A little lost

Hi, fist thanks for your site, it’s nice to have explanations of what is and isn't and why. I am a little lost on the 30,20,50 breakdown for smart eating. I am lost because here you say sedentary people weighing 200lbs should get about 73 grams protein, but according to calorie intake for someone at 200 lbs, whether maintaining or loosing and using your chart, 73 isn't even close to 30%, so what is a healthy amount on days I don't work out and what ratio if, at 73grams, protein only accounts for 292 calories??? Thank you

-Rachel

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Hey Rachel!

Thank you for the question! It looks like you've been doing a lot of thinking about this..and it's really great!

I think the most important thing to realize here is that calorie counting is both a science AND an art. It always depends on your goals and ambitions. First, you want to determine the number of calories your burn per day just by existing (here is the BMR calculation). This will be your baseline. Forget about all the sedentary vs. active vs. triathlete stuff...those concepts were meant to be examples and guidelines.

Once you know your baseline, then it's time to determine how many calories you want to consume. I would typically recommend + or - 15%, depending on if you want to build muscle or lose weight.

So let's say after all that, you want to consume 1800 calories/day. protein = 30% = 540 Cal = 135g protein

carbs = 50% = 900 Cal = 225g carbs
fat = 20% = 360 Cal = 40g fat

Now remember, this is just an example. You can adjust the percentages based on your goals. All of the recommendations I throw out there on the site are ideas you can use for guidance, nothing is written in stone. For example, protein can vary from 15-30%. Fats and carbs can also vary...it all depends on what you want to achieve! People also metabolize proteins, fats and carbs at different rates. I actually tend to not use the scale when measuring results...all you need is a mirror! If you like it, don't change anything. If you don't, make some adjustments to your diet! It's that simple.

So, my suggestion is to start over from the beginning. All the guidelines on the site can be confusing, especially if you attempt to put them all together into one simple recommendation. The main idea that I really wanted to convey with this site is to do what is right for YOU. I've only laid out guidelines to help you. Simply said, I've laid out several pathways for you to follow...you just have to pick the one that's right for you!

It's really gratifying to know you took a lot from the site, I'm grateful for it! Thanks for reading! The best has yet to come!

--Ryan