Food, macronutrients and calories – make it make sense!

Y Southland gym instructor and personal trainer Camila Peres-Armelin breaks down important info about food, macronutrients and calories to simplify it for you!

Do you know how many calories are your food?

The number of calories for each meal will depend on the ingredients of your meal and which macronutrients are in it. Each macronutrient has a few calories per gram (Table 1).

Table 1

Macronutrients and its Calories Per Gram

Macronutrient	Grams	Calories
Carbohydrate	1	4
Protein	1	4
Fat	1	9

Using this information, you can start calculating how many calories you have in your meal.

Do you know which foods have carbohydrate?
Here are a few examples: fruits, vegetables, bread, potato, rice, pasta, etc.
Do you know which foods have protein?
Here are a few examples: beef, chicken, fish, pork, egg, milk, cheese, etc.
Do you know which foods have fat?
Here are a few examples: nuts, olive oil, avocado, cheese, etc.

Now, here is one example of how many calories you have in a meal with bread, eggs and cottage cheese, considering how many grams of carbohydrate, protein and fat is in it (here we will consider only the main macronutrient of each ingredient).

Two slices of bread (63 grams), 1 spoon of cottage cheese (50 grams), 2 eggs (92 grams)
26.8g of Carbohydrate = 107.2kcal (Bread), 6.3g of Protein = 25.2kcal (Cottage Cheese), 11.8g of Protein = 47.2kcal (Eggs).
107.2 + 25.2 + 47.2 = 179.6kcal total (counting only the main macronutrient of each).

That’s the number of calories in this meal considering only the main macronutrient of each ingredient. If you want a more detailed analysis, you will have to check the macronutrients of each food – how much carbohydrate, protein and fat each ingredient has.

The bread mentioned, for example, also has 6.2g of Protein and 0.3g of Fat, which would add 27.5kcal (179.6kcal + 27.5kcal = 207.1kcal).

The cottage cheese also has 2g of Carbohydrate and 2g of Fat, adding 26kcal. (207.1kcal + 26kcal = 233.1kcal).

And finally, two eggs would have around 9.2g of Fat and 0.1g of Carbohydrate on it, adding 83.2kcal (233.1kcal + 83.2kcal = 316.3kcal total).

On Table 2 there is an explanation showing the macronutrients and the calories from each food to visualise it better.

Table 2

Macronutrients and Calories of One Meal Containing Bread, Cottage Cheese and Eggs

Food	Grams	Carbohydrate (g)	Protein (g)	Fat (g)	Calories (kcal)
Two slices of Bread	63	26.8	6.2	0.3	134.7
Cottage Cheese	50	2	6.3	2	51.2
Two Eggs	92	0.1	11.8	9.2	130.4
Total	205	28.9	24.3	11.5	316.3

Each ingredient will possibly also have micronutrients such as vitamins (Vitamin C for example) and minerals (such as iron, calcium, and magnesium), which are very important and should be considered when planning a diet.

In contrast, here is an example of a chocolate bar.

100g of Milk Chocolate contains 57.2g of Carbohydrate, 7.4g of Protein, and 30.5g of Fat, with a total of 532.9kcal (228.8kcal from Carbohydrate + 29.6kcal from Protein + 274.5kcal from Fat) (Table 3).

Table 3

Macronutrients and Calories of 100g of Chocolate

Food	Grams	Carbohydrate (g)	Protein (g)	Fat (g)
Chocolate	100	57.2	7.4	30.5
Calories (kcal)	532.9	228.8	29.6	274.5

These are some simple but useful tips about how you can see the food you are eating. This allows you to try to plan it in a way that helps you with your goal. For a more detailed diet you should consult a nutritionist.

The examples used were: