What is a good balance between protein, carb, fat, to recomp the body?

pk7677

Edited: Did some more research and found this https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R0RhA2onJQ19UI20vWIo3mnbdRdZSVZaqcxZ-j14FVs/edit#gid=1900560339

Basically, my upper body is very lean compare to my waist area. I am trying to figure out what the best distribution of protein, carb, and fat I need to gain muscle while losing fat. I am currently 5'9 160LB. If possible, I would like to hit 170lb with lean muscles and reduce my love handles.

Right now, I have the following:

Total daily calorie intake 2580 cal
Carbohydrates 290 g 45%
Fat 72 g 25%
Protein 194 g 30%

The idea is to eat more lean protein while reducing fat, but is this distribution too extreme? I think the amount of fat is kind of low, but I am afraid to add more.

tomcustombuilder

Recomp will depend on several factors. Macro's are important with protein needing to be sufficient however there are more important factors to determine if recomp is possible and if chasing a recomp is even really the best choice.

sollyn23l2

pk7677 wrote: »

Edited: Did some more research and found this https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R0RhA2onJQ19UI20vWIo3mnbdRdZSVZaqcxZ-j14FVs/edit#gid=1900560339

Basically, my upper body is very lean compare to my waist area. I am trying to figure out what the best distribution of protein, carb, and fat I need to gain muscle while losing fat. I am currently 5'9 160LB. If possible, I would like to hit 170lb with lean muscles and reduce my love handles.

Right now, I have the following:

Total daily calorie intake 2580 cal
Carbohydrates 290 g 45%
Fat 72 g 25%
Protein 194 g 30%

The idea is to eat more lean protein while reducing fat, but is this distribution too extreme? I think the amount of fat is kind of low, but I am afraid to add more.

At 160... my feeling is that would be very difficult, and very slow going. Keep in mind that, even under ideal circumstances, a person is not likely to gain more than a couple pounds of muscle a year, meaning you would be in this process for a number of years. You may want to think about biting the bullet, forgetting about fat loss for maybe the next 6 months while you really focus on weight training and increasing your weight... then look at going on a smallish cut to lose a some of the pounds you've gained (which will include some fat). Keep in mind, if you don't tend to put on weight in your upper half, that's not going to change.

tomcustombuilder

Look I the mirror shirtless. Do you need to lose fat or do you need to add muscle. Choose 1 and focus on it.

wm3796

Eating fat does not make you fat . It’s all about calorie balance. I think focusing on fat loss or muscle gain is a good idea

AnnPT77

Your 290 g carbs (45%), 72 g fats (25%), 194g protein (30%) doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

What makes you think that's too much fat? It doesn't seem extreme to me. Protein and fats are essential nutrients (carbs technically aren't). A healthy person generally can eat extra of either within reason without health risk, as long as not getting too little of the other; and it will be weight neutral at equivalent calories (except for the difference in TEF, which is numerically pretty small in practical terms).

For rules of thumb, I'd personally usually use protein minimum at 0.6-0.8g per pound of healthy goal weight (close to 0.8-1g per pound of lean body weight for many people) . . . maybe a bit more for your specific goals - up to maybe 1.2g/pound goal weight? Fats, maybe 0.35-0.45g/pound, maybe men can get away with .3g. Carbs to balance calories.

That would be 102-136g (up to 204 at the extreme) for protein, 60-77g fats, the rest carbs or more fat/protein as desired.

If I got your stats and goals right, the evidence-based protein calculator at Examine.com says this:



Source:
https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

Have you taken a look at the recomposition thread here? There's some good info in there, plus people reporting their results:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

I know you're trying to gain a bit long-term, which eventually needs a calorie surplus, maybe just a small one - but I'm not sure if you want to consider fat loss first given your comments. Technically, you're slightly overweight now (BMI 25.1), and your goal would be slightly more overweight (BMI 26.6), but that's not necessarily a super bad thing in a man, especially if you already have some muscle mass. A calorie deficit will minimize (maybe even eliminate) muscle mass gain while it's happening, but a small deficit has less effect than a big one, if you feel more urgency about fat loss vs. pure recomp.

Recomp is a slow boat, generally, regardless.

What's your personal priority now: Loss (fat), gain (muscle), or balancing act (recomp)? That's the thing none of us can answer for you.

Best wishes!

Retroguy2000

Your macros are fine. Going from 160 to 170 is a lean bulk phase, not a recomp. Whatever your maintenance is, add about 100 calories, progressive overload, take regular pics and measurements and evaluate your progress. If you are getting more fat than you want, drop the calories slightly.