To calculate total fat in a diet, you can approach it in a couple of ways, depending on what you want to determine: the percentage of fat calories from a specific serving, or simply the total fat grams. Both methods are described below.
Calculating Percentage of Fat Calories in a Serving
This calculation will tell you what percentage of the calories in a serving come from fat.
Method:
- Step 1: Divide Fat Calories by Total Calories. This step calculates the fraction of calories that comes from fat.
- Step 2: Convert to Percentage. Multiply the result by 100 to express it as a percentage.
Example:
- A food item has 100 calories and 45 of those calories are from fat.
- 45/100= 0.45
- 0.45 * 100 = 45%
- Therefore, 45% of the calories in this food item come from fat.
Calculating Total Fat Grams
This calculation will simply convert the total fat grams consumed to a value in calories or percentage, as described in the reference.
Method:
- Step 1: Multiply Fat Grams by 9. Each gram of fat provides 9 calories. This gives you the total calories from fat.
- Step 2: Divide by Calories Per Serving. This calculates the fraction of fat calories to total calories in a serving.
- Step 3: Convert to Percentage. Multiply the result by 100 to express the fat calories as a percentage of the total calories per serving.
Example:
- You consume a food serving that has 10 grams of fat, and a total of 200 calories.
- 10 grams of fat * 9 calories/gram = 90 fat calories
- 90 fat calories / 200 total calories = 0.45
- 0.45 * 100 = 45%
- Therefore, 45% of the calories in this serving come from fat.
Practical Insights:
- Pay attention to the serving size. Fat calculations are typically based on a single serving.
- This approach can be used for one food serving or to analyze your entire daily food intake by adding all the food items eaten in a day.
