Bodybuilding Forums

I am struggling to get my fat count up to where it shows on the TSBA calculator.

I can get the protein up where it belongs, and hold my carbs at about 60/day, but if I do that, my fat count is way low. So - is it better to increase calories to increase fat count, or hold my calories in line and let the fat count fall short?

jabez205 wrote:I am struggling to get my fat count up to where it shows on the TSBA calculator.

I can get the protein up where it belongs, and hold my carbs at about 60/day, but if I do that, my fat count is way low. So - is it better to increase calories to increase fat count, or hold my calories in line and let the fat count fall short?

In an ideal perfect world, this would not be possible. In the real world, synthetic carbs will yield insufficient calories and mess up your macros. That's probably what's happening (assuming you're counting everything correctly according to the labels, and correctly counting net carbs and not total).

That said, take a long hard look at your carb intake. How much of it is from processed foods and synthetics? Can you swap out any of your carbs for more natural sources? The bulk of your carbs should come from vegetable sources, are they?

As to whether to hold or raise calories... you should be awfully damn close. Can you provide specific numbers? Like what's your weight, % body fat, and how much protein, carbs, and fat are you averaging? Probably going to want to get the fat at the expense of carbs, but let's get a fuller picture first.

That was really my question - do I allow some extra calories to get the fat up, or hold my calories in line, but leave the fat short? I'm currently 159lbs and 9.8%BF. Getting very close to the 6-pack, so I'm really trying to do it right as I close in on it.

I will work harder to find food choices that keep the cals down and still get the fat up, but haven't spent the time to do that yet... I guess I'm basically asking if it's OK to let the fat grams fall short. The calculator tells me I should get 127g fat daily - and sometimes I only get 30 - 40g or so... Waaay short of the 127g recommended...

jabez205 wrote:That was really my question - do I allow some extra calories to get the fat up, or hold my calories in line, but leave the fat short? I'm currently 159lbs and 9.8%BF. Getting very close to the 6-pack, so I'm really trying to do it right as I close in on it.

I will work harder to find food choices that keep the cals down and still get the fat up, but haven't spent the time to do that yet... I guess I'm basically asking if it's OK to let the fat grams fall short. The calculator tells me I should get 127g fat daily - and sometimes I only get 30 - 40g or so... Waaay short of the 127g recommended...

Something is still wrong here. At 60g/day of carbs, and 179g/day of protein based on your weight, you should be at ~1300 calories a day if your fat intake is really that low. Ultimately you cannot let your calories fall too short, so I would recommend letting the fat fall short if that needs to happen (the book suggests doing that toward the end anyway), but seriously recheck your macros and your diet diary, something is off here somewhere.

Huh... Not sure where to go from here...

Today - I had 184g Protein, 125g Carbs (too much...) and 54g Fat. Total of 2063 calories, which is right on target for my 2100/day goal.

I guess I will just keep hitting the calorie target & let the fat fall short.

jabez205 wrote:Huh... Not sure where to go from here...

Today - I had 184g Protein, 125g Carbs (too much...) and 54g Fat. Total of 2063 calories, which is right on target for my 2100/day goal.

I guess I will just keep hitting the calorie target & let the fat fall short.

I would say that 125g carbs is too much. according to the calculator you should be getting 127g fat and 179g protein if you are consuming 60g carbs. This will give you your 2100 calories a day. I would cut back on your carbs and if you are struggling to get your fat up to the required amount try foods that are mainly fat, double cream/heavy cream, real butter, avocadoes, flaxseed etc. I find, although the taste isn't great, a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil can boost your fat intake with no carbs or protein. Mine gives me 14g fat per tbsp. I suppose it varies with brand. Also, extra virgin olive oil is high in monousaturated fat, good for boosting testosterone.

If I were you I would get the carbs and protein as close to dead on as you can, during your cooking you can add butter, oil etc to bump up your total fat count throughout the day. Get it as close to the calculator value of 127g as you can but do not worry too much if it falls slightly short, although I would think 73g short as above wouldn't be the best idea, maybe 10-15g? As JoH said, a slight extra calorie defecit from fat during the end of a cut may help shift those last few stubborn lbs of body fat.

P.S. A great dessert to increase your fat intake - sugar free jelly with double/heavy cream, 1/4 pint serving with 75mls cream gives me 2.45g carbs, 2.78g protein and 35.63g fat. And it tastes great.

Hope this helps you out a bit.

jabez205 wrote:Huh... Not sure where to go from here...

Today - I had 184g Protein, 125g Carbs (too much...) and 54g Fat. Total of 2063 calories, which is right on target for my 2100/day goal.

I guess I will just keep hitting the calorie target & let the fat fall short.

uhm... that's not 2063 calories... it's 1722. The gap between your figure and the real total, plus the difference between the carbs that should have been fat (i.e. the 65g beyond your 60ish you're supposed to eat) totals up to 124 g of fat.