Daily Fat Intake Calculator

Entry Fields

In the Total Daily Calories field, enter the total calories you consume daily. This can be your average caloric intake, or your intake for any given day. Or, it can be the amount recommended to you by your healthcare provider, or projected based on a specific diet you plan to follow.

In the Percent Fat Calories field, enter the percent of your daily calories that have been recommended to you which come from fat. For example, if you are calculating for saturated fat, the the American Heart Association (@heart.org) recommends that at most 5 to 6 percent of daily calories come from saturated fat; The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (@health.gov) recommends that 10% or less of daily calories are from saturated fat. Your doctor, healthcare or cardiovascular team may have suggested a different percent to you.

About Calculator

Based on the number of calories in your daily diet and the recommended maximum percent of fat intake, the maximum number of daily calories that should come from fat is calculated, as well as how many grams that translates into.

Knowing your maximum fat grams per day simplifies keeping track of your daily fat intake. That's because food nutrition facts, listed on foods, are shown as grams per serving.

In the US, food labels must list total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat, all of which are listed in grams.

Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated, which are mainly plant-based , do not need to be listed on food levels. Of course, since these are considered healthy fats, foods containing either will usually broadcast so on the label!

Example: A person whose daily calorie intake is 2200 kcals has high LDL (low-density lipoprotein, the bad choletserol). Her doctors has recommended she follow the American Heart Associations's guideline that a maximum of 6 percent of daily calories contain saturated fat. The calculator determines that no more than 132 calories contains saturated fat. It would also calculate that 132 fat calories is equal to 14.7 grams of fat. Know that number - in this case 14.7g of fat - is helpful because now it's just a matter of reading saturated fat, per serving, from the food lable.

How to Calculate Fat Calories Based on Maximum Percent

The calculation of fat calories is done by multiplying total daily calories by the percent you specify. In the above example, 2200 is multiplied by 6 percent: 2200 x .06, which equals 132 fat calories.

How to Calculate Fat Grams From Fat Calories

To calculate fat grams, the fat calories are divided by 9, since there are 9 calories in 1 gram of fat. Continuing the above example, to convert 132 fat calories to grams: 132 is divided by 9, which equals 14.7 grams of fat.