Body Recomposition - Importance of Macros

flrancho

I've lost all the weight I wanted to loose but am still about 27.5% body fat. I'm 135 now and am 5'6".

In reading the recent articles posted on the site's on body recomposition, I've been cycling calories and just yesterday found the article on macros while doing body recomp. I did the calculations, and I have to ask - exactly how important are meeting your macros during recomposition to get the body you want?

I only ask because looking back over my food diary, I'm pretty on point with my carbs, but I'm eating way too little protein and way too much fat - and I frankly don't see how I'll ever be able to meet my suggestions of 202 grams of protein and 35 grams a fat per day. It just seems impossible to me. I easily only eat about 1/3 of the recommended protein grams and probably double to triple the recommended fat in my day to day diet.

Will I never get the body I want if I continually blow the macros, or will it still be possible? If it won't be possible, how in the world am I ever going to meet 1521 - 1943 calories (depending on the cycle day) with those recommendations?

Yi5hedr3

You are getting twice the Protein you need, and half the fat. Try macros 18/22/60.

Packerjohn

Couple things, Not sure where you are getting 202 gm of protein. Most sources will recommend a .8 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight or 1 gm per pound of lean bodyweight (should be close to the same number) or at most just a gram/lb of bodyweight for those weight training.

Next, I looked at you diary. A fair number of days you have 25-30% of your calories from high carb nutritionally less dense food. As an extreme example I saw several days with a 385 calorie piece of cake (virtually no protein). You could have 1/2 pound of chicken breast for virtually the same calories and 70 gm of protein. Switch out some of the less nutritionally dense high carb items for foods with higher protein values.

Best of luck.

EvgeniZyntx

At 135 lbs, the upper recommendations of protein is about 123g not 202g.

The math: 135/2.2 * 2.0 = 123 g

Refs: "Elevated protein consumption, as high as 1.8-2.0 g · kg(-1) · day(-1) depending on the caloric deficit, may be advantageous in preventing lean mass losses during periods of energy restriction to promote fat loss""
- here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22150425

That's the upper recommendation. You'd be fine at 110 g.
Other recommendations go a little lower.

Aligned with that you need a good full body workout. Have you got that figured out?

Sumiblue

Protein is important. I do think 202g sounds off. I'm 5'2" and 116 lbs and I aim for around 100g of protein a day. I do supplement with whey and snack on Greek yogurt to hit it but I do get there. When I looked at macro cycling my lifting days I'm supposed to eat 350g of carbs-I never make it. I concentrate on protein first since that is what builds or preserves muscle and that is what recomp is about. I do my best with carbs and fat falls where it does. I'm always under target so I don't worry about it. I will tell you, when I upped my protein and started lifting weights consistently the fat fell off. I'm at around 20% BF now, down from 30% January 2015.

flrancho

The protein doesn't seem so bad with the lower number - the page I looked at must have had their math formula off, because I got the 202 multiple times.

My other big struggle is the fat, how important is it that I reduce it for recomp? Most of the time they're healthy fats (olive oil, nuts, avocado, etc). The cake I'd been eating I've admittedly used as a means of reaching my calorie goal - I find myself having a hard time hitting my 1900-something calorie goal without eating some kind of "junk".

As far as full body exercise, I've been using mostly machines at the gym (sometimes freeweights, though I don't feel as comfortable with those), and trying to work out every muscle I can each time I go (three times a week). I up the weight and/or sets when things start to get too easy.

Packerjohn

flrancho wrote: »

The protein doesn't seem so bad with the lower number - the page I looked at must have had their math formula off, because I got the 202 multiple times.

My other big struggle is the fat, how important is it that I reduce it for recomp? Most of the time they're healthy fats (olive oil, nuts, avocado, etc). The cake I'd been eating I've admittedly used as a means of reaching my calorie goal - I find myself having a hard time hitting my 1900-something calorie goal without eating some kind of "junk".

As far as full body exercise, I've been using mostly machines at the gym (sometimes freeweights, though I don't feel as comfortable with those), and trying to work out every muscle I can each time I go (three times a week). I up the weight and/or sets when things start to get too easy.

You may have mixed up kilograms and pounds someplace, pretty common. Nothing wrong with some "junk" but if you still find it hard to get the protein or good fats goal, it's the first place to eliminate. In the cake example, eat half the serving of cake and 1/4 lb of chicken breast. Same number of calories and 30 or so more grams of protein.