This guide has been viewed over 1 million times since the first publication in 2011. I’ve made revisions over 100 times since.
There is a school of thought that it can be beneficial for nutrient partitioning (and therefore body composition) to have more calories on the days you work out, and less on the days you don’t. Martin Berkhan, in particular, took this a step further by experimenting with higher carb/lower fat intake training days, and higher fat/lower carb intake rest days as he was forming his Leangains system.
This is my guide to calculating macros based on Martin’s Leangains system. You can see the results that this system produces here. This is how I set things up for the vast majority of clients for years.
As with any serious nutrition strategy, these initial calculations are just the start point. The key to your success will be fine-tuning your macros so that you keep progressing. These will come in later guides on the site. For now, I’ve worked to make this guide as simple as possible, without compromising on the efficacy. I’ve given the bare-minimum theory because most people don’t want it when they are first starting out.
Free Bonus: I’ve made a Quick Start Guide to help you quickly implement the Leangains nutrition principles explained below. This includes my macro calculation spreadsheet and email course detailing the 5 mistakes people commonly make. Click here to get them both, free. |
Calculate Your Calorie Intake
It’s necessary to calculate calorie intake first, before then dividing it up into macros. Here are the steps.
Step 1. Calculate your BMR
I like to call BMR your ‘coma calories’ – the energy intake you need, should you fall into a coma, to maintain your body weight. There are a variety of formulas, all of which produce a guess at best, so don’t worry about trying to calculate things perfectly because we’ll adjust our intake based on how we progress.
The Harris-Benedict formula is commonly used, but doesn’t work very well if you are particularly fat (it’ll overestimate your calorie needs) or particularly jacked (it’ll underestimate your calorie needs). Therefore I recommend the Katch-McArdle BMR formula as it’s based on body-fat percentage and is a little more accurate.
Metric: BMR = 370 + 21.6 * Lean Body Mass (in kg)
1 kg = 2.2 lbs, so if you’re used to using pounds, just divide your weight by 2.2 to find your weight in kg.
Lean Body Mass (LBM) = weight – (weight * (body-fat %/100))
You can estimate your body fat percentage with a few quick body measurements here.
Step 2. Adjust for Activity
You need to add an ‘activity multiplier’ (x1.2~x1.9) to your BMR depending on your lifestyle/training.
- Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2
- Lightly active (training/sports 2-3 days/week): BMR x 1.375
- Moderately active (training/sports 4-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55
- Very active (training/sports 6-7 days a week): BMR x 1.725
- Extremely active (twice per day, extra heavy workouts): BMR x 1.9
From these two calculations we now have our approximate daily energy expenditure (TDEE). We need to adjust this number based on our goal, which we’ll do next.
MEET BOB
AVERAGE HEIGHT, INTERMEDIATE TRAINEE, MODERATELY ACTIVE
75KG, 10% BODY FAT
GOAL: GAIN MUSCLE/BULK
STEP 1: BMR = 370+21.6*75*(1-0.1) = 1828 kcal
STEP 2: TDEE = 1828*1.55 = 2833 kcal
MEET TOM
TALL, NOVICE TRAINEE, LIGHTLY ACTIVE
90KG, 20% BODY FAT
GOAL: IRRELEVANT. HE NEEDS TO CUT AND IF HE DOES IT RIGHT HE’LL GAIN MUSCLE AT THE SAME TIME
STEP 1: BMR = 370+21.6*90*(1-0.2) = 1925 kcal
STEP 2: TDEE = 1925*1.375 = 2647 kcal
Step 3. Adjust Calorie Intake Based On Your Goal
It’s important to choose a goal – fat loss or muscle gain. Yes, I know you want both, and you might be able to achieve that to a degree, but for now I need you to look at yourself in the mirror and choose what you think is most important right now. If you need help with this, have a read of my Goal Setting Guide.
Goal: Fat Loss
A calorie deficit is required for fat loss, so we need to have a calorie intake under our TDEE (the calorie figure calculated in the previous section). The fatter we are the quicker we can lose body fat; the leaner we are, the more slowly we must take things so that we preserve muscle mass. Therefore, it’s best to make reductions to TDEE based on our body-fat percentage:
| Current estimated body fat % | Reduce calorie intake by |
| 30%> | 30% |
| 20-30% | 25% |
| 10-20% | 20% |
| <10% | 15% |
Goal: Muscle Gain
Increase TDEE by 20%.
Goal: ‘Body-recomposition’ (Both)
No changes will be made to calorie intake.
I rarely recommend this.
There is the idea that if calorie intake is kept at weight-maintenance levels, but the training is right and the meal timing is right, then muscle will replace fat in a perfect 1:1 ratio. Now while this is true it is rarely the quickest way for someone to go about achieving their goals. For most people this will simply compromise both, slow up the progress of everything, which will threaten adherence to the plan significantly. The exception are certain ‘skinny-fat’ trainees.
The idea usually comes from a misguided sense of importance that tricks with meal timing can play and is especially prevalent in the Leangains community. (This isn’t a fault of Leangains, it’s just human nature to want to believe in shortcuts.)
We now have our target average daily calorie intake. The next step is to adjust that to give us more calories for our training days and less for the rest days.
BOB: STEP 3
TDEE = 2833 kcal
GOAL: BULK, SO ADD 20% TO TDEE
TARGET AVERAGE DAILY CALORIE INTAKE =
TDEE*1.2 = 2833*1.2 = 3400 kcal
TOM: STEP 3
TDEE = 2647 kcal
GOAL: CUT FROM 20% BODY FAT, SO SUBTRACT 20% FROM TDEE
TARGET AVERAGE DAILY CALORIE INTAKE =
TDEE*0.8 = 2647*0.8 = 2118 kcal
Step 4. Calculate Training & Rest Day Calorie Intake Targets
We want to split the calorie intake so that we are consuming more on our training days than our rest days. The idea is to optimize recovery.
An approximate 40% difference between your training and rest day calorie intake figures will do, and if you are training 3 or 4 days a week, here is the simplest way to do this:
Take your average daily calorie intake and multiply by 1.2 – this is your training day calorie intake figure.
Take your average daily calorie intake and multiply by 0.8 – this is your rest day calorie intake figure.
If you’re not training 3-4 days a week then see my more detailed diet set up guide.
BOB: STEP 4
AVERAGE DAILY CALORIE INTAKE = 3400 kcal
TRAINING DAY INTAKE = 3400*1.2 = 4080 kcal
REST DAY INTAKE = 3400*0.8 = 2720 kcal
TOM: STEP 4
AVERAGE DAILY CALORIE INTAKE = 2118 kcal
TRAINING DAY INTAKE = 2118*1.2 = 2542 kcal
REST DAY INTAKE = 2118*0.8 = 1694 kcal
Calculate Your Macros
It’s now time to divide our calorie budgets for the training and rest days between the three macros. Protein will be kept high always. Training days will have a high carbohydrate, low fat intake; rest days will be higher fat, lower carbohydrate intake.
There are fairly strict guidelines for protein setting, there are looser guidelines for fat intake setting, and the carbohydrates balance the calorie budget.
Step 5. Set Your Protein Intake
Protein is good. You’ve heard this even if you can’t remember why. Here’s why: It forms the building blocks for muscle, it has a protective effect on muscle tissue when dieting, and it’s the most satiating of the macronutrients (i.e. it keeps away hunger).
Ignore what your mom says she read in the newspaper – high protein diets do not cause kidney damage, nor do they raise your risk of cancer – unless you’re eating processed red meat, all the time, and in very large quantities. (For a full summary of the research and practical recommendations regarding high protein diets see this excellent article over on examine.com)
Protein Intake When Cutting
The research data suggests an intake somewhere in the 2.3-3.1 g/kg (~1.1-1.4 g/lb) of lean body mass (LBM) range when dieting is where we want to be. Lower than this and we risk muscle loss; higher than this serves no real purpose – it will just make your supermarket visits more expensive, as well as limit the carbs and fats you could otherwise be eating in your diet. The higher end of this range comes from research data on bodybuilders going through contest prep – you won’t need to go this high, unless you are already shredded, and wanting to get to stage shredded levels of leanness from there.
→ I recommend 2.5 g of protein per kilogram of lean body mass each day when cutting. (~1.2 g/lb)
You can choose to go to up to 3.1 g if you have issues with hunger, as protein will keep you feeling fuller for longer. Check out the site’s main FAQ also if hunger is causing you issues as you can go fairly far just from altering food choices without adjusting your macros.
Protein Intake When Bulking
When bulking the optimal range of intake it slightly lower: 1.6-2.2 g/kg (~0.8-1.0 g/lb) LBM. If you go lower than this and you may not grow as much a you otherwise could have from your training; higher than this your body simply isn’t capable of using directly for muscle growth and repair. (Unless you’re pumping yourself full of drugs, which will raise the cap on how much muscle can be synthesized from protein each day, which is why you see drug-using bodybuilders go much higher than this range.)
I suggest we set it slightly higher than this range for a couple of reasons:
- There are inter-individual differences on how much protein is needed. You don’t know which end of the range your needs will lie, so as long as you have the budget, I’d argue that it’s better to go with the higher end of the range to be conservative.
- As you’re bulking, you’ll be growing so you’ll eventually need to eat more protein as you grow anyway.
→ I recommend 2.5 g of protein per kilogram of lean mass on both training and rest days. (~1.2 g/lb)
BOB: STEP 5
GOAL: BULK, 10% BODY FAT, 75KG
PROTEIN INTAKE 2.5g/kg OF LBM
PROTEIN INTAKE = 2.5*75*0.9 = ~170g/DAY
TOM: STEP 5
GOAL: CUT, 20% BODY FAT, 90KG
PROTEIN INTAKE 2.5g/kg OF LBM
PROTEIN INTAKE = 2.5*90*0.8 = ~180g/DAY
Step 6. Set Your Fat Intake
Consumption of dietary fat is important for hormonal regulation, especially testosterone production. It should never be eliminated from a diet. Make sure your average daily fat intake goes no lower than 0.9 g/kg (~0.4 g/lb) of LBM.
Fat Intake When Cutting
→ Average daily fat intake when cutting should be somewhere in this range: 0.9-1.3 g/kg (~0.4-0.6 g/lb) of LBM.
Go with the higher end of the range if you prefer a higher fat diet, the lower end of the range if you prefer more carbs in your diet. Those carrying more body fat will do better with a higher fat intake on training days than leaner individuals. This is to do with insulin sensitivity, which increases when you get leaner.
Now, we want to set your fat intake so that you have it higher on your rest days, and a lower on your training days. This is an attempt to improve calorie partitioning (less fat storage, better recovery and muscle gain).
The average male client will typically have a fat intake somewhere in the ~40-65 g range on training days, 60-100 g on the rest days. For the purposes of the calculation box below, I’ve taken the average fat intake figure, and then set it 30% higher and lower than that for the rest and training days respectively.
Fat Intake When Bulking
- When bulking have your average daily fat intake around 20-30% of calorie intake.
- Choose a percentage in that range based on whether you prefer a higher fat or higher carbohydrate intake. Then divide that by 9 to find how many grams of fat you should consume on average each day. (There are nine calories in each gram of fat remember.)
- We want to have a fairly large split between the fat intake on the training days and rest days. So, multiply by 0.7 to find your training day fat intake figure, multiply by 1.3 to find your rest day intake figure.
BOB: STEP 6
GOAL: BULK,
SETS FAT INTAKE AT 25% OF CALORIE INTAKE
AVERAGE DAILY FAT INTAKE = (0.25*3400)/9 = 85g
TRAINING DAY FAT INTAKE = 95*0.7 = ~65g
REST DAY FAT INTAKE = 95*1.3 = ~125g
TOM: STEP 6
GOAL: CUT,
HE’S A FAIRLY TALL/BIG GUY SO HE’LL SET HIS FAT INTAKE NEAR THE UPPER END OF THE TYPICAL CLIENT RANGES
TRAINING DAY FAT INTAKE = 60g
REST DAY FAT INTAKE = 90g
Step 7. Calculate Carb Intake
Just think of carbs as being here to balance the equation so that you hit your training and rest day calorie targets. Carbs have 4 calories in each gram.
→ Training day carb intake = Training day calorie intake – training day fat intake – training day protein intake
→ Rest day carb intake = Rest day calorie intake – Rest day fat intake – Rest day protein intake
Note: If you get a negative number for your carb intake, check that you didn’t set your fat loss rate too high for your current level of body fat.
If you have that right, then reduce the calorie split between the training and rest days. — So, instead of multiplying by 1.2 and 0.8 in step 3, you can reduce this to 1.1 and 0.9, for example.
If you’ve already done that, then you can swap some of your fat intake for carbs, or you could just take some of your carb intake from the training days and adding it to the rest days.
BOB: STEP 7
TRAINING DAY CALORIE INTAKE = 4080 kcal
PROTEIN INTAKE =170g, FAT INTAKE =65g
REST DAY CALORIE INTAKE = 2720 kcal
PROTEIN INTAKE = 170g, FAT INTAKE = 125g
TRAINING DAY CARB INTAKE = 4080 – 170*4 – 65*9 = 2815 kcal = ~705g
REST DAY CARB INTAKE = 2720 -170*4 – 125*9 = 915 kcal = ~230g
TOM: STEP 7
TRAINING DAY CALORIE INTAKE = 2542 kcal
PROTEIN INTAKE =180g, FAT INTAKE =60g
REST DAY CALORIE INTAKE = 1694 kcal
PROTEIN INTAKE = 180g, FAT INTAKE = 90g
TRAINING DAY CARB INTAKE = 2542 – 180*4 – 60*9 = 1282 kcal = ~320g
REST DAY CARB INTAKE = 1694 -180*4 – 90*9 = 164 kcal = ~40g
Leangains Macros FAQ
1. What about macro ratios? I read somewhere that I should have 40/40/20.
Ignore the idea of macro ratios, these are just a function of the stage of dieting rather than something to target.
As you have just seen, protein intake is best set based on lean body mass, there are minimum recommendations for fat intake, and carbohydrate just makes up the calorie balance. What this means is that the ratio of the macronutrients that make up your diet will change as you progress – there will be more carbohydrate when we are bulking, and less when we are cutting. If you target specific macro ratios you’ll end up with a diet that is suboptimal for you.
2. Do these macros look right?
It is impossible to say. You won’t know that until you try them out. Initial calculations are an estimation, a start point from which to adjust based on how you progress, nothing more.
- Your actual energy expenditure will vary somewhere between plus or minus ~20% of what you calculate due to genetic differences,
- Your metabolism adapts when you are in a calorie surplus or deficit, your calorie target is a moving target, not a static one.
You need to make sure you are tracking your progress in detail so that you have data from which to base fine-tune adjustments to your calculations off of. You then, of course, need to know how to make the adjustments. Fortunately, I’ve put together those guides for you here:
3. The macros I calculated using your guides are different from what I have currently been using, should I change?
Not necessarily, for the reasons mentioned in the previous answer. You are better off tracking how your current set up is doing and then adjusting it if necessary.
This is assuming that your current protein intake is not considerably higher or lower than what I recommend. If that’s the case then adjust your carb and fat intake to maintain the calorie balance. (Fats have 9 kcal per gram, protein and carbs have 4 kcal per gram. So, if you need to up your protein intake my 40 g for example, that’s 160 kcal, so reduce your fat and carb intake by the corresponding calorie amount.)
4. What should I read next?
Make sure you check out my progress tracking guide. A lot of people miss that at their own peril.
The guides covering how to adjust and fine tune and your diet are all here.
If you’re looking for meal timing suggestions specifically for Leangains then I’d suggest my Leangains Overview and Meal Timing Guide.
If you’d like something with fuller explanations which will allow for further customization, then check out my free Complete Guide To Setting Up Your Diet ebook. You’ll get my automated macro calculator also. Just put your email address in the box below.
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Good luck. Thanks for reading. Questions are welcomed in the comments. – Andy
Please keep questions on topic, write clearly, concisely, and don't post diet calculations.
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Using the calculator above, my TDEE with “little to no exercise” is ~2300. If instead, I indicate “training 6-7 days a week”. my TDEE is ~3300. I didn’t think that an average workout would be even close to 1000 calories. Am I misinterpreting?
Hi Samantha. You must have clicked ‘Extremely active’, not ‘Training 6-7 days per week’
The multiplier for the 6-7 days a week is 1.725. The multiplier for lightly active is 1.375. So, if the 2300 figure you’ve quoted is correct, your TDEE for 6-7 days per week will be 2877. [(2300/1.375)*1.725]
I double-checked that I was clicking the right choice. Here are my results…
BMR: 1920
Sedentary TDEE: 2304
Very Active (6-7 days) TDEE: 3312
I was particularly interested in the difference between Sedentary (2304) and Very Active (3312), which comes out to +1008 calories burned per day. If I’m understanding that correctly, it means that daily workout/exercise burns 1000 calories per day, but that seems like a lot, no?
Yes, I’d agree. If you are sedentary outside of your workouts, I’d use the multiplier below that.
Can you please help I filled in everything right but my carbs for my active days are way to high saying I need 706 g of carbs witch I know is way to high could u help?
Hi David. You know that’s wrong or this is an assumption that it is? Because if you know, adjust for what it should be.
Now, if you’re asking, “Hey, does this look right?” I don’t know, it could be for some people but I don’t know you. Equally, you could have screwed up the calculation though.
Try again to confirm what you get. Also, consider trying my new calculator to compare. Make sure you look at the notes there.
Hi Andy,
First of all, thanks so much for the article. I have several doubts: In my case I have a sedentary desk job and my NEAT is more or less 8000-10000 steps per day and I going to the gym 3 days per week, doing weight lifting about 60′ and then HIIT about 10-12′. I have been doing a keto diet for 45 days without problems. But in spite of lose weight (4.5 kg) and reduce my waist from 78 cm to 73 cm and my percentage of body fat from 14% to 11% more or less I couldn’t reached to show my six pack, a layer of fat covers my belly button. Therefore I’d like to know if it would better to do this diet and I don’t know if bulk, recomposition or cut. Thanks a lot.
Hi Luis. Everyone has a six-pack, you just need to get leaner.
I’m curious about the activity multipliers. I’m only lightly active outside the gym (occasional walks and stair climbing), but my routines are pretty intense: ~90 minutes 4-5 times a week (usually 5). Overall volume these days tends to be in the 25,000-30,000lbs range per session. I’m thinking that should qualify for “very active.” Do you agree? Are there more details somewhere about how to map activity to multipliers?
Hi Matt,
There probably are, but I wouldn’t attempt to get too analytical with it because you’re adding attempts at a more accurate estimation, to initial estimations anyway. The only way to do things is to set, track, then adjust based on the outcome. (See the FAQ items at the end of the article for more on this.)
Now, I don’t have figures for climbing, nor do I know a way of accurately estimating caloric expenditure from pounds of volume (which is an estimation also, so I’d recommend you avoid it even if you find one).
But we can use some common sense and deduction to come up with an estimation.
You can see in the caloric expenditure for cardio here that if you were running at a high intensity for 90 minutes at a bodyweight of 200 lbs, you’d burn 1260 kcal per session (9*140). But despite it feeling high intensity, your climbing is not continual activity, but intermittent.
I’d say half of that (630 kcal) is the likely upper bound, but probably still too high, because when typical gym workouts have been measured (I don’t recall the paper), they come to between ~120-300 kcal of energy expenditure.
Therefore, I’d consider your climbing workouts to be an additional 400 kcal of expenditure and as you’re doing this 4.5 days on average, add 257 kcal (4.5*400/7) to your daily calorie totals.
(This is the kind of thing I do when I estimate for clients.)
Make sense?
Yup! Thanks. That helps me ballpark it. I’m trying out “moderately active” and I’ll make adjustments as required after tracking for a week. Thanks!
Hey Andy great info appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions. I was curious what your take was on refeed days? If you think it is a good idea how often should you have a refeed day and how much should you bump your calories? Based on what number should it be bumped from? Your rest day calories calculated above, workout day, or from your TDEE? Thanks!!
Hi Spike, the training days are the refeed days in the Leangains system.
Ah okay thanks! I always thought that a refeed day would be +500-600 calories from your target calories, or calculated BMR, or calculated TDEE wasn’t sure which. I was curious what was your take on maybe once a month not necessarily overeating and going crazy but not tracking and having those foods that are not great for you like cookies, pizza etc lol and going over even your training day calories. I have a friend who actually does this once a WEEK and is strict every other day and is in fantastic shape! Something to do with Leptin levels? Anyway thanks again!
Sure, a refeed can be defined in a few different ways.
To have significant enough impacts on hormones, a longer break from dieting is needed. Guidelines here: How to Implement Diet Breaks to Get Shredded Lean.
I have a friend who actually does this once a WEEK and is strict every other day and is in fantastic shape!
For your friend, it is a combination of luck (his strictness during the week, food environment, social factors, and natural bf% setting) keep him there, and I’d be willing to bet they are currently at maintenance calories which means his hunger signals aren’t skewed.
A once per week “eat anything you want day” is the most common culprit behind people not progressing with their diets. They’re strict in the week but then throw it all away on the weekends. Avoid making this mistake.
Thanks and I agree. I have a question regarding the calculator. If I get a neg carb intake for rest days and have done the first couple of steps to get a positive number what do you mean swap carb from training training days to rest days? Do you mean increase the calories for rest days to get a positive carb intake and reduce calories on training days because you took those carbs from that day? Or keep same amount of target calories but increase fat on training days to reduce carbs.. and reduce fat on training days to basically use those carbs taken from training day but without manipulating calorie target for set days? Thanks!
Either or a combination of both.
I think increasing my fat intake on training days to free up/ reduce carbs from training days to be used on rest days along with reducing fat on rest days to use those carbs that you took from training days to avoid calorie target manipulation for set day(s) would be best. Maybe it doesn’t matter but I always thought that your calories should be higher on the days you lift and lower on. The days you don’t. I don’t know I just feel more comfortable doing it that way lol. Thanks.
about the activity level Moderately active 1.55 is it your experience that it is correct? I mean some sites like Mike Matthews from Legionathletics set it to 1.40 because the 1.55 set up your intake with to many calories in relation to the activity described as 4-6 hours training.I have just started your intermediate body building program and I should properly cut(17% fat according to the navy measurement but I want to build more muscle. According to your Excell spreadsheet I should eat 3100 cal for 0.7kg muscle per month. I am now eating my way up to 2800cal and its hard 🙂 I have previous followed the Bigger Leaner Stronger for 6 month at 2700 cal and gained to much fat. Then and did a cut
Hi Michael, thanks for the questions.
There are many equations for deriving BMR that tend to work out well when looking at group averages, but there are individual differences. Add to this that there are many ways to define a multiplier and the result is that everything is estimation, the key to success is that you track things an adjust. (See the point in the FAQ at the end of the article.) So, choose one and don’t worry about it, for now, adjust later.
I am now eating my way up to 2800cal and its hard
This can usually be made a lot easier by adjusting food choices and sometimes meal timing. I have an item in the FAQ covering it.
Also, you’ll probably find this article on adjusting for a bulk helpful: How to Bulk Without Getting Fat.
Thanks. yes I have read the both the faq and the articles but my mind still have to adjust to the fact that you say that the glycemic index doesn’t have any thing to say, and I therefore can eat white bread or even gummi bears to achieve my carb goal for the day. I am starting to include apple juice though
Hi Andy.
Really interesting guide, I’ve never thought about changing my intake for training/rest days before but it makes sense.
One thing that confused me though; on Step 5, Bob and Tom both have additional multipliers on their protein intake of 0.9 and 0.8 respectively, where did those numbers come from?
Also what is your recommended protein and fat intake for maintaining?
Hi Kevin!
This is adjusting for their body-fat percentage because we’re calculating protein needs by lean body mass in this guide.
So, Bob is 10% body fat so 0.9*bodyweight is the lean body mass; Tom is 20% body fat so 0.8*bodyweight is lean body mass.
Ahh, of course. Thanks for the prompt response.
Most welcome, Kevin.
Hi Andy
When using calculators on this page I get very different readings than when I enter them in the spreadsheet. The TDEE is the same and also the protein, but carbs and fat are way off on training and rest days.
They use two different methods of calculating and in the spreadsheet you get a choice of how you split your fats and carbs. If you read the guide on how to use the spreadsheet and have reasons for choosing the numbers that way, go with what’s in the sheet.
Hi Andy,
I found this incredibly helpful and so interesting. Big question: this seems to be geared to men—what modifications would you recommend making for a female athlete over 40? I’ve been practicing IF for years but only this year did I start to look refining and honing it as so much is changing and I’m finding it harder to stay as lean as I have historically maintained.
MB has updated his info for women to 14:10 which I read on Leigh Peele’s site. What other considerations would you make given the obvious hormone changes?
Much thanks!
Rhonda
Nothing, you’re good as is.
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the guide – really helpful and informative.
Just wanted to ask – for the protein calculation are we meant to increase heo figure for training days and reduce it for rest days in line with our overall calories intake?
So, for rest days multiply the protein figure by 0.8 and for training days multiply the figure by 1.2? Or are we meant to have the same protein intake every day?
I’d have the same protein each day.
Thanks for the clarification Andy
Most welcome.
Hi Alex. Thanks for the info you’ve provided here. I’ve found it very useful for the diet I’ve just set up and started this week.
I’m a software developer. I’d be interested in developing a standalone app with you to streamline this whole process. I think it could help you and your community. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, reach out to me at my email!
Either way, thank you for the help. My macro targets were way off.
Hi Michael,
Most welcome. / No, thank you, but I appreciate the offer.
Hi Andy, found your guide really helpful and I was amazed that’s it’s free of cost to use.
Just wondering how would I work out my sugar intake? As I now have my protein, fat and carb but need to know my sugar allowance.
Hi Alex,
Have a read of my guide on how to count macros and make meals out of them.
Hi Andy – I workout early in the mornings around 630am. I feel better going into my workouts having had more carbs the day before. Should I consider treating the day before as my workout day thus ensuring that my glycogen reserves are full to maintain performance in the gym? understand eating more calories throughout the day on a training day if I worked out in the afternoon giving my body time to fill up the tank.
Thanks
Kind of like putting gas in your car, whether you fuel up the day prior to driving or two days prior, the gas will still be there. Therefore, if you’re sure you feel better this way feel free to do what you feel best with.
Hi Andy,
Thanks for your guide.
My body fat is between 10 and 20%
But when I enter everything correctly l get -11,5 carbs intake for rest days.
What should I do ?
See the paragraph at the end of the “Step 7. Calculate Carb Intake” section.
Hey Andy just wanted to say thanks for the fantastic guides/calcs and answering people’s comments. it really means a bunch to us! You’re the best~!!
Most welcome, John. Thanks for taking the time to write! 🙂
Hey Andy love all the info! So on my rest day I did get a negative number for my carb intake. My fat loss weight is correct I’m confused on what you mean by reducing the calorie split from 20-30%? And on another note do you think it’ll be okay for me to just reduce my fat intake a bit on rest days so I don’t get negative carb intake? Anyway thanks!
Hi Joseph, thanks for the questions.
I’m confused on what you mean by reducing the calorie split from 30% to 20%?
In step 4 I have you multiplying by 1.2 and 0.8 to create a difference between the training and rest day caloric intakes. You can reduce the differences here to 1.1 and 0.9, for example.
Do you think it’ll be okay for me to just reduce my fat intake a bit on rest days so I don’t get negative carb intake? Anyway thanks!
– Yes, absolutely. But try the above step first.
Hey Andy thank you so much for the quick response I really appreciate it. I apologize to keep asking you questions but I was able to reduce the intake to a 1.1 and 0.9 target and got a positive carb intake for my rest days! However, the positive intake was only +10g of carbs do you recommend going this low? I am pretty high currently in body fat (34%) so maybe I should stick to it that low not sure would appreciate your input. And relating to a different subject on my rest days I like to go for a 45min walk sometimes 1 hr should I factor that in into my total calories my consuming a little more on rest days? Anyway THANK YOU again your quick responses keep me motivated!!!
do you recommend going this low?
This wouldn’t be sustainable. 50 g is a realistic lower limit.
While it’s a good habit to keep, the caloric burn from this will be so low I wouldn’t bother.
Thanks again brother. I’ve always been overweight in my life so I’m excited to become healthier.
Most welcome, brother.
I strength train 3-4 times a week for an hour. I run 3 days a week (non strength training days)… Is it possible to gain muscle and lose fat at same time, calculations are pretty tough cause I’m sedentary on non running days. I’m 71kg at 15% body fat height 180cm.
Hi John,
Depends on your level of strength training experience and body fat level. The more fat you have to lose and the less training experience you have, the easier it is to achieve both at the same time. My articles on goal setting will probably be helpful for you.
Hi Andy!
I am 35 years old. I weigh 87kg, 21% body fat, i train 4-5 times a week. My goal is to drop that bodyfat by 20% or more without loosing to much muscle, maybe even gaining if thats possible. I have a fear of loosing the muscle ive built by eating less or IF.
Hi Ray, yes, absolutely.
If you train hard, set your rate of weight loss as guided, consume an adequate amount of protein, and sleep well, you shouldn’t experience any muscle loss.
Hi Andy, I’m cutting and IF and I’m feeling full on training days. Is that a sign that I’m eating too much?
That’s quite a common experience initially when switching to a meal timing strategy with fewer meals and tighter spacing, like with IF. This is because there’s more food per meal and so the stomach isn’t used to it. Hunger will catch up with you eventually though, so enjoy this while it lasts.
Hi Andy,
I got confused with Calculate Average Daily Calorie Intake.
In this article, the calculation is TDEE * calorie reduction or addition (cut/ bulk)
In the complete guide to setting up diet PDF, it is TDEE – fat loss target per week (kg) *7700/7 kcal.
May I know what are the differences please?
Cheers
Hi Leonard, thank you for asking.
The guide on this page is a simplified calculation for people, as I wanted them to understand it easily without their eyes glazing over.
The math on the other page is my preference, as it’ll work out marginally better in most cases initially. But ultimately, it’ll make little difference cause these are estimations and we need to track things and adjust based on progress anyway.
As a piggyback, when compared to other macro calculators, how does one’s age fit into this metabolic calculation?
I know we’ll adjust every couple of weeks as needed, and this simplistic method is easy to follow.
Thanks for your thoughts, it makes complete sense so far!
For this specific equation, it doesn’t.
The calculators which use age (Mifflin-St Jeor and Harris-Benedict) do this in place of requiring someone to estimate their lean body mass (via estimating their body fat percentage). You can see in the following equation that there is only age, no bf% present:
BMR (metric) = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) – (5 × age in years) + 5.
As lean body mass tends decreases on average with age, and the higher the level of muscle mass, the more energy it requires to maintain it, the higher you put your age the lower your BMR will come out.
This works fine for average Joes on average, but isn’t great for those who are active and thus have more muscle mass than average.
So, the two different methods are just two different ways of going about the same estimation.
Thank-you, your response just cleared up several other questions I had about this process! (and questions I have your your Pyramid Nutrition book)
I do appreciate the time you take to answer these questions and have learned almost as much from your answers to them as your original article. Please keep it up!
Most welcome, Larry.