Lower Carb, not meeting Calories

MiniMarieB

I'm getting better at meeting my calorie goal, but I'm still finding days where I have to super think about how to get my last 300/400 calories in. I usually have carbs and fat left to play with. (Usually something like 8-12g carbs and 30-50g of fat. I do not mind going about 5g over but no more than that. I'm aware of things I can use, but don't know what to make.

gpanda103

You could just throw in ~2 tablespoons of oil across 2 meals. That’ll come out to about 30 fat with no carbs. You could have a fatty piece of meat, vegetables roasted in oil, higher fat Greek yogurt.. stuff like that

AnnPT77

It's not essential to be exactly exact on macros, either for weight loss or health.

Protein and fats are essential nutrients, in the technical sense that our bodies can't manufacture them out of any other nutrient, so we need to eat some. (Carbs are not essential, in that way. The body can manufacture them.) Given that, it's fine - from a health and nutrition standpoint - to think of protein and fats as minimum, try not to be persistently under on either one, but it's fine to be over on either or both.

For weight management, it's the calories that matter directly. (Nutrition can have an indirect effect. If nutrition is sub-par, it may sap our energy, so we burn fewer calories than we would if well-nourished. Some people find that sub-par nutrition may spike appetite, so make it hard to stick with reasonable calories. Still, the direct effect on weight comes from the calories.)

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about the carb goal, as long as your energy level and appetite seem fine, manageable. If regularly short on fats, I'd eat something to top that up, not worry if that put me over protein goal. (That's assuming you don't have a health condition that requires you to limit some macro, as kidney disease may do for protein, or diabetes/insulin resistance for carbs.)

Exactly what food(s) that is might vary depending on your tastes. Things I'd consider in that scenario, given my tastes, would be some guacamole or avocado, nuts or seeds, cheese, peanut butter. Those things can be used as snacks, or added to a salad or cooked veggies, used in stews/sauces - whatever works. Your specific foods might differ. It's fine to put olive oil into/onto food to add fats; I personally prefer to use foods I find tastier and more satisfying, and oil isn't one for me.

If you know what foods you'd happily add to get the macros, just aren't sure how to use them, it'd be good to mention the foods. Folks here might have ideas for how to use them in meals/snacks.

FWIW:

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