Impact of macronutrients on body composition

[Dominique]

For quite some time I have been aware of the fact macronutrients are the second most important factor for body composition (after calorie balance). I mentioned this is a few weeks ago in this other topic.

However, I hadn’t really put that into practice yet. Five weeks ago I decided to do everything “by the book”, paying attention not only to calories, but also to macronutrients (most notably: high enough amount of protein), nutrient timing and food composition. At the same time, I also changed the type of resistance training I’m doing, switching to a program more focused on muscle hypertrophy (higher reps, lower weights, shorter rest between sets). 

Looking at body fat % as estimated by my Fitbit Aria scale, it does seem to have worked as predicted:

While focusing solely on calories and eating “intuitively”, my body fat % kept yoyoing up and down, but was stuck at around 15%. The new approach clearly seems to have got me out of that “plateau”, and BF% has been steadily going down for five weeks straight.

I understand a BIA scale has limitations as a tool for determining BF%, but I’ve found the values have been relatively accurate for me, and I don’t think the yoyoing vs. straight trend downwards can be entirely coincidental. I also understand five weeks is still a rather short period, so I’ll see how things go for the next seven weeks (I plan to stop this cut after twelve weeks). 

I’m flying to the US for one week on Tuesday and it will be interesting to see what impact this trip will have on my numbers. During this trip, I won’t be able to eat like I currently do, nor to lift weight either. Hopefully it’s going to be short enough not to stop the momentum.

[WendyB]

Very Interesting! I will be interested to find out on your return as to what happened.

Have a safe trip!

[Dominique]

Of course, I hope the trend will be confirmed during the next couple of months. However, I changed so many variables at once it’s hard to tell which one had the biggest impact. I personally think it’s the combination of higher protein intake and a smarter/more optimal resistance training program.

[Esya]

There is good information for me in this post.

[Baltoscott]

@Dominique -- You seem to be doing great with this program!

I've been focusing on protein intake too (about a gram/pound of bodyweight), but not so much on meal timing (and I let the fats and carbs take care of themselves).  My resistance training for the past 16 weeks has been focused on heavy (4-6 rep range, 3 working sets per exercise) compound movements with barbells.  (For the first few months this year I was using dumbbells at home with higher rep ranges).  So not quite the same program as you.

Jury is still out.  My strength has gone up on basic lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench and military press).  But my body fat trends (as reported on my withings scale) seem to move in lockstep with my weight trends.  As the weight came off, the body fat percentage went down.  For the past couple of months I've maintained a stable weight and the body fat percentage seems to have stabilized as well.  My trendweight chart (which anyone can see if they click the link) is a little misleading if you look at different time periods because I experimented with the "athletic" setting on the scale for about six weeks (that dropped fat percentage by about 10%!).  The trend is just now starting to normalize.  Here is body and weight over the past five week time period.

body fatweight

[emili]

@Dominique you are getting great results and I too wonder if its the combination of both or one that is giving you the result. That aside and more important.... where are you going?? east, west, Midwest..

[Dominique]

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@emili wrote:

That aside and more important.... where are you going?? east, west, Midwest..

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Sorry for the late reply, @emili! This is where I went (I already came back):

 

Nice trip, but not for body composition !

[Baltoscott]

Ah, my stomping grounds.  Sorry I didn’t reach out before you came over @Dominique.  Doesn’t look like it was all work; did you see much else?

[emili]

Ahh great city to visit. I'm hoping you had a good time. Next time more north and we're doing dinner!!

[Dominique]

Thanks for asking, @Baltoscott & @emili, I had a great time in DC! I was lucky enough to have 2.5 days for pleasure, the weather & temperature were ideal and a friend/colleague had studied in Georgetown University and lived there for 8 years, so I had a local guide. Washington was surprisingly walkable and I ended up racking up a decent amount of steps (30k+) on my free days, though not enough to offset the incredible amount of food I got to eat .

I already know the destinations for the next five years (if I can make it): 

2018: New Orleans, Louisiana
2019: Palm Springs, California
2020: Boston, Massachusetts

2021: Minneapolis, Minnesota

2022: Los Angeles, California
Always last week of October, and always looking forward to discovering a new city (well, I have been in LA before, but that was in 1987).

[arobin]

Thanks for sharing that info, I've been thinking about how much macroN affect the body (my body) , I'm losing, just not as fast as I'd like too, as I typically am more calorie focused, but I think (no, I know) that I will have to switch that thinking up to get to my last 20lbs and BF goal in the next couple of months.  

[Dominique]

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@Dominique wrote:

I’m flying to the US for one week on Tuesday and it will be interesting to see what impact this trip will have on my numbers. During this trip, I won’t be able to eat like I currently do, nor to lift weight either. Hopefully it’s going to be short enough not to stop the momentum.

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In my original post, I showed the impact of flexible dieting/"intuitive" eating vs. tracking macros. Now I’m following up on the impact of the above mentioned trip, which meant I had to go "off plan" for a week:

 

Having to rely on hotel food (and snacks) and eating out, combined with not being able to work out, caused BF% to shoot up majorly (following 1.5 months of steady dropping) in just one week. Even after returning back home and to my normal daily schedule, it took another 12 days before BF% started to drop again. Next steps: I plan to continue cutting for another 10 days, switch to maintenance until year end, and start massing in January. I’ll be following the same resistance training program.

[Salmonberry]

Thank you for sharing this, Dominique. It will serve me as a reminder to be disciplined over the holidays. I always had the vague feeling that if I took a week off, it took me at least two weeks to get back to the same level of fitness/strenghth I had before.