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The 4-4-9 rule: how food calories are actually counted

The 4-4-9 rule: how food calories are actually counted

Food calories come from simple per-gram numbers: protein 4, carb 4, fat 9. This is the Atwater system, made over 100 years ago and still used today. Burnie uses these same factors to guess your meal's calories from text.

13 Jul 2026 · Burnie Academy
atwater calories macros calorie-science

When you read "one roti = 80 calories" on a food app, where does that number come from? It is not magic. Someone multiplied the protein, carbs, and fat in the roti by three little numbers. Those numbers are called the Atwater factors. They are more than 100 years old, and almost every food label on Earth uses them. Let us meet them.

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