carb/fat/protein ratio

AnvilHead

On the contrary, 50/30/20 puts me right at 1g per pound of bodyweight (or something close, like .95). My caloric intake currently is above 3000 calories a day, so that could be why I can get away with a lower %. But even then I've had times where my protein intake was as low as (perhaps on some days even lower) 0.75 per lb of bodyweight and I had no significant changes in my strength/muscle gains.

Hey, whatever you're doing works for you and you've got the results to show for it - I won't argue with success. Nice job!

jayche

Hey, whatever you're doing works for you and you've got the results to show for it - I won't argue with success. Nice job!

Thank you and exactly! Everyone needs to play with their numbers a little bit and see what works for them!

Keto_Keith

5/60/35

meshashesha2012

Best ratio is eating more calories than you burn.

less?

Sarauk2sf

How does 50% carbs, 20% protein, 30% fat sound?
Is that too little protein?

This is the macro split I try to follow, 20% protein is more than in enough

How can you say that when you do not know how many calories they are on?

neanderthin

Best ratio is eating more calories than you burn.

less?

It really doesn't matter how many calories a person eats, macro's are a different topic altogether. Of course success to many, is weight loss regardless of what they actually ate, which is shortsighted imo.

Sarauk2sf

OP: what is your lifting routine?. Without strength training with a program that has progressive loading you will not be building muscle.

Sarauk2sf

This is the macro split I try to follow, 20% protein is more than in enough

The most common protein recommendations for people engaged in a strength training program and attempting to maintain positive nitrogen balance are 1g/lb. LBM or 1g/lb. BW (according to who you're listening to). 20% protein doesn't even come near accomplishing that for most people. 40/30/30 c/p/f puts me almost right at it, but I try to keep it even a bit higher than that.

On the contrary, 50/30/20 puts me right at 1g per pound of bodyweight (or something close, like .95). My caloric intake currently is above 3000 calories a day, so that could be why I can get away with a lower %. But even then I've had times where my protein intake was as low as (perhaps on some days even lower) 0.75 per lb of bodyweight and I had no significant changes in my strength/muscle gains.

Glad you said this,do you know what this means? Protein is over rated. We don't need as much as we think. So if protein isn't that important. If it's the most important macro, and it doesn't matter too much, that means macros don't matter that much. It's not like if you eat through the day you're going to eat 100% carbs, or 100% protein or 100% fat.

I stopped focusing on macros with out any issues, no loss in LBM. I was even eating about 100g of protein for a while with a LBM of 196lbs.

What was your BF% when you were doing that out of interest?

Also, the general recommendation is 1g per lb of LBM - 0.75g per lb of total body weight is not that far off it.

neanderthin

Best ratio is eating more calories than you burn.

less?

It really doesn't matter how many calories a person eats, macro's are a different topic altogether. Of course success to many, is weight loss regardless of what they actually ate, which is shortsighted imo.

Haha yes, I meant less.

and my point is, who cares about macros. Your body does fine, it will partition things appropriately. No need to stress about macros.

As protein intake goes down, guess what happens? Protein utilization goes up.

I never mentioned protein, but I do agree, most people put too much stress on theselves in regards to macros, like a small swing is going to transform their whole being.

kms1320

To lose body fat, yet maintain what muscle I have --- I eat 50% protein/30% carbs/20% fat.

Once I am settled where I would like to be, I plan to go with a more balanced approach. Maybe 40/40/20 or 40/30/30.

Yes, to maintain muscle, you should aim for 1g protein per lb bodyweight. For myself, it ends around 50%, and I was at 20% carbs, 30% fat since 100g carbs per day is kind of a magic number to keep your glycogen supplies up for daily activities, yet deplete them from exercise, forcing your body to convert fat for glycogen. If that isn't there, it WILL convert protein for it but it generally does that as a last resort. With my split, I ended up feeling a little too run down though after a hard day at work, so I moved it to a 45% protein 25% carb 30% fat split. I have more energy now through the day.

I think you'll find fat doesn't convert to glycogen, it's protein that does that.

You are right, I should have said energy not glycogen. What I wanted to add came from this article:

"The first thing the body burns is protein, mainly because protein cannot be stored in the body. Proteins from alcohol are burned first followed by other proteins. These nutrients are dispersed in the bloodstream and any excess is channeled towards the excretory system to be removed from the body. Thus, you can rarely complain that your body has too much protein. Next, the body burns carbohydrates, both simple and complex, with glycogen being its main form. Glycogen is sugar stored mostly in the liver and controls blood sugar levels as well as providing most of the energy the body needs. Once glycogen has been used up, the body then burns up fat, breaking it down into smaller units to be absorbed in the blood stream. Muscle comes last. Thus, the answer to the question ‘does the body burn fat or muscle first’ is fat.

The idea that the body burns muscle first before fat may come from the fact that glycogen is also stored in muscle tissues. However, it is the glycogen in them and not the tissues themselves that get burned."

finding_sammi

thanks to OP for this Q!!!! This is EXACTLY where I am on the journey, so will read all the replies with interest!

Minki1990

I have mine set at:

Protein - 40%
Carbs - 30%
Fat - 30%

Oishii

To lose body fat, yet maintain what muscle I have --- I eat 50% protein/30% carbs/20% fat.

Once I am settled where I would like to be, I plan to go with a more balanced approach. Maybe 40/40/20 or 40/30/30.

Yes, to maintain muscle, you should aim for 1g protein per lb bodyweight. For myself, it ends around 50%, and I was at 20% carbs, 30% fat since 100g carbs per day is kind of a magic number to keep your glycogen supplies up for daily activities, yet deplete them from exercise, forcing your body to convert fat for glycogen. If that isn't there, it WILL convert protein for it but it generally does that as a last resort. With my split, I ended up feeling a little too run down though after a hard day at work, so I moved it to a 45% protein 25% carb 30% fat split. I have more energy now through the day.

I think you'll find fat doesn't convert to glycogen, it's protein that does that.

You are right, I should have said energy not glycogen. What I wanted to add came from this article:

"The first thing the body burns is protein, mainly because protein cannot be stored in the body. Proteins from alcohol are burned first followed by other proteins. These nutrients are dispersed in the bloodstream and any excess is channeled towards the excretory system to be removed from the body. Thus, you can rarely complain that your body has too much protein. Next, the body burns carbohydrates, both simple and complex, with glycogen being its main form. Glycogen is sugar stored mostly in the liver and controls blood sugar levels as well as providing most of the energy the body needs. Once glycogen has been used up, the body then burns up fat, breaking it down into smaller units to be absorbed in the blood stream. Muscle comes last. Thus, the answer to the question ‘does the body burn fat or muscle first’ is fat.

The idea that the body burns muscle first before fat may come from the fact that glycogen is also stored in muscle tissues. However, it is the glycogen in them and not the tissues themselves that get burned."

What is the source of that article?

dazza_098

i try going between 50 and 100g carbs, 1g protein per pound of body weight minus body fat weight which in my case is between 150g and 160g then the rest is fat
between 50 and 100 grams of carbs is a primal fat loss sweet spot and 100 - 150 is normally maintenance for most people

fat cant be converted to glucose but if your body doesnt get enough glucose then it will convert protein to glucose through gluconeogenesis but will mainly power as much of your body as it can with ketones through a body state called ketosis.

jayche

How can you say that when you do not know how many calories they are on?

Not sure what you're getting at here, I'm simply giving my OP an opinion based on the information given... is it liable to change in light of new information? Absolutely.

Also, I've seen recommendations ranging from 1.2-1.7g per KG of bodyweight for athletes with the higher end for strength athletes and the lower end for endurance (Alan Aragon + Eric Helms mention this in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFObr7rc1kA, dig around and you'll find other credible sources saying the same thing). This would roughly equate to ~0.55-0.80g (I'm guesstimating here, forgive me if my math is a little off) of protein per unit of bodyweight in pounds. This does not mean you will not make gains off of 1g per 1 pound of bodyweight, it simply means you won't stop making gains if you happened to have a lower protein intake.

pixietoes

To lose body fat, yet maintain what muscle I have --- I eat 50% protein/30% carbs/20% fat.

That's what I do, and the carbs I choose do not include any starch or sugar. It has made ALL the difference for me. My fat loss has been dramatically different than the last time I lost weight successfully, I was using South Beach guidelines at the time. Continuing to eat even healthy starches was harder on my body, it doesn't work that way for everyone but you have to figure out what works for you.

When I reach my goal I will bring whole grains and beans and fruits back in and figure out which ones work well with my body. I'm also looking forward to being able to enjoy a glass of wine, LOL

Sarauk2sf

How does 50% carbs, 20% protein, 30% fat sound?
Is that too little protein?

This is the macro split I try to follow, 20% protein is more than in enough

How can you say that when you do not know how many calories they are on?

Not sure what you're getting at here, I'm simply giving my OP an opinion based on the information given... is it liable to change in light of new information? Absolutely.

Also, I've seen recommendations ranging from 1.2-1.7g per KG of bodyweight for athletes with the higher end for strength athletes and the lower end for endurance (Alan Aragon + Eric Helms mention this in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFObr7rc1kA, dig around and you'll find other credible sources saying the same thing). This would roughly equate to ~0.55-0.80g (I'm guesstimating here, forgive me if my math is a little off) of protein per unit of bodyweight in pounds. This does not mean you will not make gains off of 1g per 1 pound of bodyweight, it simply means you won't stop making gains if you happened to have a lower protein intake.

I am aware of these recommendations and have watched Aragon's roundtable's. My point was - and I have added back the quotes you missed off, how can you say 20% is fine when you do not know what that equates to in g or in g as a % of either LBM or body weight - the OP gave neither. If she is on a 1,200 calorie intake, that equals 240 calories which equals 60g, This is not that much higher than the RDA which in studies, which if you follow Aragon and Helms you will know, has been shown to be sub-optimal, especially for people in a deficit and who are strength training.

Helloitsdan

.70-1g protein per pound of LBM.
.40-.70g fat per pound of LBM.

Ignore the carb cutting others push unless you are allergic to certain carbs.

Sarauk2sf

.70-1g protein per pound of LBM.
.40-.70g fat per pound of LBM.

Ignore the carb cutting others push unless you are allergic to certain carbs.

Where are you getting the fat rations from Dan? I have always seen them expressed as g per body weight, not LBM.

neanderthin

How can you say that when you do not know how many calories they are on?

Not sure what you're getting at here, I'm simply giving my OP an opinion based on the information given... is it liable to change in light of new information? Absolutely.

Also, I've seen recommendations ranging from 1.2-1.7g per KG of bodyweight for athletes with the higher end for strength athletes and the lower end for endurance (Alan Aragon + Eric Helms mention this in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFObr7rc1kA, dig around and you'll find other credible sources saying the same thing). This would roughly equate to ~0.55-0.80g (I'm guesstimating here, forgive me if my math is a little off) of protein per unit of bodyweight in pounds. This does not mean you will not make gains off of 1g per 1 pound of bodyweight, it simply means you won't stop making gains if you happened to have a lower protein intake.

I think what sara means is, for example. 20% of 1200 calories 60 g's and if you take lean mass for intake fo example and someone with 30% body fat that weighs 150 lbs would probably be too low, or at least not the amount they would consume if they went by the 1g/b/lbm. While protein intake for building muscle can vary quite a bit imo, but when dieting, especially if soeone picks a low intake, protein intake can suffer, again im.