The 40-30-30 nutrition plan

In my previous article I explained how to determine the number of calories you need on a daily basis to lose weight. Remembering that this is not an exact science, you need to record your results to see if they are working for you. This article will give you a method for dividing your food servings known as 40/30/30.

The 40/30/30 method

This means that 40 percent of your food will come from carbohydrates, 30 percent will come from protein, and 30 percent will come from fat. Let’s say your eating plan requires you to eat 1,500 calories per day. The breakdown would be 600 calories from carbohydrates, 450 calories from protein, and 450 calories from fat. The question is how do we get those calories from each type of food? Easy, look at the grams on the label.

How many calories per gram?

There are 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates and protein. This means that if something has 30 grams of carbohydrates or proteins, 120 calories will be from those carbohydrates or proteins.

There are 9 calories per gram of fat. This means that if something has 10 grams of fat, 90 calories will come from fat.

If we were to take a look at the whole milk label, it would look something like this:

Serving Size 8 FL OZ

Calories – 150

Total Fat – 8g

Total carbohydrates – 12g

Protein – 8g

The sum of all of that looks like this: 8 g of protein = 32 calories, 12 g of carbohydrates = 48 calories, 8 g of fat = 72 calories. 32 + 48 + 72 = 152. The label rounds the number of calories from fat to 70.

Easy right? Okay, now let’s go back to the 40/30/30 method

Now that we understand how to calculate calories based on the grams of each type of food, we must find out how many grams per day we should consume daily. We are going to take each percentage of the calories in our food (40/30/30) and divide it by the number of calories per gram of each good kind. Going back to 1500 calories, here is how it breaks down.

Carbohydrates (40%) 600 calories = 150 grams (600/4 calories per gram)

Protein (30%) 450 Calories = 113 grams (450/4 calories per gram)

Fat (30%) 450 = 50 grams (450/9 calories per gram)

On the 40/30/30 plan at 1500 calories per day, we will eat 150 grams of carbohydrates, 113 grams of protein, and 50 grams of fat.

What kinds of foods should I eat?

When it comes to carbs, I’ve had the most success with the following carbs: brown rice, cereal / protein pasta, fruits, veggies (you can eat as many green veggies as you like), shredded wheat, oatmeal, and cereal bread. These are known as complex carbohydrates and there are examples of these all over the web. Here’s the key to eating carbs … Eat most of your carbs in the morning, preferably after waking up and within 2 hours of exercising. Why? After fasting all night or after a workout, your body will quickly absorb those carbohydrates (even those high in sugar) much more easily than if you had been sitting all day. If you need 150 carbohydrates per day, try to eat 50 of those carbohydrates immediately after waking up and 50 immediately after exercising.

Carbohydrate recommendation – Eat mostly low-glycemic vegetables and fruits (grapefruit, bananas, apples, etc.) throughout the day and eat most high-glycemic foods (rice, pasta, etc.) after exercising or at night. morning. One of my favorite breakfasts is scrambled eggs with hot sauce and steel cuts with a little honey. Hmm!

Protein recommendations – This one is pretty easy – Chicken Breasts (PLEASE USE POULTRY SPICES!), Lean Ground Beef (USE MEAT SPICES!), Lean Steak (AGAIN SPICES!), Eggs, Substitutes egg, whey protein powder, cottage cheese, fish and pork loin. Any lean meat or vegetarian source of protein will do.

Recommendations for fats – You must mix your sources of fat between saturated and unsaturated fats – Butter (in moderation), cheese (in moderation), avocado, olive oil, walnuts (peanuts have very little nutritional value, it is better to eat anything but peanuts), salmon (good protein too)

Following 40/30/30 is pretty simple. Just calculate your daily caloric needs and meet them. Remember to adjust the numbers as you lose weight. Every 5 pounds or so you should recalculate your daily caloric needs.

As a final tip: the best advice I received for buying groceries in a supermarket is this: Avoid the central islands of the supermarket. Stick to everything that surrounds the islands, such as the produce section, the meat section, the seafood section, and the dairy section, and you should be in good shape. However, that does not include the bakery or deli.