I was looking at this thread:

http://scotthermanfitness.com/forums.php?pageAction=POSTS&subForumID=35&threadID=484&searchText=macros

And decided to adjust it for my stats (43, 5'11, 160#). When I did it, it said I would get ~2,100 calories...which seems very low. What am I missing? Or is that calc just to get your baseline macros...and from there you can freely eat up to your calorie needs? Every other calc I've done has said I need ~2,350-2600 calories....so not sure what's what anymore.

Also...on fat....this calc comes in around 70g of fat in my diet. Other places say 80. I am fairly lean now, but with that last little bit of low ab fat to be burned off...not sure if more fat helps or hinders that effort, or if it makes no difference.

Thanks Scott!!

Hey ORDuB,

Did you get these numbers using the calculations on this video?

Yes....saw that in a different post, and had re-created that in Excel to make the maths easier for me.

Calculating BMR seems to be guess work for me though...and if I follow your math, it says I'd get 1,875 calories a day, which seem awfully low. My current routine (right, wrong or otherwise given a family, desk job, etc):

Monday: 3 mile run at 5am. Noon time hit the gym to work shoulders and arms.

Tuesday: Noon time chest and abs. Legs get hit around 8:30pm (when kids are asleep).

Wednesday: 3 mile run at 5am.

Thursday: Noon time arms and abs.

Friday: 3 mile run at 5am.

Saturday: Chest/back

Sunday: Rest

At age 43, 5'11" and 160#s I get a resting BMR of 1,655...and if I up that by 1.55x I get active of 2,581. I still want to shed my last bit of body fat (I'm estimating I'm 12-14%) before being poolside in 5 weeks....but dont want to be a walking skeleton. Any chance of you opining on the caloric needs? From your video...and if I just called it an even 2,000 calories, I could do 100g carbs (still too high for fat loss?), 225 protein (which seems crazy high...and I've read other places about excess protein being stored as fat...not sure what's true though), and 78g of fat.

Thoughts?

ORDub,

Attach or post your math calculations and your body stats and I'll try to help any way I can. I need to know how you did your math though to make it easier. let me know if you used kg or lbs too.

Did Scott's BMR calculator....5'11, 158 pounds, 43, Male, Moderate Exercise. Gives me 1662 at rest, 2577 in motion. Average is 2,210....so goal (250 less) is 1,870. Estimating 11% body fat (might be a tad low, not sure). Lean body weight then is 142.4.

So if I do 1g protein, that is 142g, or 570 calories.

If I take .35 (recommended in the video) times lean body weight for fats, that is 49.8g, or 449 calories.

Thus, my carbs become 213g to fill the difference....for the other 851 calories. That said, according to the video, to lose fat, carbs should be 50-100. I'm more than 2X over that if I follow this video.

So there's my confusion. Should I be low fat, or low carb? Is too much protein going to hurt me? Will too much fats kill me? Do I adjust these ratios around on workout days versus resting days? I'm currently running 2,050 calories...and cycling macros based on activity levels (higher carbs on higher exertion days, higher fats and lower carbs on rest days)....and I'm poolside in 4 weeks. Maybe too short of a window left to shed the last bit of fat...but I'd love to have a 6 pack by the pool instead of the 4 pack.

Help!!

Macro's are really trial and error my friend as different people respond differently to the various macro ratios. Having said that here's is what I suggest you try:

Total Calories:

• Training days: 2200
• Non training days: 1700

Macronutrient ratio:

• Training days: Protein = 193g Carbohydrate = 165g Fat = 86g
• Non training days: Protein = 149g Carbohydrate = 128g Fat = 66g

You need to monitor ALL your body changes frequently and then play around with the macros. If your putting on more fat maybe reduce carbs.

Thanks. That brings up another question....I've recently started eating constant calories every day, but adjusting the macros daily based on activity (lifting days get higher carbs, lower fats....rest days go low carb, higher fats/protein).

I realize there's no magic...just trial/error....curious though if others have seen more success in adjusting macros like I'm doing on static calories, or adjusting calories with static macros. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Well with this diet split you won't need to play around with your macros as training and non-training days are accounted for. Playing around with macros is more effective when you are sub 10% and still trying to lose fat. Systems such as carb cycling then become great tools to provide that extra fat loss.

What Dan said is pretty spot on. It's hard for me to comment on the boys as being female things work differently. I keep my calories at 1170 most days. What I personally do is adjust my macros as I train. The more calories I burn the more my numbers increase. I am trying to take in 1170 every day as I am cutting. So it doesn't matter how much I work out, I am already in a caloric deficit just by changing my diet. If I burn 300 calories in the gym, I will replace it but my app I use increases my allowed protein, fats and carbs. Also, I respond better to as low carb of a diet as I can go. It all depends on your body type, exercise and what works for you. If I increased my calories based on my workouts, I would actually put on weight and that's not my goal at the moment. My goal is to cut fat while maintaining or gaining a little muscle until my BF% is where i want it to be. Use the video as a guideline and make adjustments as you see progress.

Thanks everyone. I think I'm going to try a hybrid approach....adjusting calories depending on the day as suggested above, as well as tweaking carb levels. We'll see what happens come pool time. :D