Your diet is made up of three macronutrients, namely, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Knowing how to eat these in the right amounts is important when attempting to get rid of extra fat.

“Macronutrient ratio” refers to the ratio in which the total daily caloric intake is derived from the three major nutrients, i.e., protein, carbs, and fats.

Often this is represented by a percentage. For instance, a recommendation of “30% protein” implies that 30% of your total daily calorie intake must come from protein.

So, what is the right macronutrient ratio to help you get rid of extra fat?

First, let me tell you that there is no single, absolute, rigid, “perfect” ratio. Although we are all human, the significant differences between us pertaining to our physiology and metabolism cannot be denied.

Even so, general guidelines that can help a majority of people to get rid of extra fat DO exist.

To begin with, let me tell you that fad diets, recommending an extreme restriction of some nutrients over others, should be ignored at all costs. You must have heard about the “zero carb” diets as well as those that require you to consume incredibly high amounts of fats or proteins.

Keep in the mind that the only logical way to get rid of extra fat is to opt for a balanced approach that gives you the healthy, sensible, and long-lasting results that you want.

Most people can start on the following baseline ratio; this is a ratio that I recommend for almost everyone….

45% carbohydrates
35% protein
20% fat

Using this ratio, which provides your body a balance of all the nutrients that it needs, will help you get rid of extra fat and ensure that it does not return.

Next, let’s figure out how to change these percentages into actual gram amounts….

Start by determining how many calories your body needs each day so as to get rid of extra fat. If you don’t know how to calculate your daily caloric requirement, you can Google “The Harris Benedict Formula,” which is an easy way to calculate it.

The number of grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fats that you should eat in a day can be determined only after you have figured out your personal target calorie intake to get rid of body fat.

The first thing to make note of is that protein and carbohydrates both have 4 calories per gram and fats have 9 calories per gram.

Multiply your total caloric intake by the percentage of each macronutrient, this will help you determine the number of calories you need to consume from each of the three nutrients.

For example, let’s say your daily target caloric intake is 2,000 calories, and you want 45% of your calories to come from carbs. The first part of your equation can be denoted as follows:.

2000 X 0.3 = 900

According to this equation, 900 calories in a day should come from your carbohydrate intake.

To get the total number of carbohydrates in grams that you need to consume, you should next divide the number from the first part of the equation by 4 (carbs have 4 calories per gram). The following equation denotes the second part of your equation:.

900 / 4 = 225

In the above example, you will need to consume 225 grams of carbs a day. Note that these numbers will vary depending on your daily caloric requirement to get rid of fat. Of course, your own numbers will vary depending on how many calories you need to consume each day to get rid of extra fat.

It’s really that easy!

So first find out how many calories you require each day to get rid of extra fat, and then apply the formula I just gave to calculate your daily gram amounts for each of the three nutrients. (Note that these numbers provide you with a rough idea of your daily consumption; you do not have to eat the exact amounts.).

Also, remember that the ratio I’m recommending is not a “magical” number; it’s simply a healthy, balanced way to eat. I can assure you that this ratio, if implemented, is the quickest way to get rid of extra fat!

Depending on what you eat and how much you exercise, weight control diets can be both good and bad. Most weight control diets require that you restrict your calorie intake to about a thousand or less calories per day.

Restricting your calories to such an extent makes your body feel like it’s in a famine, and so it goes into starvation mode. As a result, your body starts preparing for the next “famine” by holding on to every calorie it can.

Thus, when you go back to eating regular food or when you cheat on your diet you start gaining a lot of weight.

This is why most weight control diets aren’t effective. You end up gaining all the weight that was lost, and often you gain more weight than you lose.

It’s a good idea to create a deficit of a few calories instead of cutting back on a thousand or less calories per day, especially since your body doesn’t like to starve.

First you need to calculate the number of calories that your body needs everyday to maintain its current weight. Your daily caloric requirement can be calculated using any of the following two formulae: The Harris-Benedict Formula and The Katch-McArdle Formula.

(If you want a little more info, just do a simple Google search.)

Once you know your daily caloric requirement, in order to find your calorie intake for weight loss, simply reduce 15% to 20% from it.

Reducing your calorie intake by such a small amount will not make you prone to putting back on any weight that you lose, because it won’t trigger a starvation response.

Weight control diets such as the “cabbage soup diets” and “celery and cream cheese diets” are examples of diets that are designed for crash dieting.

These often require that you eat only one or two kinds of foods.

Excluding all other types of foods, you can eat as much of the prescribed foods as you want.

You really don’t need a doctorate in biology to figure out how wrong this is.

While you do lose some weight in the beginning, such weight control diets deny your body the necessary nutrition.

To make matters worse, you tend to easily gain the weight back on, and then some, because such diets trigger the starvation response.

The best weight control diets will require you to follow a healthy diet and exercise regularly.

Good weight control diets result from this perfect mix.

Your body starts to burn calories more effectively and quickly when you exercise, because exercise increases your metabolic rate.

Moreover, the protein required to build lean muscle is also provided by such diets.

You start to burn calories faster than you would otherwise as the increase in muscle mass raises your metabolic rate.

Since the minimal calorie reduction does not reduce the increased metabolic rate, you are able to burn calories such that you can lose weight in a healthy manner.

The market is filled with hundreds of books on weight control diets that make you eat unusual combinations of foods or impose strict limits on the amount of calories you consume.

You cannot expect these diets to work.

Follow the link below for more information on weight control diets that can help you burn fat in a healthy manner….

The myths and truths behind weight control diets.