Macronutrients for weight loss and muscle retention

Morgaen73

Hi

I need some advice please.

I'm currently eating 2300 calories a day with a 50% fat, 30% protein and 20% carbs split. I want to lose another 15kg so I'm bringing my calories down to 1800 but I want to try and do a bit of damage control on muscle loss, which I realise is inevitable. Any suggestions as to what my macro split should be to help retain as much muscle as possible?

Fflpnari

bump

Morgaen73

Thanks

TavistockToad

30% protein is probably adequate. Do you do any strength/resistance training?

Morgaen73

TavistockToad wrote: »

30% protein is probably adequate. Do you do any strength/resistance training?

Hi

Yes I do mainly strength/resistance training. Problem is with the HFLC plan that I was following till now I was always under with my fat and over with my carbs. I also mostly feel fatigued.

I'm mostly wondering what the carb-to-fat split should be.

TavistockToad

Morgaen73 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

30% protein is probably adequate. Do you do any strength/resistance training?

Hi

Yes I do mainly strength/resistance training. Problem is with the HFLC plan that I was following till now I was always under with my fat and over with my carbs. I also mostly feel fatigued.

I'm mostly wondering what the carb-to-fat split should be.

i dont low carb, so no idea.

do you have a medical reason for doing low carb?

Morgaen73

TavistockToad wrote: »

Morgaen73 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

30% protein is probably adequate. Do you do any strength/resistance training?

Hi

Yes I do mainly strength/resistance training. Problem is with the HFLC plan that I was following till now I was always under with my fat and over with my carbs. I also mostly feel fatigued.

I'm mostly wondering what the carb-to-fat split should be.

i dont low carb, so no idea.

do you have a medical reason for doing low carb?

No, just what my dietitian prescribed but I think I need to get away from low carb.

trigden1991

Protein = 0.8g/lb of LBM
Fat = minimum 0.4g/lbs of LBM

The above should be the minimums for protein and fats for muscle retention and hormones. Anything above that is fine. Ratios are a pretty poor way to look at things in my opinion.

Morgaen73

Awesome. Thank you very much.

Gallowmere1984

trigden1991 wrote: »

Protein = 0.8g/lb of LBM
Fat = minimum 0.4g/lbs of LBM

The above should be the minimums for protein and fats for muscle retention and hormones. Anything above that is fine. Ratios are a pretty poor way to look at things in my opinion.

This. You'll need to figure out what you need based on the info Trigden provided, then just keep playing with the percentages in MFP's setup until things fall in line. Order of priority is protein>fat>carbs, and make sure you get EFAs in those fats.

Unfortunately, unless you're a premium member, juggling around the percentages until it all fits is the best you can do. If you want to pay for the premium though, you can just setup your macros outright based on grams instead of percentages.

Morgaen73

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

Protein = 0.8g/lb of LBM
Fat = minimum 0.4g/lbs of LBM

The above should be the minimums for protein and fats for muscle retention and hormones. Anything above that is fine. Ratios are a pretty poor way to look at things in my opinion.

This. You'll need to figure out what you need based on the info Trigden provided, then just keep playing with the percentages in MFP's setup until things fall in line. Order of priority is protein>fat>carbs, and make sure you get EFAs in those fats.

Unfortunately, unless you're a premium member, juggling around the percentages until it all fits is the best you can do. If you want to pay for the premium though, you can just setup your macros outright based on grams instead of percentages.

Thank you very much

The sticky part is that my wife and I are doing this together but we have very different goals. She just wants to lose weight while I want to lose fat. Following two separate meals plans is out of the question because I'm the one that cooks and I'm not making 2 separate sets of food lol

So I'm trying to find a workable compromise.

TavistockToad

Morgaen73 wrote: »

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

Protein = 0.8g/lb of LBM
Fat = minimum 0.4g/lbs of LBM

The above should be the minimums for protein and fats for muscle retention and hormones. Anything above that is fine. Ratios are a pretty poor way to look at things in my opinion.

This. You'll need to figure out what you need based on the info Trigden provided, then just keep playing with the percentages in MFP's setup until things fall in line. Order of priority is protein>fat>carbs, and make sure you get EFAs in those fats.

Unfortunately, unless you're a premium member, juggling around the percentages until it all fits is the best you can do. If you want to pay for the premium though, you can just setup your macros outright based on grams instead of percentages.

Thank you very much

The sticky part is that my wife and I are doing this together but we have very different goals. She just wants to lose weight while I want to lose fat. Following two separate meals plans is out of the question because I'm the one that cooks and I'm not making 2 separate sets of food lol

So I'm trying to find a workable compromise.

you don't need different meal plans, just different portion sizes for the most part.

trigden1991

Morgaen73 wrote: »

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

Protein = 0.8g/lb of LBM
Fat = minimum 0.4g/lbs of LBM

The above should be the minimums for protein and fats for muscle retention and hormones. Anything above that is fine. Ratios are a pretty poor way to look at things in my opinion.

This. You'll need to figure out what you need based on the info Trigden provided, then just keep playing with the percentages in MFP's setup until things fall in line. Order of priority is protein>fat>carbs, and make sure you get EFAs in those fats.

Unfortunately, unless you're a premium member, juggling around the percentages until it all fits is the best you can do. If you want to pay for the premium though, you can just setup your macros outright based on grams instead of percentages.

Thank you very much

The sticky part is that my wife and I are doing this together but we have very different goals. She just wants to lose weight while I want to lose fat. Following two separate meals plans is out of the question because I'm the one that cooks and I'm not making 2 separate sets of food lol

So I'm trying to find a workable compromise.

Losing weight and losing fat are the same goal. Like @TavistockToad said above, you can eat the same food but adjust the portion sizes to suit.

successgal1

Umm yeah we're both dieting for fat loss and the only difference is portion size and what we actually like eating. I don't do seafood for example. He gets 1670, I'm 1000-1200 (mid range between fitbit and myfitnesspal). He gets more options of what to eat. I have to be very structured and plan every bite.

But your goals are both fat loss. If you/she logs correctly you'll note the protein goal for each. Mine is higher then what I'd normally choose to eat but I try to hit it. Have to feed the parts of the body you want to keep!

Morgaen73

The problem comes with portioning the food. If I make a stew for instance it is easier (to log) if I just split it in half. So I basically work of her calories and then just add my protein powder ect.

sgt1372

I've used a macro ratio of 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat twice in the past 4 years to lose 35-40#s which was mainly a loss in fat but also came with a gain in LBM when combined w/cardio and progressive weight lifting.

Morgaen73

Awesome thank you very much

psuLemon

If you feel fatigued on low carb, it could be due to an electrolyte imbalance (so you would need more sodium) or you just don't respond well to low carb. Low carb doesn't increase fat loss by any means, and is literally just another method to create a calorie deficit. My wife has to eat more towards low carb, and I have to eat higher carbs, so I tend to have dinners lower in carbs since we are together and I make my breakfast and lunches with higher amounts of carbs.

Also, you should encourage your wife to focus on fat loss too. Fat loss > weight loss, and almost every person I have ever met, wishes they would have done that from the beginning since it's a lot easier to maintain muscle than build it. And what most people don't realize, is they want body fat %, not just weight.

pdo27789

Morgaen73 wrote: »

The problem comes with portioning the food. If I make a stew for instance it is easier (to log) if I just split it in half. So I basically work of her calories and then just add my protein powder ect.

Create a meal and break up the portions until you get a ratio that works.

Using stew as an example, create a new recipe and enter 10 for the portions, then log all ingredients in the recipe. You can log 6 portions and she can log 4, or whatever ratio works for you. Works well for leftovers too.