How many carbohydrates should you consume per day according to MACRO distribution?

When your diet focuses on consuming your foods (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) in the right amounts and proportions, taking into account your personal characteristics and with a specific purpose, whether it is losing weight, gaining muscle, recovering from convalescence or simply staying nutritionally balanced, you will be laying the foundations for healthy aging in your body.

What's more, knowing your nutritional requirements and providing nutrients tailored to your individual needs gives you energy during your daily activities, while promoting restful sleep during your rest hours. All of this helps maintain your body's homeostasis, prevent metabolic diseases, and ultimately works as an anti-aging tool.

Most people fall into one of these groups: they want to improve their health (without changing their body weight); they want to reduce their body weight, or even fat; they want to gain muscle mass (while maintaining body weight), combat sarcopenia, if they are an older adult; or they want to improve their sports performance, as is the case with recreational athletes.

Consuming more calories than the body expends leads to weight gain, while consuming fewer calories than the body expends leads to weight loss, including fat and eventually muscle mass. So neither extreme is good.

The timing and frequency of meals also influence energy consumption, as the body's energy expenditure fluctuates throughout the day.

 

Factors that can affect your daily caloric requirement

Age, because as we age, our metabolism initially slows down, decreasing our daily caloric requirement. Your height and body weight , because your dimensions, as well as your percentages of muscle and body fat, influence the calculation of your caloric consumption.

Gender and hormones , where women, due to their menstrual cycles and their anatomical disposition for conception, face energy peaks and fluctuating hormonal stimulations.

Physical activity level and lifestyle , and of course, your health status, because some conditions or diseases affect the way your body assimilates and uses calories. The same happens with some medications that can interfere with your caloric intake and use.

 

We've already learned how much protein and how much fat you may need per day based on your personal specifications. Today I'm giving you the tools to identify how many and which carbohydrates to consume based on different characteristics and lifestyles so that they have an appropriate effect on your body.

 

Calculate carbohydrate intake

We cannot neglect carbohydrate consumption, because it is the most important macronutrient when it comes to providing us with energy and replenishing muscle glycogen reserves during post-workout recovery.

Once you have calculated your protein and fat intake, it is time to calculate the amount of carbohydrates you should consume per day. 1 g of carbohydrates contains 4 kcal. To find out your daily carbohydrate intake, you must subtract the calories from protein and fat from the total calories.

To make things easier for you, you can use a macronutrient calculator that is available on the internet. Once again, here is a link to a simple application that can help you: https://www.myprotein.es/thezone/nutricion/calculadora-de-macros/

Taking the example already used in the article on fat consumption, which I also leave the link to here.

The data entered refers to a moderately active person who wants to lose weight/fat, resulting in a macronutrient distribution of 162g of Carbohydrates, 195g of protein and 68g of fat throughout the day.

Now, to give you an idea of ​​the caloric content and macronutrient distribution of some foods, below you will find a table with this information.

 

Food table by calories, fats, proteins and carbohydrates based on 100 grams

 

Meats (Per 100gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Beef steak	92	20.7	1	0.5
Lamb (ham)	98	17.1	3.3	0
Beef liver	129	21	4.4	0.9
Turkey breast	134	22	4.9	0.4
Chicken (thigh)	130	19.6	5.7	0
Chicken (breast)	108	22.4	2.1	0
Fresh tuna	158	21.5	8	0
Cod	122	29	0.7	0
Squid	68	12.6	1.7	0.7
Gilthead	80	19.8	1.2	0
Prawn	65	13.6	0.6	2.9
Lobster	88	16.2	1.9	1
Hake	71	17	0.3	0
Mere	80	17.9	0.7	0.6
Salmon	176	18.4	12	0
Sardine	124	15	4.4	1.1
Trout	96	14	1.5	0.7
Whole egg (50 gr)	78	7	5.6	0
Fruit (per 100gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Avocado	232	1.9	23.5	3.2
Blueberry	41	0.6	0.4	10.1
Cherry	48	0.8	0.1	11.7
Plum	36	0.5	0.1	8.9
Raspberry	30	1	0.6	5.6
Strawberry	27	0.9	0.4	5.6
Lemon	14	0.6	0	3.2
Tangerine	41	0.7	0.4	9.1
Mango	73	0.7	0.4	16.8
Apple	45	0.2	0.3	10.4
Melon	30	0.8	0.2	7.4
Orange	53	1	0.2	11.7
Pineapple	55	0.5	0.2	12.7
Banana	85	1.2	0.3	19.5
Grapefruit	26	0.6	0	6.2
Watermelon	15	0.7	0	3.7
Nuts and seeds (per 100 gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Almond	499	16	51.4	4
Hazelnut	625	13	62.9	1.8
Peanuts Groundnuts	452	20.4	25.6	35
Walnut	670	15.6	63.3	11.2
Pignolia pine nut	568	29.6	47.8	5
Pistachio	600	29.6	47.8	5
Pecan nut	691	9.17	71.97	13.86 (sugar 3.9g)
Macadamia	718	8	76	14 (sugar 4.6g)
Sunflower seeds	584	21	51	20
Pumpkin seeds	446	19	19	54
Hemp seeds	553	32	49	8.7
Flax seeds	534	18	42	29
Chia seeds	486	17	31	42
Apricot seeds	624	25.51	38.6	14
Vegetables and greens	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Garlic	124	6	0.1	26.3
Artichoke	17	1.4	0.2	23
Celery	22	23	0.2	2.4
Eggplant	16	1.1	0.1	2.6
Broccoli	31	3.3	0.2	4
Zucchini	12	1.3	0.1	1.4
Onion	24	1	0	5.2
Brussels sprouts	31	4.2	0.5	4.3
Cauliflower	25	3.2	0.2	2.7
Asparagus	27	3.6	0.2	2.9
Spinach	31	3.4	0.7	3
Konjac fiber or glucomannan or Shirataki	11	0.3	0	4.9
Fresh peas	70	7	0.2	10.6
Fennel	16	0.5	0.3	3.2
Lettuce	19	1.8	0.4	2.2
Potato	80	2.1	1	18
Cucumber	10.4	0.7	0.1	2
Leek	26	2.1	0.1	2.5
Beet	42	1.5	0.1	8.2
Cabbage	19	2.1	0.1	2.5
Mushrooms (champignons)	35	4.6	0.4	5.2
Tomato	16	1	0.5	0.7
Carrot	37	1	0.2	7.8
Legumes (per 100gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Dried beans	316	23	1.3	61
Chickpea	338	21.8	4.9	54.3
Dried peas	304	21.7	2	53.6
Lentil	325	25	2.5	54
Cereals and Derivatives (per 100gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Rice	362	7	0.6	87.6
Rye	350	9.4	1	76
Cornflakes	372	7.6	1	85.2
Whole wheat flour	321	11	1.9	69.7
Flour	345	11	0.7	82.3
Corn	363	9.2	3.8	73
White bread	270	8.1	0.5	64
Whole wheat bread	230	9	1	47.5
Toast	420	11.3	6	83
Egg pasta	368	19	0.2	73.4
Semolina pasta	361	11.5	0.5	77.6
Polenta (corn flour)	358	8.7	2.7	79.8
Tapioca	363	0.6	0.2	86.4
Fats (per 100 gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Olive oil	900	0	100	0
Seed oil	900	0	100	0
Coconut oil	878	0.8	99	0
Butter	750	0.6	83	0.3
Ghee (clarified butter)	870	0.3	99.5	0
Lard	891	0.3	82.8	0.2
Margarine	747	0	99	0.3
Dairy (per 100 gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Whole milk	63	3.2	3.7	4.6
Semi-skimmed milk	49	3.5	1.8	5
Skimmed milk	33	3.4	0.2	4.7
Whole yogurt	61	3.3	3.5	4
Greek yogurt	117	4.05	9.19	5.04
Whipped cream	381	2.0	19.1	2.7
Cheeses (per 100 gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Cottage Cheese	98	11	4.3	3.4
Feta Cheese	264	14	21	4.1
Peccorino	110	9	7.6	1
Parmesan	374	36	25.6	0
Brie	263	17	21	1.67
Edam	306	26	22	1
Emmental	404	28.5	30.6	3.6
Gruyère	393	29	30	1.5
Mozzarella	245	19.9	16.1	4.9
Others (per 100 gr)	Calories	Proteins	Lipids	Carbohydrates
Sugar-free chocolate	672	12.2	57.5	26.3 (sugar 3.9g)
Black chocolate	505	3.9	34.2	59.6
Milk chocolate	535	7.65	29.66	59.4
Honey	300	0.6	0	80
Manuka honey	340	0	0	82
Yacon honey	286	2.06	0.16	68.53
Bee pollen	314	24.1	4.9	43.5
Nutritional yeast	328	45	6.9	37 (sugar 0g)

 

If you are interested in having a copy of the table in PDF, please write to me at johannakollou@gmail.com

 

How to use this table?

Let's say you love chocolate and want to include it in your diet, but you don't want to undermine all the dietary and exercise efforts that have made your body progress.

Taking the parameters of the previous example again, my question is: where would you classify chocolate in the macronutrient distribution?

First, check the macronutrients on the chocolate wrapper: whether it contains sugar and how much, the amount of protein, fat and of course, the calories.

Since the person in the example is moderately active, he or she is entitled to consume a total of 1690 (if he or she is looking to lose fat, for example).

Depending on the type of diet you prefer, you must distribute your macronutrients while staying within the caloric intake range that corresponds to your goals.

According to the food table, this is an example if the person eats 3 meals a day.

 

First meal

2 hard-boiled eggs (156 calories, 14 g protein, 11.2 g fat, 0 carbs),

1/2 cup (100 gr) Greek yogurt (117 calories, 4.05 gr protein, 9.19 gr fat, 5.05 gr carbohydrate);

with 50 gr (1/4 cup) of raspberries (15 calories, 1 gr of protein, 0.6 gr of fat; 5.6 gr of carbohydrates)

1 slice of whole wheat bread (78 calories, 4g protein; 1g fat; 12g carbohydrates)

1 cup of coffee or black tea , unsweetened (2.5 calories)

 

Second meal

100 gr of cod (122 calories; 29 gr of protein, 0.7 gr of fat; 0 gr of carbohydrates)

Medium salad with

50 gr lettuce (10 calories; 0.9 gr protein; 0.2 gr fat; 1.1 gr carbohydrates)

1 tomato (30gr: 22 calories, protein 1gr; fat 0 gr.; carbohydrates 5 gr.),

1 avocado (100gr: 250 calories; protein 2gr; fat 24 gr; carbohydrates 3.2gr),

1 small onion (25gr: 10 calories; protein 0.3gr; fat 0.1 gr; carbohydrates 2.2gr),

2 tablespoons or 28g of olive oil (238 calories; protein 0g; fat 28g; carbohydrates 0g) and

2 tablespoons (28g) of apple cider vinegar (6.2 calories; protein 0 gr; fat 0 gr; carbohydrates 0.3 gr)

½ cup rice (50gr; calories 180; protein 7 gr; fat 0.6gr; carbohydrates 44 gr)

 

Third meal

2 slices of whole wheat bread (156 calories, 8g protein; 2g fat; 24g carbohydrates)

½ cup (100g) cottage cheese (98 calories; 11g protein; 4.3g fat; 3.4g carbs)

100 g of smoked salmon in slices (117 calories; 18 g of protein; 4.3 g of fat; 0 g of carbohydrates.

Aromatic drink like unsweetened chamomile tea

 

Total calories: 1577.7

Protein: 100gr

Fat: 86 gr

Carbohydrates: 105 gr

Now 1690 – 1568 = 122 would be the calories that you can still include in your total daily caloric intake.

In principle, you would be entitled to a piece of chocolate containing those 122 calories.

However, if you want more chocolate, you can reduce the amount or eliminate some of the foods from that day's menu and, above all, at the time that you would consume that chocolate.

 

Helpful Tips According to Anthony Collova Founder and Designer of IIFYM (Sort of If It Fits Your Macros):

Consume at least 1-2 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body weight and more if you are an active person or athlete, older, or recovering from an injury.

Consume about 1 gram of healthy fat per kilogram of lean weight.

It is recommended to consume 25% (in pounds, 50% in kg) of your body weight in fiber and that would be part of your total daily carbohydrate intake .

The rest of the calories according to your Total Daily Caloric Expenditure will be made up of carbohydrates.

Try to drink between 2-3 liters of water a day apart from other liquids such as tea, coffee, juices, etc. This has several important effects on the body apart from helping you balance your weight.

If your weight loss process hits a plateau, reduce your carb intake to 15-20 grams . (People with more weight to lose may gain more than those with less to lose.)

Adjust your macros ONLY when your fat loss plateaus for 10 days or more.

Never cut calories, carbs or fat if you are still making progress in fat loss. Any changes you make should be infrequent and deliberate.

 

Things to remember:

• Select foods rich in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) first. Once you have met your micronutrients, opt for foods you enjoy eating, staying within your personal macro range.

• Take a gender-specific multivitamin to make sure you cover your micronutrients.