OK, quickly background. I started off at 295 pounds last August (2013) and have worked down to 162.8 pounds as of now, 57" waist to a 33" waist (~ just under 10% body fat) and feel that I have leaned out enough (I'm skinny, got abs but skinny) and want to maintain for a little while. However, 4 weeks ago I fell off my bike and fractured my left radial neck in my arm and still recovering, following dr instructions and slowly building up to more weight, but right now at best 10 pounds is all I can handle with left arm.  So no bike or weights in the last 4 weeks (been walking/running 2-3 times per week for about 1 1/2-2 hours, at least 4 miles each) and 3 weeks ago I hit a weight that I was not comfortable going below, 165.6 pounds and decided to switch over to maintain, can't really work out so building muscle is out for now. I had been doing 2400 calories a day trying to maintain my weight, but after 3 weeks of still losing approx a pound per week,I went ahead and upped them to 2720 yesterday.

 

However, I'm really stuck at what my macros should be. big chunck of my weight loss was due to low carb, high protein, and moderate fat. 50 grams of carbs or less per day for 6 months or so, but started upping carbs when energy fell off. Have been eating about 180 grams of carbs, somedays little higher (counting fiber) the last few months, 80 grams of fat and about 200 grams of protein. Now that I'm trying to figure this out, I reviewed Scott's video about building meal plan, and 1 gram of protein per lean body weight is about 150 grams (146-151) of protein, .35 of fat per pound of lean body weight would be 52.5 grams of fat, total calories would be 1072.5 calories, leaving 1647.5 caloreis for carbs. 411.875 grams of carbs, this is very high and worry about it being too much. But I don't know??? I know that protein don't need to be 200 grams to maintain, and feel good with fat being around 80-90 grams, but even if I did change p 200 and f 85, that would still leave 288.75 grams of carbs. Isn't this high?

 

I just want to do the best I can and not gain fat that I've worked so hard to get rid of. I plan on adding 250 calories or so to whatever maintance ends up being to do a lean bulk, and know there will be a little fat, I just don't want to get lots of fat and spend another year getting it off.

As John said as long as you keep eating (in calories) only what you exactly need per day (MBR) you will maintain your current weight, if you eat less - you will loose weight / eat more and you'll gain. It's really simple as that :)

As i understand it the macronutritions are more important when you consider nourishing your body with the right amounts of things, to not have any deficits and no surplus of certain things. So that your body has exactly what it needs to be healthy and in balance. And so that it has everything at 'hand' when needed. (like the right amouint of protein to build / maintain muscles and so on)

As a sidenote:
i still don't get how one would be able to eat 70 -80 gram of fat per day?
that really always seems a lot to me. As a female i think we do better with carbs than with fat, as we seem to store the latter much easier.
I wouldn't even know where to get that much fat from without eating fastfood burgers or stuff that is fried in oil or huge chunks of butter on my bread. That is something i really keep struggling with.

Hello John,

thanks for the explicit answer. (And SorryTony for the slight hijacking of your post - it was not intentinally - but hopefully these infos are valueable for you too :) )

 

By reading your answer and then re-reading what i wrote i found an error. I think i made it sound as if i'd be eating fastfood to get my fat, haha. (The : wouldn't know how to get much fat "without" eating fast food.. i think the "without" was a bit of a unfortunate choice of words)

 

To make it clear: i am eating clean, nearing about 9 month of it by now, and i am very discilplined with that.

 

My only 'cheat' is a half salad pizza from a pizza service every once in a while. (which isn't really much of a cheat as it is what the name says: a pizza with salad and kebab meat, no cheese no heavy sauces/toppings). I think my latest progress pics show clear that there isn't much unhealthy food or going into that body.

 

As of late i had quite a lot vascularity kicking in. (My arms always had that but now they also appear on the abdominal area very clear), and i was wondering if my fat intake was a tad too low. I know vascularity is nice to look at and many would like to have that, but i am a rather ectomorph type and need to take care not to get too thin.

 

When i go through what i eat, by the end of the day i feel i don't get the amount of fat that i would need by what 'calculations' would suggest.

 

Example of a typical day:

 

morning:

bowl of oats with a few raisins and 0.1 % skimmed milk

cup of coffee with a scoop of the same milk (no sugar / no sweeteners)

(about 3-4 g fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

second meal:
30 g protein shake

(equals to ca. 1 gramm fat)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
third meal:

- mostly a slice of full wheat bread / or crisp bread with a bit butter and 1 or 2 slices of lean air dried ham.

- some fruit (apple or pear)

(about another 3 gram fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

fourth meal: (pre workout)

- teaspoon peanut butter (4 g fat)

- and either the same as the third meal (but with a banana)

- or i try to eat some protein loaded meal- on workout days- like a bowl of cotton cheese (about 80 g) with either fruit or veggies in it,

or 3 scrambled eggs

(so fat here varies a bit between 3 g and 12 g of fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

fifth meal (post workout):

- 30 g Protein Shake

- 3 g creatine

(equals to ca. 1 gramm fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

sixth meal:

(here i go 'heavy' and i eat this meal within 1-2 hours post workout as i need to "refill". And i work out late in the day, so this has shown to work best for me)

- any sort of meal i feel like eating / cooking. But always contains:

# either chicken breast, or canned thuna (in water) - (salmon is extremely pricey here and hard to get), or hacked red meat (12-14 % fat)

# along with beans or spinach, or lentils or tomatos, or other veggies, onions and some spices

# accompanied by either fullcorn pasta or potatos, or eggs mixed into the dish

- i always prepare those meals with a scoop of olive oil (14-20 g fat) but i feel half of that oil gets lost while cooking and remains in the pan.

- and in some of them i throw in a table spoon of low fat creme fraiche as sauce-replacement ( = ca. 2-3 g fat)

 

(thus fat intake here varies depending on the dish ingredients, lets say between 20 and 40 gramm fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

seventh meal:

sometimes another slice of crips bread / fullcorn bread with ham should i still feel hungry. or a fruit.

(about 3 g fat)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

so if i count the fat intake here on an average i only have about 45-70 gram of fat per day.

Seems i am only to reach near 70 g on days where i have hacked meat, or my 'cheat': salad-pizza f.i.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My weight is 56 kilo right now and i am 1,80 m tall (always didn't weigh a lot - hence the ectomorph type and very light bones)

the way i am eating at the moment my weight stays absolutely stable, i don't loose nor gain bodyweight.

So i seem to exactly cover my needs.

 

Most fat calculators say i should get 70 g of fat per day.

I am not a big fan of numbers (at least when it comes to food ^^) as i believe everybody 'ticks' a bit different, and am just trying to stick to a certain macro ratio *rule per thumb* so i am having a fair share of all i need. And the fact that i don't loose weight appears to me as things would be okay.

 

Except for always having to take care - as i said - not to get from 'lean' to 'skinny', thus visible vascularity on the abdominal area of course makes me consider if i need to switch things a bit around or add something.

 

Any input on this here ?

 

- thanks a bunch, in advance - crood -

Hello John,

thanks for the explicit answer. (And SorryTony for the slight hijacking of your post - it was not intentinally - but hopefully these infos are valueable for you too :) )

 

By reading your answer and then re-reading what i wrote i found an error. I think i made it sound as if i'd be eating fastfood to get my fat, haha. (The : wouldn't know how to get much fat "without" eating fast food.. i think the "without" was a bit of a unfortunate choice of words)

 

To make it clear: i am eating clean, nearing about 9 month of it by now, and i am very discilplined with that.

 

My only 'cheat' is a half salad pizza from a pizza service every once in a while. (which isn't really much of a cheat as it is what the name says: a pizza with salad and kebab meat, no cheese no heavy sauces/toppings). I think my latest progress pics show clear that there isn't much unhealthy food or going into that body.

 

As of late i had quite a lot vascularity kicking in. (My arms always had that but now they also appear on the abdominal area very clear), and i was wondering if my fat intake was a tad too low. I know vascularity is nice to look at and many would like to have that, but i am a rather ectomorph type and need to take care not to get too thin.

 

When i go through what i eat, by the end of the day i feel i don't get the amount of fat that i would need by what 'calculations' would suggest.

 

Example of a typical day:

 

morning:

bowl of oats with a few raisins and 0.1 % skimmed milk

cup of coffee with a scoop of the same milk (no sugar / no sweeteners)

(about 3-4 g fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

second meal:
30 g protein shake

(equals to ca. 1 gramm fat)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
third meal:

- mostly a slice of full wheat bread / or crisp bread with a bit butter and 1 or 2 slices of lean air dried ham.

- some fruit (apple or pear)

(about another 3 gram fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

fourth meal: (pre workout)

- teaspoon peanut butter (4 g fat)

- and either the same as the third meal (but with a banana)

- or i try to eat some protein loaded meal- on workout days- like a bowl of cotton cheese (about 80 g) with either fruit or veggies in it,

or 3 scrambled eggs

(so fat here varies a bit between 3 g and 12 g of fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

fifth meal (post workout):

- 30 g Protein Shake

- 3 g creatine

(equals to ca. 1 gramm fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

sixth meal:

(here i go 'heavy' and i eat this meal within 1-2 hours post workout as i need to "refill". And i work out late in the day, so this has shown to work best for me)

- any sort of meal i feel like eating / cooking. But always contains:

# either chicken breast, or canned thuna (in water) - (salmon is extremely pricey here and hard to get), or hacked red meat (12-14 % fat)

# along with beans or spinach, or lentils or tomatos, or other veggies, onions and some spices

# accompanied by either fullcorn pasta or potatos, or eggs mixed into the dish

- i always prepare those meals with a scoop of olive oil (14-20 g fat) but i feel half of that oil gets lost while cooking and remains in the pan.

- and in some of them i throw in a table spoon of low fat creme fraiche as sauce-replacement ( = ca. 2-3 g fat)

 

(thus fat intake here varies depending on the dish ingredients, lets say between 20 and 40 gramm fat)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

seventh meal:

sometimes another slice of crips bread / fullcorn bread with ham should i still feel hungry. or a fruit.

(about 3 g fat)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

so if i count the fat intake here on an average i only have about 45-70 gram of fat per day.

Seems i am only to reach near 70 g on days where i have hacked meat, or my 'cheat': salad-pizza f.i.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My weight is 56 kilo right now and i am 1,80 m tall (always didn't weigh a lot - hence the ectomorph type and very light bones)

the way i am eating at the moment my weight stays absolutely stable, i don't loose nor gain bodyweight.

So i seem to exactly cover my needs.

 

Most fat calculators say i should get 70 g of fat per day.

I am not a big fan of numbers (at least when it comes to food ^^) as i believe everybody 'ticks' a bit different, and am just trying to stick to a certain macro ratio *rule per thumb* so i am having a fair share of all i need. And the fact that i don't loose weight appears to me as things would be okay.

 

Except for always having to take care - as i said - not to get from 'lean' to 'skinny', thus visible vascularity on the abdominal area of course makes me consider if i need to switch things a bit around or add something.

 

Any input on this here ?

 

- thanks a bunch, in advance - crood -

@JoeHurricane & @jmboiardi thanks for your both replies!

 

I was mainly wondering if that fat intake is really to low or just fine. Especially with the goal of gaining more lean muscle mass. And how to get more 'good' fat into it - which i can adjust with more peanutbutter of course as Joe helpfully suggested.

 

Though.. i actually took your advice @jmboiardi and grabbed a glas of coconutoil today. Prepared my rice with it earlier, was very tasty.

And it can directly try to proof it's good values.. as i have come down this morning with a terrible flu or cold. Maybe it helps to get rid of that a tad faster as well. (i feel terrible >.< )

 

Not really sure tho how to take it with my protein shake as you suggested, because it is of creme'ish consistence, i guess i'll rather stick to preparing food with it and switch between olive oil and coconut oil to get a bit of both. And maybe have some tea and throw a spoon in there so it just mixes with the hot tea liquid.

 

 

 

 

@JoeHurricane & @jmboiardi thanks for your both replies!

 

I was mainly wondering if that fat intake is really to low or just fine. Especially with the goal of gaining more lean muscle mass. And how to get more 'good' fat into it - which i can adjust with more peanutbutter of course as Joe helpfully suggested.

 

Though.. i actually took your advice @jmboiardi and grabbed a glas of coconutoil today. Prepared my rice with it earlier, was very tasty.

And it can directly try to proof it's good values.. as i have come down this morning with a terrible flu or cold. Maybe it helps to get rid of that a tad faster as well. (i feel terrible >.< )

 

Not really sure tho how to take it with my protein shake as you suggested, because it is of creme'ish consistence, i guess i'll rather stick to preparing food with it and switch between olive oil and coconut oil to get a bit of both. And maybe have some tea and throw a spoon in there so it just mixes with the hot tea liquid.

 

 

 

 

i actually tried it with tea.. welp - to say the least.. it is an option.. it works.. functionally! taste-wise that kind of oil in tea is not really making it taste good ^^ but one can gulp it down fast to cope with that ! ;)

Blending might be a good idea to add it to the shakes.

 

chicken, rise, asian veggies etc is all really amazing with coconut oil. i don't know why i didn't use it for so long (aside from the fact that it's really quite expensive oo.. double the price of already not so cheap olive oil) but right now i am really enjoying it.

 

i'll see if i feel i put on a small fat layer again then i'll just reduce a tad. but right now my bodyfat is so low and i am so vascular that a bit more fat won't hurt and probably also is needed to build some more muscle.

 

Thus thanks a bunch for you both' tips!

 

-crood-

 

 

 

 

haha yeah. plus i am an ectomorph type. i am getting rather too skinny than too fat. but i tend to - as most females do - store fat easy in the 'unwanted' sections (even if it might be little compared to what some women collect in terms of fat and bodyshape).

As i wrote in one of the posts above, right now i am precisely holding my weight. it doesnt go up nor down, even with lil fluctuations in the caloric intake a day (depending on the evening meal being with hacked meat or fish, that can make quite a difference as we know) But i think that's a good thing to have those little up and downs too, this way the body learns to balance itself a bit.

But seen how vascular i had become lately, i was getting a bit concerned (especially as female: considering the impact on hormones etc) so i wanted to add a tad more fat, as i wrote. But wasn't really sure how, where - for which you guys gave me good tips.

 

And i also think i need a bit more 'solid' substance such as fat to give my body the chance to build more muscle. So the coconut oil and peanut butter are really good sources, next to the good old olive oil. Just need to keep an eye on my belly area if there will be some fatty layer building up, so i can find the right balance / amount.

Thanks again for all the input Joe (and jmboiardi too of course!) It is greatly appreciated.

I've been out of sports for like 10 years and knowledge and insights have changed quite a lot in that time, and so did my body. So learning every day something new again.

 

Damn girl.....you are looking really lean in your progress photos. Good work!

 

John

haha yeah. plus i am an ectomorph type. i am getting rather too skinny than too fat. but i tend to - as most females do - store fat easy in the 'unwanted' sections (even if it might be little compared to what some women collect in terms of fat and bodyshape).

As i wrote in one of the posts above, right now i am precisely holding my weight. it doesnt go up nor down, even with lil fluctuations in the caloric intake a day (depending on the evening meal being with hacked meat or fish, that can make quite a difference as we know) But i think that's a good thing to have those little up and downs too, this way the body learns to balance itself a bit.

But seen how vascular i had become lately, i was getting a bit concerned (especially as female: considering the impact on hormones etc) so i wanted to add a tad more fat, as i wrote. But wasn't really sure how, where - for which you guys gave me good tips.

 

And i also think i need a bit more 'solid' substance such as fat to give my body the chance to build more muscle. So the coconut oil and peanut butter are really good sources, next to the good old olive oil. Just need to keep an eye on my belly area if there will be some fatty layer building up, so i can find the right balance / amount.

Thanks again for all the input Joe (and jmboiardi too of course!) It is greatly appreciated.

I've been out of sports for like 10 years and knowledge and insights have changed quite a lot in that time, and so did my body. So learning every day something new again.