1200 calorie diet question about carbs

brooklinhousewife

I'm on a 1200 calorie diet and I made my breakfast this morning which consisted of 1/2 whole wheat english muffin with a teaspoon of peanut butter, 4 strawberries, 17 blueberries and a coffee. I looked at my remaining nutrition and it says that I'm already over for my carbs for today. Looked at what I ate and the blueberries were the culprit coming in at 238g of carbs.
So for the rest of the day I can't consume anymore carbs? Does anyone else have this issue?

dbmata

I dunno, but I had 1200 calories in pizza last night, I think there might have been some carbs in it.

debrakgoogins

My nutritionist allows me to "subtract" carbs that I get from fruits and vegetables from my total carb intake. The carbs you are eating sound like they are good carbs - stay with them.

dbmata

As opposed to naughty, evil Zoot carbs.

lemurcat12

That's just wrong, and shows how you have to be careful when logging. Picking the right (accurate) entries can be a learning process.

For whole foods, the best entries are the ones without asterisks, as MFP input them from USDA information. The format for fruits and veggies is "blueberries-raw" (the searching tips are using the plural, usually, the dash, and the word raw). However, there's something messed up with MFP's database at the moment, as I use this entry all the time, and it's not coming up.

Anyway, 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories, so clearly 17 blueberries don't have anywhere near 238 grams of carbs (or they would be enormously calorific blueberries!), and I'm sure you have plenty of carbs left. Find another blueberry entry and if something looks off you can search for USDA blueberries or cross check on google.

Another tip is to look for entries with lots of confirmations. Good fruits and veggies entries should have a lot, as they are used a lot.

As you are starting out I also wouldn't overthink the macro breakdowns. Get your calories worked out and then see how you are doing on the macros and adjust if necessary. Macros are about creating a balanced diet, and won't affect your weight loss.

cwolfman13

brooklinhousewife wrote: »

I'm on a 1200 calorie diet and I made my breakfast this morning which consisted of 1/2 whole wheat english muffin with a teaspoon of peanut butter, 4 strawberries, 17 blueberries and a coffee. I looked at my remaining nutrition and it says that I'm already over for my carbs for today. Looked at what I ate and the blueberries were the culprit coming in at 238g of carbs.
So for the rest of the day I can't consume anymore carbs? Does anyone else have this issue?

whatever entry you chose for blue berries is incorrect...there aren't 238 grams of carbs in 4 strawberries and 17 blueberries...that's ridiculous.

Since you're new, you should be comparing entries in the database to the actual packaging or other websites. I would also suggest for things like fruit and veg that you get a food scale and tag your data base search with "USDA"...i.e "Blueberries - USDA". You will usually get a serving size in grams.

Also, when you're looking at entries, you need to perform a quick reasonableness assessment in your brain rather than just taking things at face value. Most entries in the database or user generated and many contain errors, particularly where macro and micro nutrients are concerned because a lot of people don't worry about that stuff.

Sugarbeat

If you don't need to lower your carbs I would worry about overall calories. You can always move the carb limit around if it bugs you too much.

And 238 for 17 blueberries sounds really high to me but then I don't care much for blueberries. Berries, though, are usually lower in carbs.

brooklinhousewife

Thank everyone for your replys. Your info is all very helpful.

lizzocat

i had a sandwich today that was 38 g of carbs..there's no way your blueberries have more carbs than 6 of my sandwiches. I think something is off, i would check your diary again

scaryg53

I'm on 1200 a day also and I'm a vegetarian, I don't really worry about the carbs as much as long I'm not getting them from pasta, white bread, etc. I try to focus on eating enough proteins and fats. I'm always over in my carbs, if you eats whole grains and veggies, they will just put you way over, but the nutritional quality is worth going over IMO.

obscuremusicreference

There are about 30 carbs total in 150 grams of blueberries + 100 grams of strawberries. You didn't eat anywhere near that much.

If you google "[fruit/vegetable/meat] calories" you should come up with a chart that shows you the nutrient information. Compare that to the database entries.

Personally, I try to focus on bringing up my protein rather than keeping down my carbs.

DataSeven

It helps to understand how much a gram is as a unit of measure to avoid confusion like that. You can compare grams to milliliters (mL) of water. It's probably difficult for people from the states who don't use the metric system, but 1 cup of water is 250 mL and therefore 250 grams. Considering that blueberries have a lot of water in them, as most fruits do, you would have to eat probably 10 cups of blueberries for them to have that much carbs.

DebzNuDa

I use my scale by grams on EVERY thing. The National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27 shows 50 berries cost 68 grams. You need something else to get your carbs from.