Macros or calorie goal?

MyPathway

So My fitness Pal gives you a calorie goal and a more detailed plan of the quantity of macronutrients you should be eating every day.

Does it change anything if you go over one category and are lower in others as long a you stay within your calorie goal?

protein/sugar/fat/carbs You can actually adjust the amount of each macro as you wish. Do you recommend higher protein intake and lower carbs than the default MFP calculation?

diannethegeek

Calories are king for weight loss. Macros can help with other things (gym performance, general health, hunger, etc) but the goals MFP gives you are just one possible suggestion. There are a lot of ratios that may work as well or better for your personal situation.

I think I've hit my goals perfectly a grand total of 1 time in over a year of logging. Personally, I treat protein and fat as minimums to aim for every day and let the carbs fill in whatever is left. But you can play around and see what works best for you.

RodaRose

Calorie goal for sure.
Eat protein for sure -- ok to go over
Eat fats and oils -- ok to go over
Carbs -- under or over -- they do not matter.

FindingAmy77

I only care about calories while I am losing weight. when I get to my goal weight or close to it and start upping my exercise and building muscle is when I may start paying attention to macros. For now my diary is set to only look at calories and it is much simpler that way.

Furtado2

As mentioned, when losing weight, what matters is less calories consumed than burned. That being said, you shouldn't just make a diet of carbohydrates and fat with no protein. You might lose weight, but you won't be gaining a lot of muscle tone, which most people losing weight are looking for.