"How do I set my macros for fat loss?"

"I want to build muscle without getting fat. What should my macros be?"

^Need help with either of these?

Good new - you'll never have to wonder about anything “setting macros-related” again. I'm writing this with the goal of never again writing an article on setting macros.

So yeah, consider this your ultimate guide to macro-stuff.

If your body composition isn't currently what you want it to be, you need to make an adjustment. Thing is, to adjust appropriately for your goal, you first need to have something to adjust from.

Example:

Let's say you started online coaching, with the goal of fat loss.

If my only advice to you was...

"Oh yeah, uhh you should try eating less."

...would that really help? You KNOW you need to eat less to lose fat. You've probably BEEN trying that, and it ain't working. That's why you're here.

We need concrete metrics to make adjustments from.

Now let's say I told you: "You should try eating 2,200kcal per day instead of 2,500."

We're getting somewhere now. If you have a baseline to make adjustments relative to, your odds of success are much higher.

If you're just adjusting relative to feelings (e.g. you feel like you're eating less), you're gonna have a bad time. Feelings are super inaccurate when it comes to estimating calorie intake. In fact, a 2002 study showed the even Registered Dietitians underestimate their calorie intake by 223 calories per day.

So yeah, we're not great at estimating accurately, and as a general rule for life, it's probably better to avoid feelings as a whole.

You get it. You need to consistently measure your intake so we have something to adjust your intake relative to, instead of just taking shots in the dark.

When you burn more energy (calories) than you take in, you lose weight. This is called a negative energy balance, or calorie deficit.

When you take in more energy (calories) than you burn, you gain weight. This is positive energy balance, or a calorie surplus.

When you’re taking in the same amount of energy as you're burning daily, you maintain your weight. You’re eating at your maintenance calories.

1. Exercise - Lifting weights, cardio, etc. Contrary to popular belief, doesn't burn that many calories.

You could burn 500 calories with an hour on the stairmill, and then drink 500 calories by way of margarita in two minutes. (You should probably slow it down by the way.)

This is why trying to "burn it off" doesn't go well for most.

2. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (N.E.A.T.) - All the calories you burn in your everyday life outside the gym.

N.E.A.T. is the most manipulatable variable of calories out. Adding in a bit of daily movement adds up to thousands of extra calories burned over a month.

This is why ALL my online clients with fat loss goals also have a step goal

3. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) - Calories burned during digestion. It takes energy to turn the food you consume into energy. This is TEF.

4. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - Your BMR is the number of calories your body burns just to stay alive. Generally, the heavier you are, the higher your BMR.

These are the four components of metabolism - the processes that can increase calories out.

Here, your only option is manipulating your calorie intake, which we’ll cover in great detail shortly.

Got all that?

Basically:

Calories In > Calories Out = Weight gain

Calories In = Calories Out = Weight maintenance

Calories In < Calories Out = Weight loss

Now, of course it gets more complicated than this. But you must understand - at the most foundational level, the most important factor to changing your weight is energy balance.

To illustrate this point, a KSU professor performed a self-study. Throwing his body on the line in the name of science, Mark Haub ate primarily Twinkies and the like for 10 weeks.

Dude lost 27 lbs, while eating mostly highly-processed, sugar-laden foods.

A past version of you (~3-minutes ago) would have been shocked by these findings. But that's not who you are anymore. You understand energy balance, and realize Prof. Mark must've just maintained a calorie deficit, despite eating "unhealthy" foods.

New you is so smart.

Not so fast eager beaver. You could just fit whatever into your calorie goal and lose weight.

The problem is, to put it scientifically - you'd feel like balls.

Your health would be awful. You need the various nutrients from whole foods to function properly and feel good.

It's a good idea to eat primarily whole foods (80-90% of your diet), adding in less nutritious foods you enjoy is perfectly fine.

Keeping protein high is crucial to building a great body, because:

Adequate protein is a MUST for building muscle. Protein is the building block of your muscle.

Through a process called muscle protein synthesis, your body turns the protein you eat into muscle protein (your muscles are essentially made of protein). When your protein intake is inadequate, you can't fully recover and grow from you training.

On a similar note, adequate protein is necessary to maintaining muscle mass as you diet.

Protein also has the highest thermic effect (TEF) of all the macros.

It takes energy to turn the food you consume into energy.

• Protein: 20-30% of calories consumed are burned via TEF

• Carbs: 5-10% of calories consumed are burned via TEF

• Fat: 0-3% of calories consumed are burned via TEF

When you eat more protein, you're actually increasing the calories out side of the energy balance equation, since you're burning more calories via TEF.

Protein is the most satiating of the macronutrients (it keeps ya full longer). The hardest thing about diets? You’re hungry. More protein helps.

Outside of controlling energy balance, increasing protein intake to .8-1 grams/lb of body weight daily is likely the most impactful thing you can do nutritionally to improve body composition.

To be more efficient at this, the body shuts down other processes to clear the system faster. Stuff like: Oxidation of fat, hormone production, muscle tissue repair, etc.

Basically, when you drink, your results (losing body fat, building muscle) stop until your body clears the alcohol.

That said, fat loss still comes down to creating a calorie deficit.

Drinking only causes you to gain body fat if it's kicking you out of a calorie deficit (unless you're taking it to the extreme/alcoholism levels).

So yes, you can absolutely enjoy some drinks while improving your body composition.

Could you improve results a bit by quitting drinking entirely? Probably. Are either of us going to quit drinking? Nope.

We have to address this, because you'll inevitably hear claims like:

"Too much protein gives you cancer!"

"You HAVE TO cut carbs to lose weight!"

"Fat is literally just fat! Obviously eating it will make you fat!"

Soooo by this logic, it seems our only option to avoid becoming simultaneously fat and cancer-riddled, is adopting a diet of pure, sweet alcohol.

Now, while I would love to re-live spring break 2013 & 2014 at Panama City Beach....

...I promised my mom I wouldn’t go back after she saw this Fox News Report.

Those guys are such party poopers.

Fine. Let’s get to the bottom of this:

Protein WON'T ruin your kidneys. This 2016 study showed no harmful effects on blood lipids, as well as liver and kidney function in resistance trained men - despite eating well over the 1g/lb mark.

Neither carbs nor fat, make you fat. This 12-month clinical trial of 609 overweight adults had the goal of determining the effect of a healthy low-fat diet vs. a healthy low-carb diet. The results:

• Mean 12 months weight change:-5.3 kg low-fat vs. -6.0 kg low-carb
• No difference between groups body fat % or waist circumference
• Both diets improved lipid profiles and lowered blood pressure, insulin and glucose levels
• LDL cholesterol decreased more in the low-fat group. HDL cholesterol increased in the low-carb group.

Basically, both diets worked well. No significant difference between the two groups results.

So, what did you learn today?

No specific macro makes you fat. Over consuming any food makes you fat. (But if we split hairs, protein is the hardest macro for your body to store as fat.)

Eating in a calorie surplus composed of any macro combination can make you gain weight.

Eating in a calorie deficit of any macro combination will make you lose weight.

DON’T DEMONIZE OR WORSHIP CARBS, FATS, OR PROTEIN.

There are no magic diets or supplements.

The beauty of this is - it means you don’t HAVE TO follow any one diet. As long as your energy balance matches your goals, and you don't eat like a dumb ass... you'll be in good shape.

Finally, amiright? THIS is what you came here for.

First things first, you need to know your goal. A goal needs be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Mea... haha ok ok. I won't do that to ya.

All I'm asking is - do you want to lose fat, maintain you current body composition, or build muscle?

Got that figured out? Dope.

Multiply maintenance intake X .85 for less aggressive fat loss.

Slower progress, but less hunger, more social life, generally feeling better.

-OR-

Multiply maintenance intake X .8 for more aggressive fat loss.

Quicker progress, but more hunger, less social life, generally feeling like balls.

Generally, creating a calorie deficit of ~3,500 calories will lead to ~1lb fat loss.

So, eating 500 calories below your maintenance calorie intake every day for 7 days, should lead to about a pound of fat loss. (500 x 7 = 3,500)

Keep in mind, this is just a baseline. You will likely have to adjust this in the near future. Your fat loss WON'T happen linearly on this intake.

Multiply maintenance intake X 1.1-1.15 to build muscle while staying lean.

Gerald, a 200 lb man, has a maintenance intake of 2,800 kcal per day.

Aim for 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight, daily.

Adequate protein intake is a must when you're cutting. It increases the odds that you'll build (or at least maintain muscle), it keeps you full, and has the highest TEF of all the macros.

Aim for .8 grams of protein per lb of body weight, daily.

When you’re bulking, you don’t need quite as much protein as when cutting. You're taking in an excess of energy, so your body won't turn to muscle protein as a fuel source.

Multiply maintenance intake X .2-.35 to to determine fat intake while cutting.

Fill the remaining calories with carbs.

Your nutrition plays a huge role in creating changes in body composition.

But, to make the necessary adjustments to your nutrition to create said changes, we first have to have a baseline to be making adjustments from.

You need to be consistently measuring your intake, so we have something to adjust your intake relative to, instead of just taking shots in the dark.

This is why it’s crucial to be at or near your macro goal daily. I typically tell clients to aim to be within 10g of their protein and carb goal, and 5g of their fat goal daily.

If you are consistently several hundred calories off the target, we don’t have a real baseline to adjust from. We're just throwing shit at the wall and hoping it sticks.

This applies to under-eating calories, as well as overeating. Either way, it’s harder to make the proper adjustments

On the same note, measuring your food accurately is extremely important.

Yes, you need a food scale.

Your Myfitnesspal diary might look like:

• 1 steak: 460 kcal
• 1 bowl of rice: 204 kcal

Total calories: 664

When it should look like:

• 8 oz ribeye (raw): 658 kcal
• 2 cups rice (cooked): 340 kcal

Total calories: 998

That’s a difference of 334 calories, for just one meal.⠀

If you’re aiming to eat 500 calories below maintenance levels, that essentially makes your fat loss efforts a wash.

Underestimating and forgetting to track food is the single biggest pitfall that keeps people from making the progress they want.

When a clients progress stalls, the very first thing we do is ensure they're tracking accurately. This alone often results in weight loss resuming.

So, tracking accurately requires measuring most of your foods. I know it’s a pain in the ass... but not as much as kinda tracking for years and never getting results, right?

Tools to help track accurately:

A food scale.

A set of measuring cups

A set teaspoons and tablespoons

To be sure you're progressing, you need to measure how your body is changing. This gives you grounds to make adjustments.

Too many people get stuck in "diet purgatory" - they always feel like they're dieting (not a good feeling), but aren't tracking progress and making needed adjustments.

Body Weight

Although not the end-all-be-all of fat loss, the reality is, most people should lose weight in a fat loss phase.

For most, the ideal speed of weight loss when trying to get leaner is .5-1% of body weight per week.

Go much slower than this - You won't see see much progress on a weekly basis. Your fat loss phase will drag on. You'll get sick of dieting.

Go much faster than this - You'll feel constant fatigue, mental performance will suffer, and you'll create a bit higher risk of muscle loss.

The fatigue of extremely low calories also means you'll want to move less. If you're not careful, this can significantly decrease energy expenditure (calories out), and be counterproductive for fat loss.

All that said, scale weight can fluctuate pretty wildly, due to things like water retention from higher sodium intake, stress, and digestive issues. Don't get caught up in weekly weight changes. Look at the trend over multiple weeks/the month.

You're still aiming to lose .5-1% of bodyweight weekly, but don't worry if this doesn't show up on the scale every week.

Most SHOULD see a monthly trend of 2-4% of total bodyweight lost.

Ok, so no changes in body weight or measurements in 2+ weeks, and you're sure everything else is on point?

It's time to make an adjustment. Stalled weight loss means we need to do something to get you back into a larger calorie deficit.

As you know, you can create a larger deficit by manipulating calories in, calories out, OR both. Often with online clients, the easiest to adhere to is slightly increasing movement and decreasing calories. That said, this article is about calories in.

Decreasing Calories In

When weight loss inevitably stalls, the first step is usually to decrease calories by 5-10%.

Decreasing intake by 5-10% is typically enough to get online clients back to losing .5-1% of bodyweight per week (again, look at monthly weight loss, not weekly).

We already talked about why dropping calories too low can be less than optimal, both psychologically and physically - so when reducing calories, we (typically) take the approach of doing as much as necessary, not as much as possible.

Which macros should I reduce?

Again, the most important factors for your body composition are:

Overall calorie intake

Protein intake

So obviously, those are your priorities when making adjustments. Calories need to drop, and protein needs to stay around the 1g/lb bodyweight mark.

That leaves you fats and carbs to pull calories from.

When reducing fat calories - there will likely be a hard "floor". You'll notice after dropping below a certain intake, you feel much worse. Anectdotally, this floor is higher for women than men. Be mindful of keeping fats above 20% of daily calories.

When reducing carb calories - Cutting carbs too low will make diet adherence harder for most. We all love carbs. It'll also likely leave you feeling more lethargic in the gym. That said - carbs are nonessential. You can maintain good health without carbs - so often by necessity - carbs take the biggest hit when reducing calories.

Basically, always keep your protein higher. Carbs and/or fats are going to have to be decreased to reduce calories in.

Again, speaking from anecdote - most online clients prefer to pull from carbs and fats evenly as much as possible.

I say or less, becuse there are  circumstances where you could potentially be building muscle and losing fat simultaneously, which would lead to the scale staying the same, or even decreasing.

This is why it's super important to be tracking other metrics outside of just body weight.

Body Measurements

Often, new online clients with muscle gain goals will actually see the scale decrease their first few months of training. Fortunately, they're also taking body measurements - which will show decreases around the waist, and increases around the chest, arms and legs.

Basically, new clients typically experience a recomposition effect. Due to following an indiviualized training program and getting their nutrition and lifestyle factors dialed in for the first time, they're simultaneously losing body fat, while also building muscle and strength.

Now, the more on point you've been in the recent past with training and nutrition, the harder a body recomposition is to pull off. That said, it's quite common for newcomers to Online Coaching

Training Performance

Is strength increasing? (Can you do more reps, more weight, etc. than last week?) If so, you're still improving. If the number on the scale isn't changing, you're likely also dropping fat (which will also show in your measurements).

This is exactly why all my online clients keep a training log of every weight they lift - strength increases are one of the most surefire ways for us to know you're making progress.