Optimal Carbs/Protein/Fat Percentages?

Pugman

I am a very active 34 year old male that works out all the time. My question:

What do you think is the optimal percentages of carbs, fat and protein for maintaining/having a lean, muscular body? I used to be inhaling a ton of protein, probably in the 60%+ range at leas. After discovering I was taking in over 400 grams of protein a day, I am changing my whole diet, although still consume a good amount of protein. I have set my percentage goals to 35% Protein, 45% Carbs and 20% Fats. What do you think of this and what do you have yours at?

Pugman

leslielove

I've been running on 40/30/30 carb/fat/protein and I think I need to up my carbs a little bit. Protein just doesn't sate me and neither does fat. I'm thinking about trying 50/20/30 for a bit because I do a fair amount of weight lifting and I know I need the protein but I can't function on the amount of carbs I'm eating.

AggieCass09

Mine is at 50% carbs, 35% Protein, 15% Fats and I am a very active 23 year old female vegetarian :-) I like it...getting ONLY 50% carbs in was tough at first considering all the fruit I was consuming. Now quinoa and greek yogurt help out in the protein department.

ScubyUK

Hi Pugman,

The great folks at KiFit (UK version of the BodyBugg for those in the US) have provided the following info on that type of thing.

http://www.kiperformance.co.uk/help_and_support/nutrient_charts.aspx

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AndriaLL

I am training for an Ironman triathlon and this is what my registered dietician has me eat:

60 grams of carbs for breakfast (approx.)
45 grams of carbs at lunch
eat a small nonfat snack between 2 and 5 (pretzels, nonfat yogurt or fruit)
60 grams of carbs for dinner
30 grams of carbs an hour before working out (sometimes this IS dinner)
8 oz. lowfat (1%) chocolate milk within a half hour of finishing workout if it is more than 1 hour (can only skip if workout is under 1 hour)

I edited the names of my meals to reflect those amounts of carbs and the chocolate milk.

minimum 91 grams of protein per day
48 grams or no more than 30% of calories from fat (whichever is less) per day

I set my protein at whatever % 91 g. ended up being without exercise and see this value changes with the amount of exercise I get.

I am 140 lbs. and female, but every dietician and triathlon coach swears by the chocolate milk for everyone as there have been studies done showing it is actually the best drink for muscle recovery and there's no need to buy the expensive stuff. Not all of those studies were funded by the dairy groups, either :laugh: And the carbs are more important than I thought---you don't want glycogen depletion in your muscles. I hired this woman after heavy training one year caused me to do some silly things like buying a loaf of bread and eating it all by myself in the car before I even got home! This season I know I was probably not eating enough carbs to fuel my muscles for the type of endurance training I was doing.

Anyway, thought I'd share