Calculating Current Macros and Calories

-
Calculating the amount of macro nutrients i.e. carbohydrates, proteins and fat may or may not be the best strategy for everyone. In addition these calculations are not 100% accurate and at times they may overestimate or underestimate the result. Although it does help to know how much an individual is currently eating and how much they may need to eat to reach their goal.


In any case, keeping the goal (weather fat loss or weight gain) in mind the first thing that paves the way for future decisions is to access what your current macro nutrient and calorie intake is. This can be done by observing the food you are eating for a few days (to check for variance), noting it down and assigning the food eaten to specific macro nutrients i.e protein, carbohydrates and fats. It is best to note the foods by weight (like grams, etc). Once you have a day's food intake measured and written down, simply add the weights of carbohydrates, proteins and fats individually. Repeat this for few days in case you consume a varied diet with variable quantities. With this you will get an estimation of your current food intake. Consider the following example for food measured for one meal:

Food                       Weight                  Carbohydrate              Protein                 Fat    
Chicken Breast     100 grams                     0  g                           21 g                    9 g                      
Brown Rice          200 grams                    48 g                           4.6 g                   1.6 g                    
Olive Oil              14 grams (1 tbsp)           0 g                             0 g                     14 g      


For all the food items consumed which are noted in grams you can convert them to calories (kcal) by multiplying with the respective carbohydrate, protein and fat multipliers which are 4, 4 and 9. This is done because carbohydrates and proteins each have 4 kcal while fat being more dense has 9 kcal.

Continuing with the example meal above, we can calculate total calories consumed as follows:

Carbohydrates = 48 g
Protein = 21+4.6 = 25.6 g
Fat = 9+1.6+14 = 24.6 g

Therefore total calories = (48*4) + (25.6*4) + (24.6*9)
                                      = 192 + 102.4 + 221.4
                                      = 515.8 kcal

Repeating the same procedure as above, calculate the calories for all meals/foods consumed during the day. Another example given below shows how the total carbohydrate, protein and fat consumed and total calories can be calculated for the day.

Food consumed over one full day (expressed in grams):
Carbohydrates  =  200  grams
Protein             =  100 grams
Fat                   =   110 grams

Total Calories = (200 * 4) + (100 * 4) + (110 * 9)
                        = 800 + 400 + 990
                        = 2190 kcal

Different foods will have different values of carbohydrates, fats and protein. There is no point in trying to remember or cram all these values as the numbers of foods available today are simply too much, using any free food tracking software/app/website can make things quiet easy. Calculating calorie and macro intake would seem tricky at first but gets easier as you get familiar with it. In case you measured food intake for multiple days and got different numbers in all of them, take the average of the two highest values each for carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

Note: Before starting/changing an exercise and/or dietary program consult a qualified doctor/health care professional.    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can we reduce body fat without reducing body weight?

-
Image
Every time we step on a weighting scale to check our weight, we see a number which shows us the total body weight. For the sake of this post, I'll be using the following equation:  Body Weight = Fat Weight + Lean Body Weight To know more about Lean Body Weight and Fat Weight click  here . In simple words, it is possible to lose body fat without losing body weight, with the assumption that the lean body weight also increases roughly by the same amount as body fat reduces. Now if the change in body fat (decrease) is unequal to the change in lean body weight (increase), body weight will change. This change in body weight will be dependent on the relative changes in either body fat or lean body weight or both. There can be several reasons for losing inches from the waist or a reduction in body fat without seeing any change in body weight. Some reasons are listed below: Reduction in body fat with a roughly equal increase in lean body mass. If you’re not doing wei
Read more

Keeping it cool during workouts

-
Rising body temperature during rigorous exercise is quiet common. Humans have an inbuilt capability to increase their body temperatures at will, such as during periods of intense exercise. Some factor which also add to this are the environmental factors (climate, etc), time of the day, current diet and hydration status, etc. In countries where the climate is more humid or if there is a heat wave going on thereby increasing the day temperature to over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), exercising can become more exhausting. While it may come as a surprise to some but given the so many functions that the human body is capable of performing, one thing that it just cannot do is cool itself down intentionally. Of course there is temperature regulation taking place from evaporation (from sweat), radiation, convection, etc. but these are mere process of heat loss (heat dissipation) which as a result cool the body down. Some strategies for working out in extremely hot condit
Read more

Cooking on a Fitness Program

-
Cooking forms an integral part of any fitness program. While we may consider regular exercise, healthy eating habits, etc as essential components of a fitness program, more often than not we prefer to outsource the cooking aspect on a fitness program to someone else. Any fitness program weather fat loss, weight loss or weight gain requires eating as per the goal desired. For those living with families, it may sometimes become difficult to consume meals as per the desired goal due to various reasons including depending on others to cook meals for them, not knowing how to cook, etc. Also, preparing two separate kind of meals, one for that member of the family following a specific diet and the other for the remaining members, not only becomes more time consuming but at the sane time may not be financially efficient for some. In some cases it may even happen that the entire family may have to consume meal prepared as per the likes of one member who is on a fitness program. While
Read more