Understanding My Daily Calorie Distribution

Written by Greg

Continuing with the theme of learning to better understand my nutrition data, and my daily calorie distribution, I’ve been using the calculators mention in my test of two online nutritional calculators.  I’ve been tracking that information pretty regularly over the last few weeks, and have learned a few interesting things about my eating habits.  I should start off by saying that the sole intent of this exercise has been to “baseline” my eating habits, to see not only how many calories I consume (on average), but also how they’re distributed between protein, fat, and carbs.

If you’ve followed my journey, you are aware that for the last several years, I’ve tried to keep my eating habits very simple.  The goal has been to stay below 2500-calories/day and consume 25-30-grams of fiber.  In terms of weight loss, it has worked very well for me.  But I’m a science geek, and always want to know if I could do a little bit better.  So, what have I learned?

daily calorie distribution

Using my current eating habits, I’m consuming about 2300 calories per day, and getting about 26-grams of fiber.  That’s not unexpected.  However, the above is a graph cut from my page on The Daily Plate, which shows how my daily calorie intake is distributed between protein, carbs, and fat.

What you can see from this graph is that only about 15% of my average calories are being derived from protein.  I’ve been getting another 20-25% from fat, and the remaining 60-65% has come from carbs.

So, the question becomes, can I do better with my eating habits.  I know there’s a myriad of thoughts out there about the correct distribution of calories, and I’d love to hear thoughts from the readers.  What do you think – less fat, more protein?  What is the way to distribute your calories, not just for weight loss, but for overall health in general?

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Tags: daily nutrition, healthy eating

2 Responses to “Understanding My Daily Calorie Distribution”

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  1. fitness strength training
    July 24, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    I would definitely bring up the protein and bring down the fat. They should be equal in a balanced diet, but the carb pie piece looks good. But also it’s important depending on the goals? Are you strength training and trying to gain muscle? If so, I would up the protein to about where the fat is and switch them out.