What inspired me to write this article is my wife is preparing for her
very first
bodybuilding competition. Many of the questions she
continually asks are related to dieting and how to calculate correct
portions based on the nutritional values of foods. It has made me really
understand how much knowledge I have gained and how much I still need to
learn. As I begin to write this, I reflect back to the time I was given
a diet that stated that my overall proportion of carbohydrates, protein,
and fat should be the following:
Protein = 50%
Carbohydrates = 20%
Fat = 30%
Man, was I confused. How could I figure out what my total caloric intake
was? I mean, I had previously read that the easiest way to calculate
your total caloric intake for losing, maintaining, and gaining weight
was by multiplying your current weight by 12 to lose up to 2 pounds per
week, by 15 to maintain your current weight, and by 20 to gain up to 2
pounds per week. At the time I weighed 195 pounds and needed to lose 20
lbs to compete as a Middleweight.
Question was, "How can I do that and what was the proportions above
telling me"? What I discovered was how simple it really is. Given that
you can bring all the pieces of the so-called pie together and
understand what each piece means. So, in theory, if I wanted to lose up
to 2 pounds per week, all I needed to do is multiply my current weight
by 12. Doing so gave me a resulting total calories intake per day of
2340.
Now, the question was, "How do I determine the proportions of
carbohydrates, protein, and fat based on the total caloric intake?" It
seems easy right? Based on the numbers above, if 50 percent of total
calories should come from protein, 20 percent from carbohydrates, and 30
percent from fat, that translates into 1170 calories from protein (50%),
468 calories from carbohydrates (20%), and 702 calories from fat (30%).
Problem is that all nutritional labels usually provide the values of
protein, carbohydrates, and fat based on grams! The answer to the
madness is also on the label, however, it requires a little mathematical
equation to figure it all out. At the bottom of the label, you will find
information that is extremely beneficial when performing the needed
calculations. It states the following:
4 calories per 1 gram Protein
4 calories per 1 gram Carbohydrate
9 calories per 1 gram Fat
As you see, this information is very important when determining the
amounts in grams of each of the previous nutritional components. With
this information, we can now conclude that, for a 2340 total calorie
diet, the number of grams of protein is determined by the by performing
a calculation like the following:
1170 calories/4 calories per gram = 292.5 protein grams
Similarly, for carbohydrates, I use the following:
468 calories/4 calories per gram = 117 carbohydrate grams
Finally, for fat, I will use:
702 calories/9 calories per gram = 78 grams
So based on the 50-20-30 ratio for a 2340 calorie diet, I was able to
calculate the total grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fat! Easy
right? You'd be amazed how many enthusiast like yourself have not yet
figured this out. Once you do, it is simple to determine any part of
nutritional facts into something useful. The generic statement, "Percent
Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.", becomes much more
understandable and less intimidating. Many of us don't have a need to
understand the low level details and never do.
In addition to performing the preceding calculations to determine
portions, I strongly urge and suggest that you also keep a unit’s
converter handy as well. Most times we are told to eat 8 ounces of this,
2 ounces of that, a 1 ounce of those. Unfortunately, when reading
nutritional labels, they often indicate serving sizes in terms of, for
example, 1 teaspoon or 5 grams. So, say you are supposed to take 1 ounce
of something yet the serving size says a single serving equals 1
teaspoon or 5 grams. How do you translate this into what you are
required to do? Simply find a unit converted and make your life easier.
A unit converted will provide the necessary formula to convert ounces to
grams (multiply ounces by 28.34957). The amount of precision is up to
you and how much you want to punish the brain. A good unit converter
provides many different formulas for converting capacities, weights
etc... I have found it very useful indeed!
 Things to remember during and after
calculations are: 1) Be very
careful! I've said this before and it is very important to remember that
"Size Does Matter!". I'm talking about serving size for all you whose
minds just hit the gutter. Often we find out "after the fact" that a
container held multiple servings; however, the
nutritional label
provided facts based on only a single serving! 2) Always know what your
goal is. This is important information, for example, as I had mentioned
previously, I needed to lose 20 pounds in order to compete as a
middleweight. If I were to adjust my caloric intake to 2340 to lose 2
pounds per week, I would need to begin dieting 10 weeks from my
competition to achieve my goal. 3) Always, always, remember that when
focusing on fat values, "saturated fat is the bad guy!". Just because
something may have 17 grams of fat doesn't always mean its bad. Peanut
butter and Olive Oil usually have approximately 17 grams of fat per
serving, although, most of the fat is in the form of polyunsaturated and
monounsaturated fats, "good guys".
Well, to those of you who have already figured this all out, I apologize
for consuming your time. For those of you who hadn't, it has proved to
be very, very valuable information to myself and my wife during contest
dieting!
Delbert Hickman
Natural
Bodybuilding at its Finest - Lift for Life.com
|
