Hi, I’m fairly new to bodybuilding and am hoping to do some fitness modelling once I have achieved my desired physique. Diet has always been my weak point (I love to eat), but now that I have a better understanding of how important nutrition is to health and weight training, I’ve been seeing much better results.
I read your article about carb cycling, and while it seems to make sense, I don’t know how to adjust my meals so that I am getting the appropriate amount of nutrients at each meal with a reduced number of calories. I’m 5’4", 135lbs and hoping to lose fat. So I calculated my BMR as 1385, so dropping that by 20% gives me 1107 kcals/day. Should I be aiming to get in 1.5g protein/pound (which would be 202g/day) as this ends up being 808kcals from protein alone. How would I get in the appropriate amount of carbs each day while still maintaing 1107 kcals/day? I calculated my carb intake as 210g, 168g and 126g for high, moderate and low carb days, respectively.
If you could give me some advice about how I could adapt this nutrition program to work for low calorie intake, that would be great!
Thanks,
Steff
I’m no Thibs, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you don’t need 1.5 grams of protein at least not everyday. Also, your low carb days aren’t that low. 1100 cals over an extended period of time is gonna do more harm than good. 125 grams of protein = 500 cals
75 grams of carbs = 300 cals
35 grams of fat = 315 cals
= 1,115 cals
I wouldn’t recommend this as almost half your energy is coming from protein. You need more cals coming from either carbs (med/high carb day) or fat (low/no carb day). Search g flux
[quote]Dr_Steff wrote:
Hi, I’m fairly new to bodybuilding and am hoping to do some fitness modelling once I have achieved my desired physique. Diet has always been my weak point (I love to eat), but now that I have a better understanding of how important nutrition is to health and weight training, I’ve been seeing much better results.
I read your article about carb cycling, and while it seems to make sense, I don’t know how to adjust my meals so that I am getting the appropriate amount of nutrients at each meal with a reduced number of calories. I’m 5’4", 135lbs and hoping to lose fat. So I calculated my BMR as 1385, so dropping that by 20% gives me 1107 kcals/day. Should I be aiming to get in 1.5g protein/pound (which would be 202g/day) as this ends up being 808kcals from protein alone. How would I get in the appropriate amount of carbs each day while still maintaing 1107 kcals/day? I calculated my carb intake as 210g, 168g and 126g for high, moderate and low carb days, respectively.
If you could give me some advice about how I could adapt this nutrition program to work for low calorie intake, that would be great!
Thanks,
Steff[/quote]
Did you factor in activity level? You’re supposed to multiply your BMR by the activity factor, and your number should be higher.
Thanks, that seems to make more sense. I know it’s difficult to maintain a diet of less than 1200kcals/day, but now that I’ve reworked the numbers to include activity, it seems a little more realistic. So then as far as meal planning goes, it’s just a matter of making sure I get in all the right nutrients?
Thanks,
Steff
While carb cycling works, there is no formula to follow to get your exact macro nutrient benchmarks. Get the basics down and from there you will need to use trial and error. Be sure to record what your daily macro breakdown is and also how you felt that day. Take some pictures and use the scale to gauge your progress. Within a months time you should get a feel for daily needs. Best of luck.