One way you can ensure you are not getting too much fat in your diet is to use a fat grams calculator. The calculation will help you see the amount of calories in your diet that come from fat. The results may surprise you.
Sources of Fat
If you follow one of the many low fat diets, you probably have noticed that many of your fat calories probably come from eating baked goods, high-fat meat options, or fats used to prepare foods. For example, a tablespoon of oil used to sauté your healthy vegetable side dish contains 120 calories, including 15 grams of fat.
Diet Recommendations
Ideally, your diet should consist of no more than 30 percent fat, according to the American Heart Association. This is where a fat grams calculator will come in handy. You need to know your weight and your activity level. If you want to lose weight, you may want to determine your average calorie intake by using a food journal.
How to Calculate Fat Grams
Using a calculator, first enter your present weight, rounded to a whole number. Multiply this number by a factor determined by your activity level. The Women's Heart Association recommends 11 if you are inactive, 13 if you exercise a few times a week, and 15 if you exercise most days of the week.
This figure represents the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. To derive your fat intake, multiple this number by 0.30 to represent 30 percent of your calories from fat.
For this information to be meaningful, you will then need to calculate your fat intake in grams. Divide your fat calories by 9, which is the number of calories equal to 1 gram of fat.
Now that you know your target fat grams, you can make better choices. Nutritional information typically includes fat grams, so you should have no problem determining your daily fat consumption. If your weight changes, use your fat gram calculator to recomputed your figure. Soon, you will able to plan healthy meals without even thinking about it.
