The way I do it is hard limit for carbs, goal for protein and as much fat as I need to satiety. That usually comes at 5/20/75. As I understand it protein is needed to both preserve the muscle you already have and create more.

Agree with both above. You can calculate your protein need by knowing your body fat percentage, as what's left is your lean body mass, and that is the number you use to calculate your protein requirements.

Here is something I typed out recently to explain FOR WOMEN how to calculate this. For men, the grams per pound of lean body mass is a different range (0.8 grams minimum - 1.2 grams when heavy lifting, etc. Only major body builders go above that - and then on specialized programs)...

Protein is necessary to maintain your current muscles while losing weight. It also gives you additional building blocks to build more muscle, and keeps you feeling fuller with your meals.

Your protein needs should be based on your lean body mass (everything that isn't body fat), 0.6 grams to 1 gram per pound of LBM, depending on your activity levels. (less if sedentary, more if active/lifting, etc.)

For example, my body fat is around 45%. I weigh about 245. So, here are my numbers.

55% * 245 = 134.75 pounds of lean body mass x 0.6 grams (sedentary) = 80.85 OR 134.75 x 1 gram (lifting weights or running) = 134.75.

This means when I'm inactive, I need a minimum of around 81 grams of protein a day to maintain my current muscles. If I'm lifting weights or running, I need at least 135 grams or so of protein a day... so my protein range is 81 grams - 135 grams a day, and going over that by up to half (so up to a little over 200 grams of protein a day) is no big deal as long as I get my other macros and good nutrition....

>This time around I am having trouble staying in ketosis. It's "trace" for 4 or 5 days and then negative. OK. I just keep plugging.

Ketostix are useless for monitoring nutritional ketosis.

gemberly wrote: »

saraphim41 wrote: »

Reading in Reddit today==one of the posters said that macros for carbs and fat are limits, not goals. He said macro for protein is a goal to maintain muscle. Is this correct?

I do it this way. At first I was adding in more fat, but now I limit fat to burn more fat from my body.

I mean, limiting fat to maintain a deficit will lead to burning fat, but that comes as a result of the overall caloric equation, not the limiting of the fat macro itself. With carb as a limit, protein as a goal, the rest of one's calorie budget has to come from fat, and so that's where a deficit or surplus will come from.