Rate my macros

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Sin Silver
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Tue May 18, 2021 1:44 pm

I've been working with my personal trainer who has given me a diet plan and macro targets. I'm confident he knows his stuff, but I thought it best to get some second opinions.

I'm 6ft, 14st and 33 years old. Based on body charts, I'd estimate I'm in the 20% Body fat range (See pic)

He has recommend my daily nutritional goal of...

Protein 182g
Carbs 213 g
Fat 94 g
Total Calories 2464 kCal

This is based on me hitting the gym 3 times a week. I told him I do kickboxing twice a week, but I'm not certain he worked that into the calorie goals.

He recommend first on loosing weight before gaining muscle, approximatly 2 lbs a week. PE teacher I train with was against this however, as he said it would be better to build the metaboloic muscle first, which would help with the weight loss.

I would appreciate you guys feed back and opinions on it.
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NotYourAverageNerd
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Tue May 18, 2021 3:38 pm

Far as calories, how did he get that number?

Unless you recorded everything you ate for a week or two, gave him those numbers, and he came back with that plan, that "2464" is a completely random guess based on your height and weight, could be off by hundreds of calories in either direction. I've got a starting "guide" to figuring out how much to eat under the fat loss sub-forum, but there's tons of other good info all over the place online, here (andys guide) gll and mpmd are all great resources. Bottom line is, calculators dont work and you cannot be precise to closer than 1~200 calories, the fact that he said it down to the single calorie tells me he probably just plugged your hieght and weight into an online calculator or something.
The real way to figure out calories is to record [/i]everything[/i] you eat for a week or two when not losing or gaining weight, then average that out (so say you ate a grand total of 21700 calories over an entire week, that's an average of 3100/day), then knock a couple hundred calories, or 10~20% off of that number.
Macros only matter a little bit, as long as you hit your calories and have enough protein (0.7~1.2 grams per pound of body weight), you're fine. Having exactly the right carb/fat split doesn't make much difference in the long run.

Far as losing fat vs gaining weight, they're not exclusive, if you're new to lifting, you'll gain a ton of muscle fast even while you're losing fat. "recompositioning" is the way to go, if you're looking to get more attractive. Definitely don't bulk right now, you'll just get fatter and dieting will be even longer and harder. Muscle does burn calories, but how "hard" dieting is is mostly down to how fast you're cutting and what bodyfat % you currently are.

I'm no expert, but imo you don't really look 20%, almost everyone (myself included) underestimates their body fat % when starting out. What do you weigh?
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Lostcause
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Tue May 18, 2021 3:53 pm

That sound like a generic bodybuilding coach diet 101. Macros don't matter as long as you get enough protein. Bulking in your situation is literally getting fat to gain more muscle you will lose anyway when cutting down. Pointless.
I am not a dietetician tho.
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Sin Silver
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Tue May 18, 2021 9:18 pm

@NotYourAverageNerd

I actually just hit the 14st (90kg) mark. I managed to stop eating junk food about three weeks ago and have been recording it ever since.

I expect he's calculated it based on my weight/height/age. I wanted something to ball park the number whist I try to cut down on what I was eating, so his macros have helped. Having a calorie goal to 4 significant figures is doesn't seem that useful. I'd go as far as to say three significant figures isn't useful either.

Based on the pictures, what would you estimate my body fat is, and what I need to get down to to hit 10%?
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NotYourAverageNerd
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Tue May 18, 2021 10:34 pm

Sin Silver wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 9:18 pm
@NotYourAverageNerd

I actually just hit the 14st (90kg) mark. I managed to stop eating junk food about three weeks ago and have been recording it ever since.

I expect he's calculated it based on my weight/height/age. I wanted something to ball park the number whist I try to cut down on what I was eating, so his macros have helped. Having a calorie goal to 4 significant figures is doesn't seem that useful. I'd go as far as to say three significant figures isn't useful either.

Based on the pictures, what would you estimate my body fat is, and what I need to get down to to hit 10%?
Do you box or something? I've never heard someone referring to their weight in stone outside that kind of thing... :)

Yeah, agreed that 4, or even 3 sig figs aren't really useful. How fast have you been losing weight? If you cut too fast you'll drop muscle too, be more likely to rebound, and overall have a more difficult time as you get to lower body fat percentages.

If you're losing at a good rate on 2460 calories (about 1~1.5% of your body weight, so 2~3lb, per week) then stick with that until it stops working. Over time and as you lose weight, your body is going to downregulate until you stop losing weight (plateau) at some point. Then you have to up your cardio, drop calories, or change up something else in order to keep losing weight.

I don't have greg doucettes lazer eyes :) so I'll be pretty far off on body fat %. You might be able to get a better estimate on a bodybuilding or the mpmd forum, but ballpark, well north of 20%, probably 25~30. It's hard to tell though. Are you flexing in those pictures?
The good news is, that means it's going to be really easy for you to see some serious improvements, really quickly.

Splitting the difference and saying you're 27% now just to get some numbers on the table, that would put your lean body mass around 145lb, so to get to an honest-to-god 10%, you'd have to be around 161lb (11.5st, 73kg). You'll probably gain some muscle if you haven't trained before and are just starting now (even though you're cutting pretty hard), which will change those numbers, but this should at least give a ballpark starting point.
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Current goal:
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YouBetYourCottonPanties
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Tue May 18, 2021 10:39 pm

I'd strongly recommend you meet w/ a dietician to sort out your caloric intake based on your total activity rather than working with a personal trainer that likely doesn't have a degree in that specific field.

Regarding building muscle vs. losing weight -- muscle. Specifically strength training, not necessarily gaining bulk. Keep off the junk, ditch most of the processed carbs (e.g. breads, processed cereals) and do fasted cardio/body weight exercises 6x/week and maintain a strict stretching regimen that's likely part of your kickboxing classes.

My diet consists predominantly of meat and vegetables with some carbs (oatmeal, root veggies, sweet potatoes). I also have a ridiculous sweet tooth and eat a lot of fruit to compensate. Very few baked goods (unless I make them myself, substituting honey for sugar) or processed sweets.

My current morning routine looks like:
3 sets:
8 mins skipping, moderate intensity (started at 4 and building toward 10)
Wide grip pullups (weight vest)
Pushups
Burpees
Leg lifts

Some days I do 10 mins of yoga after. Most days, not so much.

In the before times, when the gyms were open, I was on a Wendler strength training program that was gearing me toward the 1000lb club (1000lbs between your bench, deadlift and squat). Did that 3-5x a week with active recovery days, as work allowed.

I'm around 5'11 and 165lbs (maybe 170 now?), probably around 11-12% body fat based on my last bod pod.

Hope that helps.
Last edited by YouBetYourCottonPanties on Tue May 18, 2021 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
honeybadger
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Tue May 18, 2021 10:41 pm

If it was
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dashedhopes
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Wed May 19, 2021 12:27 am

second everything @NotYourAverageNerd is saying.

Listen to your coach.

Probably not an accurate assessment of your cals you should be at but 2400 calories is maintainable and if you're losing weight with that much, that's really good.

I feel like with your activity levels if you're losing weight at a decent rate 1-2lbs per week, you're probably at a good calorie limit right now.

Stick to it man.

Body fat percentage is pretty high but don't fixate on that, it's an arbitrary number that you can never accurately determine.
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