Progressive Lifting and Macros

jesslifts

Hi there! I’m after a little help with next steps please. I’ve spent a year doing Bodypump x2/3 a week and bodycombat twice a week and (in conjunction with 6 months of 5:2 dieting) lost 1.5st, got a good strong core and I think a good muscle base. I started stronglifts 5x5 towards the end of the year, ditched the 5:2 diet and have dropped a couple of classes. I want to work more on building up muscle and still lose a bit of fat (sounds like recomp?). It was going ok until the holidays hit (I own a shop so free time went out the window) but now I’ve got time to have a think about what to do next and I’d like to start tracking macros to make sure I’m getting enough protein and not too much carbs/fat, so I’m wondering, does anyone have a great resource for books or website to tell me what those percentages should be for me, and my calorie intake for my goals? Do New Rules for Lifting / Strong Curves etc have that kind of info? I have a book voucher so might as well use it for something helpful.

sardelsa

I really like this thread (scroll down for info on macros), in summary it's 1g per lb lean body mass (minimum), 0.35g per lb total body weight, and rest carbs. Those are a starting point you can modify how you please.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

Strong Curves does have a short section on nutrition and macros (it's only about 13pages of the book) Bret outlines 0.8-1g per lb bodyweight, 0.3-0.5g fat per lb bodyweight and rest carbs. Again fairly similar.

I personally aim for around 1g of protein per lb bodyweight (I am fairly lean so this works for me), 0.6-0.8g fat per lb, and rest carbs (which works out to around 2-2.5g per lb). My calorie intake is very high and I like to keep fat higher, I find it works best for my body and hormone function. You can play around with the numbers as long as you get the minimums.

jesslifts

That link was so helpful, thankyou. I think that’s just what I needed as a starting point and then I really need to get to grips with what foods I should actually eat as I logged today just to see how it was looking and my protein was low and fat was so high, although in my defence my house is full of Christmas desserts and sweets still.
Next week should be better when it’s all gone and I can concentrate on upping protein.