The foods that we eat everyday provide us with macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients – our carbohydrates, proteins, and fats – are what supply us with calories, and calories are nothing more than a unit of energy. Some people jump when they hear the word calorie but as you will find out below, calories are vital tools for our survival and nothing to be afraid of.

 

 

The Role of Calories

Calories have three primary roles, as outlined below.

• 70% of the calories we consume are put toward the basic functions of our organs and tissues
• 20% of the calories we consume are put toward physical activity
• 10% of the calories we consume are used for the digestion of food

Macronutrients and Calories

An important concept to understand is that the three macronutrients differ in the amount of calories they provide per gram. Carbohydrates and proteins provide four calories per gram, while fats provide nine calories per gram. 

Fats have more than double the amount of calories per gram than both carbohydrates and proteins, but does that mean that fats are bad for us? No, it does not. 

One of the advantages of fats is that they are a concentrated source of energy. Said another way, fats provide us with a large amount of energy in a small amount of space. They are an efficient way to store energy. If we wanted to get the same amount of energy from carbohydrates and fats, we would need to eat more than double the amount of carbohydrates than we would fats.

Where Do We Go From Here? 

Once we remember how many calories are in every gram of carbohydrate, protein, and fat, it is easy to make some different calculations. For example:

We eat a meal and let’s say we know that the food we ate consisted of 30 grams of carbohydrates, 20 grams of protein, and 20 grams of fat. Approximately how many calories did we consume?

30g of carbohydrates x 4 calories = 120 calories

20g of protein x 4 calories = 80 calories

20g of fat x 9 calories = 180 calories

In total, we know that we consumed approximately 380 calories during this meal. 

 

Your ability to perform these kinds of calculations will only help your journey, further your understanding, and maybe even help you understand how to read nutrition labels and spot inconsistencies (it happens). Ultimately, the more you understand, the more empowered you are to make educated decisions and choices.