You're not just a name. You're a number!

Weird title.  I know.  I couldn't think of anything better...and that popped in my mind, so what the heck.  Got your attention, though, didn't it?

Below I'm going to describe how you can go about finding out what percentage of your daily calorie intake you're eating of fat, carbs and protein.

If your total calories for a day were 1848, you would do the following math to figure out what percentage of those calories your fat, carbs and protein were:

Fat provides 9 calories (9xF)

Carbs provide 4 calories (4xC)

Protein provides 4 calories (4xP)

First, you need to understand how many calories are in the amount of grams of fat, carbs and protein you ate.  You'll notice that nutritional information on packages list those items in grams.  Multiply your total fat, carbs and protein you ate by the appropriate number listed above to find out how many calories are in each item, then take that number and divide it by your total calories for the day.  Lastly, multiply that number by 100 to make it a percentage.  See below.

I ate 68 grams of fat.  68 x 9 = 612 (this is the amount of calories fat provides)
612 divided by 1848 x 100 (to get the percentage) = 33.12%

I ate 181 grams of carbs.  181 x 4 = 724 (this is the amount of calories carbs provide)
724 divided by 1848 x 100 (to get the percentage) = 39.18%

I ate 95 grams of protein.  95 x 4 = 380 (this is the amount of calories protein provides)
380 divided by 1848 x 100 (to get the percentage) = 20.56%

So what percentage of your diet should these things be?  There are many answers out there.  This is the most reliable one that I could find:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/NU00200

You'll see an introduction, and to the left of that introduction is a list - carbohydrates, protein, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, fiber, sodium and sugar.  Click on each one to read how much the Department of Agriculture recommends. 

I am in the process of trying to find research that states what these percentages should be if you're trying to LOSE weight and GAIN muscle (but not be a bodybuilder by any means!!!).  If I am able to find anything on this, I'll let you know.  I didn't want to wait to post this for you, though, as I think it's helpful to calculate these totals to really "see" what your diet looks like.