Calculating the macros is something extremely important for anyone who is trying to achieve a body composition and/or enhance performance, but calculating cutting macros is even more important for those who are attempting a cutting cycle. Learning the right balance in your diet, and we’re mostly talking about the right cutting macros, is essential to support your goals of cutting body fat and getting as lean as possible. That’s because going for the right cutting macros will allow you to stay healthy, strong, and full of energy, while maintaining lean muscle mass but continue burning fat.
Guessing the calorie intake and guessing cutting macros may not really help, because the reality can be far from what you assume/guess. Instead, you could calculate your cutting macros and maximize fat burn, making sure that you’re on the right path for your goals.
Counting Calories vs Counting Cutting Macros
You need to realize that when talking about weight loss, most people talk about counting calories, but not about counting cutting macros. These are not the same thing. And if you want the best and fastest results, you will need to count both.
Counting calories is helpful for those who want to shed a couple of pounds. But those who are into a serious cutting phase and who are mostly looking to change their body composition by shredding fat and maintaining muscle mass will need to count cutting macros too. Calories increase or decrease will make you gain or lose weight. But it is the macronutrient balance that will make it be in the form of muscle or fat.
That’s why it is so important to count cutting macros. It will significantly maximize your efforts because it makes you opt for quality food, instead of squeezing minimal food amount into your routine. Counting calories and eating in deficit may make the weight go down, but you may still not love what you see in the mirror. If you really want to look great, feel great, and perform great – start paying attention to the cutting macros.
Determine Your Cutting Macros
Here are a few steps that will help determine your cutting macros which will help achieve the best results as fast as possible.
Determine your calorie needs
As said before, you do need to count your calories. The problem is that most people stop here. Counting your calories is important, but many people do not realize that this is just the first step in a cutting cycle. While that’s great when you count your calories and stay in a deficit, it is important to count your cutting macros too. Yet, you can only count it after determining your calorie needs.
Generally, most people need anywhere around 2000 calories a day to maintain their weight. This is the reason why you may notice that the daily calorie reference is 2000 calories on the label of the products you buy when grocery shopping. Yet, it could differ a lot, depending on many different factors, mainly on age, gender, weight, height, and activity level. For some people, it could be 1500 calories a day or even less, while for others it could be 3000 calories a day or even more. The difference is huge. There are online calculators that can help determine your calorie needs.
While that’s not an exact number, it gives a good approximation of your daily calorie needs. Tracking your calorie intake is the starting baseline, and it is necessary for you to start cutting macros to get you into the cutting cycle.
Create a calorie deficit
After you determine your daily calorie needs to maintain the current weight, you will need to eat in deficit as long as you want to lose weight and burn fat. This means that you need to reduce your daily calorie needs as it encourages weight loss. Now that’s when a lot of people are making a lot of mistakes. For example, they tend to reduce their calorie intake a lot, and this comes with a lot of issues such as developing nutrient deficiencies, affecting their health, their performance, their mental state, and their results in the long run. Or many do not reduce enough, which will not bring many results. Instead, you need to reduce the calories by 10 to 25% than the total calorie intake.
- Let’s assume that you consume 2000 calories a day to maintain weight. Then creating a 20% decrease (calorie deficit) means that you would need to eat 20% less from 2000 – that’s 2000 – 400 = 1600 calories a day. This will help you cut weight. However, in order to determine how much exactly you need to reduce, you will need to determine how long you plan to cut. This depends on your starting body fat percentage, and your end goals mostly. Still, most people suggest that a cutting cycle should last anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks. If you plan to run longer cycles, you better have breaks in between cycles. Staying in a calorie deficit for too long is not recommended.
A correct calorie deficit will not leave you feeling hungry 24/7, it is a slow and steady approach. Moreover, do not forget to recalculate your needs as your fitness level changes. You’ll need fewer calories as you lose weight in order to continue losing weight.
Work your protein needs
So, we finally get to talk about the macronutrients themselves. 100% of calories you consume a day come from the three macros: protein fats and carbohydrates. The first one we’re going to talk about is protein because it is the easiest to calculate and it is perhaps the most important. Numerous studies are proving that a higher protein intake is crucial when talking about a cutting cycle. Protein is essential for a lot of different reasons, but the most important ones are: that protein will protect your lean muscle mass and will help you stay sated for a longer period.
When you lose weight, losing lean muscle tissues is common, but protein will help you keep that lean muscle as you keep on burning fat. Also, when you lose weight, it is normal to feel hungry. Protein is highly satiating, meaning that you will feel fuller for longer. Will likely eat less, to support your goals. But there are numerous other reasons. So, protein is crucial for body composition.
- You need to aim for one gram of protein a day per pound of body weight. It could be anywhere between 0.8 to 1.2 grams. This means that a man weighing 200 pounds would need anywhere between 160 to 240 grams (usually 200 g) of protein a day as a part of his cutting macros a day.
Work your fat needs
If you want to get rid of fat you need to avoid eating any fat, right? No! That’s completely wrong! While you do need to avoid high amounts of fats, and you do need to avoid trans and other unhealthy fats, you still need an adequate amount of (healthy) fats in your diet for your cutting cycle. Therefore, when talking about cutting macros, you do need to pay attention to the fat in your calorie deficit diet. Consuming the right type of fat when working out in a calorie deficit won’t only won’t make you fat, but they are also extremely important! They are an essential part of your overall health! Not only that, but fat will provide steady energy levels and they will add more flavor to your foods. This means that you will be less likely to snack on sugary and processed foods (derailing your progress).
Fat is an awesome source of long-lasting energy, with the right type of fat keeping you feeling fuller too. In the end, you calculate the amount of fat you need a day depending on your activity level. This means that carbs will fill the final gap when you calculate your macros for cutting. So, to calculate the fat in the cutting macros, pay attention to how active you are. Higher activity levels require you to have a higher carb intake (your body will need carbs to stay active), meaning that you have to eat less fat.
So…
- When you are lightly active, roughly 40% of your calories can come from fat, when you are moderately active – about 30% and when you are very active – 20%. This means that if your daily calorie needs are 2000 a day, then 40% would mean 800 calories. 9 calories is one gram of fat. 40% of fat from a 2000 calorie daily intake would be 89 grams of fat a day. 30% would be 67 grams and 20% would be 45 grams a day, as an example.
Work your carbohydrate needs
When talking about cutting macros, the last one to determine is carbs. We’ve already established the protein and fat needs, therefore the carbohydrates will just fill the remaining calories. As said, the amount of carbohydrates you can consume a day greatly depends on how much you’re exercising during your cutting cycle. This is the reason why some people go for carbs cycling, eating more carbs on their training days and less on their rest days. Keep in mind that the more you exercise, the more carbs your body will need to use.
Not only that, but the more lean muscle mass you have, the better your body will tolerate higher amounts of carbohydrates. Therefore, calculate your fat needs based on the activity level, then fill the gap with carbs. Now, let’s assume that your daily calorie intake is 2000 calories a day.
- Keep in mind that you need to stay in a calorie deficit, which means that if you eat 2000 calories a day, your maintenance should be at least 2200 or more calories a day. Now, you are a 200 pound man who eats 2000 calories a day. You get moderate activity which means 30% of it comes from fat, as said – 67 grams. You also need at least 0.8 grams a day of protein per pound of body weight. That’s 160 grams of protein a day. One gram of protein is four calories. This means that your protein fills 640 calories a day. 640 calories from protein + 603 calories from fat (67 x 9 = 603) = 1243 calories. This means you’re left with 757 calories to come from carbs. One gram of carbs equals 4 calories. This means you should eat 189 grams of carbs a day.
Things to remember
Keep in mind that this is just an example. Some people will need more or less calories a day. Also, keep in mind to stay in a calorie deficit when you want to burn fat. Remember that the protein amount a day can greatly vary from one person to another too. Moreover, others, as said, go for carb cycling. This means that they change the amount of carbs and fats they use a day, depending on their activity level, while maintaining protein intake pretty much the same.
Following the example above, you could go for 160 grams of protein a day (if you’re a 200 pound man, who is trying to lose weight, having a calorie allowance of 2000 a day, with maintenance being about 2500 calories a day). Those 160 grams of protein a day will make up about 32% of the 2000 calorie limit. Then, they go for 20% of fat for heavy training days, 30% of fat for moderate days, and 40% for rest days with the rest coming from carbs. 48% for high intensity training days, 38% for moderate days, and 28% for rest days.
Aid Your Cutting Macros
Now you know how to calculate your calories, and then your cutting macros. This way, you can create a perfect cutting diet plan for your goals. Diet is extremely important for any physique and performance enhancement goal. That’s why working in the kitchen is so important. Don’t forget to work in the gym too, as training is an essential part, obviously. Going for the right cutting macros and training regularly will set you on the right path to a successful cutting cycle. Keep in mind you should train regularly and correctly while paying attention to the amount and type of fats, carbs, and protein. Aim for healthy fats, complex carbs, and quality proteins.
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