Thread: Reading the nutrition labels

Originally Posted by maratk1

As of now, i'm on a cutting diet that has been working for me so far over the past month or so. However, i'd like to become a little more precise on the actual amount of calories i'm consuming.

Anyways, when you read the nutrition facts label and, for exaple, u see that something has 100 cals 12g protein and 20g carbs and 2g fat, does that mean that it has a total of

100 cals + 12(4) + 20(4) + 2(9) = 246 cals

or do u not include the 100 cals and just count that as 146 cals?

No - it means that it has a total of the calories stated (do to use your example, it would be 100 calories).

Which is made up from the stated cals of macronutrients (so, to use your example again it would be 12g protein, 20g carbs and 2g fat).

However - most labels will not 'add up (although the examply you gave is a little extreme!!)... Reason being is that different companies have different policies on fiber.

When looking at total carbs - you need to take into consideration the calories in FIBER v's the calories in OTHER CARBS... If the carb cout has some fiber in it, then you have to deduct the fiber calories (fiber has ~2 cals per gram but some labels will not include it at all). Some companies don't count sugar alcohols either... So it is really varaible.

But basically - count the cals stated.

There is a good site that explains it well here:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html