Macro-nutrients

genblush8

Anyone know how to count and track macro nutrients? Heard its super effective for weight management but the formulas were a bit confusing to be honest!

liftingandlipstick

Are you logging all of your food here? Because the actual tracking is done for you, if so (and as long as you're choosing proper entries).

Macros are just the basic three bits that make up all food: fat, protein and carbohydrates. You need all three of them to function. Fat is not bad, carbs are not bad. I think the basic pre-set by MFP is 50% carbs, 30% fat, 20% protein (I may have the fat and protein backwards). This is easier to see when you're using the actual website, rather than the app: on the Food tab, way down at the bottom, it shows the total calories, macros plus sugar and sodium for all of the foods that you've logged. It also shows what your goals are, and how much of each you have left for the day. If you're using the app, you can find all of that information in the Nutrition tab.

As far as changing the goals from MFP's preset, that's a bit trickier, as every body is different and performs best at different levels. It also highly depends on your goals. Protein and fiber tend to be the keys to satiety for me, so I went to the Goals tab (on the website) and stopped tracking sugar and sodium (because I have no medical conditions that require me to watch intake of those) and started tracking fiber. I changed my macro ratio to 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. There are some people who feel they function better on low carb, high fat. Or low carb, moderate fat. Or super low fat. Or just don't bother with macros at all. It's a lot of trial and error, unfortunately.

Keep in mind that correct macro ratios are not necessarily "super effective" for weight management, they're just another tool. Protein and fiber keep me feeling fuller, longer. It's not really that eating high protein helps me lose weight, it's just that I'm less hungry, so I eat less crap.

Liftng4Lis

http://iifym.com