I have a doubt

Blufayre
Blufayre Posts: 11 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
If I have to eat 189 grams of protiens
140 grams of fat and some grams of carbs

So does my food weigh exactly that much ?

I understand that each food will have different macronutrients
But
Does the total weight of the food tally with the total weight of the nutrients I'm supposed to eat ?

I suppose the food has water in it ?
Like cabbage or some other veggies

Idk if I'm making sense
Can some clarify this for me :$

Replies

  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    The weight of the food has little to do with the weight of the macros. As you surmise, water weight is a thing. A 100-gram tomato has around 18 calories. Assuming that's all carbs (no traces of protein or fat) that would work out to 4.5 grams of carbs per 100 grams.
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
    edited July 2019
    No. the weight of food is not just made up of the amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrate. There will also be the weight of any moisture in the food, as you supposed.

    This is why you need to weigh the food and check it against a reliable entry on the database to figure out how many grams for each macro-nutrient.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    You could eat about 13 kg of cucumbers a day to get about 2.000 calories. You could also eat about 2 kg of ripe bananas for the same amount of calories. The combination of carbs / fat/ protein (as displayed with MFP) adds up to the daily calories eaten.
  • Blufayre
    Blufayre Posts: 11 Member
    Thank you guys !
    This had been confusing me for a while now.
    Had to clarify
  • Blufayre
    Blufayre Posts: 11 Member
    neugebauer52 wrote: »
    You could eat about 13 kg of cucumbers a day

    Hahaha 13 kgs of cucumber that's crazy !
    But yeah I get what you mean !
    Thanks !
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,941 Member
    edited July 2019
    Most, if not all, vegetables and fruit and any plant based foods, for that matter (grains, seeds, nuts etc) also contain insoluble dietary fibre which as the name suggests is not digestible by humans. This accounts for more of the bulk/volume/weight than water alone. It’s essential for the digestive process but passes through undigested but serves the purpose of bulking up the calories to volume ratio. This is why eating a huge salad can leave you feeling ‘stuffed’ for a small calorie cost!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,111 Member
    edited July 2019
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    Most, if not all, vegetables and fruit and any plant based foods, for that matter (grains, seeds, nuts etc) also contain insoluble dietary fibre which as the name suggests is not digestible by humans. This accounts for more of the bulk/volume/weight than water alone. It’s essential for the digestive process but passes through undigested but serves the purpose of bulking up the calories to volume ratio. This is why eating a huge salad can leave you feeling ‘stuffed’ for a small calorie cost!

    Sorry, but that's just not true. The vast majority of plant-based foods get far more of their weight from water than from fiber, even if you count both insoluble and soluble fiber. About the only exceptions would be plant foods that are not in what would normally be considered an edible form (e.g., uncooked dried beans). Even raw oats, which seem quite dry, have just as much water by weight as they do fiber.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,941 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    Most, if not all, vegetables and fruit and any plant based foods, for that matter (grains, seeds, nuts etc) also contain insoluble dietary fibre which as the name suggests is not digestible by humans. This accounts for more of the bulk/volume/weight than water alone. It’s essential for the digestive process but passes through undigested but serves the purpose of bulking up the calories to volume ratio. This is why eating a huge salad can leave you feeling ‘stuffed’ for a small calorie cost!

    Sorry, but that's just not true. The vast majority of plant-based foods get far more of their weight from water than from fiber, even if you count both insoluble and soluble fiber. About the only exceptions would be plant foods that are not in what would normally be considered an edible form (e.g., uncooked dried beans). Even raw oats, which seem quite dry, have just as much water by weight as they do fiber.

    Badly worded, my apologies. What I was attempting to say is that it’s not just water making up the weight of a food item over and above it’s combined macro measurements. Water weight was the only thing mentioned up to that point.
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