Food labels give you fat in grams. Dietary advice gives it as a percentage of your calories. Getting from one to the other is the bit nobody enjoys.
This fat intake calculator does it for you. Enter your daily calories and the share you want from fat, and it gives you grams a day, the usual healthy range and the limit for saturated fat, so you can compare them with what’s on your plate.
How to use the Fat Intake Calculator#
- Enter your daily calories. Use your usual intake or your target, in kcal or kJ.
- Enter the share from fat. Dietary guidelines usually suggest 20 to 35 percent. The default is 30.
- Read the result. You get grams a day, the range, the saturated fat limit and a per-meal figure.
The sum behind it#
Fat has 9 calories in every gram. Carbohydrate and protein have about 4. So to turn a share of your calories into grams, divide by 9.
On 2,000 calories a day with 30 percent from fat, that’s 600 calories from fat, or about 67 grams. At the low end of the range, 20 percent, it’s 44 grams. At the top, 35 percent, it’s 78 grams. Saturated fat should stay under 10 percent of calories, which is about 22 grams.
Where the guidance comes from#
For adults, US dietary guidance puts the acceptable range for total fat at 20 to 35 percent of calories, with saturated fat under 10 percent. The World Health Organization suggests keeping total fat to 30 percent of energy or less, saturated fat under 10 percent and trans fat under 1 percent. The American Heart Association goes further for people who need to lower their cholesterol, suggesting 5 to 6 percent of calories from saturated fat.
Not all fat is the same#
- Unsaturated fats in olive oil, nuts, seeds and oily fish are generally the ones to favour.
- Saturated fats in butter, fatty meat, cheese and palm oil raise LDL cholesterol in many people, so keep them within the limit.
- Trans fats from industrially hardened oils are best avoided altogether.
The total in grams matters less than where the fat comes from. A day at 70 grams made mostly of nuts and olive oil is a very different day from 70 grams of pastries and fried food.
Who this isn’t for#
Children, pregnant women, athletes and people with medical conditions often need different targets, and low-fat, Mediterranean and ketogenic diets all set fat differently. This calculator is a general guide. If you have a health condition, or you’re changing your diet a lot, talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian.
Fat on a food label, in calories#
Fat has 9 calories per gram, more than twice the 4 calories per gram in protein and carbohydrate. That is why a small amount of oil or butter adds so many calories. A tablespoon of cooking oil has about 14 g of fat, which is 126 calories. If a snack label shows 12 g of fat, it supplies 108 calories from fat. At 2,000 calories a day with 30 percent from fat, the target is 600 calories, or 67 g. The saturated fat limit of 10 percent is about 22 g.
| Daily calories | At 20% | At 30% | At 35% | Saturated limit (10%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,500 | 33 g | 50 g | 58 g | 17 g |
| 1,800 | 40 g | 60 g | 70 g | 20 g |
| 2,000 | 44 g | 67 g | 78 g | 22 g |
| 2,500 | 56 g | 83 g | 97 g | 28 g |
| 3,000 | 67 g | 100 g | 117 g | 33 g |
Roughly how much fat is in common foods#
- One egg: about 5 g.
- A tablespoon of butter: about 11 g, of which 7 g is saturated.
- 30 g of cheddar cheese: about 9 to 10 g.
- 100 g of skinless chicken breast, cooked: about 3 to 4 g.
- 100 g of fried chicken thigh with skin: around 15 g.
- A handful of groundnuts (30 g): about 14 g, mostly unsaturated.
- Half an avocado: roughly 10 to 15 g, mostly unsaturated.
These are approximate, and the labels on the pack are the best guide. In West African cooking, palm oil is a large source of fat in stews and is high in saturated fat, so it is worth measuring rather than pouring by eye.
Frequently asked questions#
On 2,000 calories, the usual 20 to 35 percent range works out to about 44 to 78 grams a day.
Nine. That’s more than double the 4 calories in a gram of carbohydrate or protein.
Guidelines suggest staying under 10 percent of calories, which is about 22 grams on a 2,000 calorie diet. Some heart health advice suggests lower.
Multiply kilojoules by 0.239. A 8,400 kJ diet is about 2,000 kcal.
Not necessarily. The type of fat and the overall quality of the diet matter more than the total alone.