Autumn All Year

How do I set my macros for high fat carnivore?

I really don't recommend an online calculator for setting macros. The reason for that is that while it may seem like a simple option, they pretty much all put you at a caloric deficit. And eating at a caloric deficit is not a long-term strategy.

@autumnallyear.us Eat less, move more doesn’t work long term. It just damaged your metabolism. #cico #calories #starvation #metabolism #metabolicdamage #eatenoughcalories #maybeeatmore ♬ Lo-fi hip hop - NAO-K

Read more about this in my blog post, Atypical Anorexia.

Instead, I recommend doing a little math. I know, I know...math = scary. But really, I'm going to help make this as simple as possible for you.

The first thing you need to do is figure out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Eating at a caloric deficit long term is not a sustainable way of life. It is not going to yield sustainable weight loss AND support a healthy metabolism. If you're still stuck in the old "eat less, move more" mantra, this advice probably isn't for you. This advice is for eating a healthy amount of food that supports a healthy metabolism, long term. This will yield *sustainable* weight loss.

How do I get my TDEE?

This part is easy. Go to goodcalculators.com and enter your metrics.

How do I know how much protein and fat I need to eat?

I'm going to explain how to find your numbers and why we're doing it this way. If you find this too confusing, skip down to the section titled "One last time, more simplified".

This intervention is for MODERATE protein intake. Not high protein and not low protein. We're going to eat enough protein to support our lean mass and to support growth. You don't need to load up on protein to grow muscles. But you do need to eat enough protein to support growth. You always want to eat enough to support some growth. Whether you're actively engaging in weight lifting or another exercise regimen or not intentionally exercising at all, you always want to eat enough protein to support some muscle growth.

Your body knows what to do if it has the tools. Give your body the tools and it'll do the job. It knows how.

This calculation is for 0.7g of protein per lb of ideal body weight. We're going to use 130 lbs of ideal body weight for this demonstration to make things simple. And we'll assume that the TDEE we got from goodcalculators.com was 1800.

So, 0.7 x 130 = 91

That means you need to consume approximately 91g of protein.

Now we need to figure out how much fat we need to consume.

Each gram of protein contains approximately 4 calories. So, if we're consuming 91g of protein, that means our caloric intake from protein is 364. We're going to deduct 364 from 1800, and that will tell us what our caloric intake of dietary fat will be.

1800-364=1436

We need to eat approximately 1436 calories of fat per day. To determine how much that is in grams, we need to divide by 9. Each gram of fat contains approximately 9 calories.

1436/9=160

So, now we know what our macros will look like:

• TDEE: 1800 calories/day
• Protein: 91g (364 calories)
• Fat: 160g (1436 calories)
• Carbs: Incidental from dairy, eggs, seafood, and organ meats (20 or less carbs per day)

You may be wondering about carbs. There are carbs in dairy, eggs, seafood, and organ meats. There are also carbs in seasoning and in coffee and tea. So, your intake of carbs will vary depending on what types of food you incorporate into your carnivore diet. They will almost never be zero. But, it is such a small amount that we don't need to factor them into our calculations.

20g of carbs = 80 calories. We really just don't need to worry about 80 calories or less per day. It's not going to make or break anything.

One last time, more simplified

1. Multiply your ideal weight by 0.7. That will tell you how many grams of protein you need.
2. Next, multiply that number by 4 and deduct it from your TDEE.
3. Divide that number by 9. That will tell you how many grams of fat you should eat.

What percentage does that work out to?

Calories of protein divided by TDEE….364/1800=20%

Calories of dietary fat divided by TDEE….1436/1800=80%

So, 20% of total caloric intake comes from protein and 80% comes from fat.