Where to start with calorie counting

kellycreen
kellycreen Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Want to lose 40lbs and following calories. Does it matter what I eat as long as I stay within my calories?

Replies

  • DavWillTry
    DavWillTry Posts: 76 Member
    Yes, it does matter. Eating junk is bad for your health, even if you could lose weight doing so.
    That's why the tracking wants to know your carbs, fats and protein in addition to the calories. I'm afraid it matters.
  • DavWillTry
    DavWillTry Posts: 76 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    A more sustainable and reasonable way to go about weight loss is to focus on the calorie deficit first to lose weight, and then slowly add in more nutritionally dense foods to improve nutritional balance. There's no need to overwhelm someone at the beginning of their journey by telling them everything is necessary.
    Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as being too strict. Just throwing out a suggestion that seemed reasonable to me.
    I've known people (my niece eats cake frosting from the can) who think it is strictly about calories. I don't think it is, but it is better to start with just that than to not start at all.
    Hm, I'm still sounding pedantic. I'll shut up now, :(

    Best wishes for continued success, kellycreen.

  • kellycreen
    kellycreen Posts: 7 Member
    DavWillTry wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    A more sustainable and reasonable way to go about weight loss is to focus on the calorie deficit first to lose weight, and then slowly add in more nutritionally dense foods to improve nutritional balance. There's no need to overwhelm someone at the beginning of their journey by telling them everything is necessary.
    Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as being too strict. Just throwing out a suggestion that seemed reasonable to me.
    I've known people (my niece eats cake frosting from the can) who think it is strictly about calories. I don't think it is, but it is better to start with just that than to not start at all.
    Hm, I'm still sounding pedantic. I'll shut up now, :(

    Best wishes for continued success, kellycreen.

    Thank you. Definitely not eating frosting outve the can. Lol But struggling to figure out all the fats/carbs etc. So trying to eat healthy within my calories.
  • AshHeartsJesus
    AshHeartsJesus Posts: 460 Member
    Calories in calories out eat in a deficit and the weight will come off. Macros will come with time, but if your main goal is to lose weight right now start with calories and portion control and everything really works out in the wash. I focus on protein being number one because I am trying to tone and I keep my fats pretty low nothing to crazy though. I really encourage exrcise and movement too.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,105 Member
    kellycreen wrote: »
    Thank you. I'm not eating junk food but I also don't understand all the macros, fats, carbs etc. For now I'm making the best choices I know and keeping at 1200 calories as best I can 😊

    If you've been given 1200 calories as your calorie goal, it's likely that you've chosen a weight loss rate that is too aggressive for your current situation. MFP considers 1200 calories to be the bare minimum to ensure adequate nutrition. What is your height, current weight and goal weight?

    This is a general guideline:
    d9c50suyi7bv.jpg

    And what activity level did you choose? Many people select sedentary/not very active, even when they are more active.
    By the way, the calorie goal given by MFP is for days when you don't exercise (your activity level is supposed to reflect how active you are outside of intentional exercise). On days when you exercise, you should log your exercise and eat back (a reasonable estimate of) the calories burned.

    Losing weight is easier when you don't have to suffer through it by eating very little (I could never stick to 1200 calories!). Eating too little can also have a negative effect on your health, from mild symptoms like feeling tired and brittle nails to hair loss and muscle loss in more extreme cases.
    Without knowing your stats, it's hard to know if 1200 is appropriate for you. But to illustrate: I'm 5ft5 and I've been eating 1600+ calories (and sometimes even 2000+ calories when I'm exercising a lot) and I've lost 50+ lbs.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,586 Member
    DavWillTry wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    A more sustainable and reasonable way to go about weight loss is to focus on the calorie deficit first to lose weight, and then slowly add in more nutritionally dense foods to improve nutritional balance. There's no need to overwhelm someone at the beginning of their journey by telling them everything is necessary.
    Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as being too strict. Just throwing out a suggestion that seemed reasonable to me.
    I've known people (my niece eats cake frosting from the can) who think it is strictly about calories. I don't think it is, but it is better to start with just that than to not start at all.
    Hm, I'm still sounding pedantic. I'll shut up now, :(

    Best wishes for continued success, kellycreen.

    Is your niece trying to lose weight? Is she logging the frosting?

    Because it IS about CICO (at least the losing weight part).

    Every last cookie in my tummy will fight you on it. 😀
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    types of food matter for NUTRITION and HEALTH but not for weight.

    i lost 130 pounds eating the same things I always have. if I can fit it in my calories, it is fair game.

    that said, I'm also smart enough to know that 1500 calories a day of chips and cookies and peanut butter cups, will only make me feel sick. ;)
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 873 Member
    First things first....it sounds like you're letting MFP choose your calorie goal because you've said it's 1200. Without knowing your age, height, or how much you currently weigh...I can tell you 100% that that calorie limit is TOO LOW.

    So first...do some reading and figure out what to put your calorie limit at manually in MFP. You may find other ways to do it easier for you but I think this is the easiest way --- find a TDEE calculator and calculate your TDEE based on a sedentary lifestyle (unless you have a daily JOB that requires activity).

    Choose a calorie goal that is lower than your TDEE, but more than your BMR....so depending on how large the difference is between those two things - you might try subtracting like 200 calories from your TDEE and go from there.

    Hit your net calorie goal via calorie counting and/or exercise. --- MFP will add your cardio exercise calories to your daily goal (i.e. if you burn 300 calories it will add that to how much you can eat --- bc you've already manually set your calorie limit below your TDEE --- you can figure out what works for you as far as eating these back, but when I was actively losing weight I ate back between 25-75% of those depending on my hunger). You have to fuel your body properly too even when losing weight.

    This is all based on you logging your food and calorie burns correctly though - so get a food scale to weight your food and measure EVERYTHING. Everything. It's really easy for people to insist that they are eating below their calorie goal and really be eating 100-300 calories more than that due to inaccurate logging. Once you get a good idea of measurements, you can probably back off of measuring every little thing but starting out it's good to do it all the time so you know. It's also a bit of a trial/error when logging calorie burn.

    When it comes to macros --- my philosophy is don't worry about it when you're starting out. Just worry about calories in/calories out. It makes it simple and straigthforward...and as long as you don't have any medical reasons to stick to a certain diet...then I wouldn't worry about it until you get closer to your goal weight.


  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    westrich20940 wrote: »
    First things first....it sounds like you're letting MFP choose your calorie goal because you've said it's 1200. Without knowing your age, height, or how much you currently weigh...I can tell you 100% that that calorie limit is TOO LOW.

    MFP doesn't choose your calorie goal, it calculates it based on what you put in (which is no different to TDEE really - it just doesn't account for your intentional exercise).

    The problem generally lies with people choosing the wrong activity level or putting too aggressive a rate of loss.

    zvg42w0d2dpz.jpg
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    kellycreen wrote: »
    Thank you. I'm not eating junk food but I also don't understand all the macros, fats, carbs etc. For now I'm making the best choices I know and keeping at 1200 calories as best I can 😊

    That will ONLY be the daily eating goal when you are ONLY at the activity level you selected. And no exercise.

    Selected Sedentary?
    So no kids, pets, household duties, just a desk job, sit on couch at home most the evening and weekends, less than 4000 steps daily?

  • kellycreen
    kellycreen Posts: 7 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    kellycreen wrote: »
    Thank you. I'm not eating junk food but I also don't understand all the macros, fats, carbs etc. For now I'm making the best choices I know and keeping at 1200 calories as best I can 😊

    That will ONLY be the daily eating goal when you are ONLY at the activity level you selected. And no exercise.

    Selected Sedentary?
    So no kids, pets, household duties, just a desk job, sit on couch at home most the evening and weekends, less than 4000 steps daily?

    I do.have a desk job but I get out to the beach 3 times a day with the dogs so I would definitely do more than 4000 steps a day. I have an app that adds the calories I burn walking.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    kellycreen wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    kellycreen wrote: »
    Thank you. I'm not eating junk food but I also don't understand all the macros, fats, carbs etc. For now I'm making the best choices I know and keeping at 1200 calories as best I can 😊

    That will ONLY be the daily eating goal when you are ONLY at the activity level you selected. And no exercise.

    Selected Sedentary?
    So no kids, pets, household duties, just a desk job, sit on couch at home most the evening and weekends, less than 4000 steps daily?

    I do.have a desk job but I get out to the beach 3 times a day with the dogs so I would definitely do more than 4000 steps a day. I have an app that adds the calories I burn walking.

    are you eating them?
  • kellycreen
    kellycreen Posts: 7 Member
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    kellycreen wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    kellycreen wrote: »
    Thank you. I'm not eating junk food but I also don't understand all the macros, fats, carbs etc. For now I'm making the best choices I know and keeping at 1200 calories as best I can 😊

    That will ONLY be the daily eating goal when you are ONLY at the activity level you selected. And no exercise.

    Selected Sedentary?
    So no kids, pets, household duties, just a desk job, sit on couch at home most the evening and weekends, less than 4000 steps daily?

    I do.have a desk job but I get out to the beach 3 times a day with the dogs so I would definitely do more than 4000 steps a day. I have an app that adds the calories I burn walking.

    are you eating them?

    Sometimes I do but I try to stay below if I can.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    kellycreen wrote: »
    Want to lose 40lbs and following calories. Does it matter what I eat as long as I stay within my calories?

    Yes...no...maybe. At the most basic level, calories are what matter for weight management. Calories are a unit of energy...when you consume more energy than your body requires, excess energy is stored as body fat...it is stored energy. When you consume less energy than you require, that deficiency has to be reconciled...so you burn stored energy to make up the difference.

    As to what you're eating...it primarily makes a difference in regards to satiety, physical performance, and to some extent body composition. Just as an example, my breakfast is usually a couple of eggs scrambled with a little asiago cheese, Dave's Killer Bread whole grain and seed bread toasted with a little butter and some jam from my wife's jam maker friend, a small low sodium V8 and a Metamucil supplement drink. Comes in around 400 calories and easily keeps me until lunch. The other day I had a breakfast muffin at work...it was around 500 calories and I was still hungry after I ate it...so in that sense, it matters.
  • 7rainbow
    7rainbow Posts: 161 Member
    In terms of weight loss, it matters in certain senses. If you only eat 500 calories of pizza you will still lose weight (don't actually do that, haha). But the thing is certain foods are generally unhealthy for your body, even if you do lose weight (alcohol or processed foods for example). As well, certain foods lead to cravings (usually consuming sugar leads the body into wanting more sugar) which will mean you will be more likely to over eat. As well certain foods don't fill you up, and will result in you wanting to eat more (an apple and cheese will make you feel more full than a candy bar). Things to note!

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