All About Calories & Weightloss Part II

You know your ideal calorie intake but how many calories from carbs protein and fat should you be eating and how do you figure this out when nutritional labels list grams? First decide what type of diet you prefer. The choices below list percentages starting with carbs, protein, then fat:

performance diet for endurance athletes 60-20-20
balanced diet good for maintenance and high activity lifestyles 50-25-25
low carb great for those who have trouble losing 40-30-30
low-fat diet very old school and not your best option for weightloss 65-20-15

Once you've chosen the best diet for your needs, take your total ideal calorie intake and multiply by those percentages. For example I'm currently on a balanced diet so my 1800 calories a day would be divided as follows:

1800 x 50% = 900 carb calories
1800 x 25% = 450 protein calories
1800 x 25% = 450 fat calories.

Most of you probably know that carbs = 4 kcal/gram, protein also = 4 kcal/gram, and fat = 9 kcal/gram. Divide your carb, protein, and fat calories by those numbers and that tells you how many grams of each you need per day:

900 carb calories / 4 = 225g carbs per day
450 protein calories / 4 = 112g protein a day
450 fat calories / 9 = 50g fat per day

So all you have to do is count your total carb, protein, and fat, grams for the day and you should be consuming your ideal calorie intake each day without having to count calories.

When Calories Don't Count
Let's say you've been tracking calories, carbs, protein, fat, and nothing is happening. You're exercising and doing everything right and you're weight and body fat percentage is droppping too slowly or not at all. Contrary to what most people think calories are not the only thing that matter when losing weight. You can be right on track with your calories in vs. calories burned and still not lose weight or bodyfat if you're

Not sleeping enough
Dealing with incredibly high stress levels
Eating all your calories in two meals instead of 5-6 mini meals
Overestimating your exercise intensity (this happens to 90% of dieters)
Eating more starchy carbs than fibrous carbs ie. bread vs. green veggies
Making poor food choices ie. 400 calorie fast food chicken sandwich vs. 400 calorie grilled at home chicken sandwich
Consuming all your carb calories from sugary packaged goods or sugary liquid sources instead of fruits and veggies
Consuming saturated fat from butter, full fat cheese, fast food, packaged crackers/cookies/pastries, instead of good fats from flaxseed oil, olive oil, walnuts
Relying on caffeine, ephedra, or other fat burners too much
Eating less than 25g per day of fiber
Relying too much on protein bars and protein drinks

Losing weight depends on a lot of factors not just calorie counting. If you want your efforts to make a difference focus on calorie counting and other important factors including:

Recommended Reading: Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, one of the country's leading nutritionists, has compiled 154 easy tips, substitutions, mental tricks, strategies, and inspirations that have helped her clients shed from 10 to 50 pounds a year-effortlessly and without feeling deprived.
Diet Simple

Don't forget to read Part I for tips on how to count, slash, and burn those calories