PRE-LOGGING YOUR FOOD DIARY - KEEPING YOUR MACROS INLINE!

flab2fab760

One of the biggest issues about modifying your food plan is having the right amounts of everything. Let's face it, CARBS are delicious and come is various forms. Keeping them in line can be difficult, but it doesn't have to be.

Pre=logging your food for the next day can help you keep your "GOALS" in tact, or close to it!

For those of you who don't know, Carbs, Fats, and Proteins are called MACROS! Based on your MFP profile goals, you have a daily Macro consumption goal.

They are applied into percentages of your total daily caloric allowance. My MFP Macro goals are 50% Carbs, 30% Fat, and 20% Protein. (see photo).



In the chart I posted for my goals, I met the exact goal one time since Jan 14. I went back and looked at my high's and low's, and then my average consumption of Macros.

GOAL - Carbs 50, Fat 30, Protein 20

HIGH - Carbs 83, Fat 56, Protein 29
LOWS - Carbs 32, Fat 11, Protein 6
AVG - Carbs 49, Fat 34, Protein 17

By pre-logging your food, you can check your Macro Chart to see where you are for the day and you can adjust your foods, portions, etc based on what your chart says.

I always pre-log and sometimes I have to add more protein, reduce fat, or increase carbs based on my meal selection.

Now this is something that may make a difference to help reaching your goals quicker!

HAPPY TRANSFORMATION!!

jddnw

HIGH - Carbs 83, Fat 56, Protein 29
LOWS - Carbs 32, Fat 11, Protein 6
AVG - Carbs 49, Fat 34, Protein 17

This type of normal variation from one day to the next seems perfectly natural to me. I just look at the trend. I don't go out of my way to make each day conform to a standard. Whose to say that your average isn't just as healthy as your goal.

flab2fab760

Well the one thing I noticed was that during the weeks my my carb percentage was higher, I lost the least...and when I ate closer to the GOAL, I lost the most.

That is when I found the importance to keeping to the goal. There's a reason a goal is calculated based on the data you provided.

But this is what works for me and I am passing along what I have found that may help others who are struggling! It may work for them.

ana3067

Because you had more water weight due to eating higher carb. I don't pre-log, my macros (except for protein) are pretty much all over the place.

You can check your macros without pre-logging... being anul about meeting the exact macro percentage/goal every day is just pointless and restrictive.

flab2fab760

Ana, whatever gets you through your process.

You can look at it as pointless, or you can take a positive approach and become creative!

Like I said above - this is what works for me and I am passing along what I have found that may help others who are struggling! It may work for them.

Good Luck on your journey!

MummyStumpf

Is there a way that MFP can work out your Macro's for you? Does anyone know a formula for setting macro's to ultimate fat burning?

Christine_72

MummyStumpf wrote: »

Is there a way that MFP can work out your Macro's for you? Does anyone know a formula for setting macro's to ultimate fat burning?

ummm when you put in your details, mfp works out your macros for you.
Concentrate on your calories in and out before messing with your macros
No there is no setting for ultimate fat burning. Although the HFLC crowd feel it's the best way to eat for optimal weight loss.

waldo11690

I'll do this during the day to figure out what I can eat. I follow IIFYM so I just need to see what I can eat and hit my numbers (and calorie goal). For instance, if I decide what I'm going to have for dinner while I'm eating lunch, I'll go ahead and log it. This helps keep me on track and get close to my macro numbers and calorie goal.

atypicalsmith

ana3067 wrote: »

Because you had more water weight due to eating higher carb. I don't pre-log, my macros (except for protein) are pretty much all over the place.

You can check your macros without pre-logging... being anul about meeting the exact macro percentage/goal every day is just pointless and restrictive.

Pre-logging helps me plan my meals. Nothing wrong with that.

isulo_kura

To me this is way over obsessive and in my opinion a little unhealthy. Macros are a guide (whatever you set them at. % are in fact a pretty poor way to express them anyway as 10% of 1200 and 10% of 3000 are totally different grams is a more useful figure). Also your body doesn't go into some meltdown because your a few grams under your protein goal for the day. As with all to do with weightloss it happens over a period of time. So yes keep an eye on your Macros but look at the whole picture over a period of time. Your body is an incredible piece of engineering if you have too much of one thing it'll either make an alternative use for it or just chuck it out. Rather than micro manage it's better to look at the big picture

Cardio4Cupcakes

I prelog my meals every morning when I lay in bed before starting my day. It's soothing to me and helps me stay in line, but I do agree, it can get obsessive.

shawnaes91

I prelog the night before. But I do it so that I stay on track and don't binge on random things without knowing how many calories they all are. But thank you for sharing the chart. Try to make it all balanced out never really crossed my mind.

sarahlifts

Always log bf I begin the day.

kathybochonko

I am just starting to get back into this (spring break is a great motivator) I find it helpful to log my meal before I eat, just so I am sure I don't want to tweak the portion or ingredients etc. I find the macros to be way too heavy on the carbs. I am a very clean eater, so it is very hard to get the percentage of carbs they call for without having a lot of bread or pasta etc. So I prelog more to look at total calories and to check my calcium intake for the day.

suzeequu

how do you get the pie chart to check macros? I cant seem to find it. I always do better when I prelog. always.

Christine_72

I prelog my day everyday when I'm having my morning cuppa

daniebanks

I log the day before, generally when I finish dinner I decide what I will have for the next day that way I can see where I have room to move

j75j75

I pre-log the night before. Works for me

atypicalsmith

isulo_kura wrote: »

To me this is way over obsessive and in my opinion a little unhealthy. Macros are a guide (whatever you set them at. % are in fact a pretty poor way to express them anyway as 10% of 1200 and 10% of 3000 are totally different grams is a more useful figure). Also your body doesn't go into some meltdown because your a few grams under your protein goal for the day. As with all to do with weightloss it happens over a period of time. So yes keep an eye on your Macros but look at the whole picture over a period of time. Your body is an incredible piece of engineering if you have too much of one thing it'll either make an alternative use for it or just chuck it out. Rather than micro manage it's better to look at the big picture

That's the problem. Too many people look at the "big picture" and get bigger.

flab2fab760

atypical...HAHAHA...great response!!!

flab2fab760

suzeequu wrote: »

how do you get the pie chart to check macros? I cant seem to find it. I always do better when I prelog. always.

Suzee...not sure what phone you're using but on my android in the upper left hand corner of the page, there's a drop down and it'll bring a menu up. Select "NUTRITION" and 1/4 of the way down you should see a pie chart and three lines.

Hope that helps.