CrossFit South Bend

There’s 1 question I get more than any other when it comes to weighing and measuring food. Here is an example of the question:

If I put a sweet potato on a scale and the scale says “227g” is that how many carbs are in the sweet potato?

Put simply, no.

There would only be 41g of carbs in that sweet potato.

Why?

Because that “227g” on the scale is the WEIGHT of the food itself, not the amount of macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat) in the food.

Seeing 227g on your food scale is equivalent to saying you have a half pound or 8oz of food by WEIGHT on your scale whether that’s beef, chicken, sweet potatoes. etc.

However, the amount of protein, carbs and fat in that food is different from the weight.

For example when it comes to animal protein:

8oz/.5lb/227g by WEIGHT of 85/15 ground beef has 42g of protein and 32g of fat.

Meanwhile the exact same amount by weight of chicken breast has 52g of protein and 3g of fat.

On the carb side here’s a good example

8oz/.5lb/227g by WEIGHT of a white potato is 48g of carbs, and 5g of fiber

Meanwhile the exact same amount by weight of butternut squash has 27g of carbs and 14g of fiber.

So how do you know the conversion between the weight of the food and the actual macronutrient amounts for the food (protein carbs and fat). You can look them up online, but the easiest way is to use something like MyFitnessPal to do the conversion for you.

Also with oils it’s super easy to remember. 1 Tablespoon of oil=14g of fat. I hope that clears things up.

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments.