Weight Loss is Math (Part 2) - Setting Targets
So now you know the basics of calories and macros, and start to develop a sense for what types of food help you achieves your overall fitness and wellness goals, you might be wondering “well, what should my goals be? How much should I be eating? How should I go about setting those goals?”
The first thing we need to figure out is the daily total calories. To do that, a good starting point are macro calculators like this one, this one or this one by MyFitnessPal, that take various inputs like your daily exercise amount, lifestyle, etc and triangulate a number for you. I would recommend trying out a few and take the average. But it is critical to be honest with yourself. If you are an office worker who sits at your desk or in meetings most of the day, then your lifestyle is sedimentary. When it comes to weight loss goal setting, generally you want to be a little conservative with your goal setting while maintaining a sustainable pace.
Once you figure out your daily calories, next is to figure out your daily macro targets. Here are the core principles:
Protein: aim for 0.7g to 1g of protein per lb of your target body mass. So if your goal is to reach 150lbs, then your daily protein intake should be between 105g and 150g.
Fat: your daily fat intake should be no more than 30% of your total daily caloric intake. 25% is a good target to aim for most people.
Example: if your daily caloric intake is 2000, 500 calories (25% of 2000) of fat is a good target. Divide that by 9, you get 55g of fat.
Carbs: once you have your grams of protein and fat, the rest of the calories is carbs. Just divide it by 4 to get the daily grams.
Let’s go over an example.
Assuming:
Your daily caloric intake is 1,800.
Your target weight is 165lbs.
You want to have higher daily protein intake, so say 0.8g of your target weight.
Then:
Protein: 165x0.8 = 132g
Fat: 1,800 (total daily calories) x 0.25 (25% of total calories) / 9 (9 calories per gram of fat) = 50g
Carbs: (total daily calories - protein calories - fat calories) / 4, so (1,800 - 132x4 - 1800x0.25)/4 = 205g
So your daily calories and macro targets are:
Calories: 1,800
Protein: 132g
Fat: 50g
Carbs: 205g
You now have all the major tools you need to start your weight loss journey! Before you begin, there’s one last critical principle to keep in mind: always listen to your body. While much of what I’ve shared here consists of tried-and-true methods backed by nutritional science, only you truly know how your body feels. Your experiences may differ significantly from someone else’s, so it’s essential to pay attention to your body’s signals.
For example, if you set your target at 1,500 calories per day but find yourself constantly hungry and low on energy during the first couple of weeks (it’s normal to feel hungry for the first 2 to 3 days as your body adjusts), and if your workouts are suffering, you may be under-eating. In this case, listen to your body, increase your caloric intake, and keep monitoring how you feel.
Your scale can also be a useful tool for tracking progress. Weigh yourself once a week and adjust your caloric intake and macros based on what you see. Remember to iterate, iterate, iterate!