question on percentages

KGDOGD · 12-28-2012, 12:52 AM

quick math here tells me I have been off a little bit using the FitDay Pie charts. example is I am trying to use a 50/30/20 protein/carb/fat ratio and after some time now I typed in some numbers and the math didn't add up. 190 calories at 29/8/5 for this portion showed a 60/17/23 ratio which if using simple math shows that the percentages are not accurate. any thoughts?

Kathy13118 · 12-28-2012, 04:14 PM

What numbers would you be typing in? 29/8/5 can't be percentages for a portion because they would only add up to 42%. So I'm guessing those are grams.

If the numbers you have are for grams of protein/carb/fat, then 29*4=116,8*4=32, and 5*9=45. The calories add up to 193. This seems 'close enough' to me to 190, since I don't know what kind of rounding goes on during calculations in the background (done by fitday).

116 (protein) is 60% of calories
32 (carb) is 17% of calories
45 (fat ) is 23% of calories (behold the awesome caloric weight of the fat gram!)

If you explain how you got the 29/8/5 and how you typed it in, it might help.

FranklinPayne · 03-18-2013, 10:30 PM

I have been using FitDay for some months on and off now and just noticed this as well. In fact I came on the forums for the first time to start a topic about this same issue. But then I saw this thread.

Here is a screenshot:

Now, this particular food has

15.8 g fat
10.6 g carbs
23.6 g protein

How the hell does this translate to 51% fat? Over one half of the total!

sarkai90 · 03-19-2013, 06:31 AM

A gram of fat equals 9 calories, while a gram of protein or carbohydrates only equals 4 calories. That's why foods with a high fat content are much higher in calories. So if you were looking for an equal balance of macronutrients, for example, where your pie chart was 33.33% in all three areas, your ratio of FAT: PROTEIN: CARB would look like this--- 8g: 18g: 18g. If you're looking at the grams of macronutrients as equals, you'll come up extremely heavy on your fat intake. Hope that helps!

FranklinPayne · 03-19-2013, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarkai90

... Hope that helps!

It certainly does. Thank you for clarifying.