The two numbers connect through one figure, and once you use it the planning becomes arithmetic instead of guesswork: calories per gram.
Decide the calories you want per day, then divide by the calorie density of your food to get the weight. That is the whole method, and it explains why two people carrying the same calories can be two kilos apart.
Rough densities worth knowing:
- Fats and nuts, around 6 to 9 calories per gram — the densest thing you can carry
- Dry carbohydrates, around 3.5 to 4 — pasta, couscous, oats, most bars
- Dehydrated meals, often 4 to 5, sometimes less than people assume once you read the packet
- Anything with water in it, well under 2 — this is where the weight goes
A useful target is around 4 calories per gram overall. Below 3.5 and you are carrying water and packaging. Above 5 is achievable but the food tends to be relentless to eat.
So at, say, 3000 calories a day at 4 per gram, that is 750g a day. Five days is under 4kg — which is roughly what you carried, so your problem is probably not the density, it is the quantity and the leftovers.
The practical step: weigh everything once, and write the weight and calories on a list you reuse. Half an hour, and every future trip is a calculation.