How to Calculate Fat Grams

Fats are an important part of our diet; they can nourish our bodies or cause health issues when eaten too much. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, an intake of more then 35 percent of calories in fat can cause health issues and may contribute to increase blood cholesterol and triglycerides. Understanding how to calculate fat grams and your daily fat percentage intake can positively impact your health.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Find the number of calories from fat. If you look at a nutrition label, you'll see two numbers: the total calories and calories from fat. Write down the amount of calories from fat on a piece of paper.

2. Determine how much fat an item has by dividing the total fat calories by 9, as each gram of fat contains 9 calories. For example, if there are 100 calories from fat, then there are 11.11 grams of fat in each serving.

3. Determine the fat percentage. If you're trying to lose weight, you'll need to keep the daily percentage of fat intake to 30 percent or less of total caloric intake. For example, if you're eating an item that has 300 total calories and 100 calories from fat, you'll find that 33 percent of the product is fat. You can find this number by dividing 100 fat calories by 300 total calories.

Tips & Warnings

• Pay attention to the types of fat you're eating. Unfortunately, all fats aren't created equal. Decreasing saturated and trans fats will help reduce your risk for heart disease. Don't worry if a few of your food choices exceed 30 percent total fat. Just make sure to choose other items that are lower then 30 percent to offset the difference.

References

• United States Department of Agriculture

Resources

• Determine How Many Calories to Eat

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