Please Help with deciding on a Macro Ratio!

[Back In Black]

It's all goal and individual specific. And your general rule is about as specific as your question.

[mattvdh]

It's all goal and individual specific. And your general rule is about as specific as your question.

I hear what you're saying but *my goal isn't really the point of the question--it's more of a general question on your point of view.

If I want to cut down I would just create a caloric deficit, if I wanted to bulk up I would simply increase all 3, to maintain I would figure out my LBM caloric requirements and use that as my guideline. But that doesn't really have anything to do with the ratio, that's just caloric intake.

The point of this thread is to figure out what's a good starting point if the user were to cut, bulk or maintain? When I browse around the net on calorie counters such as myfitnesspal or something of that nature, they seem to have their own predetermined macro-ratios embedded in the programming. I find that the carb ratios tend to be the highest, and to me that isn't correct. I really don't need all that much carbs. My body thrives on protein and fats for the most part.

Has anyone ever come out with a 33/33/33 (rounded)? split evenly right down the middle? anyone see any problems with this ratio?

apparently the guys in the golden age basically lived off of protein and fats, with only a small amount of carbs. I'm starting to think that carbs are severely overrated as an energy source and stores as fat the easiest. Fats for instance have 9 calories per gram, so it's incredibly dense energy source and actually really helps your brain and body for many functions. Carbs on the other hand only really serve one purpose of short term energy bursts, if not burnt it stores. so shouldn't carbs be on the bottom of the ratio? I only see carbs as beneficial before a workout really. And if you eat enough protein your body will manufacture its own carb supply.

Are there any bodily benefits to carbs, more specifically on gaining muscle? I've read that carbs can 'puff' up the muscle a bit, but that's about it. A friend also said that carbs spike an insulin response, which is the 2nd highest anabolic to test. But then you see contradicting studies regarding how spikes in insulin are unhealthy. I've also heard that carb deprivation is bad news for the boner dept. A lot of unclear info on carbs out there!