Macronutrient Calculations for Weight Loss
If you’re aiming for weight loss, doing some macronutrient calculations can be really useful. This way, you’ll be able to cut down on your total calorie intake without any nutritional imbalances.
However, it’s important to remember that weight loss isn’t as straightforward as performing a simple mathematical equation. There are also other factors to bear in mind, such as genetic, hormonal circadian rhythms, or the time you eat your meals.
But it’s undeniable that consuming fewer calories than you burn is essential if you’re going to reduce body fat. Today, we’ll teach you how to calculate the macronutrients you need to lose weight effectively but safely.
Make sure you get enough protein
Although your goal might be to lose weight, what you really want to do is reduce body fat. This means maintain muscle mass, and to do this, you’ll need to have the right balance of macronutrients.
Proteins are essential for maintaining muscle tissue, but the amount you need can vary depending on how active you are.
The recommendations for athletes are generally that they should consume at least 1 oz for every 44 lb of body fat. This is according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which analyzed the effects of protein supplements on the body composition of various athletes.
As well as knowing how much protein to consume, it’s also a good idea to consider when you consume it. Whilst the concept of an anabolic window is an outdated idea now, consuming proteins before you go to sleep is currently recommended for encouraging tissue synthesis.
According to research published in the journal Nutrients, consuming casein before going to bed improves muscle adaptation and reduces the loss of lean tissue.
Fatty acid calculations for weight loss
If you’re looking for a low-calorie diet that isn’t going to endanger your health, you’ll need to make sure you get a minimum of lipids. Correctly calculating these macronutrients will ensure that your bodily functions continue to work correctly as you lose weight.
Fatty acids are important for physiological reactions and they also contain fat-soluble vitamins. An excessively low-fat diet could cause a vitamin deficiency in group D vitamins, for example. Generally, the recommendation is that fats should make up at least 20 percent of your total calorie intake.
As well as this, the makeup of these lipids is also relevant. There’s disagreement in the literature about whether to limit saturated fats or not, as shown in a study carried out in 2016. However, one thing we do know is that it’s important to make sure you get enough mono and polyunsaturated fats by maintaining a balance between your intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
Carbohydrates, the macronutrients that generate the most debate
Finally, when looking at your macronutrient calculations for weight loss, you’ll need to take a look at your carb intake as they play a key function for the body as a source of energy.
In recent years, experts have questioned the need to include them in a diet. Furthermore, there are many advocates for the ketogenic diet for improving both body composition and overall health.
Some studies, such as one published in the journal Nutrition, claim that an absence of carbohydrates could help prevent certain diseases. Low-carb diets are linked to a lower incidence of metabolic and neurodegenerative conditions and even some types of cancer, although there is some disagreement about the latter.
There’s no minimum amount of carbohydrates that you need to live. When it comes to losing weight, you can restrict them with no problem at all. The question will be whether you’re able to stick to such a diet in the long-term. You might want to try it in the short to medium-term instead.
Do your macronutrient calculations if you want to lose weight
If your goal is to lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than your body needs. But, you’ll also need to consider other aspects, such as where the calories come from and the time of day that you eat your meals.
Two macronutrients are really important and should form part of any diet: proteins and fats. Both play important roles for bodily functions and without them, it’s simply not possible to live!
However, in the case of carbohydrates, things are a little different. It’s perfectly possible to live without them, and doing so could potentially be great for weight loss.
However, with all this said, people around the world find it very difficult to stick a keto diet. In reality, you might be better off simply reducing your intake rather than trying to cut out carbs altogether.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Morton RW., Murphy KT., McKellar SR., Schoenfeld BJ., et al., A systematic review, meta analysis and meta regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training induce gains in muscle mass and strenght in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med, 2018. 52 (6): 376-384.
- Trommelen J., Van Loon LJC., Pre sleep protein ingestión to improve the skeletal muscle adaptive response to exercise training. Nutrients, 2016.
- Szajewska H., Szajewski T., Saturated fat controversy: importance of systematic reviews and meta analyses. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 2016. 56 (12): 1947-51.
- Broom GM., Shaw IC., Rucklidge JJ., The ketogenic diet as a potential treatment and preventioin strategy for alzheimer’s disease. Nutrition, 2019. 60: 118-121.