre surgery very helpful (mine was worthless 😂). Maybe you would get a more in-depth response from them than your surgeon who’s always super busy.

Edited Saturday at 04:50 PM by ShoppGirl

[SpartanMaker 880]

53 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

Well, it wasn’t exactly an AI generated recommendation. It was an AI generated overview of all the articles that applied to the question I asked Google.

Not trying to be argumentative here, but this seems like a bit of a strange comment considering that Google literally states that "AI Overviews use generative AI, which is a type of artificial intelligence that learns patterns and structures from the data it is trained on and uses that to create something new." Personally, I think it's important to treat anything AI Overview produces with a significant bit of skepticism. I don't doubt that this particular response was generated primarily from other sources since that's literally how AI works. That said, there's an old adage in computer science that goes "Garbage in, garbage out". This is just as true today with AI as it was in the dawn of the computer age.

54 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

It changes your metabolism when your body is fighting something and it does burn more calories during times like this.

I absolutely agree, but there are 2 things we need to take into consideration.

The first is to what extent we burn additional calories. There is data in the scientific literature showing that RMR (not total calories burned), increases anywhere from 15% to 50% during the acute recovery phase. Whether it's near 15% or 50% depends a lot on what one is recovering from. I'm sure you'd agree that having a grade 1 muscle strain is not nearly as taxing on the body as chemotherapy or, say recovering from extensive burns. Add in the fact that most people have no clue what their RMR is and it can be very difficult to estimate the exact amount of additional calories burned. (Plus, the farther along the recovery process you are, the lower the increase in RMR.)

The second confounding factor here is whether one actually needs to eat back those calories or not. Just because one is burning more calories does not mean one also has to eat all those calories back. This unfortunately is not clear at all in the scientific literature so we're sort of on our own here. My personal belief is that if your calorie needs have gone up a lot because you're recovering from a significant injury/illness AND you are at or below maintenance, then it's probably more important to eat more because you have less stored fat to fall back on. On the other hand, If you still have excess fat stores and/or are recovering from a more minor injury/illness, then you probably don't need to consume as many calories as you might otherwise. I also tend to believe that eating good quality foods is probably more important here than just eating more calories. 1000 extra calories of junk food is not going to help nearly as much as 250 calories of whole foods.

The problem is, most of us are just not going to be able to accurately calculate any of this. This is why I'm recommending caution and only jumping up a lot in calories if major fatigue is an issue.

[ShoppGirl 4,999]

2 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

Not trying to be argumentative here, but this seems like a bit of a strange comment considering that Google literally states that "AI Overviews use generative AI, which is a type of artificial intelligence that learns patterns and structures from the data it is trained on and uses that to create something new." Personally, I think it's important to treat anything AI Overview produces with a significant bit of skepticism. I don't doubt that this particular response was generated primarily from other sources since that's literally how AI works. That said, there's an old adage in computer science that goes "Garbage in, garbage out". This is just as true today with AI as it was in the dawn of the computer age.

I absolutely agree, but there are 2 things we need to take into consideration.

The first is to what extent we burn additional calories. There is data in the scientific literature showing that RMR (not total calories burned), increases anywhere from 15% to 50% during the acute recovery phase. Whether it's near 15% or 50% depends a lot on what one is recovering from. I'm sure you'd agree that having a grade 1 muscle strain is not nearly as taxing on the body as chemotherapy or, say recovering from extensive burns. Add in the fact that most people have no clue what their RMR is and it can be very difficult to estimate the exact amount of additional calories burned. (Plus, the farther along the recovery process you are, the lower the increase in RMR.)

The second confounding factor here is whether one actually needs to eat back those calories or not. Just because one is burning more calories does not mean one also has to eat all those calories back. This unfortunately is not clear at all in the scientific literature so we're sort of on our own here. My personal belief is that if your calorie needs have gone up a lot because you're recovering from a significant injury/illness AND you are at or below maintenance, then it's probably more important to eat more because you have less stored fat to fall back on. On the other hand, If you still have excess fat stores and/or are recovering from a more minor injury/illness, then you probably don't need to consume as many calories as you might otherwise. I also tend to believe that eating good quality foods is probably more important here than just eating more calories. 1000 extra calories of junk food is not going to help nearly as much as 250 calories of whole foods.

The problem is, most of us are just not going to be able to accurately calculate any of this. This is why I'm recommending caution and only jumping up a lot in calories if major fatigue is an issue.

I’m certainly not trying to be argumentative either. The reason that I went out of my way to state that it was from AI to begin with is so that the OP would be aware of that fact and take it as they may. Then I added that I was able to see the original articles and they could too if they did the research themselves and I suggested that they ask their doctor if it applies to them specifically. Also if you’re speaking specifically about the part that was talking about their rule of thumb for number of calories per pound, that was not from AI at all. That was from hss.edu and I referenced that above so that one can find and read the article for themselves and determine if it is applicable. It was all intended as food for thought and something to look into. Not medical advice as I am not a doctor

Personally, if I have a question I gather data from a lot of sources to include chats and AI summaries as well as medical journal articles or friends and then I ask a professional to decipher the medical jargon, tell me what out of the chat and less reputable sites or word of mouth is true and what applies to my specific situation.

In my opinion though, what it boils down to is that our metabolism while recovering from surgery or something else is going to be different than the same person when they were feeling fine just trying to lose weight and we should at least be aware of that and ask the right people the right questions if we care about weight, muscle loss, recovery time etc.

I can only ever speak accurately about my personal opinion or experience and that experience is that the oncology dietitians’ advice worked for me and it was basically if you’re craving a cookie then no, don’t have it but if you’re craving fruit or vegetables or something otherwise nutritious then your body probably needs them and you should listen to that when your recovering from something. Basically don’t just be counting calories and starving yourself during recovery, nourish your healing body. Of course my situation is different so that’s why you should always consult with your doctor.

Edited Saturday at 07:56 PM by ShoppGirl

[SpartanMaker 880]

@ShoppGirl I hear you.

Yes I saw the articles from HSS and a few others that quoted that amount, but I've found that sometimes things like this often become an echochamber, even among doctors and other healthcare professionals that should know better. All it takes for this to become the "standard", is for a 50 year old medical textbook or two to print this (based on old data or beliefs), and an entire generation of doctors come to accept it.

Look no further than BMI as an example of a well meaning, but ultimately wrong calculation becoming the standard by which we judge obesity and you can see how this sort of thing may not be based on science, but on "generally accepted knowledge".

Back to the subject at hand. We do know that RMR can and does increase during recovery, but the amount is not always the same and is highly dependent on both the injury/illness, as well as the individual themselves.

As a general rule of thumb when talking about athletes like @AmberFL, the number of calories needed during recovery is typically a little higher than maintenance, but quite a bit lower than what they might have needed when working out. That said, we also need to recognize that Non-Exercise Energy Thermogenesis (NEAT) can vary by many hundreds of calories between individuals. This is important, because even though RMR may increase, it's logical to assume people will have a concomitant reduction in NEAT when ill or injured. The net effect of that may mean the calorie balance may not really change that much if at all.

Here's an example:

• Let's use a 3 factor calorie model, meaning RMR, NEAT & Exercise. (I'm going to ignore TEF for now since it won't make a lot of difference here).
• Let's assume an RMR is 1500, since this is around the average for all humans.
• Let's also assume a NEAT of 600 for a total calorie burn before exercise of ~2100. I've selected this since it also is fairly close to the median.
• Obviously these are just averages and every individual will be different.
• At an RMR of 1500, if we use as an example a 25% increase due to illness/injury, that would mean the new RMR would be as much as 375 calories more.
• We would expect NEAT to drop in most people when ill or injured because they tend to sit/lie down a lot more, walk less, etc. Especially in people that have a high NEAT amount to begin with, a drop of 375 calories per day or more is easily within normal ranges when they don't feel good.
• The net result in our "average" person here is that while their RMR went up, their NEAT went down by the same amount, thus completely negating any need for additional calories.

At the end of the day, like you pointed out, we all have to decide for ourselves what we believe and what we think is right. I'm certainly not opposed to anyone consulting with their doctor regarding nutritional needs, as long as you recognise that most doctors get, at best, a single course in nutrition in medical school. Many get even less.

I'd tend to suggest a Registered Dietitian instead, especially when dealing with chronic or acute injury or illness. Full disclosure, my background in this area is in nutritional needs for athletes, not people that are unwell. The flip side of this is that I find there are very few RDs that have the requisite knowledge to properly coach athletes, since so much of their training goes into how to help with weight loss, or assist with the nutritional needs of diabetics, cancer patients and the like. We also know that there are some really lousy RDs out there as well, so caveat emptor. (Otherwise, why would we see some of them trying to get very active bariatric patients to stay on an 800kcal/d diet.). Any RD that does that is, i'm sorry to say, an idiot.

I'll close by saying that I don't doubt you in the least that you needed to up your calories by a significant amount due to cancer and chemo. I'm sure you recognise that's really in a different league to what most people are going through when recovering from an injury/illness or even surgical procedure. In your case, you have both the fact that cancer cells are effectively using calories that should go toward healthy tissue, as well as the fact that chemo is incredibly destructive to the rest of your body.

Best of luck.

[ShoppGirl 4,999]

You know, @AmberFL, part of your gain could just be inflammation from your surgery. Has your weight gone down any?? I would say that the implants are probably only like a pound or two themselves, but mostly I bet it’s inflammation. Not sure why I didn’t think of that before.