The 40-30-30 Nutritional Plan

In my previous article, I explained how to determine the number of calories you need each day 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 of dividing food portions 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 meal plan calls for 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 for carbohydrates and protein. This means that if something has 30 grams of carbs or protein, 120 calories will come from those carbs or protein.

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

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

Serving Size 8 FL OZ
Calories – 150
Total Fat – 8g
Total Carbs – 12g
Protein – 8g

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

Easy right? OK, now back to the 40/30/30 method

Now that we understand how to calculate calories based on grams of each type of food, we need to figure out how many grams per day we should consume daily. Let’s take each percentage of calories in our food (40/30/30) and divide it by the number of calories per gram of each good kind. Going back to the 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)

In 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 kind of food should I eat?

When it comes to carbs, I’ve had the most success with the following carbs: brown rice, grain/protein pasta, fruit, vegetables (you can have as many vegetables as you want), shredded wheat, oatmeal, and grain 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 you wake up and within 2 hours of exercising. Why? After an overnight fast or after exercising, your body will quickly absorb those carbs (even the high-sugar ones) much more easily than if you had been sitting all day. If you need 150 carbs per day, try to eat 50 of those carbs right after you wake up and 50 right after you exercise.

carbohydrate recommendation – Eat mainly low-glycemic vegetables and fruits (grapefruits, bananas, apples, etc.) throughout the day and eat most high-glycemic foods (rice, pasta, etc.) after exercising or in the morning. morning. One of my favorite breakfast items is scrambled eggs with hot sauce and steel chips with a little honey. Hmm!

Protein Recommendations – This one is pretty easy: chicken breasts (PLEASE USE POULTRY SPICES!), lean ground beef (PLEASE USE BEEF SPICES!), lean steak (AGAIN, SPICES!), eggs, substitutes of egg, whey protein powder, cottage cheese, fish and pork tenderloin. Any lean meat or vegetarian protein source will do.

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

Following the 40/30/30 is quite simple. Simply calculate your daily calorie needs and stick to it. Remember to adjust the numbers as you lose weight. Every 5 pounds or so, you should recalculate your daily caloric needs.

One final piece of advice: The best piece of advice I’ve ever received for grocery shopping is this: Avoid the middle islands of the supermarket. Stick to everything around the islands, like 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 delicatessen.