Your Macronutrient Breakdown and Protein Reqmts
 

I just recalculated my minimum protein requirements (the old way) and it appears that the minimum requirement for me now is about 70g protein per day.

I also reviewed some of my PP materials and the Drs. Eades do not recommend that you go WAY OVER your minimum. They even state that it could impede weight loss.

I have been also looking at my BMR and TDEE to understand the appropriate caloric intake.

My BMR is around 1900 calories and my TDEE is around 2600.

Based on this information I'm trying to focus on keeping calories around 1650-1700.

However, also based on my concerns that I've been eating almost DOUBLE my minimum protein requirement (125-130g on average); I want to reduce my protein to about 80g per day.

Bottom line: I am considering the following macronutrient breakdown to help improve my weight loss.. (I want to get back to losing 6-8 pounds per month).

Fat 1170 cal 130g daily 70%
Protein 320 cal 80g daily 20%
Carbs (net) 160 cal 40g daily 10%

Has anyone made this type of change? Is 70% fat too much? How do you achieve that in your diet? Did you see improvements in obtaining more consistent weight loss?

Thank you in advance for your input.

I upped my fat to 65-70% and keep my carbs at or below 10% and this approach has been my key to success. My protein target is 81g, but about a year ago Dr. Mike Eades in his blog discussed a study of middle-aged women eating a bit more protein (100g/day) and losing more. I've tried both, and the 100g did make me lose slightly faster and makes it easier to maintain, so that is what I aim for. I did try dropping back to 81g for a couple of months, but I didn't feel as satisfied, so I went back to 100g. I rarely exceed 100g because excess protein can be turned into glucose (albeit inefficiently) and I am very sensitive to carbs, but mostly because protein is more expensive than fat.

I don't eat any grains, soy, sugar or frankenfoods. I mostly eat veggies and meat/poultry/fish/eggs, with some (<4oz) hard cheese & 1-4T heavy cream per day, and some berries a couple of times a week. The fat comes from normal amounts in the meat/poultry/fish/eggs, coconut oil (mostly as home-made chocolate bark), nuts (50-100g/day plain/unsalted or in the chocolate bark), butter (ghee, actually, to cut out casein) and my favourite full fat salad dressings and olive oil.

Incidentally, the switch to more fat made it possible for me to eat more calories and lose at the same rate. Originally on PP I was eating ~1450 cals/day to lose 1 lb/wk but was able to increase that to 1750-1800 to lose the rest of the 60 lbs at the same rate and now I can maintain on 1900-2000/day, still 65%-70% fat and 10% carbs. After 35 years of yo-yoing on low to moderate fat diets of all descriptions, the only thing I hadn't tried was very high fat. It turns out to be the optimal diet for my body. I lost 60 lbs effortlessly and continuously on 1700+ cals/day, my moodiness disappeared, and I have been maintaining effortlessly for 15 months (I'd never maintained for more than a month or two in the past, and never effortlessly! - it involved constant hunger & willpower). I don't need willpower to eat plenty of my favourite fatty foods. It may not work like this for everyone, but it is worth evaluating for yourself.

I figured out my BMR and aimed to diet on the number of calories I would need at my 150 lb goal weight so that I would never need to change my way of eating from diet to maintanence. As you can see I exceeded my modest goal and am now settled in at about your goal weight, a good weight for me, but was never maintainable in the past, which is why I did not set it as my original goal because I was being realistic for a change. All while eating more food and fat than I ever thought possible (I starved on 1200 calories for years with my weight barely moving or stalled and assumed I had the metabolism of a sloth, when I really needed to switch my carb and fat %s).

If you want more evidence that 70% fat is not too much, and in fact can turn many disease symptoms around, check out: Dr. Jan Kwasniewski's "Optimal Diet" http://homodiet.netfirms.com/
I've paired his amount of fat (70%) with the Eades' amount of effective carbs (10%) to get my optimal diet.

here i go again :),

change to a 23/1 IF regime, keep it low-carb, and dont bother hasseling yourself to measure out the macro nutrient content, eat as much low-carb stuff as you can in your 1 hour window.

frequency of eating has as much do to if not more to do with weight loss than macronutrient content.

you know the bad signs? if your getting hunger pangs consistently at exactly the same time everyday your body has adapted to your eating schedule and it will start to resist weight loss. in my experience (i.e. for me) it seems to take about 4 days for your body to adapt so every 5th day you need to radically change your eating pattern.

i wouldnt believe it at first but it seems even 23/1 IF will stall weight loss once your body adapts.

I've been eating 65%-75% of my calories from fat ever since I started eating LC. It never occurred to me to NOT eat a lot of fat when I cut back on carbs.

I don't pay attention to fat. I try to get at least 120 grams of protein and less than 50 grams (total) carb and just eat the fat that goes with it.

Today i only had about 37% from fat, but I've gone as high as 65-70% fat. My calories are almost always around 1600-1800/day. I've been loosing an average of 1 pound a week.

I'm not looking for quick loss, I'm looking for good health. I have just over 20 pounds to go (I've lost over 70) and if it takes another year, so be it.

My goal is health....and on the plan I'm on I have seen an improvement in my cholesterol levels, blood sugars, etc. I've also found that chronic problems I've had for many years have either improved or resolved.

My feeling is do what works for you....and lots of protein works for me!!

Deirdra, if you don't mind...where did you get the 10% carb number for PP? I haven't seen that. Thanks!

I don't think Drs. Eades ever gave carbs as a % of total calories- they just gave total carb counts and minimum protein counts, with no formal recomendations about total calories.

I think the OP found that, for her personally, the % of carbs came out to about 10% when she followed the PP plan.

So what do you do then? Start eating every other day? Or does there come a point when you actually eat MORE OFTEN to "shake things up?"

And is "adapt" a fancy word for the metabolism slowing to match the caloric intake? That is what I'm actually afraid of with my IFing...that it will actually happen that I *can't* eat more without gaining weight.

I didn't think they ever did. I have all their books and I didn't remember ever seeing that. I guess I misread Dierdra's post. I thought it said they recommended 10% carbs.