How about a little help, macro trackers?

[ud2o]

I thought I'd check in w/ some of you smart macro tracker-types and get some thoughts on this. 6'3", 225, trained around 3 years, probably 18-20% BF, 1RMs 415 squat, 465 dead, 170 press, 235 bench.

I'm on day 2 of macro tracking w/ the "Simple Macro" app I downloaded yesterday. Goal is to maintain body weight while continuing to grow strength and leaning up a little in the midsection over the next 6 months or so. Not trying to gain mass, necessarily.

I've set a daily calorie intake target of 3200 w/ 35% protein (280g), 35% carbs (280g), 30% fat (107g).

Where will these numbers take me? Am I on the right track or should I make some adjustments? Any advice appreciated, thanks.

[Cody]

In general, you should track what you take in for a week without adjusting -anything-, then use that data to start manipulating what to do with your macros. For instance, I would starve and shrivel up and die on those macros, while it could be perfect or too much for someone else.

[Miro]

I thought I'd check in w/ some of you smart macro tracker-types and get some thoughts on this. 6'3", 225, trained around 3 years, probably 18-20% BF, 1RMs 415 squat, 465 dead, 170 press, 235 bench.

I'm on day 2 of macro tracking w/ the "Simple Macro" app I downloaded yesterday. Goal is to maintain body weight while continuing to grow strength and leaning up a little in the midsection over the next 6 months or so. Not trying to gain mass, necessarily.

I've set a daily calorie intake target of 3200 w/ 35% protein (280g), 35% carbs (280g), 30% fat (107g).

Where will these numbers take me? Am I on the right track or should I make some adjustments? Any advice appreciated, thanks.

Obligatory read: To Be A Beast.

And I use MyFitnessPal for tracking (free version is all you need). It has an built-in barcode scanner for identifying foods that are already in the database. You can also create your own food entry by typing the data yourself. The macros are usually written somewhere on the package, so it tends to be pretty easy.

[lou t]

I'm 5'6, 154lbs, 59 yrs. old, 12%bf
5x's a week - low carb days
p-200
c-280
f-76

2x's a week high carb day
p-180
c - 430
f 72

why so much protein, how old are you?
no way enough carbs for a guy your size.

I am no expert in diet, but it seems rather obvious to me that you need to reduce your protein and fat and up your carbs.

I have been using myfitnesspal for a few years...every single day. I track everything I put in including fish oil pills

[ud2o]

why so much protein, how old are you?
no way enough carbs for a guy your size.

I am no expert in diet, but it seems rather obvious to me that you need to reduce you protein and fat and up your carbs.

I'm 35. Admittedly, I don't know jack$#!+ about this stuff. I was thinking high protein would preserve muscle, low carb would flatten my semi-gut and I had just the right amount of fat. I'm not basing this on anything other than my understanding of How It Works.

So...more carbs then?

[gtl]

why so much protein, how old are you?
no way enough carbs for a guy your size.

I am no expert in diet, but it seems rather obvious to me that you need to reduce your protein and fat and up your carbs.

I think at 20% bf, and his goal is not to gain mass, I think protein is probably about where it should be.

[Ness Oszast]

In general, you should track what you take in for a week without adjusting -anything-, then use that data to start manipulating what to do with your macros. For instance, I would starve and shrivel up and die on those macros, while it could be perfect or too much for someone else.

This. There is no way for us to really give you any accurate advice because each of our bodies are so very different. Track what you eat for a week or two, and if you gain weight, reduce your caloric intake. If you lose, then you can hike up the calories a bit. You really need to just trial and error with diet to find what works best for you.

The protein looks about right, but definitely read Jordan's article, To Be A Beast, as linked above.

[lou t]

I'm 35. Admittedly, I don't know jack$#!+ about this stuff. I was thinking high protein would preserve muscle, low carb would flatten my semi-gut and I had just the right amount of fat. I'm not basing this on anything other than my understanding of How It Works.

So...more carbs then?

I'm not the guy to direct specific recommendations. I know who is though? lol.
Not sure how much protein is required to effectually preserve muscle. At some point any amount more than what is required, is the need for calories otherwise coming from carbs.

I think at 20% bf, and his goal is not to gain mass, I think protein is probably about where it should be.

you may be right. I didn't catch he was looking to cut. my bad.

[HiCntry]

In general, you should track what you take in for a week without adjusting -anything-, then use that data to start manipulating what to do with your macros. For instance, I would starve and shrivel up and die on those macros, while it could be perfect or too much for someone else.

This x1000 and read To Be A Beast. Like Cody said without a baseline you are just guessing and will waste time and gains fucking around. For comparison I'm 35, 6'4, 233lb, 20-22% BF and like Cody that would be a crash diet for me. I'm at roughly 3900-4000cal for maintenance at this point, but that might be perfect for you for recomp. Track everything for a week without changing your diet and see where you're at and go from there.

[Nate7out]

I am 37 and 5'6" started at 193 in Oct, now down to 184. I picked my macros from the recommendations in To be a Beast - recomposition. They ended up being 242 C / 67 F / 212 P. It appears to be working, I am losing weight, but not too fast, and still hitting PRs. This was pretty far from how I normally ate, which I didn't track but was lower carb / high fat. I have not yet added any cardio, will probably do that before reducing cals too much.

If it doesn't seem like way too much or way too little food, you could just follow those macros for a few weeks and see what happens to your body and adjust carbs/fat as needed.

I use myfitnesspal for macros and weight only, I ignore the calories and other things on there.