[aimz]

I am using fitday to record my calories but i'm a bit confused. I know i should be having around 40grams of protein per day and under 60 grams of fat per day.....but how many grams of carbs am i suppossed to have? how much is too much??

thanks
aimz

[Heather]

aimz-- It depends on your goals and your calorie levels.

Many of us think of these macronutrients in terms of percentages. The general recommendation is that we shouldn't get more than 30% of our calories from fat for instance (and perhaps lower).

60 grams of fat x 9 calories/gram = 540 calories. I don't know your percent unless I know how many calories you're eating. If you eat 2000/day, then that's 27% from fat, and may be fine on your plan, but if you're eating 1500/day, then that's 36% and high for some plans (though you might be on different plans).

Protein and carbs are each 4 calories/gram, but you could do a similar analysis there.

But again, it depends on the goal of your eating plan. Some people who weight lift may eat more than 30% of their calories from protein to help build muscle mass, others may eat 20% or less...

[aimz]

i dont actually eat 60grams of fat per a day i just know thats the reccomended amount.
i usually eat about 1100 calories per day depending on how much i work out.
you can have a look at my fitday to get a good idea of what im eating everyday in terms of percentages and calories

[kaplods]

Who is recommending up to 60 g of fat? 60g of fat at 1100 is about 50% of your calories from fat. That pretty high.

For the "average" person (not trying to lose weight). 60 g would likely be under the 30% of calories from fat, and well within the typical recommended guidelines.

The problem with many of these numbers is that there are various groups (even among the professionals) which have very different ideas of how the percentages or the minimums should lie.