Nutrition · 5 minute read
Macro splits, ranked by goal
Macros are not a religion. They are a starting point. The right split depends on what your training is asking from your body that week.
Forgd ships four defaults. Here is the logic behind each.
Fat loss: 40P / 35C / 25F
Higher protein protects lean mass during a deficit. Carbs stay in the middle range so you can still train hard, since glycogen is what powers your last set, your last interval, and the recovery between them. Fat fills the rest because dropping fat below 25 percent for very long compromises hormonal output and satiety.
This split assumes you are eating in a 15 to 20 percent deficit and lifting at least three times a week. Cardio-only deficits can bias slightly higher carb (around 45 percent) without losing the protective effect on muscle.
When to override: if you are very lean already (under 12 percent body fat for men, under 20 for women) and trying to push lower, swap five points from carbs into fat. The hormonal cushion matters more than the training fuel at that point.
Maintenance: 30P / 45C / 25F
When you are not gaining or losing, the body's preferences come back into the picture. Carbs are the cheapest fuel, the easiest to store, and the most generous in terms of training output. Protein stays high enough to preserve muscle, which is the real goal of maintenance. Fat fills the rest.
When to override: athletes in a hard training block (six or more hours per week of cardio, or a powerlifting peak) often need to push carbs to 50 or 55 percent, with the points coming from fat. Recovery scales directly with glycogen replacement.
Hypertrophy bulk: 25P / 50C / 25F
Surplus calories are not the same as surplus protein. The growth signal needs amino acids, but the bulk of the surplus should come from carbs because carbs drive the insulin and IGF-1 response that supports tissue accretion. Going past 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight in a bulk wastes calories you could be putting into glycogen and growth.
When to override: novice lifters in their first six months of training can hold this split with carbs slightly lower (around 45 percent) and still grow at the same rate, because progress is being driven by neurological adaptation more than caloric load.
Keto and ketogenic resets: 25P / 5C / 70F
Use this as a 4 to 12 week intervention, not as a default. Keto is excellent for very obese populations starting out, for people with insulin sensitivity issues, and for short cognitive resets. It is poor for anyone in a hard training block because it eliminates the body's preferred fuel and degrades anaerobic performance.
When to override: if performance drops more than 10 percent across the first three weeks, the protocol is not for you. Some people adapt; some never do. Forgd will surface the trend automatically and prompt a review.
Plant-based variants
Each of the four splits ships with a plant-based variant that uses the same macro percentages but biases the protein toward complete sources (soy, pea isolate, tempeh, seitan) and adds 10 to 15 grams of protein on top to account for slightly lower digestibility (about 80 to 90 percent for plant proteins versus 95 percent for animal sources).
What Forgd actually does
When you set your goal in onboarding, Forgd picks the split, calculates calories from your stats, and translates the percentages into grams. The dashboard shows grams remaining for the day, not just the totals consumed, because that is the number that drives your next meal decision.
You can override any split from Nutrition, Settings, Macro Targets. The rule of thumb: change one variable at a time, hold for two weeks, judge by training output and the scale, not by feel.