TVC15

What Is This?

I recently read Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength.

The book covers -- in great detail -- the basics of barbell training. It provides thorough explanations of the mechanics of the big lifts:

• Squat
• Press
• Deadlift
• Bench press
• Power clean

Having read it once, I was anxious to get started. And while I felt that it provided a great foundation, the portion of the book about nutrition didn't give me much to chew on. So, I asked Google for advice

I stumbled upon Feigenbaum's blog post pretty quickly. As a Starting Strength coach, he's a reputable resource for nutrition information. And the article provides a lot of background and concrete information on nutrition in the context of the Starting Strength novice program

Aside from providing some useful tables that describe nutrition recommendations based on goals (fat loss, body recomposition and muscle gain), sex and weight, the post provides specific examples of individuals and prescribes macronutrient and caloric guidleines for each.

While none of examples quite fit my profile, I'm closest to the "The Fluffy Novice/Intermediate: Measured" example, so I decied to adapt it to determine a starting nutrition plan.

As Feigenbaum points out, it's best to start with macronutries and to calculate caloric load accodingly. While one can calculate caloric load from macronutrients, once cannot decompose macronutriets from caloric load. So, if you have to choice between the two, start with determining your macronutrients.

With this insight, I decided to calculate my macronutrient requirements. While a spreadsheet would do the trick, I though a JavaScript program would be more useful and more fun. The result was the above calculator.