What are my macros supposed to be?

GabrielWithoutWings

Hey all.

I started doing HIIT training back at the beginning of April. I switched to P90X3 and have been doing that for 3 weeks. I've lost about 11 pounds over the past month (from 234 to 223 as of this morning). I workout 5 days a week, minimum.

My primary goal is weight loss. My bodyfat is about 29%. I want to try and keep as much muscle as possible while I do this.

I've attempted to calculate my macros, specifically my protein intake, and I'm getting wildly different numbers.

I've read that one should consume 0.8-1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. I'm a 41 year old male, 6'1", 223. According to that formula, I should eat 178g of protein per day. But, according to MFP, to lose one pound of bodyweight per week for lightly active, I should eat 113g of protein which is wildly different.

What do you all recommend?

musicfan68

The macros in MFP aren't set in stone. They are just the default settings. You can choose whatever distribution you want.

quiksylver296

I’d go with the 178, 113 is low, especially if you want to gain any muscle.

AnnPT77

GabrielWithoutWings wrote: »

Hey all.

I started doing HIIT training back at the beginning of April. I switched to P90X3 and have been doing that for 3 weeks. I've lost about 11 pounds over the past month (from 234 to 223 as of this morning). I workout 5 days a week, minimum.

My primary goal is weight loss. My bodyfat is about 29%. I want to try and keep as much muscle as possible while I do this.

I've attempted to calculate my macros, specifically my protein intake, and I'm getting wildly different numbers.

I've read that one should consume 0.8-1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. I'm a 41 year old male, 6'1", 223. According to that formula, I should eat 178g of protein per day. But, according to MFP, to lose one pound of bodyweight per week for lightly active, I should eat 113g of protein which is wildly different.

What do you all recommend?

If you've lost 11 pounds in a month, and want to keep as much muscle as possible, the first thing I'd recommend is considering losing weight a little slower. You may be fine losing that fast, but it increases risk. If you have MFP set at a pound a week, and you're losing 2+ pounds a week on average, that's inconsistent, right? (MFP estimates. It can estimate inaccuratly. Your results provide the definitive data.) If you just started losing weight a month ago, and lost lots faster in the first week or so, then settled back to one pound per week average, that would be different.

Consider calculating protein based on lean body mass, not body weight. I suspect you got the 29% from a BIA scale (is that the case?); if so, it may not be extremely accurate. If it is accurate (and it may be close enough), your lean body mass would be around 158 pounds. IMO 0.6-08g protein minimum per pound of LBM would be fine (it's roughly equivalent to 0.8-1g per pound of healthy body weight, but you could go to 1g per pound of LBM if you want to hedge bets. So, maybe 126-168g?

Or, you could consider this, an evidence based site that's generally regarded as neutral and sensible (they don't accept outside advertising, or sell supplements: they sell research resports about supplements, but also offer some info for free, like this):

https://examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-you-need/

It links to a protein calculator based on their research reviews; that would seem to suggest 121g as optimal for you, if I input your data right, with up to 152g as a bet-hedge level based on limited evidence, so not that different from my rough rule-of thumb idea, above.

Best wishes!