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what's the best ratio of protein carbs
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and fats to get the body you want let's
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how's it going guys my name is richie
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kirwan and today we're going to talk all
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about macro splits what they are why
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they're so common and if they're any use
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for helping you with your physique goals
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before we start i just want to point out
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that i'm not recommending any particular
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way of eating or macro split at all what
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i want to do with this video is help you
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understand what a macro split means and
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especially to help you understand some
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of the major issues with microsplits so
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for anyone who might not know yet a
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macro split is simply a way of
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describing the relative amounts of
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macronutrients protein carbs and fats in
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a given diet you might see it written
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something like 15 protein 55 carbs and
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30 fat but what does that actually mean
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well the percentages are percents of
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total calories so let's do a little math
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to give you an idea of how a macro split
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works in real life let's take the
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recommended daily calories for an
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average woman what's an average woman
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you might say well there's no such thing
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which means giving a recommended calorie
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intake based on sex isn't very useful
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but that's a topic for another day but
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for this video we'll just talk about the
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guidelines and say the recommended
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energy intake for an average woman is 2
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000 calories per day macro splits use
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percentages of daily calories to
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calculate someone's daily macronutrients
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but we don't measure out percentages we
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tend to measure out by weight so we need
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to convert those percentages to weight
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to better apply them to our daily diet
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so in the example i mentioned we had 15
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15 of 2000 is 300 calories each gram of
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protein has four calories so 300
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calories is 75 grams of protein the math
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sounds confusing trust me next carbs at
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55 of 2000 calories would be 1 100
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calories and as each gram of carbs has
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four calories that means we have 275
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grams of carbs and finally fats at 30 of
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calories work out at 600 calories now
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fat is a lot more energy dense so each
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gram of fat has nine calories which
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means 600 calories is just 66 grams of
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fat so overall that diet of a total of
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2000 calories has 75 grams of protein
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275 grams of carbs and 66 grams of fat
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which people can try to eat if they're
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tracking their macros but this was just
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an example of one specific macro split
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in fact the example i used was the macro
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split for the standard nutrition
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guidelines of countries like the united
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states or the uk but there are a lot of
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different macro splits that many claim
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to have different effects on weight loss
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and weight gain for example the macro
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split for a mediterranean diet is often
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around 15 protein 45 carbs and 40 fat as
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mediterranean diets tend to have a lot
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of olive oil and nuts sometimes you'll
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see bodybuilder style diets that are
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really high in protein and low in fat so
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they might be 35 protein 15 fat and 50
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carbs or you might have a low carb diet
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with 30 protein 60 fat and only 10 carbs
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or go one step further with a keto diet
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with less than 5 carbs 25 protein 70 fat
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all of this sounds very scientific and
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the truth is these ratios are genuinely
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used to describe some common dietary
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patterns in scientific research but and
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this is a really really important part
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major flaw to understand the problem
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we're going to use a little mask again
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if you remember back to the first macro
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split i mentioned 15 protein 55 carbs
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we gave an example of someone eating 2
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000 calories a day which meant they were
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eating a total of 75 grams of protein
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well what if that person decided to go
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say they cut their calories to 1500 but
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something pretty important would change
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because ratios are related to the amount
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of calories you eat all the macros will
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drop as well so in this case this
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person's protein intake will drop to
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only 56 grams of protein per day now if
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you watched any of my protein videos
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you'll know that i often recommend
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higher protein intakes in general but
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especially when people are trying to
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and when they're trying to lose weight
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this is because higher protein on a diet
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can help you hold on to muscle and can
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also help keep you feeling fuller so the
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diet sucks a little bit less another
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thing you may have noticed in my other
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videos is that i never use percentages
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to calculate protein intakes why well
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because the most accurate scientific
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research we have in relation to protein
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and its effects on body composition is
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done using grams of protein per kilogram
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of body weight now think about this when
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we base your protein intake on your body
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weight we're basing it on your specific
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physiology on your body bigger bodies
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have more muscle that need more protein
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to a point and smaller bodies need less
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protein that makes sense right it also
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makes sense to change your protein
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intake based on what you're trying to do
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with your physique you might increase it
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to really high amounts to help you build
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muscle you might also increase it when
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you're dieting to hold onto muscle but
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if you work with macro ratios
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your body weight suddenly doesn't matter
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if you cut your calories your protein
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drops automatically even if your body is
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the same size and has the same protein
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needs or more because you're dieting
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this is why i stay well away from macro
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ratios when i'm working with my own
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clients instead i calculate calories
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based on their body size activity levels
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and goals so for example i calculate
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protein based on body size i calculate a
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minimum amount of fat based on body size
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and then i split the rest of their
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calories between fats and carbs based on
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their preferences or training needs now
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is that a little more complex than a
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but it is far more accurate and a useful
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method now i've already made a few
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videos on how to calculate your calories
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for both building muscle and losing body
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fat in my other videos so please check
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them out i really hoped that this helped
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to explain why i think macro ratios are
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as always if you have any questions let
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me know in the comments below and
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remember to like and subscribe to my
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protein youtube channel for even more
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great evidence-based information
