Kinda new

Jdkbs

Hello,

I've been register with fitness pal for a couple of years, logged in a few days? Ive read a few emails. Mostly I've been suffering from bad depression and not being able to follow through very long with anything.

Ive been seeing my doctor and do feel better and hopeful that I can make low carb a lifestyle. What is the best way to use fitness pal? Does everyone keep a food diary and track calories while doing low carb? What is the advantage of having friends? I'm assuming they can see your diary? Anything else?

I plan on doing an Atkins type of lc diet and also exercise when I feel energetic enough.

Appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks!

J

LowCarbHeart

Welcome! I'm doing Atkins too and love it! The main advantage I've found with MyFitness Pal is the community support. It helps keep me motivated and every day I'm learning something new about health and wellness and getting a new recipe to try!

Jdkbs

Thanks, I definitely need the community. The suggestions and successes of others will be uplifting. Not to mention recipes.

robert65ferguson

Hi JD and welcome to the group. Most people find MFP useful because it helps to keep us accountable. MFP also helps us to make good choices when it comes to deciding what to eat in terms of its nutritional value. While many people track calories, the most important objectives are to reduce carbs to at least 50 gms and to have a moderate target for protein with the balance coming from fats. Having friends on MFP can be a real source of support and encouragement. You will find lots of people in this group willing to share their experience. In terms of people seeing your diary, the decision is yours you can set your privacy settings to have your diary open to everyone, open to your MFP friends or you can decide to keep it private. If you look in the announcement section of this group you will find links to the basics of Low Carb eating. Start with the start link in the announcement section, then take your time to read some of the threads and get a feel for the group. When you're ready to ask questions you will find lots of help here. I wish you well on your journey to a healthy and active life.

DAM5412

Welcome to the LCD forum, here you are going to find lots of success stories, as well as those of people's struggles. There are threads for recipes, success (scale and non-scale), hints on staying motivated, threads talking about mistakes and how to bounce back...just so much information. Some people are very vocal and supportive, others just stay in the background and observe---whatever works for you, take what you need and leave the rest.

As far as MFP, yes, it's helpful for tracking food intake, managing macros, etc. If you haven't already, look to the Launchpad and learn how to set your macros and there are some keto calculators. There are a few Keto/LCD forums, if this your chosen way of eating, stick to those forums and try not to go too much to the main forums. The main forums have a lot of people who will tell you that LCD is not sustainable, is not necessary and that Calories are king...which in some way is true, you will not lose if you are not in a calorie deficit, but for some people (like me) there a high-carb deficit is very hard to reach, while I can eat a bit more on LCD then on a high carb, and still lose weight.

Good luck, please friend me and ask whatever you need. I consider myself a newbie (been learning since Sept. 2014), but will be supportive and as helpful as possible!

Jdkbs

Thank you for all the advice. I will start in the announcements section and stick to the lc forums. Its so nice to have people to share experiences.

tru2one

Jdkbs wrote: »

Hello,
Mostly I've been suffering from bad depression and not being able to follow through very long with anything.
J

Fellow (diagnosed) depression sufferer here. I guarantee that this will be one of the very best ways of eating that you can adopt to address this problem. Just stick it out for the first couple of weeks and watch the magic unfold. :-)

Jdkbs

Thanks really needed to hear that. I'm four days into lc again and constantly worried...am I going to stick it out this time, am I going to get bored of the foods, should I even bother stocking my kitchen with lots of lc foods, will I just donate them to the local food kitchen again...

You've given me hope these feelings will pass.

dawlfin318

tru2one wrote: »

Jdkbs wrote: »

Hello,
Mostly I've been suffering from bad depression and not being able to follow through very long with anything.
J

Fellow (diagnosed) depression sufferer here. I guarantee that this will be one of the very best ways of eating that you can adopt to address this problem. Just stick it out for the first couple of weeks and watch the magic unfold. :-)

And eating coconut oil is highly recommended.

lsereduk

Jdkbs wrote: »

Mostly I've been suffering from bad depression and not being able to follow through very long with anything.

Hi J,

I'm Lacy. I went through a similar experience about 4 months ago. I started watching what I eat in late December and started MFP about 3 weeks ago. Having a healthier diet helped a lot with depression so I quit taking medication; and being able to see everything with charts and graphs has really helped me stick with it. I've started exercising and really think it's a great tool. I have one friend that also uses MFP and it's really nice to have someone like your status when you fill out your food diary or exercise. It gives a little boost to your pride. I'd be happy to be your friend and help motivate you to stick with it.

fancyroberts

I am still trying to figure it all out. Can anyone tell me if my fat/protein levels seem alright? 73 fat / 75 protein??

FIT_Goat

fancyroberts wrote: »

I am still trying to figure it all out. Can anyone tell me if my fat/protein levels seem alright? 73 fat / 75 protein??

If those are grams, you're not doing the diet right. If those are percentages, you're not going math right.

Rockmaker

Hi and welcome Jdkbs and everyone else
There is a great calculator tool that I found reading some posts. It tells you exactly how many calories/fat/protein/carbs you need based on your exact requirements. Check it out:
iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
After it gives you your info, you go into myfitness goals and adjust them with the data. It was a little tricky for me, but I figured it out. If you have any questions, let me know.

camtosh

Here is another online calculator to compare for macro and calorie estimates:
http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

Generally aim for HIGH fat, moderate protein and low carb in grams.

Jdkbs

Thanks Lacy, its funny when you share your experience you find your not alone at all. Glad to hear your feeling better.

Sugarbeat

Welcome! Feel free to add me. MFP does work by keeping us accountable. I wouldn't necessarily rely on MFP's settings though, you might want to fix those. Personally, I'm ignoring the suggestions for calories altogether and am only tracking for tracking's sake. I'm trying to find my maintenance calories on my own.

Also, just a suggestion, you might want to stick to LC group, success stories boards, maybe motiviation. If you post a question or comment about LC to the general or food boards, expect it to be met will all sorts of negativity, most of which is based on ignorance.

fancyroberts

Oh no!! Thanks Fit_Goat.....but what should my settings be at??

In my diary now I have:

Calories 1200
carbs 60g
fat 73g
protein 75g
sugar 40g

I can use all the help I can get!! Thanks so much, your input is appreciated as well as anyone else's!!

SOOZIE429

fancyroberts wrote: »

Oh no!! Thanks Fit_Goat.....but what should my settings be at??

In my diary now I have:

Calories 1200
carbs 60g
fat 73g
protein 75g
sugar 40g

I can use all the help I can get!! Thanks so much, your input is appreciated as well as anyone else's!!

Go to this calculator to figure it out. No clue if you are male/female or how much you weigh, age.

http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

But, you should be eating more calories and more fat, less carbs.

For instance, I am a female, 50 y.o., 190 lbs. My macros are the following:

Calories: 1549

70% FAT (120 grams)
25% PROTEIN (97 grams)
5% CARBS (19 grams)

Oh and no need to track sugar if you're counting carbs.

fancyroberts

okay I will do that !

fancyroberts

would this be more lchf ?

1466 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
25 g Carbohydrates (7%, 100 kcal)
60 g Protein (16%, 240 kcal)
125 g Fat (77%, 1126 kcal)

SOOZIE429

Yes it would!

kirkor

fancyroberts wrote: »

would this be more lchf ?

1466 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
25 g Carbohydrates (7%, 100 kcal)
60 g Protein (16%, 240 kcal)
125 g Fat (77%, 1126 kcal)

Therrrre ya go!

FIT_Goat

Yes, much better. Also, when I said it was wrong I was also under the impression that the carbs were negligible (a la Atkins' induction)... which would put your calories around 950 a day. That's just way too low. Even 1,200 is probably too low for most people. The 1,466 is much better. And, the macros look a bit more balanced and sane.

Could you have done the 60g/73g/75g plan? Probably. I suspect you would have been very hungry all the time.