How many calories do I need? 5)Calculating the Actual Amount of Each Macronutrient
Posted 07-21-2010 at 08:46 AM by DocSanae
To calculate how much you can eat in terms of volume of food, you have to convert the calories into grams. (After all, you can’t “weigh” the calories, they are a unit of energy.)
Carbohydrates: 1g = 4 kcal
Protein: 1g = 4 kcal
Fat: 1g = 9 kcal
So, as an example, let’s look at a 1200 kcalorie diet, with the following distribution:
Carbohydrates 50% = 600 kcal = 150g
Protein 25% = 300 kcal = 75g
Fat 25% = 300 kcal = 33g
An important point to note when going food shopping or planning your meal is that there are no “pure” foods that contain nothing but a single nutrient, unless it has been processed and refined, as in refined sugar. Just about every natural food contains multiple nutrients, so you have to choose the food by its major content.
For example, rice—which is a major carbohydrate food—contains 77% carbohydrates, but also 6% protein, and 1% fat. Plus, when it's cooked, the water content goes up, pulling the carb content down to around 50%.
With beef, depending on which portion, the counts are around 20% protein, anywhere from 5%-30% fat, and negligible carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates: 1g = 4 kcal
Protein: 1g = 4 kcal
Fat: 1g = 9 kcal
So, as an example, let’s look at a 1200 kcalorie diet, with the following distribution:
Carbohydrates 50% = 600 kcal = 150g
Protein 25% = 300 kcal = 75g
Fat 25% = 300 kcal = 33g
An important point to note when going food shopping or planning your meal is that there are no “pure” foods that contain nothing but a single nutrient, unless it has been processed and refined, as in refined sugar. Just about every natural food contains multiple nutrients, so you have to choose the food by its major content.
For example, rice—which is a major carbohydrate food—contains 77% carbohydrates, but also 6% protein, and 1% fat. Plus, when it's cooked, the water content goes up, pulling the carb content down to around 50%.
With beef, depending on which portion, the counts are around 20% protein, anywhere from 5%-30% fat, and negligible carbohydrates.
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