Week 2 of My Fitness Challenge! What's your daily carbohydrate goal?

My fitness challenge Week #2

This week I realized that I eat way more carbs than I actually need. This post is dedicated to those of you who also have a carbohydrate heavy diet!

I have been using MyFitnessPal and every day by lunch, I was already approaching my total daily carbohydrate limit. This was a huge predicament, especially because I still had dinner and snacks to look forward to during the 10-12 hours left in my day!

I never realized how much carbs I have throughout my household. Carbs in the fridge, carbs in the pantry, carbs in my car. When I need a snack, it seems like everything I own has carbs!! Carbs are an easy option... most don't require preparation, they are available EVERYWHERE and are delicious. My vices are corn, pop chips, rice, bread and crackers (especially w/ cheese).

Here are some tips for you in setting your carbohydrate goals for the day:

1. Figure out what your daily calorie goal is: use this calculator to help you

2. 45% of your total daily calories should come from carbohydrates (remember the goal is not to get rid of carbs, the goal is to have a balanced diet)

3. Figure out your total daily carbohydrate goal. Keep in mind that 1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories.

So...let's do some math:

• Assume your total daily calorie goal is 2000 calories
• 45% of your total daily calories should be calories from carbohydrates
• 0.45 x 2000 = 900
• So 900 calories in your day should come from carbohydrates
• Divide 900 calories by 4 to get the total grams of carbohydrate you can consume for the day
• 900/4=225...So your total carbohydrate goal for the day is 225 grams!
• Then if you divide 225 by 3 meals, you can determine the maximum # of carbs you should eat with each meal
• In this case 225/3 = 75...so we should allow for 75 grams of carbs maximum with each meal
• But remember that through the day you will likely eat carbs outside of your 3 main meals (with the snacks you eat, juice you drink, etc.) 
• Thus, I would recommend deducting 10 grams from each meal depending on how much carbs you eat and drink through the day (you can deduct less, if you tend not to consume carbs between meals)
• 75-10=65 grams...thus you are left with a limit of 65 grams per meals! And you have 30 grams of carbs left over which you can use for snacks, juice or a sweet craving!

4. Educate yourself on what you eat. Our diet doesn't change that often so you won't be looking up new things every day! Read nutrition labels for carbohydrate amounts, use nutrition apps like MyFitnessPal or use the internet to tally up the carbs in everything you eat.

Here's an example of the information you can find in a nutrition label. Always be aware of the serving size!

5. Start carbohydrate counting today!

Any questions, email me at DoctorDeenaMD@gmail.com 
or ask/follow me on Twitter @Doctor_Deena.
 https://twitter.com/Doctor_Deena

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