How to Calculate Intake

Keeping track of your daily caloric intake can be useful for weight loss and maintenance, monitoring fat intake and making sure you are consuming enough carbohydrates and protein. The Merck Manual for Patients and Caregivers recommends a balanced intake of these macronutrients. Healthy adults should obtain approximately 50 to 55 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 10 to 15 percent from protein and no more than 30 percent from fat.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook or journal
• Calculator

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Instructions

Calculating Caloric Intake

• 1

  Keep a record of the foods you eat throughout the day and record the number of grams of carbohydrates, protein, fat and alcohol in each food and drink. A variety of resources offer searchable databases with the nutrition information for most foods.

• 2

  Add up the total grams of carbohydrates consumed during the day. Multiply this total number by 4. For example: 300 grams of carbohydrates x 4 calories/gram = 1200 calories.

• 3

  Add up the total grams of protein consumed during the day. Multiply this number by 4. For example: 50 grams of protein x 4 calories/gram = 200 calories.

• 4

  Add up the total grams of fat, including saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, consumed throughout the day. Multiple this number by 9. For example: 90 grams of fat x 9 calories/gram = 810 calories.

• 5

  Add up the total grams of alcohol consumed. Multiple this number by 7. For example: 20 grams of alcohol x 7 calories/gram = 140 calories.

• 6

  Add up the total calories obtained from the carbohydrates, protein, fat and alcohol. For example,1200 carbohydrate calories + 200 protein calories + 810 fat calories + 140 alcohol calories = 2350 total calorie intake throughout the day.

• 7

  Determine the number of calories your body requires, based on your basal metabolic rate and activity level, and then try to cut back by no more than 500 calories per day. This decrease can result in as much as 1 pound of weight loss every week.

• 8

  Exercise regularly to augment this weight loss, but try not to aim for losing more than 2 pounds a week, as that is your best chance for keeping the weight off.