I understand keto but I do not understand counting macronutrients.

danyellboehm

Are there any resources for understanding how to do a diet based on macronutrients? Keto is super simple and easy to count the three main things. I do not understand macro nutrients because it throws in sugar and carbs whereas with keto it is a no-no. I’m not understanding how this works. It seems to be a more balanced way of eating but extremely difficult to follow and count. I cannot figure out the ratios or anything. Everything wants to base on a 1200 cal diet. I am a bariatric patient so right now 600 cal is my limit. I cannot even get that in.

yirara

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. In Keto you also eat carbs, though not many. Sugar is a part of carbs and is not evil as such. Are you asking what your macro setup should be? What for exactly? How do you want to eat and how do you feel happy doing so? Baring medical reasons, this should be the macro setup you should chose because what works for you might not work for others, and the other way around as it's totally individual.

saggynaggy65

As a former keto dieter who lost 20 pounds in 3 months, my advice to you would be not to worry about macros. Just lower your carb intake.

AnnPT77

danyellboehm wrote: »

Are there any resources for understanding how to do a diet based on macronutrients? Keto is super simple and easy to count the three main things. I do not understand macro nutrients because it throws in sugar and carbs whereas with keto it is a no-no. I’m not understanding how this works. It seems to be a more balanced way of eating but extremely difficult to follow and count. I cannot figure out the ratios or anything. Everything wants to base on a 1200 cal diet. I am a bariatric patient so right now 600 cal is my limit. I cannot even get that in.

The macronutrients are carbs, protein and fats. Three main things, still (unless you count alcohol, which is none of those, but has calories).

Fiber is not a macronutrient. Sugar is not a macronutrient. Yeah, they matter, just like vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients of other sorts, etc. Most dietitians will tell you you need some fiber. Sugar is more flexible (as a subset of carbs - more about that below).

If you don't care to do keto anymore, but want to try balanced macros, the MFP default macro percents aren't a terrible place to start, for most people (as long as they're not trying to cut calories stupid-low for ultra-fast weight loss, which is not a good idea for many reasons).

If you want to go in a balanced macros direction, restore MFP to its default percents, and log what you're eating now. Try to hit your calorie goal. Note where you're low consistently low on some macronutrient, and adjust your eating patterns as you go forward. Pretty simple.

It's still protein and fats that are key, because they're the "essential nutrients", in the technical sense that our bodies can't make them out of anything else, so we have to eat some. (Well, strictly speaking, it's some amino acids and fatty acids that are essential, but looking at it as the macros being essential is close enough for most of us.)

Carbs are more flexible, technically, from a nutrition standpoint. Some people find that carbs spike their appetite. Those folks may want to eat fewer carbs than MFP suggests by default. Some people find that eating low carb tanks their energy. Those folks may want to eat relatively more carbs.

You can chip away at this, and figure it out, find your personal happy place. If you're not starting with some diagnosed nutritional deficiency or diet-related health condition, you won't become instantly malnourished while you work things out over a period of weeks.

Best wishes!

Sinisterbarbie1

If you are a bariatric patient with a limited calorie intake then you should be following the eating guidelines that your doctor gave you. Those will be quite different than what MFP sets. Someone asked a similar question a week or so ago and I found a link to eating guidelines recommended by the mayo clinic which emphasize eating small meals, spread out over time, eating slowly and eating protein calories first as well as avoiding high fat foods in order to avoid side effects of the surgery and be able to get the correct amount of calories in. I am certain there are other reputable guidelines out there as well.

If you have not had surgery yet and are on a very low calorie diet for a short period of time to reduce prior to surgery, this is also not exactly what MFP is designed for, since it is intended to help establish healthy eating patterns that can be maintained long term. Very low calorie diets cannot, and the weight will be regained absent something like surgical intervention to reduce the physical capacity of your stomach. More importantly, such diets are inherently dangerous. The lowest calorie limit you can set with MFP is 1200 as you have seen, but it should be easy enough to half that to figure out the limits for various macros on a 600 calorie daily VLCD. This seems ill advised even for the very short term and only doable with close dr supervision, which again begs the question - if you are a patient, why are you not asking the dr for advice and following a medically set, safe plan rather than asking random people on the internet for advice?