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kardsharp

I have read a lot that the MFP nember for people is low. Ok, how low, how do I figure this out? 40%carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. I understand that. Just how do I translate that into grams?

Anyone? Feelig a little lost and alone on this one.

Kristine

kardsharp

Is my question not clear? What? This is the 2nd time I have posted it and have not received even one resppnse.

Kristine

600racer

It depends on your goal calories. go to your home page, goals, change goals, customize and enter your percentages and goal calories and it will tell you grams of each.

dme1977

not sure if this helps but it is a food conversion chart.....

http://www.calcul.com/cooking-conversion?type=liquid&qty_t=decimal&qty=3&liquidFrom[1]=1&liquidTo[18]=18

copy and paste into your browser....

kaweenf

I don't think this is the best way to go about doing it, because the body is a whole lot more complicated than just calories in/calories out.


BUT, it's a good starting point to at least know where you stand.

The first thing you have to do is figure out your basal metabolic rate -- basically how many calories you need to eat on a daily basis to stay at the same weight, how much energy you use up just being alive. There are a lot of different methods for this and they will all give you different numbers.

You can use this link to get a good approximation:
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Then, you have to consider how much you want to lose and how fast. Usually this number is based on fat loss, but keep in mind that the weight you lose, especially at the beginning, will not be all fat, and will all be based on what you're doing in terms of exercise. The guideline is that you shouldn't aim for any more than 2 pounds lost a week, for most people, especially if you're not morbidly obese.

One pound of fat contains about 3500 calories worth of energy. I won't get into why or how that's calculated, but that's the number. So, for all intents and purposes, that means if your deficit is 500 calories a day, you'll lose about a pound a week. So, find your BMR, subtract 500, and thats how many calories you need to eat a day to lose about a pound a week, based on the calorie in/calorie out theory (again, its not perfect, but it's a good starting point).

So, now you have a number. And you mentioned you wanted to do 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. I would say that's not really a great ratio and you'll probably feel hungry a lot eating that much in carbs, but again, its a starting point and it's entirely up to what you can stick to reliably.

So you take your BMR, subtract the deficit (500 calories a day for 1 pound a week lost), and then, figure out how many calories in carbs, fat, and protein you need. For 40% carbs, multiply your number by 0.4; for 30% fat and 30% protein, multiply the number by 0.3.

So now you'll have your BMR, your deficit, and then the breakdown of calories with carbs-fat-protein, but it's still in calories. To go from calories to grams, the commonly accepted numbers are that carbs and protein are 4 calories per gram, and fat is 9 calories per gram. So, take those three numbers for carbs, fat, and protein; divide the carbs and protein by 4, and thats how many grams for each of those; and divide the fat by 9, and that's how many grams of fat.

Quick example: Say your BMR is calculated as 1800 calories per day and you want to lose 1 pound a week, subtract 500; so your number is 1300. You want 40% carbs, so 1300 x 0.4 is 520 (520 calories from carbs). You want 30% fat and protein, so 1300 x 0.3 is 390 (390 calories from protein, and 390 calories from fat). To get to grams, for carbs, its 520 divided by 4 = 130 g a day of carbs. For fat, its 390 divided by 9 = 43.3 g a day of fat. For protein, its 390 divided by 4 = 97.5 grams a day protein.

Hopefully that makes sense and helps. Good luck!