I don't know about the carb, fat, protein ratio, but I do know there is a recommended daily allowance for protein per my text book, The Pathway to Healthful Living.

For a sedentary person, take your weight, divide it by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms, then multiply that number by 0.8. This will give you the number of grams of proteins you need per day.

If you exercise or are physically active, you should multiply your weight in kilograms by 1.2.

Too little protein can lead to muscle atrophy, and increasd chances of becoming ill.

Too much protein is not good either, though I am not sure about the possible negative consequesences, maybe higher LDL cholesterol levels.

I am confused about this as well...
 

I have seen that formula before and tried to apply it. However, at my weight, that gives me about 17% protein for the day. That means either my carbs or my fat will be higher than what I want (using the 1.2 multiplier). I have seen that regular exercisers can go up to multiplying their weight in kg by 1.8, which would put me at about 28% protein, but I don't really feel comfortable being at the very high or very low end of anything :confused:.

The RDA is the minimum daily recommended amount, not what may be optimal. Like with vitamins, it's the bare minimum needed to stave off disease.

easy rule of thumb
 

For an active person (working out 3-5 days a week) I have found that the best way to determine my protein intake is simply eating 1 gram of protein per lb of lean body mass.

That means you take your body-fat percentage * your weight to determine your lean body mass. I have been on a cut since about November, and doing this has allowed me to drop fat while maintaining muscle tone.

It is an easy rule of thumb that I have seen recommended on a number of body building and weight loss threads.

Okay, so I'm not a math person, but how does multiplying your body fat percentage times your weight give you your lean body mass? Wouldn't that give you the number of pounds that is fat?

If I do that (at 115 pounds and 24% body fat), that gives me 27 grams of protein a day...that seems really low.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I am really trying to focus on protein these days and I wish it made intuitive sense! ;)

You should be trying to get your protein from as many natural sources as possible, and should also be eating COMPLETE protein with each meal (lean meats(chicken, tuna etc), eggs and dairy) incomplete proteins are things like beans and legumes. I have a protein shake after my workout, but only one a day because liquids don't increase your metabolism (thermic effect) like wholefoods do.

This is what I read anyway and it's working. I aim for about 55/30/15 :o

["Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto"]

my bad...it should be

your weight - (your weight * body fat percentage) = lean mass

Awesome! That is the simplest way yet. Looks like I'm on track...bonus! Thanks for this calculation.

no problem...just make sure that in trying to get that amount of protein in you are still staying within your daily calorie limits...that will be what pushes you towards weight loss. The protein will just insure that your muscles don't get used as energy as you are losing weight.