Calculating Calories and Macros - How To

[craxkpathan]

Nice and simple explanation... so pretty much a guarantee that no one who needs this info will use it. Great contribution once again though.

[Mrpb]

Nice and simple explanation... so pretty much a guarantee that no one who needs this info will use it. Great contribution once again though.

You're welcome. This thread has gotten over 92,000 individual views so far. What makes you think that no one who needs it will use it?

While there are certainly a lot of people that never read the stickies, there are also many that do.

[TheIronAsylum]

inn for later

[JevinR]

Omfg, this is the best explanation to macros I have ever seen!! No offense to Emm-Leigh, but this so much simpler and easier to understand than the old sticky!

[CadenceEast]

These are rules of thumb I follow as well. Great advice and I wish when I started I had read this first!

[akmal2104]

Hey man thanks for clearing thimgs up a bit. Just a quick question, im trying to lose weight so that my bf% gets around 10%. Can i whats the max amount of protein or fat i should consume because im 161 lbs and after calculating, i dont think i can handle 280g of carbs a day

[Mrpb]

Hey man thanks for clearing thimgs up a bit. Just a quick question, im trying to lose weight so that my bf% gets around 10%. Can i whats the max amount of protein or fat i should consume because im 161 lbs and after calculating, i dont think i can handle 280g of carbs a day

What's your height?

[akmal2104]

What's your height?

174 cm

[Mrpb]

174 cm

I don't recommend cutting for you. As you are a beginner you can gain muscle as you lose fat. Just eat at maintenance.

And read the sticky better please because every question you asked is answered there.

[dax702]

Clarification question on the calorie calculator at the beginning of this thread.

For the exercise level, it indicates elevated heart rate which to me means cardio, not so much lifting weights.

What would you suggest if I lift weights 3x per week, but have a computer desk job (although now it's a standing desk so I'm not sitting much anymore, but it's basically standing still a lot)

37 yrs old, 6'1" 186 lbs

To get a starting point, I just selected the 3x per week option and that gave me 2508 maintenance calories which equals:

130g protein =520 calories
75g fat = 675 calories
329g carb = 1313 calories

(based on .7g protein, and .4g fat)

So if I want to gain, I add 300 calories. Is it better to add those 300 calories as carbs or as fat in your opinion? And what "exercise level" should be selected for lifting, not cardio?

Thanks for your effort on this.

[Mrpb]

Clarification question on the calorie calculator at the beginning of this thread.

For the exercise level, it indicates elevated heart rate which to me means cardio, not so much lifting weights.

What would you suggest if I lift weights 3x per week, but have a computer desk job (although now it's a standing desk so I'm not sitting much anymore, but it's basically standing still a lot)

37 yrs old, 6'1" 186 lbs

To get a starting point, I just selected the 3x per week option and that gave me 2508 maintenance calories which equals:

130g protein =520 calories
75g fat = 675 calories
329g carb = 1313 calories

(based on .7g protein, and .4g fat)

So if I want to gain, I add 300 calories. Is it better to add those 300 calories as carbs or as fat in your opinion? And what "exercise level" should be selected for lifting, not cardio?

Thanks for your effort on this.

Do you have a picture? I'm not sure you're lean enough to start bulking.

Are you a beginner?

[dax702]

Here's 3 pictures I just took right now... Long arms, long legs, about a 34" waist
Thanks for any advice.
EDIT: I also uploaded two bathroom selfies because they just look better than the others :-) I should also mention these aren't first thing in the morning photos, it was actually just after lunch.

[Mrpb]

Here's 3 pictures I just took right now... Long arms, long legs, about a 34" waist
Thanks for any advice.
EDIT: I also uploaded two bathroom selfies because they just look better than the others :-) I should also mention these aren't first thing in the morning photos, it was actually just after lunch.

Lean enough to start bulking. Eat enough to gain 1-2 pounds per month while following a good program. The only way to find out is by trial and error.

Your questions about macros are actually answered in the stickie.

You're 37 so I recommend going higher in protein, say 160 gram protein or more.

[dax702]

Thanks, I'll increase protein to 160g and adjust others accordingly. So I'll try 160g protein, 320g carbs, and 98 fat

I didn't see the answer to my specific questions in the sticky. (what exercise level to choose, and in your opinion, whether to add the surplus as carbs or fats based on my age, and activity level)

[Mordz]

This thread is great and helped me make a lot more sense of things. My wife and I have lately been working on dieting together and have completely reworked our diet over the last two weeks. We are complete idiots when it came to nutrition so we were going off some rough macro guidelines based on body type.

I'm more of an ectomorph and her an endomorph, so I was at a 40/40/20 (protein/carbs/fat) diet and she was at 40/20/40 (protein/carbs/fat) diet. So the talk of minimums completely blows my mind - and helps us open up or diet options a bit.

Based on the math in the op, based off our measurements, I think I've calculated this right. Also not sure if it matters, but we are both 31.

My stats:
Height: 5'11"
Current weight: 188
Goal weight: 175
Body fat %: 20
Daily calorie intake: 1600
Protein minimum: 123g (492 calories)
Fat minimum: 70g (630 calories)
Leftover calories: 478

Her stats:
Height: 5'3"
Current weight: 150
Goal weight: 125
Body fat %: 30
Daily calorie intake: 1200
Protein minimum: 88g (352 calories)
Fat minimum: 50g (450 calories)
Leftover calories: 398

Does this all sound right? Or are we way off in our estimates? I'm getting significantly more calories from fat than protein if just sticking the minimums, which is the most surprising thing to me.

[Mrpb]

^ you should not be eating 1600 calories. That's too low. Her calories are too low as well.

The protein is a minimum, it's fine to eat more.

Thanks, I'll increase protein to 160g and adjust others accordingly. So I'll try 160g protein, 320g carbs, and 98 fat

I didn't see the answer to my specific questions in the sticky. (what exercise level to choose, and in your opinion, whether to add the surplus as carbs or fats based on my age, and activity level)

Weightlifting counts as being active and the other question is answered in the sticky. If it's unclear to you can you copy and paste that part and tell me what is unclear about it?

[CidBone]

Just had to leave a message that this is a great post!
Thanks for sharing!

[Mordz]

^ you should not be eating 1600 calories. That's too low. Her calories are too low as well.

The protein is a minimum, it's fine to eat more.

Yeah, with regard to protein, I was just calculating our minimums out.

Is that really too low of calories? What would be a more reasonable amount?

With her, she's trying to stay on the lower side of carbs, but then she starts finding it harder to even reach her calorie goals.

[Mrpb]

Yeah, with regard to protein, I was just calculating our minimums out.

Is that really too low of calories? What would be a more reasonable amount?

It's explained in the first post of this thread.

[Mordz]

It's explained in the first post of this thread.

Yeah, and I read over that. My maintenance calories are 2200, so I guess subtracting 500 puts me at 1700. Her maintenance is 1850, so subtracting 500 puts her at 1350. So our current 1600/1200 we've been going with, while slightly lower than the 1700/1350 is not dramatically off.

Thank you for the help in this btw.

[Mrpb]

My maintenance calories are 2200

FYI: A 188 lb male who lifts 3x per week can't have a maintenance of 2200.

[Mordz]

FYI: A 188 lb male who lifts 3x per week can't have a maintenance of 2200.

Ahah! Indeed. You are right. When working with the TDEE calculator, I had accidentally kept gender as female when putting in my information.

So that puts my maintence at roughly 2500 and thus dropping it 500 drops me to an even 2000.

As for my wife hers are indeed 1850 for maintenance and thus 1350 for max loss.

Seems I was a lot more off in my calories than she was in hers.

[dax702]

Just want to say thanks. Even over just the last few days having significantly increased my carbs, I'm feeling a big difference in the gym. Dropped the weight way down and really concentrating on each rep with perfect form. Feeling great!

[TreHockey]

Awesome post! I have one question. I need to lose a lot of weight. I'm currently 41 years old, 5'11" and weight 318 (I was 335 to start). So I have a couple different goal weights to hit along the way. When you say .7 or .4 grams for ideal/goal weight for obese trying to lose weight, should that be calculated on the final goal weight?

Thanks again for the great post

[Mrpb]

Awesome post! I have one question. I need to lose a lot of weight. I'm currently 41 years old, 5'11" and weight 318 (I was 335 to start). So I have a couple different goal weights to hit along the way. When you say .7 or .4 grams for ideal/goal weight for obese trying to lose weight, should that be calculated on the final goal weight?

Yes.

[TreHockey]

Yes.

That's all I needed. The rest was pretty self explanatory. Now it's just a matter of sticking to it.

[LHFlyer]

OK, this is becoming the hardest part of my newbie routine into building muscle and losing fat. After getting great feedback from 'FluidZ' that my carbs were too low (at 30g/day) which was probably a math mistake on my part, here is what the new math says for me, following the formula listed at the top of the sticky. I'm 5'11 250# so doing the math, I should be at about 171g Protein/day, 100g fat/day and the rest is 'discretionary'. I'm targeting a 2,000 calorie diet which based on rough estimates would leave me at a 300-400 calorie deficit/day. when I do the calorie math, it suggests that this would make my protein 35%, Fat 46%, and Carbs at 19% as far as Macros go if I default the rest of my calorie goal to carbs. The math would bring carbs to 98g/day. Am I on the right path or do I need to further tweak the numbers? The protein and fats are basically the minimums based on the suggested targets. Do I need to increase my calorie target to make room for more carbs? I know there's no perfect answer, but right now I'm stuck without one!

[Mrpb]

OK, this is becoming the hardest part of my newbie routine into building muscle and losing fat. After getting great feedback from 'FluidZ' that my carbs were too low (at 30g/day) which was probably a math mistake on my part, here is what the new math says for me, following the formula listed at the top of the sticky. I'm 5'11 250# so doing the math, I should be at about 171g Protein/day, 100g fat/day and the rest is 'discretionary'. I'm targeting a 2,000 calorie diet which based on rough estimates would leave me at a 300-400 calorie deficit/day. when I do the calorie math, it suggests that this would make my protein 35%, Fat 46%, and Carbs at 19% as far as Macros go if I default the rest of my calorie goal to carbs. The math would bring carbs to 98g/day. Am I on the right path or do I need to further tweak the numbers? The protein and fats are basically the minimums based on the suggested targets. Do I need to increase my calorie target to make room for more carbs? I know there's no perfect answer, but right now I'm stuck without one!

160 gram protein and 80 gram fat would be fine. Rest of calories as you wish.

[matt9821]

Hi guys, I have been training a little over 3 years on and off without paying serious attention to my diet. My body is skinny fat and I have been on a cut since the new year. It has been over 7 weeks already and here is my progress

1st jan weight: 87kg
15 feb weight: 83.5kg
Height: 188cm

Calculated my maintenance calories to be ~2700, hence I am eating 2200-2400 calories everyday.

Macro is roughly: 210 carbs, 180 protein and 85 fats

However, it seems to me that I am not losing much fats and my body still pretty much flabby. My plan is to continue this cut till 31 march. Any advices from you guys to make this more effective while retaining my strength and muscles?

I am using the 5/3/1 big and boring prog but instead of 5x10 of the main lifts, I just take my first working set and do 3x5 after the 5/3/1 all out set.

Current stats is
squats: 3x130kg
deadlift 2x160kg
bench 3x85kg
ohp 5x45kg

[LHFlyer]

160 gram protein and 80 gram fat would be fine. Rest of calories as you wish.

thanks!