20/30/50 Fat/Protein/Carbs ?

I work in an office 50 hours a week, but am fairly active on weekends. I want to lose about 25 pounds. (5' 7.5" and started at 178 pounds).  My current weight loss plan is a reduced calorie diet (about 1400 cals/day), 2-3 cardio sessions a week and 1-2 full body resistance training per week. 

I never learned proper nutrition as a child, and am finally getting into healthy foods.  I've been doing fairly well so far. 

I read somewhere that you should ideally keep your fat:protein:carb ratio around 2:3:5... First, is this true when you are maintaining weight (assuming no restrictions for health problems, etc)?  Do ratios even matter?

Second, what kind of ratio should you aim for when trying to lose weight?  I know you can't build muscle on a calorie deficit, but can you prevent loss by upping protein or something - especially while resistance training?

anyone?

It's a pretty good ratio but I wouldn't kill yourself over maintaing it. Generally try to eat Carbs earlier in the day and taper them off as the day goes on. Increasing your protein will help preventing muscle loss, generally aim for as many g's of protein for how much you want to weigh (so around 150 g) for you. Try to spread your meals out, It's hard working 50 hours a week im sure, but 6 meals a day keeps your metabolism revved and working alot better than 3 large meals.

First thing though about your workout plan, you gotta increase your weight exercise. I don't know where the myth came from that cardio burns more calories but a total body weight exercise 3 days a week (with a day in between) is what you should aim for right now. It will raise your metabolism for the rest of the day increasing the calories you burn, and replace fat with lean tissue (which requires more calories to maintain).

Your young so try not to be too concerned with strictly weight loss but gaining muslce and improving your overall health. Keep note of how much better you feel after exercising and always keep that in mind when you feel like your not seeing immediate results.

150g protein?! really?  I have been averaging around 70g/day.  Some days if I eat a lot of meat I hit 90, some days it's in the mid 50s...

I'd throw in a protein shake or two inbetween meals, it'll help you get the small 6 meals a day and increase your protein intake. It will definitely help slow down any muscle lost with your weight. 150 might be a bit more than necessary when trying to lose weight. Somewhere around 120 is probably a better number. But a scoop of whey protein in milk should give you atleast 30 g's of protein, so it's not too hard to get some more.

Original Post by mkl39:

I work in an office 50 hours a week, but am fairly active on weekends. I want to lose about 25 pounds. (5' 7.5" and started at 178 pounds).  My current weight loss plan is a reduced calorie diet (about 1400 cals/day), 2-3 cardio sessions a week and 1-2 full body resistance training per week. 

I never learned proper nutrition as a child, and am finally getting into healthy foods.  I've been doing fairly well so far. 

I read somewhere that you should ideally keep your fat:protein:carb ratio around 2:3:5... First, is this true when you are maintaining weight (assuming no restrictions for health problems, etc)?  Do ratios even matter?

Second, what kind of ratio should you aim for when trying to lose weight?  I know you can't build muscle on a calorie deficit, but can you prevent loss by upping protein or something - especially while resistance training?

The 20/30/50 ratio is what I have been following for the past few weeks.  I am 5'-9" and 178 pounds.  I have been averaging 200 grams of protein per day.  It's getting easier to eat 3000+ calories / day!!  I am trying to put on weight (lean mass) and would like to get to about 185 before cutting.

Have you figured out your BMR and adjusted it for your activity level to get your "maintain" caloric requirement??  If not, you should because it sounds like maybe you may be eating too little.  Generally, your BMR less 500-600 calories per day is a good guideline for cutting fat.  You sound pretty active, which is good! 

I got into a discussion with a personal trainer who works at my gym one day and he said the ratio was 20/20/60. But I mean, stuff like that varies even among 'professionals'. It's all debatable. so your 20/30/50 sounds reasonable.

Like I said, I'm really just learning about nutrition so I'm just trying to stay within a reasonable window for everything.  I am not too strict with it. I've been eating a lot less meat (I feel like it weighs me down) but trying to replace it with beans, nuts, and fish to get enough protein.  In general, I'm trying to eat better all around.

Mostly, I am confused because I have gotten advice to eat over a hundred (even 150, 200) grams of protein per day.  I don't think even at my highest daily intake I ate this much... it seems insane! I thought you should be getting anywhere from 0.8 to 1.2 (depending on activity level) times your weight, in kilograms (not pounds!)  Following this, I'd use a multiplier of 1 (since I'm somewhere in the middle activity level) times 178 pounds / 2.2 pounds per kilogram = 80 grams of protein per day.  My goal weight would need about 70g per day, and both of these numbers are for a maintenance level appropriate to that weight.  So I've been shooting for something between those two.  That said... protein powder to hit 200g?  Do you guys really do that?  It just doesn't seem realistic (or natural, even).  But maybe I'm going about this wrong... it would be nice to be able to boost my metabolism to eat over 2000 cals per day.

I started monitoring what I eat on June 1st (averaging about 2100 calories/day, but was gaining about a pound and a half per month, which workes out to around 200 calories extra per day).  CC said I maintain around 1920 (which seemed to match my calculations), so I cut back my calories to around 1400-1500/day a week or so later.  I started working out regularly about a week and a half after that, eating more on workout days. 

It's only been about three and a half weeks, but I've lost about three pounds and feel a little stronger. Does this seem reasonable?  I get put off when I see people are losing 6 or 7 pounds in the same time frame. 

goodform - why do you build muscle first and then cut fat?  Is this a better approach?

Original Post by mkl39:

I read somewhere that you should ideally keep your fat:protein:carb ratio around 2:3:5... First, is this true when you are maintaining weight (assuming no restrictions for health problems, etc)?  Do ratios even matter?

ratios might make a little bit of difference, but there is no way of knowing what ratios will be ideal for you, some people do better with higher carbs, some people do better with higher fat.

Quality of food is way more important than ratios of macronutrients.  Stick to foods that you can hunt, fish, pluck, grow, or ferment/culture.

Original Post by mkl39:

Mostly, I am confused because I have gotten advice to eat over a hundred (even 150, 200) grams of protein per day.  I don't think even at my highest daily intake I ate this much... it seems insane! I thought you should be getting anywhere from 0.8 to 1.2 (depending on activity level) times your weight, in kilograms (not pounds!) 

The recommendation (and I don't remember where it came from, but is pretty widely acepted) for a healthy active person is 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight (or about 0.8 grams per pound.

Oh, wow... then I guess I'm seriously slacking in the protein department.  Thanks for your advice guys!