How do you decide upon nutrition to **maintain** a physique?

Since it's usually recommended to those looking to build muscle to consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. I was wondering that since you're no longer trying to *build more* your dietary requirements would likely change. E.g., you wouldn't really be pushing yourself to eat over maintenance to bulk or something. Questions: * Would the gram / lbs of bodyweight requirement change? * Would you still have to 'carb load'? * How would this affect your macro proportions?

Answer

The premise is generally similar in that you need to get enough protein, then enough fat, and the rest as carbs.

There is no hard and fast number for the amount of protein required to maintain muscle, but less than 1g is probably fine. A quick google search suggests you should keep it to 0.7g at a minimum.

Answer

I’m not an expert but someone getting into this – I think your first step is to figure out your caloric requirements based on your height, age, sex and activity level. I think from there, you can kind of reverse engineer approximately how many calories you want to come from meals and snacks. From there, you can ensure that each meal and snack has a protein component to help make you feel full as well as a mix of carbs and fats for additional energy.

I think “carb loading” is only for long-distance cardio events (marathons, triathalons, etc.).