Yes, I log my calories daily and generally shoot for 40/30/30 (P/C/F) but sometimes it is higher w/ carbs...
I much rather prefer tracking macros with grams opposed to percentages. I wrote another post about this, let me dig it up and copy it here so you better understand.
Before I get into specifics with someone, I like to make sure they have their calories figured out first. That is the driving factor behind all of your goals. For general purposes, maintenance caloric intake is 15 calories per pound of body weight. From this, I like to start with a deficit of roughly 15%.
My diet is majority carbs. I think any diet for the average person, leaving out goal dependencies, should worry about calories first and foremost, then protein requirements, then EFAs. Once they are accounted for, it is fair game to toy around with the remaining macronutrients required to fulfill your energy requirements.
For instance, if I need 3500 calories to maintain, that is the number I will shoot for.
I like to have 1 - 1.5 gm of protein for each pound that I weigh. Right now that would be 195. There are 4 calories in each gram of protein, which equals out to be 975 calories (using 1.25 grams/lb). If you are not weight training, these requirements would be lower. If you are dieting with a caloric deficit, protein requirements actually increase.
Then I worry about my fats. I like to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-100 grams as a minimum. Of this, I keep it to the healthy side of things with monounsaturateds (olive oil), certain polyunsaturateds (omega-6/9s, stuff like flax oil, borage oil, etc), and a source of omega-3s (fish oil caps, or a serving of omega-3 rich fish like salmon). Let's say from this, I take in 100 grams of fat. There are 9 calories per gram of fat, leaving us with 900 calories here.
That gives us a total of 1875 calories, while I am shooting for 3500! I need 1625 more. This is where I add my carbs and I toy around with the other macronutrients too. As an average, I would say 200 grams of carbs is a good number for an active individual. I have gone much higher myself. At any rate, once you calculate your proteins and fats, you fill the deficit needed to reach your caloric goal with a mixture of the 3. I tend to keep protein pretty stable at 1 - 1.5g per lb.
It tends to be very personal and goal dependent from this point forward. If you were going to be doing a lot of frequent cycling, I would load up on carbs, especially close to your workouts/cycles. Active people can benefit from carbs, although there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate, there are only essential amino acids and essential fats.
Yes, it has been some time...as i really started focusing on losing weight Dec 2005, eating 1200 cals/day and then June 2006 is when my body decided enough was enough
Happens to anyone who chronically under-eats. Even when someone institutes a "healthy" deficit calorically speaking, give it enough time and the body will adapt and weight loss will slow to a point where you don't even notice change. Institute something beyond your normal 10-20% deficit, the faster this will happen. Name of the game.
I tried to do this in the past and i kept gaining weight....i stopped at 1800 cals/day and stayed there for 6 weeks and gained a total of 8-10 lbs (depending on the day). I'm not too keen to try this again as that will put me back to my starting weight of 160 from DEC 2005?! Is this the only way I am going to be able to lose as it didnt work before?
How controlled were you? What incremental steps ups in consumption did you use? What increments in time between each ramp up? Were you doing the same type of exercise during this time? There is a way to go about it where weight gain will be minimal if any.
You ask, "Is this the only way I am going to be able to lose as it didn't work before." Eating more doesn't cause weight loss. Getting your cals up to a more natural level "resets" your body, primes it hormonally, so that weight loss can again occur in a more efficient fashion. So you reset it, where some weight gain may occur. Once it is completely reset, you start dieting again with a more sensible plan of attack for your individual goals.