What are your macros for breakfast + lunch + dinner?

(S O) #1

I was eating 3 burger patties in the morning for 78 grams of protein and 90 grams of fat minus whatever was left in the pan and I felt horrible. I felt like I needed a big meal to power me through the day but I was exhausted and then hungry. By the end of the day I would eat at least 225 grams of fat and protein and sometimes up to 300 grams of both.

I feel better eating 54 grams of protein and about 30 grams of fat for breakfast. I have more energy and I am not as hungry.

For lunch I had 52 grams of protein and 66 grams of fat.

For dinner 59 grams protein, 24 grams of fat.

Daily total was 172 grams protein and 125 grams of fat.

I was under the impression I should eat more fat than protein but I like eating slightly lower fat. I have done this for a few days so no real track record here.

I would be curious to see your daily macros and rationale behind them.

(Cathy) #2

My goal for protein is 90 grams for the day and I typically donā€™t eat a ā€˜breakfastā€™ but an early lunch. I do have coffee with HWC so I consider that food but no protein to speak of.

If you feel best eating more protein than fat (assuming you are using calories to calculate), I think this is just fine. In fact you are eating more fat than protein in terms of calories with that example you provided. Here is the breakdown:

Nutrient Calories per gram Calories total Total

Protein 170 g 4 680 cal
Fat 125 g 9 1,125 cal
Total 295 g ā€” 1,805 cal

So you see that when a statement that for keto a person should consume more fat than protein (and carbs) than fat, you have to understand that it is not a literal amount of grams but rather the calories that the amount represents and understanding that fat is more than 2x the amount of calories per gram helps. In your scenerio you are actually consuming almost 2x the amount of fat compared with protein. Thatā€™s a pretty good ration.

(Laurie) #3

My living situation has changed and I havenā€™t figured out my food yet. But it used to be as follows:

Breakfast (usually around noon): 3 eggs cooked in butter, approx. 18 g protein, 25 g fat.

Lunch/snack (mid-afternoon): cold pork chop, approx. 25 g protein, 10 g fat.

Dinner (6 pm): 1/2 pound (250 g) ground beef, approx. 50 g protein, 50 g fat.

So about 93 g protein and 85 g fat. Iā€™m older, and I eat less than a young person.

As youā€™ve noticed, eating too much can backfire, leaving you hungry, etc. We are all different; you can figure out what works for you.

(S O) #4

Hi Cathy,

It might be a youtube thing but most of the keto advice I came across seemed to be roughly 1 gram of fat per 1 gram of protein up to 1 gram of protein to 2 grams of fat, anchored to about 1 gram of protein per lb of lean mass. I know some advice is given in percentage of calories per macro but I never really followed any of that. I was definitely overeating and stuck though. I had a little trouble getting to sleep last night but I probably need to get my fat up a little. I intend to drive my protein down a little more but I am going to do it gradually.

Hi Laurie, overeating has been my default. I feel kind of silly figuring this out after all this time but wow with this light breakfast I feel amazing. I just really need to tighten up how much I eat and stick to a limit.

Thanks

(Cathy) #5

I am old school and even though I donā€™t pay attention to calories, it is good to be mindful of the various ways in which we talk about foodā€™s values. I also find that chatGPT is an excellent tool for calculating what you are consuming and even your needs.

(Bob M) #6

Fat and protein are weird. Thereā€™s some evidence that eating more fat = eating less. But thereā€™s also a bunch of benefits to eating protein, such as protein digestion is more caloric than other types of digestion. And if you get into the studies, protein almost always is beneficial from a weight loss standpoint. Like this one for instance:

On the other hand, Amber Oā€™Hearn believes that some people do better with high (animal) fat. I tried that, and I did feel that I ā€“ oddly ā€“ had more energy. I realized, however, that a lot of animal fat, like suet, and I donā€™t get along.

What Iā€™m trying to do now is add more fat, but Iā€™ve been adding dairy fat. Iā€™m one of the few people for which dairy doesnā€™t seem to do much bad to me. Iā€™ve been losing weight WHILE eating dairy. Sorry to all those who canā€™t.

I still like high protein at times, though. Shrimp, mussels, ham, etc. I just add a bit of cheese sometimes to these.

#7

My numbers always vary a lot. My protein intake is usually 130-180g (itā€™s virtually always 90-250), almost always significantly way over 2g/kg for LBM and that amount is usually significantly above of a humanā€™s need as far as I know but there is a serious individual factor I know. (I try to eat as little protein as I can and this is the result, on every diet I am able to follow. My body typically wants 130+ g protein for satiation but itā€™s so little food that I inevitable go over 200g sometimes. Very rarely now.)
Fat is similarly varied and it was super correlated with my protein in my first keto (on/off) years as as much fat as protein was the leanest food I could stomach and it was already too much food for me so I tried not to stray often. Now I eat more protein that fat in grams (on good days) except if I do a fat fast. I really focus on quite lean protein now but of course I wonā€™t stop eating my fatty favs.

A good day is 130-140g protein, around 100g fat and some carbs. I almost never track my meals separately but both (lunch and dinner, rarely dinner and second dinner, I donā€™t eat breakfast) tend to be substantial. I canā€™t do tiny meals unless I am very satiated (thatā€™s why my rare breakfasts are so small. usually one egg. for some reason, waking up too early triggers it and it feels sooo good). My first meal tends to be somewhat bigger but itā€™s not always the case. Soā€¦ 80-100g protein for lunch and itā€™s usually leaner than my dinner but I have my limits. I doubt I ever could get satiated by a mere 50g protein when hungry even if itā€™s an early lunch! I just need more.
But I have OMAD days too, I just eat this in one sitting then, itā€™s the best. I never tracked more than 150g protein in one sitting and if I only eat once, I have a better chance to keep my carbs lower too. I get more satiated and chill. And my meal is still not big but enough if I choose my items well. I can even afford a bit fattier stuff on OMAD!

(If I am off keto as usual lately, I just eat a lot of carbs on top of these, I need my protein and fat just the same. My fat intake used to shoot up on higher-carb for multiple reasons but itā€™s in the past now.)

More fat than protein is for the ones whose energy need is higher or protein need is lower than mine. I canā€™t pull that off without staying fat (not like I donā€™t stay fat anyway but lately I have a tiny success).
Soā€¦ Protein/energy need and goals: I need to eat lean. It helps with satiation so no problem there, I can lose fat while being very satiated. My taste is unfortunate but with the right items and little else, I can do it without missing fat too much (I missed fat so much in my early keto times and I stayed fat too as I ate too much fatā€¦ while too little. woe was me). Not always, I need my fattier days too. My body is fine with lower (but not really low!) and higher fat alike. 80g fat but enough protein and luck for satiation? Great. 130g? Feels good. 260g: absolutely awesome but sadly, overeating. Itā€™s still fine if itā€™s rare (or if a miracle happens and I get really active I suppose. outside in deep frost).

I never had hunger from a big meal, in the contrary but if I eat too late, I may get hungry earlier the next day, weird.
We should figure out what works best for our individual case.

#8

I try to reach leucine 3g in at least 2 meals a day to activate mTOR. For me this is ~ 35g protein each meal. I aim for 90-105g total protein (not including collagen). I weigh 55kg (121 lb)

(Jane) #9

I weighed that in college but now almost 30 lbs more than that and I am 5ā€™ 2", so technically overweight. I am 67 and still in good shape and my waist is smaller than my boobs and hips, and I carry a lot of weight in my hips and tops of my thighs (my cousin named them ā€œthunder thighsā€ since it runs in our family LOL). My calves and ankles are thin.

I am afraid at my age if I got back into the 120ā€™s I would look like a Shar-Pei, or a bag of skin on bones! Maybe not, if I lost it graduallyā€¦ I feel good and contented with how I look so not going to change anything. Happy to not be on any meds at 67 and have the energy to go up and down the hill to my meadow where my garden and chickens are several times a day without any effort. Itā€™s all good!

(Jane) #10

And I didnā€™t answer your question because I never counted macros. I stopped eating breakfast most mornings years ago after about 6 months on keto, so no breakfast macro.

I only counted carbs and ate protein and fat until I was full and it worked for me. I do prioritize protein to keep me from losing muscle tone since I am no spring chicken. Now that I have my own flock I know what it meansā€¦and to be ā€œcooped upā€! :laughing: