The 3 Macronutrients - How Much Should You Consume?

The three macronutrients are essential for life

. Carbohydrates give you energy, protein allows new cells to be produced and dietary fats have a number of important roles in the body. But how much do you actually need to be eating? In this article I will be attempting to answer that very question.

Before you start looking at the specific macronutrients, you first need to focus on calories. Ultimately, the amount of carbohydrates, dietary fats and proteins you should be consuming is constrained by calories. Your body will burn a similar amount of calories each day whilst performing the chemical reactions that keep you alive. This is referred to as your metabolism. Your metabolism could be 2000 calories per day, it could be 2500, it could even be 3000. Whatever that number is - you need to find out. This can be done using one of the many basal metabolic rate (BMR) calculators that can be found online.

Once you have determined the amount of calories your body burns through each day you can then start splitting them down into the three macronutrients. There are four main approaches when it comes to splitting calories, each of which are largely dependent on your lifestyle and fitness goals...

1) EQUAL CALORIES (33.3% Carbohydrates, 33.3% Dietary Fats and 33.3% Proteins):-This is probably the best approach for people who lead a normal lifestyle. It will give you equal calories from each type of macronutrient and ensure that you get an equal helping of the macronutrients that your body needs.

2) HIGH CARBOHYDRATE (60%-70% Carbohydrates, 15%-20% Fats and 15-20% Proteins):- If you lead a particularly active lifestyle and regularly participate in cardiovascular exercise then this may be the ideal approach for you. The more cardiovascular exercise you do the more energy you will require. Additional carbohydrates will give you this energy and allow you to maintain your cardiovascular performance.

3) HIGH PROTEIN (15%-20% Carbohydrates, 60%-70% Protein and 15%-20% Fats):- If you lift weights regularly and are trying to pack on some muscle then a high protein diet may be the way to go. When you lift weights you tear your muscles in a controlled fashion so that they can grow back bigger and stronger. Protein is the building block that is used to repair these muscles and when you are lifting weights you need additional amounts to ensure that your muscles are fully repaired.

4) HIGH FAT (15%-20% Carbohydrates, 15%-20% Protein and 60%-70% Fats):- Surprisingly high fat diets are used as a weight loss tool. So if this is your main goal eating more dietary fat may be the best option for you. Consuming high levels of dietary fat forces your body to use fat stores for energy. This is a far less efficient process than burning glucose (the body's preferred energy source that comes from carbohydrates) which means more calories are burned on a high fat, low carbohydrate diet.

Overall, the amount of macronutrients you consume should be within the limits of your metabolism. If your metabolism is 2000 calories per day then you need to make sure that your carbohydrate, dietary fat and protein calories collectively add up to this number. If you are trying to build muscle then 1400 of these calories can come from protein. If you lead a very active lifestyle 1400 of these calories can come from carbohydrates. However, whilst the source of the calories can change the total amount consumed needs to remain constant.

by: Tom Parker

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