Sport Macro Nutrient Breakdowns?

[jvacc26]

Hey guys,

I am a 25 year old male about 5'10 174 pounds, my BMR is around 2200 cals per day.

Right now I am trying to trim down to about 165; so I'm only eating about 1600-1800 cals per day.

My question is, what do you guys feel is a safe macro nutrient breakdown?

I have been going 40/40/20 (protein, carbs, fats) and I have been dropping weight, but feel like I'm losing some lean mass as well.

My work out routine as of right now looks like:

Monday: Lift total body
Tuesday: Circuit train (5 sets of 15 pushups, crunches, bicep curls, tri extensions, lunges, and leg lifts)
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: Lift
Friday: Circuit
Saturday: Run 3-5 miles
Sunday: OFF

I feel like the loss of mass would definitely be coming from my diet, but not sure if it's just not enough protein, or natural weight loss due to fewer calories. I eat about 150-200g of protein a day on my current break down.

Thanks again in advance for any help anybody can offer.

 

[malkore]

I think you miscalculated the BMR. that looks like BMR, but without a 'daily activity modifier'. Essentially the calories you need to maintain your weight if you didn't move all day long.

I honestly think you could shed body fat if you ate 2000-2200 cals a day.
I also think that carb cycling is beneficial for many people - fairly low carbs on cardio days, and about 1g of carbs per pound of body weight on weight training days.

For that reason, I'd say you could lower the carbs and up the fats. I don't think you should need to go under 25% fat, and honestly 30% fat would be fine as long as you're getting a lot of healthy fat (omega 3, 6) and really limiting saturated fat. A simple strategy is no more than 10% saturated fat, and 10% mono-unsaturated and 10% poly-unsaturated. if you go less than 10% saturated, fine. just remember saturated fat is needed (in small amounts) for healthy testosterone production.

Lastly I think that when on a cut, you're best off lifting HEAVY, for low reps. You shouldn't aim for hypertrophy (8-12 reps) since you lack the food intake to support it. Super high reps are kind of useless to for retaining muscle.
Lift heavy and short sets to stimulate the muscles without tearing them down...giving the body reason to hold on to it.

ditch the circuit training IMO. you JUST lifted the day before and now are wrecking the muscle tissue again?

the rest is all cardio. fasted, slower/steady state cardio first thing in the morning for 40 minutes or longer. if cardio is in the evening, go more intense.

 

[jvacc26]

Thanks Malkore; I appreciate your input.

I have 2 more quick questions, I talked to my best friend (he's finishing his masters in nutrition this semester) he suggested I go somewhere around 30% protein, 45% carbs, and 25% fats, which is what I'm aiming for now.

The only questions I have, are, I've heard when cutting, more reps less weight, and cardio is best done at night for 30-45 mins.

I know there is absolutely no proven science to this stuff, and things work differently for everyone.

I know I've read when bulking more weight less reps.

I am ditching the circuit however, and lifting 2 days a week, and doing swimming/cycling 4 days. Swimming is all about yardage roughly 3000 yards takes me an hour if I do interval training. Cycling will be about 30-45 mins. I'll alternate the two. So my modified work out looks something like

Monday-Lift
Tuesday- Swim
Wednesday-Lift
Thursday- Swim
Friday-Cycle
Saturday-Cycle
Sunday- REST

Thanks again for your help!