Carb Counting Question

Caralynl

I just revised my goals to count carbs based on a 1200 calorie per day diet and here is what I don't understand - maybe I'm just being dense. I reset my goals to 30% carbs (90g/day), 50% protein (150g/day) and 20% fat (27g/day). My question is - carbs are 30% of WHAT?? Protein is 50% of WHAT?? Fat is 20% of What?? Is it 30%, 50% and 20% of the calories?? That doesn't seem correct because that's comparing grams to calories - like apples to oranges. Please advise before I go crazy trying to figure this out. Thanks!

caraiselite

heyy my name is cara lyn too :P

% of total calories.

sallysuze

Protein has calories... so if you eat meat it has calories and protein in it.
Carbs have calories... so if you eat bread it has calories and carbohydrates in it.

If 1/4 of the food you put in your mouth today is carbohydrate, then 25 % of your diet today is carbohydrate. Which leaves 75% of other stuff (that wasn't carbohydrate but is protein, or fat or whatever).

kjw1031

heyy my name is cara lyn too :P

% of total calories.

Yes. If you want to eat 30% carbs, then you're going to have 30% of your total calories to be carb calories.

1 g carb = 4 calories

1 g protein = 4 calories

1 g fat = 9 calories

So if you're eating 2,000 calories,

30% carbs = 600 calories or 150 grams

50% protein = 1000 calories or 250 grams (wow! I salute you!)

20% fat = 400 calories or 44 grams