Macros

I know everyone reccomends you base your calories off of needs and not macros and while I agree with that, once that process is done, you will get Macro Percentages

It seems the majority of gymnastic athletes are really toned and strong and Im just cuiorus what the average male gymnast diet ends up looking like in terms of macro percentage.

Im also interested in knowing what everyone's diet here ends up looking like.

I typically seem to favor 40/30/30 carb/prot/fat.  I weight 175, eating 2500 for a cut gives me approx 200g protein, 250g carbs and 705g 

If you are happy eating with the zone ratios while cutting you should continue. It's a good deal of protein but not a dangerous amount.

Why compare yourself to a group you have nothing in common with? No disrespect but we are not elite male gymnasts - for the most part. They train way way way more than 99% of any of us would.  I don't think there is one single diet here except that the general recommendations for macros:

* enough protein  (1.2-2.8g/kg for example).

* enough carbs   ( up to 5g/kg for example)

* enough fat  (whatever is left)

When not cutting, you have room to add more carbs, without increasing protein or fat. 

There are recommendations for everything but carbs, which is something that doesn't make sense.  Fats tend  to be around give or take .4 grams per pound of body weight.  Protein is around 1g per pound of body weight but for the life of me I cannot find recommendations for carbs and while I know there is a great deal of flexibility with these, there still has to be an optimal amount of carbs.  

I personally believe that the body needs all 3 macro nutrients and that's why I tend to fall in the 40/30/30 but just searching for some info on optimal amount of carbs

There is something in the pipeline to help everyone with all this stuff.

Joshua Naterman said:

There is something in the pipeline to help everyone with all this stuff.

Im sorry but what does that mean?  Can you give me a little more detail?

Joshua Naterman said:

There is something in the pipeline to help everyone with all this stuff.

A book of some sort im a guessing?

jwalker497 said:

Im sorry but what does that mean? Can you give me a little more detail?

It's in the works, is my interpretation.

jwalker497 said:

There are recommendations for everything but carbs, which is something that doesn't make sense.  Fats tend  to be around give or take .4 grams per pound of body weight.  Protein is around 1g per pound of body weight but for the life of me I cannot find recommendations for carbs and while I know there is a great deal of flexibility with these, there still has to be an optimal amount of carbs.  

 

I personally believe that the body needs all 3 macro nutrients and that's why I tend to fall in the 40/30/30 but just searching for some info on optimal amount of carbs

There is a wide range for most people that works. If you are looking at someone doing GST 2x week vs someone doing GST 4x week and running 10 miles there are different answers. We do not have to have glycogen stores at 100% to perform well, but performance can degrade below 50%, especially with high intensity work. You can figure out your needs roughly, though I presume what's forthcoming will address that.

As you saying you are cutting so you may not be able to eat the amount for your optimum performance at this time. If you are cutting though, you shouldn't be working out as intensely so this should not pose a big problem...

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, Im looking for carb levels needed primarily to support strength training and muscle hypertrophy.  

There seems to be a very concrete consensus on optimal levels of proteins and fats for these same pruposes but carbs seem to be soo ambigious, There has to be an optimal level though.

Fats are also pretty variable. There's a wide range that works. Same with Protein and Carbs.  

Carb use can increase by mental activity - the brain uses like 20% of blood glucose. It varies according to amount of use and  amount of sleep can affect it. And the body will make its own glucose regardless of intake because it's that important.

It isn't relying on us to get it 100% right   It's imposible to fine tune it exactly. Hunger is a fairly good guide and if you follow the recommendation to eat all the foodstuffs each meal, you should not run short.

But by all means continue to search for a more definitive answer...

I don't need an exact number I'm just looking for a good target to shoot for because I know there will be variability.  

Jwalker, the thing is there is no guideline for everyone. It depends highly on your activities. The diet profile for a runner is different than a gymnast and a gymnast is different from someone who does gymnastic strength. There are a number of books that try to give you a good guideline but you will have to adjust a lot based on your activity.

The best book I have read lately is The Prefect Health diet. The title sounds cheesy but there is some good info.

I think that since Joshua Naterman hasn't finished whatever he's working yet then the best options for someone are "Girth Control" by Alan Aragon (he and Joshua are very similar on some things) and "Advanced Sports Nutrition" by Dr. Dan Bernadot. 

I'm about to try a 60-25-15 carb/protein/fat ratio. It's the only one that lets me get 1.5g/lb protein, 3g/lb of carbs, and about .4g/lb of fat. I don't pay attention to the percentage ratio, because this makes my calories around 3400 per day which I think is a little high. I just try to aim for that amount of protein/carbs/fat each day regardless of what the total calories comes to.

Sam Carr said:

I'm about to try a 60-25-15 carb/protein/fat ratio. It's the only one that lets me get 1.5g/lb protein, 3g/lb of carbs, and about .4g/lb of fat. I don't pay attention to the percentage ratio, because this makes my calories around 3400 per day which I think is a little high. I just try to aim for that amount of protein/carbs/fat each day regardless of what the total calories comes to.

Assuming I did the math right you weigh 340 pounds if you are eating 3400 at those ratios. If that is the case you should adjust and probably even reduce protein.

Daniel Burnham said:

Assuming I did the math right you weigh 340 pounds if you are eating 3400 at those ratios. If that is the case you should adjust and probably even reduce protein.

Really? I started with the protein calculations from Charles Poliquin who swears by 1.5-2g protein per pound. I've always thought carb intake is supposed to be 2x protein (especially if trying to gain some weight), and for a person with already low body fat and a hard gainer, I read that fat should be .4-1g per pound. So this is incorrect?