The optimal ratio of macronutrients for weight loss

To slightly balance your diet, you need to reduce the amount of food consumed. However, if you want to improve your physique for the long term, stay healthy and improve your stamina, you will have to take a deeper analysis of the diet and study the quantitative and qualitative intake of each macronutrient.

What are macronutrients?

As you know, there are three main macronutrients – proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. All of them are equally necessary for the body to maintain health and performance. However, there is an infinite number of ratios in which these macronutrients can be included in the diet. For carbohydrates, the intake ranges from the low-carb ketogenic diet, which consumes a lot of healthy fats and virtually eliminates carbohydrates to the cyclic carbohydrate diet, in which the amount of carbohydrate intake varies daily depending on the training schedule.

On the Internet, you can find many diets of varying degrees of complexity. But first and foremost, most people need to determine for themselves the optimal ratio of consumption of three macronutrients and focus on consistently choosing the most healthy sources of calories.

How to balance your macronutrient intake?

The typical diet is high in trans fats and carbohydrates and inadequate in protein and healthy fats. To correct imbalances in macronutrient intake, it is recommended to start with a proven ratio:

  • Get 20% of your calories from healthy fats;
  • 40% of the calories are from carbohydrates;
  • 40% of calories from protein.

There are special online macronutrient calculators that can help you determine the optimal ratio based on your health and lifestyle. Over time, you will be able to independently adjust the proportion of consumption of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, depending on individual taste preferences, body reaction and level of physical activity.

What ratio to choose?

Fitness models and fitness trainers, for whom the visual appeal of the physique plays a particularly important role, in order to maintain a slim figure and work efficiently in the gym, often settle for a ratio of 20%: 30%: 50%. Strength athletes who are subject to regular intense physical activity tend to find more balanced ratios – 30%: 30%: 40% or 25%: 35%: 40%.

Generally speaking, the proportion of fat and carbohydrate intake can be slightly varied based on individual preference, provided that you maintain a more or less stable total daily calorie intake and, in accordance with it, fully satisfy the daily protein requirement. As the results of scientific research show, it is these two factors that primarily determine the success of any diet.

In general, with the initial correct determination of daily calorie requirements, systematic monitoring of their intake, and getting enough protein, all diet plans work 100% and with an approximately equal degree of effectiveness.

And already a stable adherence to a balanced nutrition plan with an optimal ratio of all macronutrients, in turn, will not only contribute to getting rid of excess weight but will also help to consolidate progress for a long time and stay in good physical shape.


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