Changing macros

(Steve) #1

When do most people change their macros . After you loose 20 lbs or is it based on time etc . I figure after you start losing weight your calories fat and proteins go down

#2

I would argue you don’t really need to change the macros. I see keto as simply “Minimal carbs. Adequate proteins. Fats as needed (for satiety).”

  • Carbs: If the “rule of thumb” for carbs is followed, it will always stay at under 20 net carbs.
  • Proteins: Your need for protein should primarily be based on lean body mass, which shouldn’t really change significantly unless you are actively trying to build muscles. If you are losing weight, it should be fat tissue and not muscle tissue, as long as you’re getting enough proteins.
  • Fats: If fats are the “lever” to satiety, there really isn’t even a need for a macro to be set. And thus, calories would not be set. On the flip side, if you are setting a macro for fats that limits how much you can eat and it leaves you hungry all the time, then keto won’t be sustainable.

The biggest question I see there is if someone does lose 100 pounds, or 200 pounds, would that significantly affect how much musculature the body has? That would change the proteins macro. Would less weight mean the body needs fewer muscles to support the weight? Or would less weight mean someone gets more active and uses muscles more?

(Allie) #3

When you stop seeing results, if needed. I’ve never consciously changed them but did stop tracking and counting.

(Steve) #4

Thanks

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

The answer, as I understand it, is that yes, If you lose a significant amount of fat, you don’t need as much muscle to support it, so that you would also lost a bit of muscle mass, but in a healthy way. It wouldn’t be muscle wasting. Just to be clear, you would not end up with fewer muscles, but rather the muscles you have wouldn’t need to be quite so bulky. So the body needs less muscle mass to support your smaller fat mass. And with less fat mass to have to shift, people often do get much more active, because they can.

Dr. Phinney makes this point when he discusses his famous chart about eating to satiety. At first, the fictitious woman who is the subject of the chart eats less than her caloric needs, because she is eating to satiety and her appetite hormones adjust so that she can burn off some of her excess fat. As she goes along, always eating to satiety, the amount of stored fat declines and she has to eat more fat to compensate. When she reaches the maintenance phase, still eating to satiety, she is eating more calories than when she started, and all her calorie needs are being met from her food, since she no longer has excess fat to get rid of. But we notice that her total caloric requirement has declined somewhat, because (a) there is no longer all that fat to feed, and (b) her muscles don’t need to be quite as bulky without all that fat to throw around. The human body is an elegantly balanced system.

(UsedToBeT2D) #6

I believe that the carbohydrate restriction is the key. Yes, keep protein moderate and favor good saturated fats for most calories.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #7

Macros are a tool to help you know how much of what you’re eating. If you have reliable hunger and satiety signals, macros can be very simple. Such as: sub-20 grams of carbs per day, fat and protein in about equal weights to satisfy daily hunger. If you’re just trying to lose weight/fat that will probably do for a while. Although for weight/fat loss it may help to eat less fat and more protein. For many folks this is the ‘forevermore macro’. If it works long term to enable you to maintain weight and health, good for you. If it works for a year or two and then doesn’t, well then yes you can change your macros.

If you don’t have reliable hunger and satiety signals or if you’re eating keto for other reasons than simple weight/fat loss or general health, by which I mean specific medical conditions such as T2D, then to be useful macros may need to be more precise and a bit more complicated. The carb macro should always be sub-20 grams per day and the lower the better. Once you’ve been eating keto for a while it is no problem reducing carbs to sub-15, sub-10 or even zero carbs per day consistently. Protein macros can be based on either lean body mass, if you can measure or calculate it, or total body weight as long as you’re not excessively over or under ‘normal’ weight for your height. The fat macro is generally the difference between the calories from protein subtracted from the total calories required to maintain a steady weight. If you’re trying to build muscle mass, then eat more protein and less fat.

Please do not conclude from the above that I advocate eating to arbitrary numbers. I do not. I advocate eating to numbers determined by trial and error to maintain your weight and body fat %. If you eat keto to resolve a specific medical issue, then eat to numbers determined by trial and error that help alleviate or at least not exacerbate the symptoms of the issue. If you’re trying to increase muscle mass or other lean mass, then you will need to increase protein.