How much fat, protein and carbohydrate does a person need?

Question: How much fat, protein and carbohydrate does a person need?

Answer: You can use my Nutrition Guide to help you determine how many calories and how much fat, carbohydrate and protein you need each day. 

For your example, a woman who weighs 135 pounds and is moderately active needs 1920 calories each day to maintain that weight. The United States Department of Agriculture suggests that approximately 50% of your calories should come from carbohydrates, about 30% from fats, and approximately 20% from protein sources.

For calculating purposes, it helps to know that one gram of protein has about four calories, one gram of fat has about nine calories, and one gram of carbohydrate has about four calories. In this case the 135 pound female would need about 240 grams of carbohydrates, 63.4 grams of fat, and 96 grams of protein per day.

It helps to keep a food diary to keep track of your calories, fats, carbohydrates, and protein consumption, or join Calorie Count. 

By Shereen Jegtvig