RE: Fat % of Daily Calories

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  • joneskaw
    joneskaw Posts: 27
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    bump to mull over later. I am struggling with the macro thing too. As a vegetarian i am struggling to eat fewer carbs and more protein. Still have the low fat mentality in my head and it's hard to change it!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    Its best to calculate your fat target based on g per body weight and then back into that amount based on your calorie target. I set mine at 0.35g per lb of body weight. Take that and multiply by 9 (to get total calories for that amount of fat) and work out what percentage that is of your calorie target. As MFP will only let you set your target in 5% increments - pick the nearest one. You can use this as a minimum - if you go over that is fine as long as you are getting a good balance in you diet, the difference comes out of carbs.

    Lost me here!

    Using an example. Lets say you are 150lb and your total calorie target is 2,000. That would be 0.35g x 150 (body weight) = 52.5g. As fat has 9 calories per gram, that 53g would give you 473 calories. If your total calorie target is 2,000, 473 calories is 24%. So, as MFP only does 5% increments, you would set your fat target at 25% in the goals section of MFP.

    Hope this clarifies things.

    OK. I'm 172 (when not having huge water weight gain). My calorie target is 1700. So, is it .35 g x 172 = 60.2 g. x 9 = 542. 542 calories is 32 %. Hmmm?! Not bad. I think I followed someone else on here with 35%, so I may stay or go down to 30%. Thanks!

    Spot on!

    ETA: the link posted by @dinosnopro is really good and you can use it if you want to do the same thing with your protein (but protein has 4 calories per gram as does carbs).

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