Hi all, I’m new here and after listening to the audio book and downloading the Kindle version I am very excited about starting my journey. One question I have (and sorry if I’ve missed it in the book) but what macronutrient breakdown should be followed for the Mediterranean Style Diet? i.e. Protein/ carbs/ fat. I’ve seen some percentages but don’t know how the percentages translate to a proportion of the 800 cals – i.e. if it is 35% fat then is that 35% of 800 cals (280) that can be derived from fat? IT makes it very difficult to get your head around.
Ideally I’d like someone to say have 60g of protein, 35g of good fats and 25g of carbs.
Anyone facing a similar problem?
Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Welcome, Tristar! I understand your confusion, for it’s one of the shortcomings in MMosley’s books. The subject of
macros isn’t really addressed, and most of us old timers have had to do additional research to hone our understanding
of this subject. I can certainly help with advice, but I first must ask if you are doing the Med Diet or the Fast800? You
did mention 800 calories, so if you can share your objectives, I’m sure we will be able to sort it out for you 🙂

Allie

Hi Tristar8 the diet is low carb moderate protein and high in good fats. Most people work out their protein on their ideal weight I am not sure exactly how they do it but I am sure if you put JGwen in the search bar in the top right hand corner she has answered this question. I personally go for 20g carb, 50g protein and 60g good fats. This seems to work for me but it is different for all of us as our bodies are so different at processing it all. For the people with T2 and for those of us that have a lot of weight to discard usually stick to 20g of carbs to stop our insulin spiking. But your macros don’t look too bad at all. A lot of people stick with 30-50g of carbs as this works well for them. As long as you start by cutting out all carbs like bread, pasta, rice and flours you will be on your way to success! Most of your daily intake of carbs will come from leafy green veg. It really is a bit of trial and error to start with so you can tell how your body processes the carbs. But we are all here to help guide you. Welcome to our friendly forum and I am sure someone more knowledgeable than me will be along shortly. You might want to jump over in to our weekly thread ONE WEEK AT A TIME, as you will find old and new members there who can answer your questions and point you in the right direction. Good luck
On your journey and all the best Birdy💞🦜

I’ve just started Fast 800 today. I’m starting on 40\40\20 for my macros, which is about 80g carb, 80g protein and 18g fat I think. I’m sure I read a Mediterranean diet is around this, but can’t remember where I saw it now, so might be wrong.

I’m going to move towards 25\30\45 over time (50g carb, 60g protein and 40g fat). I base my calcs on 1g carb or protein being 4 cals and 1g fat being 9 cals.

Not sure if that’s spot on, so probably worth checking with your own research, but it’s given me a starting point.

Thanks Allie. I’d like to follow the Fast800, using 16/8 time restricted eating. I thought it was referred to as Med Style – but am a little lost to what exactly he is ‘prescribing’.
I started yesterday and was so confused I just had 1 Optifast shake and 1 hard boiled egg… Then waited 16 hours until having a jet another egg this morning. Another shake will be dinner at this rate. Problem is that the shake has 22.5g of carbs and 14g of sugars – so know it’s not ideal. My problem is lack of self control with portions so figured this might help me to start with and graduating on to proper food as a reward for sticking to the shake.
(I intend to buy their shake as lower sugar)

Hi Tristar,
As the others have said, one of the short falls in the book is the failure to give advice on the ratio of carbs, protein, fat. – The consensus by most researchers is that even if you are insulin resistant (and most of us with a lot of weight to lose are in that category) you will be in fat burning mode (ketosis) if you stick with less than 20g of carbs. – It may be that you can get into ketosis with a slightly higher level of carbs, but you would need to monitor to confirm if you are in ketosis to find your levels.
The normal formula for protein for women is 0.6 to 0.8g of protein per kilo of TARGET weight. – Slightly higher for men.
With the balance of calories coming from healthy fat.

Beegirl, your fat is low and your carbs are quite high to put you in ketosis (fat-burning mode). Why not go for the 50 grams of carbs and 40 grams of fat out of the gate? A good formula is you should aim for .5-1 gram of protein per kilo of ideal weight. The carb grams should be 50 or less, depending on how insulin resistant you are or whether you have any other blood sugar concerns like pre-diabetes or diabetes. The rest should be healthy fats like grass-fed meats, oily fish, nuts, seeds and extra-virgin olive oil.

Hi again, Tristar and BeeGirl. It’s great that you have posed the question of macros, as there is a steep learning
curve at the beginning of this lifestyle, and our understanding is severely muddled by the mantra that we’ve all been fed since
the 80’s! The Fast800 is principled on low carb, moderate protein and high healthy fats. Low carb is defined as <50g
a day. Excessive protein gets stored as fat, much like carbs. A good rule of thumb to follow is this formula:
.8g of protein for every kg of IDEAL body weight. If weight loss starts to slow down, then it may become necessary to
adjust your carb load to <20g/day. Those of us who find ourselves to be particularly insulin resistant have had to
take this approach. During my extended period of weight loss, I followed 50g protein, 20g carbs, and made up
the rest in healthy fats, within the parameter of 800cal/day. Rather than work with percentages, I found this approach
the easiest to execute. It’s also valuable advice to get into the habit of weighing and measuring your portions, to learn
what an acceptable portion looks like 🙂 It does become second nature before you know it! I’ve never been a fan of
using shakes, partly due to the amount of sugars and carbs hidden therein, but mostly because relying on convenience
products simply postpones learning how to prepare a healthy meal from whole food. Ultimately, it’s what we need
to do to sustain this lifestyle into maintenance and beyond. It’s such a liberating experience to leave the world of
yo yo dieting behind forever!!! I hope this post hasn’t added to the confusion. The real key is the type of calories
we ingest. Very best wishes for your success! I’ll look forward to reading your posts and hearing about your progress.

Allie

Addendum: Never underestimate the importance of drinking 2-3 liters of water 🙂 When we begin losing fat from our
fat cells, the space is taken up by water. When all the fat is gone, these fat cells collapse and release the water in what it known as
the “whoosh effect”. The scales can show a difference of 2-3lbs overnight! (enter it into the search box for a more
complete understanding of how this works, or type it into google). Good luck, new friends!

Esnecca, thanks for the guidance. I suspect you’re right that I should try to be on it out of the gate, but I don’t think I can guarantee 50g carb to start unfortunately; I have great concern that if I try to do everything at once, I’ll give up. I find reducing cals to 800, learning to cook and finding things I can take to work pretty stressful and while I’ve recently got my anxiety mostly under control (thank heavens for CBD oil!), I’m wary of trying to push things too far with additional pressure on myself. As far as I know, I don’t have any insulin resistance or pre diabetic issues, so I’m hoping I can work towards mild ketosis over a couple of weeks as I get my head round things. As it happens, today’s macros are looking more like 24\36\40, which is a happy accident, so it may be that it happens naturally. I definitely need to up the fats and protein to avoid hunger, and my intention is to get as close as possible to my ideal 25\30\45 in practice each day, but if I mentally aim for 40\40\20, I won’t feel I’ve failed if I don’t make it. I guess it’s a bit of psychological padding for me!

Thanks for your input too Allie – took so long typing my response I missed your post!

Funny enough, in my Googling round just now, I’ve found an interview where MM briefly discusses macros. Here’s the link in case anyone wants a read: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.nine.com.au/article/7f602665-129b-46f7-b87c-b29e34464b82

Yeah, I disagree with him on that. A lot. It worked for him, but he had very little distance to go. Dr. Mosley only had to lose 10 kg. He didn’t suffer from the persistent insulin resistance endemic to pretty much everyone who is obese. Those 7 kilos lost and other modest results from the studies aren’t going to do the trick when you weigh more than 320 lbs at 5’2″. This is a big reason I didn’t use the recipes in his book. It’s entirely possible to get plenty of fiber without relying on high-carb pulses and dishes like the beet falafel are uncomfortably high in sugar too, in my opinion.

I completely agree, Essie, but then you know this already 🙂 MMosley’s perspective is totally focused on BGL, so
we’ve had to journey on to other gurus that are focused on weight loss. I consider Mosley’s work a fantastic starting
point, but increasing our knowledge through other means is why we are happily and effortlessly maintaining. Newcomers,
a thread called TAKE A LOOK AT THIS has a wealth of other resources to increase our understanding of how to tweak
our individual programs for maximized success. Have a look!

Allie

Hi Allie and so lovely to see you posting!🤣. I am so glad you are better! Massive hugs and love from across the pond lovely lady🤗🤗

To all newcomers please don’t worry too much about the scales I haven’t discarded anything in a week if I take notice of my bathroom scales, but my clothes are getting looser every day! To me that is amazing. Don’t get me wrong I want to discard weight but I know if and when I decide to have a fast I will discard like I did the other week. Nearly 7lbs came off and they haven’t gone back on so I must be doing something right. I have let my water intake slip not intentionally but I know this now and I am on my way back to drinking 3litres a day! I am also constantly in fat burning mode now too. Which is giving me more energy than I have ever had.🤣. Have faith as everyone is different this does work! Allie and Essie are proof of that. ❤️❤️💞🦜

Thank you, Birdy! Isn’t the energy boost when we settle into fat burning mode extraordinary? It’s the best natural
high in the world! We should be able to bottle it 🙂 We’d make a fortune! No temporary satisfaction derived from
carbs can ever compete with it. I had chronic fatigue syndrome for years, and this WOE just has turned that all
around. You’re sailing on to those red shorts very soon! My first winter in maintenance, I bought myself a flaming
red 3/4 length coat. After hiding behind dull colors for 17 years, it felt marvelous. My first crazy purchase was a
pair of black/white python print leggings, though. I was completely over and done with wide legged trousers! 🙂

Allie it truly is remarkable. Thank you for the encouragement on my red shorts🤣. I put my pre BSD work trousers on tonight to go to work and my gosh they are like clown pantaloons🤣🤣. I must say though that even though they are massive and baggy I absolutely love it❤️❤️ It just proves yet again that the way forward with seeing my discard is with my clothes. I am wearing them to work tonight even though they are almost hanging on my hips(luckily not falling down completely!) because I feel great in them!! Don’t care what they look like and that they have an ability to bellow all by themselves! No wind to set these sails a rippling🤣🤣. Birdy💞🦜

Keep an eye on the loose trousers, Birdy. Any number of us have had embarrassing mishaps in private and public,
with trousers dropping to our knees! I had one of these adventures when I was reaching up with both hands to
remove a very heavy cast iron casserole from an upper cabinet. My trousers ended up around my ankles, and I
couldn’t do anything about it 🙂

My darling Allie that sounds awful but I am sorry to say comical too! I am sure that even though you were embarrassed you were also ecstatic that you had discarded enough inches that they could do that. I have a massive butt and thighs so at the moment I know my mahusive trousers won’t do that just yet! They are not quite at the stage where I can pull them down without undoing them🤣🤣. When they do get that big I will request a smaller size, as it is the company’s money not mine😜. Thank you for your concern though lovely lady! I have just got home from a half night shift and having a last coffee before I go to bed. See you tomorrow ❤️💞🦜

Large safety pins, Birdy! That’s a useful half measure. My O/H found the incident to be highly amusing. Fortunately
we didn’t have guests for dinner! This will be your problem soon, my dear. The worst testimony I’ve heard thus
far on the forums was from a gentleman who was trimming the shrubbery in front of his house. With arms raised, he
lost his shorts while neighbors were passing by. Imagine that sight! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thanks Allie – really appreciate your response and insights. To be honest I feel like I’ve got myself into a bit of a pickle now… I woke up on Monday morning VERY determined that I had to do something about my weight… So determined that I didn’t eat until the late afternoon (21.5 hours since my last meal) and then had a meal replacement shake and an egg later one. Then yesterday after TRE of 16 hours I had 1/2 a serve of the meal replacement shake and another egg. Today – you guessed it another shake and 2 eggs.
I’m sure that near starvation (i.e. most calories I’ve had in 3 days was today at 351 (14g fat, 30g protein, 23 carbs (19g sugar)).
I’ve been frantically researching what I can eat tomorrow – as I think I should start to eat something soon – but just get more confused. Just bought a Kindle (eBook) edition of a Keto Cookbook and the majority of the recipes (even breakfast) are around 600cals per serve – which is ridiculous given I’m aiming for a total of 800!
I’m totally useless in the kitchen and have no patience to follow recipes. In addition, when I’ve tried this before (although less motivated) I ended up eating all the high fat ingredients I had in the house – and well and truly fall off the wagon (with a bang). I worry it’s a disaster waiting to happen! Hence why I am leaning towards to idea of shakes initially as I’m hoping that observing a decent weight loss will motivate me into learning to cook properly, instead of going for the easy way out… I have a family holiday in 28 days and would like to ideally lose 6.1kg (taking me from 97.1 to 91) – so feel that I could stick to this near starvation diet if I really had to… But it’s not ideal.
To add to all of this, I’m 37 years old and have a slightly raised total cholesterol (5.29 mmol/L) so am concerned that it could get worse with a high fat diet – so some of my reading says that it can happen “in some people”.
I literally don’t know which way to jump for the best!

Hi, not sure if this is where I should post. I’m keeping my carbs down to 20% of my macros- as long asbibsticj to that amount does it matter where my carbs come from – I love a coffee with one sugar just once a day, can I include this in my carb count or is it a complete No No- thanks in advance xx

Hi tristar; shakes might get a bit boring, and I assume the eggs are just hard-boiled? You don’t need complicated recipes and I am sure that you can easily acquire some cooking skills! Why not start with something very simple; like an oven cooked piece of salmon, just wrapped in a bit of foil with salt and pepper, splash of olive oil, abt 20-25 mins at 200C, and maybe some spinach on the side; you can get the ready washed baby spinach which cooks down in just a couple of minutes; again with pepper and a bit of butter? Or a bit of feta to melt through? Or an omelette, you don’t need a special pan, I make them in a small non-stick saucepan; maybe with some mushrooms you soften first in a smidge of olive oil/butter, and then you just bung spinach on top of the barely cooked omelette and it all just comes together! Or some chicken thigh, again just oven cooked with olive oil/salt/pepper and a dash of dried mixed herbs, with broccoli (just steamed or oven cooked). Get yourself some basic herbs/curry powder/cumin and experiment and you will soon be flying!