Counting Macros Diet
RNjlc1969
Posts: 3 Member
Not sure how many people out there count macros (carbs, protein and fat) to help lose weight, but interested to know how difficult it has been to find different foods to work with your meal plan. I'm doing well so far, losing 15 lbs, but looking for different food ideas. What works for you?
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Replies
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What works for me may not work for you. I count my calories and try to stay balanced on the macros.2
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The best thing about counting macros is that it makes eating basically Choose Your Own Adventure. I aim for 80% of my calories from nutrient-dense foods and 20% from treats. The actual foods that I use to get me there are foods that I like. If I'm running low on protein or fat, I eat more with the next meal to get my percentages back where I want them.4
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I’m looking for ideas too. But I find that I can make various dinners fit in with my macros. I usually eat the same for brekky every day- give or take and then log dinner and even lunch is usually the same. Then I use my snacks to get my macros where I want them. These are the foods I eat:
Oats
Low fat milk
Small amount of banana in oats
Omelette with 2 eggs, cottage cheese, mushrooms, grated zucchini
Rice cakes with different toppings - eg mayvers peanut butter (love this stuff. I never liked kraft so never ate peanut butter until in my 30s!)
Eg cottage cheese and tuna/ salmon and sliced tomato and black pepper
Almonds
Tuna cans
Milk coffees made with half low fat cow’s milk and half almond/ coconut milk (So Good brand)
Lunches I was often having a Healthy Mummy Smoothie. Today I had a wholemeal wrap toasted with cheese, chicken breast, avocado, semi dried tomatoes, mushrooms and olives. Wholemeal salad rolls/ sandwiches
Dinners all sorts of home cooked stuff. I have a large family to cook for. Tonight I discovered that brown basmati rice tastes amazing with bolognaise sauce. I didn’t feel like pasta. I added broccoli on the side and covered it with Parmesan cheese (weighed of course)
Other dinners: various meats with veggies, season chicken with seasoning/ spices. Stir fry and rice (I usually have 1/4 cup dry), zucchini slice, roast chicken, roast lamb, steak, sweet potato cubes doused with garlic olive oil and sprinkled with mix herbs and roast, kanga bangas, curried sausages, beef stroganoff, fried rice with brown basmati, lasagne, tacos (full of toppings easy on the tacos- use cottage cheese instead of sour cream and grated cheese- onion and chive flavouring is delish).
Desserts- chobani greek yoghurt with berries, there is an awesome sweet potato brownie by MFP on their blog- google that (I add honey to sweeten it as per directions), another yummy one I’ve found is called “quick and easy raspberry muffins” I’ll post the link when I find it. I use mix berries and it’s even better. Add a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon and it tastes like a berry crumble. I make them bigger than the recipe directs
Hope that has given you some ideas. I’d love to know how you reach your macros too
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http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/sweet-potato-brownies-recipe/
I use mayvers peanut butter instead of almond butter. I have never added cacao nibs because I could never find them but they just became available at my supermarket this week so I’m excited to try them. I’ve always sweetened these with honey. One day I’ll try them without the added sweetness. The honey certainly doesn’t make them overly sweet or anything1 -
Not sure how many people out there count macros (carbs, protein and fat) to help lose weight, but interested to know how difficult it has been to find different foods to work with your meal plan. I'm doing well so far, losing 15 lbs, but looking for different food ideas. What works for you?
well it depends what your macros are?
i count mine, which include adequate protein, enough fat to keep me full and the rest carbs... i have never found it hard to hit my macros.1 -
As mentioned above it depends on your macros. Good sources for the different macros are:
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I just make sure I get at least my body weight in kgs x 1.5 grams of protein and my body weight x 0.5 grams of fat. Everything else just falls wherever. There is no way I could meet specific macro ratios each day, especially as my required calories needed for a day can vary considerably depending on exercise.1
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Just protein and fat minimum goals for me when I was logging my food - percentages/ratios/precise goals are just an unnecessary restriction. Quickly learned fat pretty much looked after itself from my normal food choices so just keeping protein under scrutiny worked for me.
Calorie restriction is the necessary restriction, the rest is optional.
"Different food ideas" - look outside your own culture and habitual foods, learn to cook, experiment, look at the entirety of your diet (noun) and not the individual components.
I quite like the idea of 80% good nutritious foods you enjoy, 10% foods that are good for you but you don't really enjoy that much, 10% fun foods just eaten for pleasure.1 -
Just protein and fat minimum goals for me when I was logging my food - percentages/ratios/precise goals are just an unnecessary restriction. Quickly learned fat pretty much looked after itself from my normal food choices so just keeping protein under scrutiny worked for me.
Calorie restriction is the necessary restriction, the rest is optional.
"Different food ideas" - look outside your own culture and habitual foods, learn to cook, experiment, look at the entirety of your diet (noun) and not the individual components.
I quite like the idea of 80% good nutritious foods you enjoy, 10% foods that are good for you but you don't really enjoy that much, 10% fun foods just eaten for pleasure.
Exactly this. I counted Macros for awhile and found the foods that work for me. Now I'm not so strict. I just try to make sure I get enough protein and not too many carbs (less than 250g) and the rest works itself out.0 -
Not sure how many people out there count macros (carbs, protein and fat) to help lose weight, but interested to know how difficult it has been to find different foods to work with your meal plan. I'm doing well so far, losing 15 lbs, but looking for different food ideas. What works for you?
i like this method too it really does help. normally you can just fix the amount of protein and just add your preferred fuel source to make up the difference. And congrads on the weight loss so far!
But if you go off the macros counting scale i'd suggest for
proteins
*fish in general
*turkey or chicken
*other lean meat or protein powder (protein powder is if you already use the stuff)
Fats
*coconut oil
*butter
Carbs
*Avocados
*most people like to use fruits
*and veggies in general
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Am I overlooking the green vegetables on this chart (other than "restaurant salads)?As mentioned above it depends on your macros. Good sources for the different macros are:
OP: the suggestion to eat 80% nutrient dense foods is a great one. Do make sure some of the carbs are nutrient dense, high fiber carbs.3 -
Pre-logging works for me. That way I can swap foods in and out of my dairy until I find something that works in total. Then all I have to do is follow the plan for the day.6
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Am I overlooking the green vegetables on this chart (other than "restaurant salads)?As mentioned above it depends on your macros. Good sources for the different macros are:
OP: the suggestion to eat 80% nutrient dense foods is a great one. Do make sure some of the carbs are nutrient dense, high fiber carbs.
I think the point of the graphic is to help identify sources of macros that can help you swing your macro % in the right direction. *Most* green veggies, while being nutritionally dense, don't have tons of calories, so they're not going to help you even out your macros. That being said, they're definitely great to pair with some of the other choices!2 -
I just recently went to a doctor who put me on a plan like this. MFP calculated my calorie goal at 1380 and the doctor told me to change my macros to 35% carbs, 35% fat and 30% protein. I'm doing pretty well with it but sometimes have a hard time getting the protein where it should be. Below is what my average day looks like. This is today but I haven't filled dinner in yet.
Like jjpptt2 said - I try to prelog my day so I know how things look.
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I'm just starting back on this site to help balance my Macros as I will be going into a 4 week program that requires you to follow a healthy Meal Plan and watch your Macro intake. It's a learning process and the plan is quite simplistic in regards to the foods to eat. Nothing crazy or expensive - as some foods can be! So I'm just needing some support as well without getting bogged down on restrictions?? I just find logging food tedious1
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I found that at the beginning the learning curve was a little steep with respect to how I had to construct my meals to reasonably hit my macros but after about a month it became second nature. I don't struggle at all with my numbers.0
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pre-log a test day to give yourself an idea
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Pre-logging works for me. That way I can swap foods in and out of my dairy until I find something that works in total. Then all I have to do is follow the plan for the day.
@jjpptt2 do you just build your tomorrow? I just started that along with just using one meal to log all so I could see the climb easy visually. Really need to get my protein up.0 -
Pre-logging works for me. That way I can swap foods in and out of my dairy until I find something that works in total. Then all I have to do is follow the plan for the day.
@jjpptt2 do you just build your tomorrow? I just started that along with just using one meal to log all so I could see the climb easy visually. Really need to get my protein up.
Sort of... I don't really plan that far ahead, so I typically prelog my day that morning. But there's no reason you couldn't do it the night/day before, too.0 -
That's what I do. Either the night before or the morning of.0
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I don't prelog at all, but I think it would be a good way to learn.
Another good way to learn is to look at the prior day and see how you could have changed it up to hit your goals better.1 -
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Tracking macros is fairly easy, although I'll never hit them bang on. I tend to focus on protein first and won't worry about going over on the protein. As for new food... just have a play. The protein is the first thing I plan and then build from there. My favourite dish is peppers stuffed with turkey mince in a tomato sauce, topped with a tiny bit of cheese 1
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