Best Macro Counts for Burning Fat?

chrispegut
chrispegut Posts: 3 Member
edited December 2024 in Getting Started
38 year old male, ectomorph. Been a runner for 25 years. It was always hard to put on weight, until I stopped exercising in my 20s and gained 40lbs if fat, drinking and eating like *kitten*. Nowadays I don’t drink anymore and I do strength training 3x/week with a trainer. And I ride a bike a few days a week in between workouts. My waist hasn’t lost an inch in 6+ months. My #1 priority has been hitting my protein #s every day. I got MFP app last week. First day of tracking I noticed I ate more than 100g over recommended fat macros. Started a meal prep service this week. Trying to eat as well as I can, since I keep hearing how diet makes all the difference. So if I want to lose belly fat, do I need to lose fat first, then get back to building muscle mass? I’ve gained about 15lbs in 7 months, gained a lot of lean muscle mass and definition. But I went from 34” around my belly button to 38”. From what I read, I’d have to burn fat first, then go back to building mass.

Is that anyone’s experience? I’d love to know macro % for ectomorphs. I don’t want to lose muscle mass, just fat. I’m not eating all my calories for the day, or carbs. Been hitting protein and fat #s, and going over each of these macro recommendation as well. Been hungry but assuming that will change once my body gets used to the change.

Thanks! Glad to be a part of a community of likeminded people.

-Chris

Replies

  • alexis1616
    alexis1616 Posts: 115 Member
    You’re definitely right that diet does make all the difference. Healthy weight loss is generally 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. I’d definitely say that up to a certain point(I’m uncertain of your measurements, so I can’t say if this will 100% apply to you) that you can definitely still build *some* muscle while burning fat and eating at a relative deficit, or at the very least preserve the muscle mass you do have. Just make sure to hit your daily protein goals (anywhere from 0.8-1.5g/lb of body weight). Also make sure that even if you’re hitting your macro goals for protein that you’re getting them from nutrient dense food (not fat laden foods etc as you mentioned eating an excess of 100g for recommended fat macros for a day). In addition, regular strength training does wonders for preserving(and possibly growing some) muscle mass while at a caloric deficit.

    Lastly, make sure you’re accurately measuring your food with a scale, not just plugging in the generic entries on MFP or eyeballing measurements, as we typically underestimate how much we do eat.
  • chrispegut
    chrispegut Posts: 3 Member
    edited March 2019
    @sijomial Thank you, and interesting about protein deficiency for weight loss. I thought that was just calories to lose weight - with my non-scientific reasoning, I would think less protein would lead to muscle mass loss.
  • chrispegut
    chrispegut Posts: 3 Member
    edited March 2019
    @alexis1616 “Lastly, make sure you’re accurately measuring your food with a scale, not just plugging in the generic entries on MFP or eyeballing measurements, as we typically underestimate how much we do eat.”

    Thank you! I do just look up food on MFP and ballpark serving size. I’ll grab a food scale.

    Makes sense what people are saying that you don’t lose fat from specific areas, just in general as the weight comes off. I need to stick with this and watch for results.

    Bought a regular scale so I can ensure I don’t lose weight too quickly. I’ve heard a pound a week is safe to not lose muscle mass, and I do strength training 3x/week so hoping to keep what I have. May have to cut down on cardio though, or increase calories to make up for extra exercise?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 15,745 Member
    chrispegut wrote: »
    @sijomial Thank you, and interesting about protein deficiency for weight loss. I thought that was just calories to lose weight - with my non-scientific reasoning, I would think less protein would lead to muscle mass loss.

    Not sure your interpreted @sijomial 's post correctly.

    It IS a caloric deficit that is the only thing that matters for weight loss.

    If you do want to maintain your lean mass (or even increase it) having a high amount (or at the very least a decent amount) of protein in your diet and training hard (in conjunction with a reasonable deficit) will help you achieve this!

    MFP default macro splits are really not that unreasonable as starting points to aim for...
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,808 Member
    chrispegut wrote: »
    @sijomial Thank you, and interesting about protein deficiency for weight loss. I thought that was just calories to lose weight - with my non-scientific reasoning, I would think less protein would lead to muscle mass loss.

    That's not what I'm saying at all and apologies if I wasn't clearer.
    Both significant exercise and being in a calorie deficit are good reasons to keep your protein higher.

    My preference is for 1g per pound of estimated lean mass but as a minimum goal. 1g/lb of total bodyweight isn't an unusual recommendation for people not far from ideal/goal weight.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,808 Member
    Eating back exercise calories (as this site is designed to be used) is IMHO a better option than reducing your exercise to keep your deficit/rate of weight loss moderate.

    When I have to drop weight I find it far easier on a high calorie allowance boosted by a lot of exercise rather than just restricting food intake. I like both food and exercise so it's a virtuous circle.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 15,745 Member
    chrispegut wrote: »
    @alexis1616 “Lastly, make sure you’re accurately measuring your food with a scale, not just plugging in the generic entries on MFP or eyeballing measurements, as we typically underestimate how much we do eat.”

    Thank you! I do just look up food on MFP and ballpark serving size. I’ll grab a food scale.

    Makes sense what people are saying that you don’t lose fat from specific areas, just in general as the weight comes off. I need to stick with this and watch for results.

    Bought a regular scale so I can ensure I don’t lose weight too quickly. I’ve heard a pound a week is safe to not lose muscle mass, and I do strength training 3x/week so hoping to keep what I have. May have to cut down on cardio though, or increase calories to make up for extra exercise?

    The usual issue of ball-parking service size vs using a food scale is that people under-estimate their intake. This is not done maliciously or on purpose.

    But even when you WANT to be accurate, unless you obsessively pre-log everything before you eat it (and you also very carefully weigh all condiments and cooking ingredients including so called "zero calories" ingredients that seldom prove to be that when you take the quantity you're consuming into full consideration), you very seldom manage to actually account for everything. Plus the database entries you use have to be verified independently and in person as there are a LOT (including supposedly verified entries) that are wrong.

    Anyway. You don't actually HAVE to be that precise / accurate / concerned with perfection if you're just willing to ball-park adjust based on results over time. Admittedly, when I was losing weight I WAS because I was determined to maximize the food I got to eat while still meeting my goals ;-)

    Scale weight changes and fast for reasons that have nothing to do with your underlying fat level...

    So you may want to start using a weigh trend app such as Happy Scale (iphone), Libra (android), trendweight.com or weightgrapher.com (web; may need freely available without a band fitbit.com account to perform data entry) and to consider your weight trend to be your actual weight for the purpose of your calculations.

    Your goals (1lb etc) sound reasonable. Usually a 0.6g to 0.8g of protein per lb of goal weight in the normal weight range (in place of a goal of 0.8g to 1g of protein per lb of lean mass in the normal weight range) will do the trick for most people. A bit more or a bit less by preference and satiation will probably not kill you--assuming no underling health issues as these levels are already at 2x RDA ;-)

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