Hi, there. I’m coming across contradictory information online, so I thought you might be able to help me find the right answer.
Basically, I’m trying to discern what the correct balance (if there is such a thing) between carbohydrates and fats intake has to be. Common wisdom I’ve come across seems to suggest that an appropriate balance would have to be something like 50% carbos and 30% fats (exact proportions may vary, but generally sources seem to suggest more carbohydrates than fat). However, should that be certain, I am unaware as to whether that proportion refers to the quantity of food in grams, or to the calories, since 30% of fat in grams would represent more calories than 50% of carbohydrates in grams / your preferred unit of measurement.
Don’t know whether I got to make myself clear, but I am really puzzled and can’t seem to find a solution. I mean, I wouldn’t want to demonize fats either; if the source of calories does not matter all that much, I guess getting more fats would be okay.
So this might help, but the general rule of thumb is to first figure out what your BMR is, say that is 2000 calories, do you want to maintain, lose, gain? Are you training for something? Depending on the answer adjust your total calorie needs. Let’s say you want to maintain and semi active meaning you want roughly 2600 calories a day.
From there you want to figure out how much protein you need first. A good rule of thumb is you want to be around .7 to 1.1 grams per fat free muscle mass. So if you have a fat free muscle mass of 150lbs and you want to gain muscle, you want 165g (150x1.1)a day of protein, or 660 calories (1g of P is 4 calories).
Now for fats you want roughly 20-30% of calories from there. I usually aim for about 30% but this figure greatly depends on your goals. 25-30% for my example situation is fine. At 30% that means you want 780 calories (2600x30%)from fat or 87g of fat (1g F is 9 calories).
So 660+780=1440 budgeted to protein and fat.
That means we have 1160 calories left (2600-1440) for carbs or about 44% of our caloric total. This would give you 290g of carbs a day (1g C is 4 calories). For many, 290 is quite high so you want to make sure you fill up on fat and protein first and use carbs to fill in.
It’s okay if you don’t eat all the carbs, but you should adjust the ratios as you listen to your body. Maybe you find you need 40% fat instead. Conventional wisdom is a great way to build a foundation but every body (literally) is different and you should use the foundation to tweak the macros with what works best for your needs and goals
I might be in the minority here but tracking your calories and macros like this just doesn’t seem to be worth the hassle.
Im as big of a health freak as the next guy. I try and eat plant based and eliminate or minimize consumption of meat, added sugars and simple carbs.
That’s it, I don’t my fitness pal all my meals, I don’t count my calories. Hats off to you if you do, just not worth the hassle in my opinion.
Just think about what your goals are. Building muscle? Hit the gym hard and get protein. Losing weight? Calories in calories out. Eat less, train more. I like to keep things simple.
Totally depends on you as a person, activity level, normal food intake, and some other factors. But the acceptable macronutrient distribution range (AMDR) suggestions you should be getting 45-65% of calories from carbs, 20-35% from fats, and 10-35%. So as you can see, big ranges within those!
So if you had a 2000 calorie diet and wanted 55% from carb, 30% from fat and 15% from protein it would be .55x2000=1,100 divided by 4 because there’s 4 calories per gram of carb. So 1,100/4 = 275 g carb.
.30x2000= 600/4 = 150g protein
.15x2000=300/9(fat has 9 calories per gram)=33.3g fat!
“something like 50% carbos and 30% fats…”
“ …I am unaware as to whether that proportion refers to the quantity of food in grams, or to the calories… “
This refers to calories.
If you’re eating a 2000 calorie diet, 50% of those 2000 calories would be from carbohydrates, and 30% from fat. The remaining would be protein.