How to Set Up a Fat Loss Diet Part 3: Macronutrients

Previously in ‘How to Set Up a Fat Loss Diet Part 2: Calorie’, we’ve gone through the calculations of daily calorie intake for fat loss. In this post, we will move to the next part which is calculating our macronutrients intake.

What are macronutrients?

To make it simple, macronutrients are nutrients that our body require in large amount, such as protein, carbohydrates and fat. They are important as they make up our total calories and greatly influence our body composition (how we look). Not to forget, for health reasons as well. The proper macronutrients intake will also allow you to maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle loss on a fat loss phase. So, let us begin right away.

Step 1 Calculating Daily Protein Intake

The general recommendation for protein intake is 1g per pound of body weight. A little more or less than this number is totally fine but for this guide alone, we’ll stick with that.

E.g. Mr A weighs 70kg

70 x 2.2 = 154lbs (convert the kg to pound by multiplying 2.2)

So, Mr A’s daily protein intake is 154g.

Step 2 Calculating Daily Fat Intake

Fat is always considered the culprit for making us ‘fat’ but that’s not true. What makes us fat (gain weight) is by eating at a calorie surplus over time. So, we do need adequate fat intake and the recommendation is about 20%-30% of total daily calorie intake. We’ll go with 25% of total daily calorie intake as a good middle range. The number is then divided by 9 to convert it into grams.

E.g. Mr A consumes 2000 calories daily

25% of 2000 = 500

500 divided by 9 = 56g

So, Mr A’s daily fat intake is 56g

Step 3 Calculating Daily Carbohydrates Intake

Lastly, for carbohydrates, all we need is to deduct our total daily calorie intake with our protein and fat calories. (need to convert the protein and fat from grams to calories firstly)

Formula:

Total Daily Calorie Intake – (Protein (g) x 4) – (Fat (g) x9) = Carbohydrates Intake.

E.g. Mr A who consumes 2000 calories, 154g protein and 56g fat daily.

2000 – (154 x 4) – (56x9) = 880

880 is the calorie for carbohydrates but we need to convert it into grams, by dividing 4.

E.g.

880 divided by 4 = 220g

So, Mr A’s daily carbohydrates intake is 220g.

To wrap it up, Mr A’s total daily calorie intake is 2000, 154g protein, 56g fat and 220g carbohydrates. And that is all!

Additional Note**

Why the number ‘4’ for protein and carbohydrates but ‘9’ for fat? This is because…

1g of protein = 4 calories

1g of carbohydrate = 4 calories

1g of fat = 9 calories

(just keep this in mind if you’re curious why we need to divide or multiply those numbers previously)

Bottom line

The right macronutrients intake is crucial to achieve proper fat loss. Counting calories alone may cause weight loss, but if you want to lose mainly fats, macronutrients need to be dialled in as well. The calculations may seem complicated, but if you take your time to go through it properly, I’m sure you’ll do fine. On the next part, we will look at food choices for a proper fat loss diet.

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