juf2m

I recently went to a nutritionist, who advised me to have about 1600 cals a day, 77 grams of protein, no more than 50 of fat, and up to 300 of carbs. The ratio should be 50-55 carbs, >30 fat, and I think 20 protein.

Well I am finding this to be an almost impossible feat. If I increase my protein to hit 20% I always end up having way more than 77g. My fat and carbs usually end up at about 40% each (trying to adjust back after a low carb regimen is really hard!) and if I ever do miraculously get the % ratios right, I am always over on the grams and certainly over on the calories.

Does anyone else have this problem? Of course she gave me some sample meal plans (they involve all these complicated snacks), but I do live in the real world and find that after I eat all the correct snacks and lunch, I barely have 200 cals left for dinner.

HELP! How do I DO this?

DMulyava

Well, considering that dinner should be your smallest meal of the day (I know.. goes against what the society usually does), that sounds fine.

The caloric ratio I aim for is 65% carbs, 20% protein, 15% fat. The trick to getting protein without the fat is to eat lean sources, like tuna, chicken breast, egg white.

capsicum

I have a hard time getting the carbs up while not using high glycemic index food(like white bread and donut sugar) and keeping the protein and fat between 15% and 20%
65c/20f/15p is my general aim
Actually I measure fat to carb ratio and seperatly track total grams of protein, because protein is mainly used as a building block while fat and carbs are fuel. (Protein can be used as fuel but it is not a prefered source by any measure, fat is also used for coating nerves and a few other functions but its main use is fuel.)

100grams of carbs per 14 grams of fat,
which is 76.5% carb calories/23.5% fat calories or the same ratio as the 65c/20f/15p with protein removed from the equation.

For protein I just aim for 1-1.5 grams per kilo of bodyweight as this is plenty even for athletes, non athletes can get by fine with 0.8g/kg.


Too much protein (2g/kilo+) will increase urin production and flush calcium out of the blood which then must be replaced and dietary calcium is rarely enough(even with high supplements) so bones give up a lot of their mass. Although some evidence derived from studies of pre-agraculture man(high protein, but no dairy and strong bones) suggests that a calcium:magnesium ratio of 1:1 will counter the bone loss, this means leafy vegetables(kale/collards, chard, bokchoy, mustard greens, dark green lettuce, etc.. all have cal:mag near 1:1 and the highest calcium per calorie in all of foodom) and no dairy(cal:mag of 12:1, throws off whole diet).
Prehistoric humans also spent more time outside so vitamin D would have been higher (D is made by the body when in sun, and nessesary for calcium absorbsion) but cyclists spend a lot of time in the sun with a fair amount of exposed skin so this may not be a concern in our group.

capsicum

FYI, most dieticians/nutritionists will back up 0.8-1.5 grams per kilo of bodyweight per day of protein.

karlfitt

I am having a hard time keeping the fat percent down myself.

1600, plus what you use while riding, correct? You need to replace what you burned.

This web site https://www.fitday.com/ has a web based calorie tracker. Or you can buy it for $20.00.

Or you can buy the one I have, for $20.00 less than I paid for it direct from the manufacturer for $45.00. I like mine a little better because it has more name brand stuff in it.

Both allow you to add items you cook yourself.

Both also track calories burnt through exercise. The one I use seems to be on because by following it I have been loosing weight consitantly.


While it has helped me maintain my "calories", I obviously still need to adjust what I eat to get the ratios correct.

Ric Stern

see this thread https://www.cyclingforums.com/showthr...=1#post1361558

Ric

juf2m

Thanks so much for your comments everyone, perhaps I will try doing the protein by grams, and the others separately....and yes, I have a fitday, it's very handy, and that's precisely why I found that maintaining the balance was difficult.

LoL Ric, I guess we both frequent the same forums! I posted in both places to get a wide variety of answers. Many thanks...

capsicum

The fat:carb balance only has to be in the ballpark each day, there is great flexibility there actually, as long as it averages out to your goal over a few days to a week your fine.

It only gets important on a one-day basis if you are a pro athlete that does high levels of training and so forth, but thats why they higher dieticians to plan there food. All others are in the clear as long as they are somewhat close.

Protein on the other hand should be kept a little closer, not straying as far each day and averaging over just two or three days rather than 5-7 IMHO.

Diggy18

Wow, 1600 calories a day is a starvation diet for me. You've gotta be hungry most of the day!

capsicum

He meens 1600 is the base metabolism. It varies a lot depending on age, fitness, and genetics.
Base metabolism is what your body burns just living, that is if you spent a day lying in bed.
to get total calorie burn you ad to the base met.; exorsize(includes everything even walking out to get the mail), low tempatures, digestion(uses quite a few calories), and stress will burn a few too.
so an example might be
1800 base+
1000 on a bike ride+
500 mowing the lawn and diging up weeds+
200 because it was a cool day but you dressed normally+
300 burned to digest the food you ate =
3800 Calories burned that day

In the example if you ate less than 3800 calories you would loose weight if you ate more you would gain weight there is 9 calories to a gram of fat or 250 calories to an ounce of fat.

juf2m

Actually I've been told 1400 is my base metabolism. And yes, it sure feels like a starvation diet for me, particularly when I'm not cycling and can't have cycling snacks (which I can have in addition to the 1600)! I've gotta lose 10lbs by Nov 6 though...it's so much harder when you aren't officially overweight.