Am I calculating correctly....

SezxyStef

So yes I read the thread and opened an excel sheet (don't trust my own brain) and did the following calculations...

Lost 4lbs (14000) over 7 weeks consumed 63187 calories (so an average of 1289.53 a day. I am 174lbs and appx 26.4% BF

TDEE

63187+14000=77187/49=1575*20%=1260 (which is 100 less then MFP)

Macros based on LBM (this is where I get confused)
1g of Protien for each lb of lbm...

If I am 26.44% bf my LBM is 73.56?

If so then I should have 25% Protien
73.56*4/1260 = 23%

Fat is 20%
73.56*.35*9/1260=18%

Rest are Carbs...58%

Is that right?

I ask as I really don't care about my weight...I want to loose BF% and get smaller and leaner but at the same time I want to make sure I have the right kinds of food in me to make sure I do that and not loose my LBM in the process.

NovemberJune

Hi! I think that where you have your LBM as 73.56, you mean 73.56% of 174 lbs so about 128 lbs so that's what you would want to use to calculate your macro goals. I'm not sure what you're doing after that so you could be doing this some other way in which I am not familiar

TR0berts

Yes, June is correct. Your LBM is 73.56% of 174, or 128.

As such, if you change the 73.56 to 128 for your calculations, which you did correctly but with the wrong number, you get the following:

Protein: 128 * 4 / 1260 = 40.6% (40% is fine)
Fat: 128 * 9 * 0.35 / 1260 = 32% (30% or 35% should be fine)
Carbs: The rest, so either 25% or 30%, depending upon which value you use for fat

SezxyStef

Thank you both. I have updated my calcs.

Sarauk2sf

NovemberJune and TR0berts are correct in the calcs.

Do you strength train? To maintain LBM while losing weight you should ensure that you incorporate some resistance training into your routine.

SezxyStef

I want to start strenght training. SL 5x5 (currently doing 2nd round of 30DS) My fear is I am not eating enough to effectively do this.

I calculated my TDEE and I must be off as it said 1575 but since I still want to loose BF -20% puts it at 1260 :noway:

Using one of the online calculators it was 2000 -20% is 1600

I have my Spreadsheet ready to change my goals here based on Macro's and TDEE and start the lift program as soon as I know my calculations are correct.

Any input would be appreciated.

AbbeyDove

Yes, June is correct. Your LBM is 73.56% of 174, or 128.

As such, if you change the 73.56 to 128 for your calculations, which you did correctly but with the wrong number, you get the following:

Protein: 128 * 4 / 1260 = 40.6% (40% is fine)
Fat: 128 * 9 * 0.35 / 1260 = 32% (30% or 35% should be fine)
Carbs: The rest, so either 25% or 30%, depending upon which value you use for fat

Huh. I thought we were supposed to calculate in absolute grams, rather than as percentages. When I looked at your post, it seemed to me that if your lean body mass is 128 lb, you should be getting 128 grams of protein a day, i.e., 128 x 1 g protein per pound of LBM. That's how I set it up in my spreadsheet. Am I mistaken?

TR0berts

Yes, June is correct. Your LBM is 73.56% of 174, or 128.

As such, if you change the 73.56 to 128 for your calculations, which you did correctly but with the wrong number, you get the following:

Protein: 128 * 4 / 1260 = 40.6% (40% is fine)
Fat: 128 * 9 * 0.35 / 1260 = 32% (30% or 35% should be fine)
Carbs: The rest, so either 25% or 30%, depending upon which value you use for fat

Huh. I thought we were supposed to calculate in absolute grams, rather than as percentages. When I looked at your post, it seemed to me that if your lean body mass is 128 lb, you should be getting 128 grams of protein a day, i.e., 128 x 1 g protein per pound of LBM. That's how I set it up in my spreadsheet. Am I mistaken?

That's what I/we did. It's just converted into a percentage. To walk you through it, I'll just use the protein portion.

Protein: 128 * 4 / 1260 = 40.6%

What this means is (128 g of protein, since her LBM is 128 lbs) * (4 Calories per gram of protein) / (1260 Total Daily Calories) = (40.6% of Total Daily Calories comes from protein).

If you work out, so that you can eat 1500 Calories, you're still fine with eating just 128 g of protein, although MFP will tell you that you can eat more (150 g, to be exact). Unfortunately, MFP doesn't currently (unless changed very recently) allow users to enter specific amounts for their macros. That's why you have to go through the trouble of calculating the percentages, since that's how MFP likes it.

faely

Sorry for hi-jacking; I'm confused

tr0berts put this, using the LBM in all the calculations.

Protein: 128 * 4 / 1260 = 40.6% (40% is fine)
Fat: 128 * 9 * 0.35 / 1260 = 32% (30% or 35% should be fine)
Carbs: The rest, so either 25% or 30%, depending upon which value you use for fat

In Sara's thread Setting your calorie and macro targets, she uses the full body weight, not LBM, for the fat calculation

For example, say someone is 150 lbs with a BF% of 20% on a 2,000 calorie target. Note, a 20% body fat means that someone has a 80% lean body mass (LBM) as LBM is everything except fat (muscle, water, organs, tissue, etc). Their macros in grams would be:

Protein: 1 x 150 x 0.8 (LBM) = 120g x 4 calories = 480 calories divided by 2,000 (calorie target) = 24% - round up to 25%
Fat: 0.35 x 150 = 53.5g x 9 calories = 473 calories divided by 2,000 = 24% - round up to 25%
Carbs: balance of 50%

So, if I sub the OP's #'s into Sara's statement, it would look like this
Fat: 0.35 x 174 (not LBM) = 60.9 x 9 calories = 548 calories divided by 1260 = 43.5%

I'm trying to figure out my own #'s and got confused when I compared the two calculations. Using tr0bert's calculations, with LBM for fats, I come up with 39% for my own numbers, but if I use Sara's calculation, with full weight, I get 65% :noway:

Sarauk2sf

Sorry for hi-jacking; I'm confused

tr0berts put this, using the LBM in all the calculations.

Protein: 128 * 4 / 1260 = 40.6% (40% is fine)
Fat: 128 * 9 * 0.35 / 1260 = 32% (30% or 35% should be fine)
Carbs: The rest, so either 25% or 30%, depending upon which value you use for fat

In Sara's thread Setting your calorie and macro targets, she uses the full body weight, not LBM, for the fat calculation

For example, say someone is 150 lbs with a BF% of 20% on a 2,000 calorie target. Note, a 20% body fat means that someone has a 80% lean body mass (LBM) as LBM is everything except fat (muscle, water, organs, tissue, etc). Their macros in grams would be:

Protein: 1 x 150 x 0.8 (LBM) = 120g x 4 calories = 480 calories divided by 2,000 (calorie target) = 24% - round up to 25%
Fat: 0.35 x 150 = 53.5g x 9 calories = 473 calories divided by 2,000 = 24% - round up to 25%
Carbs: balance of 50%

So, if I sub the OP's #'s into Sara's statement, it would look like this
Fat: 0.35 x 174 (not LBM) = 60.9 x 9 calories = 548 calories divided by 1260 = 43.5%

I'm trying to figure out my own #'s and got confused when I compared the two calculations. Using tr0bert's calculations, with LBM for fats, I come up with 39% for my own numbers, but if I use Sara's calculation, with full weight, I get 65% :noway:

What are your stats (weight and BF%) and what is your calorie target?

faely

What are your stats (weight and BF%) and what is your calorie target?

331/54.2% according to some calculator (I know that's the worst way to check but it's all I had available + I guessed when making the calculations yesterday and used 40% but there doesn't seem to be much difference between the two)

Calorie goal of 1600 set by a nutritionist (who also gave me the usual 40/30/30 which is why I'm trying to recalculate)

331*0.542=179lbs body fat = 152 LBM

Using LBM -- 152*9*.35/1600 = 29.9 (30%) 30%*1600/9 = 53g

Not using LBM -- 331*9*.35/1600 = 65% 65%*1600/9 = 115g

TR0berts

Oops. I got a little carried away with things and used LBM for fat percentages, not weight.

Sorry for the confusion.

When in doubt, do what Sara and/or SS says.

Sarauk2sf

What are your stats (weight and BF%) and what is your calorie target?

331/54.2% according to some calculator (I know that's the worst way to check but it's all I had available + I guessed when making the calculations yesterday and used 40% but there doesn't seem to be much difference between the two)

Calorie goal of 1600 set by a nutritionist (who also gave me the usual 40/30/30 which is why I'm trying to recalculate)

331*0.542=179lbs body fat = 152 LBM

Using LBM -- 152*9*.35/1600 = 29.9 (30%) 30%*1600/9 = 53g

Not using LBM -- 331*9*.35/1600 = 65% 65%*1600/9 = 115g

You should not be using the numbers laid out, but should be using a more 'bespoked' macro set up as they just do not work for people outside a certain leanness.

faely

Thanks Sara, when I get more meals recorded I'll put in my own thread for intake help cuz I'm way outside the 'norm' or any range of it lol. I don't often record here because it's tedious to put in homemade meals.

@ TR0berts - no problem, I just assumed that it was my brain being dysfunctional :laugh:

SezxyStef

I want to start strenght training. SL 5x5 (currently doing 2nd round of 30DS) My fear is I am not eating enough to effectively do this.

I calculated my TDEE and I must be off as it said 1575 but since I still want to loose BF -20% puts it at 1260 :noway:

Using one of the online calculators it was 2000 -20% is 1600

I have my Spreadsheet ready to change my goals here based on Macro's and TDEE and start the lift program as soon as I know my calculations are correct.

Any input would be appreciated.

Sarauk2sf

I want to start strenght training. SL 5x5 (currently doing 2nd round of 30DS) My fear is I am not eating enough to effectively do this.

I calculated my TDEE and I must be off as it said 1575 but since I still want to loose BF -20% puts it at 1260 :noway:

Using one of the online calculators it was 2000 -20% is 1600

I have my Spreadsheet ready to change my goals here based on Macro's and TDEE and start the lift program as soon as I know my calculations are correct.

Any input would be appreciated.

Sorry, your other post got lost in the thread.

Where did you calculate your TDEE from?