Targets or Limits?

andymillne

Hi all. I'm new to MFP. I did dabble a while back but for all intents I'm a newbie. I'm not here to gain or lose weight but I do want to use MFP to track the nutritional value of my food and to ensure I am eating as healthily as possible.

Something that is confusing me is the default goals and how they relate to a healthy diet. Is the goal to get all the nutrient bars as close to 100% as possible? For example, as I understand it the Carb, Fat and Protein goals are something I should be striving to hit in the correct proportions and up to the "full" amount in order to meet my daily calorie goal. I am unsure about other values however. For example Sodium. The default "Goal" is 2,300mg. Does this mean that this value is considered a healthy amount given my gender, weight, height, age etc? Do I get maximum benefit from getting as close to this as possible? or is this the maximum amount considered healthy? If it's the maximum amount shouldn't MFP also show a minimum?

It's all a bit confusing to me.

kommodevaran

Those numbers are based part on a mix of what we know, what we think we know, what we think we should, what we should avoid - much of it is a best guess. Nutrition for healthy adult is complex, but not very complicated. We can't control our health 100% by diet, but we can at least eat enough to maintain a stable weight. Eat a varied diet and balance your meals to look like normal meals. Eat food you like, and eat in good company. Obsession with details and worrying about not getting it "right", is mentally taxing, and definitely not healthy.