!Help with decision please: Which one should I note down Macros per day, per meal or per each meal ?
cinalicikler
Posts: 30 Member
Greetings to everybody.
In my fitness pal, each meal is recorded in the nutrition diaries, or estimates of macros are recorded.
Which one, in your opinion, is more significant, relevant, and useful?
Aside from that, could you tell me why this is the case for you?
In my fitness pal, each meal is recorded in the nutrition diaries, or estimates of macros are recorded.
Which one, in your opinion, is more significant, relevant, and useful?
Aside from that, could you tell me why this is the case for you?
!Help with decision please: Which one should I note down Macros per day, per meal or per each meal ? 14 votes
Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)
50%
7 votes
Weekly Macros
0%
Macros per Meal (Such as macros of breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks)
21%
3 votes
Macros per each food (Such as hotdog, pasta etc.)
7%
1 vote
Something else (please explain :) )
21%
3 votes
0
Replies
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Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)1 -
Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you
I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
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Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
IMO, if you eat it, you should log it, if you want the most accurate picture. Even if you don't count it, your body will.
That's not to say it's bad for you to have those things. Weight loss and health seem to depend on doing mostly the right thing most of the time; 100% compliance or perfection is not required absent some very particular circumstances. If your snacks have calories, your understanding of just how big your deficit is will be off if you don't log them, and you need a deficit for weight loss.4 -
Something else (please explain :) )If you log your food, you get both, right (as long as you strive to select accurate entries from the somewhat iffy total food database here)?
If the chief goal is weight management, then calories are the most important things. But averaging them over a day or few, landing around the goal number, is just fine. MFP may reset at midnight, but our bodies don't.
Most of us want some good health and maybe exercise performance, not just an appropriate body weight, though. For that, overall good nutrition is important. Macros are relevant there, but so are micros, fiber, beneficial phytonutrients, types of fats (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, omega-3/omega-6 balance), probiotic and prebiotic foods, and who knows what else. It's way too much to dial in all at once.
If the goal is weight management, dial in calories first. Then start improving macros and fiber, if your logging history suggests there are issues. Treat protein and fats as minimums, because parts of those are "essential nutrients" in the sense that our bodies can't manufacture them out of any other intake (as it can with carbs).
Personally, I find that if I make it a point to eat a boatload of varied, colorful veggies and fruits, micros, fiber, and more fall into place without much micromanagement, but YMMV.
The basic idea is that you don't have to perfect any of this all at once, unless diagnosed with some serious diet-relevant deficiency or health condition up front. Also, these things all can be averaged over a day or few, though some nutrients are retained better by the body for balancing-out purposes. Humans are adaptive omnivores. You can chip away at improvement in some priority order over a period of a few weeks, as long as your starting diet isn't full-bore nutso, and do fine. Relax!
In the long run, IMO, it's vital to find a personally-viable, generally pleasant way of eating that we individually find balances being filling, nutritious, tasty, practical, affordable, etc. Dialing in those eating patterns as habits that can run almost on autopilot in the long run will help you both in weight loss and in maintenance, plus health, exercise performance, body composition and all that jazz.
Best wishes!
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cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Your body will count the calories whether you write them down or not. For me, I need an accurate reporting of everything I ate in a day. That lets me know where I might need to make changes either in my diet or my behavior. Picking and choosing which calories “count” just leaves me wondering why I may not be losing weight as I expect to.
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cinalicikler wrote: »<snip>
My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Yes you should log food you eat. Over time, you will be able to fine-tune your daily calorie goal. If you eat things and don't log them, you won't be able to do this. You will think you are consuming few calories than you actually are, and you run the risk of resetting your goal to an unhealthy low level.3 -
Considering calories are your proxy for weight loss, it's better to have more detailed caloric information for more accurate calculations for success so, log everything, everyday. Cheers2
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Macros per Meal (Such as macros of breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks)cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
I voted for Macros per Meal because with the right combo of protein and fiber (and fat, but I don't have to work at that; it happens naturally for me) I feel full for less calories. So, it's important to me that each meal and snack be on point.
Definitely log midnight snacks for the calories. And consider logging them for the macros as well. I can have a protein bar for a treat and be satisfied for less calories than a traditional treat like cookies or whatever lower protein content food.0 -
Something else (please explain :) )For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.1 -
Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Your body will count the calories whether you write them down or not. For me, I need an accurate reporting of everything I ate in a day. That lets me know where I might need to make changes either in my diet or my behavior. Picking and choosing which calories “count” just leaves me wondering why I may not be losing weight as I expect to.
But this just takes too much efort, doesn't it? How do you even manage it? Do you record after each meal? I cannot even find the foods I eat in the my fitness pal.
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Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)westrich20940 wrote: »For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.
That is actually an interesting approach
I also value the overall trend more but still am a little bit confused regarding to what should I keep track for in the long term and why 
Do you have any reasoning for your emphasis on the macro split and calories? Do you also keep track of your water drinking trends?
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Something else (please explain :) )cinalicikler wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Your body will count the calories whether you write them down or not. For me, I need an accurate reporting of everything I ate in a day. That lets me know where I might need to make changes either in my diet or my behavior. Picking and choosing which calories “count” just leaves me wondering why I may not be losing weight as I expect to.
But this just takes too much efort, doesn't it? How do you even manage it? Do you record after each meal? I cannot even find the foods I eat in the my fitness pal.
IME, no. I logged meticulously - every bite, lick, taste, to the best of my ability - during most of a year of weight loss and for some months in maintenance. Since then, I still log most days (for almost 8 years now, in total).
This isn't the right method for everyone, but I'll say this about it:
There's a learning curve with logging. It feels time-consuming and even burdensome at first while learning the ropes, finding good entries for foods and getting them into recent/frequent foods (where they'll show up first on search), learning how to use the MFP meals and recipes functions to best advantage, figuring out the tips that make a food scale the quickest food-measuring method (as well as more accurate), and that sort of thing.
At first, I think it even feels even more time consuming than it actually is, because it takes up quite a bit of mindshare.
Long term, after getting a good handle on how best to use the tools within my preferences and routines, I'd say it takes me way less than 10 minutes most days to log the day. To me, that's a super small price to pay to stay at a healthy weight after around 30 years prior to that of overweight/obesity. I feel so much better every day than I used to!
That first month or so is more annoying, sure, but it's an investment in the long term success. IME, most really major useful things in life take some time to learn. To me, this one is absolutely worth it. Will it be worthwhile to you? I can't say: That's your call.3 -
Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)cinalicikler wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Your body will count the calories whether you write them down or not. For me, I need an accurate reporting of everything I ate in a day. That lets me know where I might need to make changes either in my diet or my behavior. Picking and choosing which calories “count” just leaves me wondering why I may not be losing weight as I expect to.
But this just takes too much efort, doesn't it? How do you even manage it? Do you record after each meal? I cannot even find the foods I eat in the my fitness pal.
There's definitely a little more work in the beginning, especially if you prepare foods at home and want to create recipes to accurately log. Once you have searched and entered foods, though, it's much faster to pull them up to add to your diary.
I usually prelog my food the night before and then make little adjustments at/after each meal to the quantities. I often eat the same thing for breakfast and snacks, and eat leftovers for lunch, so I can just select "copy meal" and most of the work is done. As a person who cooks most of my meals from scratch, it didn't take long for my most frequently used recipes to be saved on MFP.
On the occasion I do eat something new or different, I can usually find what I want pretty quickly. You do have the option to enter in a new food to the database if it doesn't already exist (or isn't accurate.) If you don't want that trouble you can even just use "quick add" to get the number of calories in as a placeholder.
ETA: It just occurred to me that there might be gaps in the database if you don't live in an English speaking country or eat an otherwise mostly Western diet. I have found (usually by searching for obscure produce ) entries in other languages before but I would imagine the bulk of the entries are US-centric. If that's the case for you, you might have a little more data entry to do than some of us to get the diary to work well for you. 1 -
cinalicikler wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Your body will count the calories whether you write them down or not. For me, I need an accurate reporting of everything I ate in a day. That lets me know where I might need to make changes either in my diet or my behavior. Picking and choosing which calories “count” just leaves me wondering why I may not be losing weight as I expect to.
But this just takes too much efort, doesn't it? How do you even manage it? Do you record after each meal? I cannot even find the foods I eat in the my fitness pal.
No, not that much effort really.
Some foods can be hard to find in the database. Some have way too many entries, so you have to find the right one. Once you do, it is easy to find next time. You can also save something to "My Foods" so that it always will be available there. Foods you have logged recently are super easy to find. I have several things I eat often enough they're always easy to find. Some seasonal things take a bit more effort if I haven't eaten them in months; I have to find them again. But no, it's maybe 90 seconds per meal.
When I cook, I have a pen and some scratch paper next to my food scale. As I assemble ingredients, I write down what they are. Then while it's cooking on the stove or baking in the oven, I enter them on MFP.
Paying attention to what we eat and how much we eat does take some effort. If I didn't take that effort and just ate what I wanted.... Well, I did that for years. That's why I needed to lose weight. The tools available here on MFP helped me do it. I had to hold myself accountable; nobody else can do that. I log everything - at least an estimate if I can't get a good measurement. It works.
I think I heard someone once say, "Nothing worth doing is easy." I don't know if it is completely true. I do know that the trick to losing weight is very simple; have a lower calorie intake than you expend. But it sure as tiny ocelots ain't easy.1 -
cinalicikler wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Your body will count the calories whether you write them down or not. For me, I need an accurate reporting of everything I ate in a day. That lets me know where I might need to make changes either in my diet or my behavior. Picking and choosing which calories “count” just leaves me wondering why I may not be losing weight as I expect to.
But this just takes too much efort, doesn't it? How do you even manage it? Do you record after each meal? I cannot even find the foods I eat in the my fitness pal.
It does take a lot of effort, particularly in the beginning. Especially since you have to verify everything by hand before you actually use the entry. Once you log something though, it stays in your My Foods so it's easier to add that food again. I find it's helpful to log my whole day first thing in the morning or even the night before -- even if it's just an estimate and I go back and edit the exact amounts later. I find it takes less time and it gives me a plan for my day so I don't just graze on whatever because I can't think of something I want to eat. I also very rarely eat anything that doesn't have a label on it, which makes it easier to check my entries since I have the container right there. That might not work for people who actually cook though
. It does get easier though, I promise! 1 -
Macros per Meal (Such as macros of breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks)cinalicikler wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »penguinmama87 wrote: »I selected daily. Right now my major aim is weight loss, so calories matters most to me for that.
The only macro I ever really concern myself with is protein because I've realized it's tricky for me to hit it if I don't pay attention to it. I don't worry about percentages, just that I hit the number target I've set for myself. I feel satiated and am better able to keep to my calorie goal if I eat sufficient protein and fat.
When I eat really only seems to matter for whether I can stick to my calories or not. I don't shoot for a particular distribution of calories over the day, but over time it does shake out to three roughly equal meals plus a slightly smaller snack (I'm a breastfeeding mom; when my baby is weaned I'll probably drop one of those meals, likely breakfast, not for any reason other than personal preference.)
Thank you for your kind answer and I wish for good health and happiness for your baby and you I also hope to lose weight. My only consideration is for example the midnight snacks. I do not know if I should record such meals or just concentrate on the general daily intake.
Your body will count the calories whether you write them down or not. For me, I need an accurate reporting of everything I ate in a day. That lets me know where I might need to make changes either in my diet or my behavior. Picking and choosing which calories “count” just leaves me wondering why I may not be losing weight as I expect to.
But this just takes too much efort, doesn't it? How do you even manage it? Do you record after each meal? I cannot even find the foods I eat in the my fitness pal.
Posters above me answered this question well. I just want to make sure you know that once the food is logged, so are its calories and macros.2 -
Macros per Meal (Such as macros of breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks)cinalicikler wrote: »westrich20940 wrote: »For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.
That is actually an interesting approach I also value the overall trend more but still am a little bit confused regarding to what should I keep track for in the long term and why Do you have any reasoning for your emphasis on the macro split and calories? Do you also keep track of your water drinking trends?
Once you've logged your foods, the calories and macros are there, and you can just look back when you are curious. You could look after every meal and notice how filling or not it was, or check less frequently, for example, if you are struggling, look back and notice you didn't hit your protein goal regularly so make a point of eating more.
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Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)kshama2001 wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »westrich20940 wrote: »For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.
That is actually an interesting approach I also value the overall trend more but still am a little bit confused regarding to what should I keep track for in the long term and why Do you have any reasoning for your emphasis on the macro split and calories? Do you also keep track of your water drinking trends?
Once you've logged your foods, the calories and macros are there, and you can just look back when you are curious. You could look after every meal and notice how filling or not it was, or check less frequently, for example, if you are struggling, look back and notice you didn't hit your protein goal regularly so make a point of eating more.
This totally make sense! However I just cannot keep the habbit. Do you have any suggestion on keeping up this regularly?0 -
cinalicikler wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »westrich20940 wrote: »For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.
That is actually an interesting approach I also value the overall trend more but still am a little bit confused regarding to what should I keep track for in the long term and why Do you have any reasoning for your emphasis on the macro split and calories? Do you also keep track of your water drinking trends?
Once you've logged your foods, the calories and macros are there, and you can just look back when you are curious. You could look after every meal and notice how filling or not it was, or check less frequently, for example, if you are struggling, look back and notice you didn't hit your protein goal regularly so make a point of eating more.
This totally make sense! However I just cannot keep the habbit. Do you have any suggestion on keeping up this regularly?
Your going to continue to get the same answer and for good reason. If your going to use calories as your proxy for weight loss then the more accurate you are, which translate into more time to gather that data, the better you are to then control your caloric intake, and success it based on accuracy. full stop. Cheers2 -
Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)cinalicikler wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »westrich20940 wrote: »For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.
That is actually an interesting approach I also value the overall trend more but still am a little bit confused regarding to what should I keep track for in the long term and why Do you have any reasoning for your emphasis on the macro split and calories? Do you also keep track of your water drinking trends?
Once you've logged your foods, the calories and macros are there, and you can just look back when you are curious. You could look after every meal and notice how filling or not it was, or check less frequently, for example, if you are struggling, look back and notice you didn't hit your protein goal regularly so make a point of eating more.
This totally make sense! However I just cannot keep the habbit. Do you have any suggestion on keeping up this regularly?
Well .. if it's too hard to work on the habit of logging all y our food ... then simply focus on jotting down what you ate and how much of it in as simple a method as you can stick with ... perhaps in a small pen/pencil and paper notebook, or by snapping a photo of each meal/snack you ate so you have something to remember the meal by to log later. ... The point being this ...
... The true purpose, for me at least, in logging my food is to remember what I ate and how much of it. If I have to keep track of a specific macro or micro nutrient, then knowing how much of that was in the food is important, otherwise it's not so important as keeping a well balanced meal in mind ... and a well balanced meal comes from eating across the realm of food choices and not from just one corner of it.
In the end ... try different approaches and settle on one ... Let the rest fall where they may.
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Macros per Meal (Such as macros of breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks)cinalicikler wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »cinalicikler wrote: »westrich20940 wrote: »For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.
That is actually an interesting approach I also value the overall trend more but still am a little bit confused regarding to what should I keep track for in the long term and why Do you have any reasoning for your emphasis on the macro split and calories? Do you also keep track of your water drinking trends?
Once you've logged your foods, the calories and macros are there, and you can just look back when you are curious. You could look after every meal and notice how filling or not it was, or check less frequently, for example, if you are struggling, look back and notice you didn't hit your protein goal regularly so make a point of eating more.
This totally make sense! However I just cannot keep the habbit. Do you have any suggestion on keeping up this regularly?
If you commit to doing it regularly, and do it, it will become a habit.
Here's an article on why discipline is so much better than motivation: http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-is-discipline/
And one on creating discipline: http://www.wisdomination.com/practical-discipline/
Note: if a sprinkle of profanity bothers you, you might want to pass on this author.0 -
cinalicikler wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
Once you've logged your foods, the calories and macros are there, and you can just look back when you are curious. You could look after every meal and notice how filling or not it was, or check less frequently, for example, if you are struggling, look back and notice you didn't hit your protein goal regularly so make a point of eating more.cinalicikler wrote: »westrich20940 wrote: »For me personally, the only extent to which I even really care about my macros is related to feeling satiated.
I really only make sure I have the proper amount of calories. Sure, I try to make sure I have fat/carbs/protein in my meal - but I do not care down to the gram/percentage of my daily calories really for those.
However, I eat two different types of breakfasts on weekends and the one with more protein/fat in it keeps me 'full' for like 2+ additional hours. If being less satiated with a meal would cause one to overeat later in the day (eat in a calorie surplus)....then the macro split matters more. For me, it doesn't lead to me eating more calories in the day, I just change the timing of my meals because I will get hungry earlier than typical.
Overall, the trend over time is what matters, but if you are a person who wants a certain macro split....doing it by meal will ensure the most accuracy.
That is actually an interesting approach I also value the overall trend more but still am a little bit confused regarding to what should I keep track for in the long term and why Do you have any reasoning for your emphasis on the macro split and calories? Do you also keep track of your water drinking trends?
This totally make sense! However I just cannot keep the habbit. Do you have any suggestion on keeping up this regularly?
You might consider trying to change your mindset from "I just cannot keep the habbit <sic>" to something like "I need to find a way to normalize this habit." What I found is that over time, logging became easier. Like another person pointed out, you can write things down and log later if you're away from your scale. I always carry a pocket notebook and a pen so I can jot anything down. Some people write notes to themselves on their phones; I like pen and paper.
If you believe that you cannot maintain a habit, you will not maintain the habit. If you believe that you can make it a habit, you're much more likely to.
That's how you succeed. Ignore that wisdom at your own peril.
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Something else (please explain :) )That's excellent advice from kshama and mtaratoot above. I'm going to go one step more tough love, using personal anecdote.
I used to be class 1 obese, had been for quite a while. I knew it was not a good thing. I wasn't miserable, didn't hate my body, but I knew it wasn't ideal for health (and was giving me poor odds for a long, high-quality life).
For decades, I didn't much try to lose weight. I wasn't serious, wasn't ready, didn't care, whatever. But I knew - explicitly - that if I wasn't willing to do what was required, even the parts that felt difficult and unnatural, I wasn't going to lose weight. I had to accept, in my own mind, that I was choosing to stay obese. (I even admitted this to other people out loud.) If I'd been serious about losing weight, I would've done what I knew needed to be done.
I won't go into exhaustive detail, but there was a point where I committed to lose weight. That meant I had to do what was needed, even if it was annoying, unnatural, disruptive, etc. I had to try the most tolerable-feeling approach, but commit to switching tracks if that didn't work out - find different paths toward the same goal, until I found a path that worked. I had to learn new skills, be uncomfortable with change, and all that jazz. That was choice, too.
Saying "I find it hard" or "I can't keep the habit" . . . well, those are choices. Whether you decide to lose weight or not, recognize and own your choices. At any moment, any of us could probably make better choices in some area of our lives to get better outcomes, but we choose not to. That's OK, but what comes with that is that we need to accept that we won't get the results.
There's no point in deceiving ourselves. We have choices. We can change our behavior, our self image, our habits.
Making positive choices, when they're available, is empowering. For sure, doing that with weight loss helped me realize that there are other positive choices available to me in other areas, and encouraged me to work on those, too. That's what I mean by "empowering".
You have the power to make change in your life. Whether you do or don't, you're making a choice.
We're encouraging you to take the reins, pursue your goals, take that power.
Best wishes.
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Daily Macros (Or daily avarages such as daily calories, fibers...)kshama2001 wrote: »Posters above me answered this question well. I just want to make sure you know that once the food is logged, so are its calories and macros.
My biggest problem is finding the foods that I eat in the list.
Most of the time, the meals in the restaurants are not available in the list. Moreover, I just cannot go through a list to find each food or try the measure the mass of everything I eat. And I believe when I eat a pasta, there is a huge difference between my plate vs restaurants plate vs my mother's plate... How can even be consistent when keeping track of the food is such difficult? How do you keep track of food or can even find and accurately include the food you eat in you food diaries?
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cinalicikler wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »Posters above me answered this question well. I just want to make sure you know that once the food is logged, so are its calories and macros.
My biggest problem is finding the foods that I eat in the list. Most of the time, the meals in the restaurants are not available in the list. Moreover, I just cannot go through a list to find each food or try the measure the mass of everything I eat. And I believe when I eat a pasta, there is a huge difference between my plate vs restaurants plate vs my mother's plate... How can even be consistent when keeping track of the food is such difficult? How do you keep track of food or can even find and accurately include the food you eat in you food diaries?
Most people find to succeed at losing weight they have to start cooking at home more. If you're eating at restaurants every day, losing weight is going to be a real challenge. You may need to reassess your priorities.2 -
One more thought. If you're dead set against counting calories, which you seem to be. Calorie counting is just a strategy. There are other strategies you can use like increasing low calorie foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and decreasing higher calorie foods like fatty meats, deserts, pastries, etc. You don't have to count calories to do that, it just helps.2
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Macros per Meal (Such as macros of breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks)cinalicikler wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »Posters above me answered this question well. I just want to make sure you know that once the food is logged, so are its calories and macros.
My biggest problem is finding the foods that I eat in the list. Most of the time, the meals in the restaurants are not available in the list. Moreover, I just cannot go through a list to find each food or try the measure the mass of everything I eat. And I believe when I eat a pasta, there is a huge difference between my plate vs restaurants plate vs my mother's plate... How can even be consistent when keeping track of the food is such difficult? How do you keep track of food or can even find and accurately include the food you eat in you food diaries?
Once you get used to measuring food at your house and your mother's house, estimating how much you eat at a restaurant will be easier. I kept a scale at my mother's so I could weigh foods I ate there. There are numerous advantages to scales, but you could start with measuring cups as a way to start measuring.
Also, if at a restaurant you eat half, you can bring the other half home and measure it there.
Please give examples of food you cannot find in the database.0 -
Macros per Meal (Such as macros of breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks)sollyn23l2 wrote: »One more thought. If you're dead set against counting calories, which you seem to be. Calorie counting is just a strategy. There are other strategies you can use like increasing low calorie foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and decreasing higher calorie foods like fatty meats, deserts, pastries, etc. You don't have to count calories to do that, it just helps.
Here's a visual that may be helpful:
(Although I would argue that a 2 oz portion of meat is too small for most people.)
More information:
https://www.move.va.gov/docs/NewHandouts/Standard/S06_MakingHealthyFoodChoicesWithAHealthyPlate.pdf
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cinalicikler wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »Posters above me answered this question well. I just want to make sure you know that once the food is logged, so are its calories and macros.
My biggest problem is finding the foods that I eat in the list. Most of the time, the meals in the restaurants are not available in the list. Moreover, I just cannot go through a list to find each food or try the measure the mass of everything I eat. And I believe when I eat a pasta, there is a huge difference between my plate vs restaurants plate vs my mother's plate... How can even be consistent when keeping track of the food is such difficult? How do you keep track of food or can even find and accurately include the food you eat in you food diaries?
The same reason that the MFP database is awesome is the reason it's daunting. It is vast. It also has some things that are just flat out wrong.
It will take some time at first as you learn how it works and also filtering through the many entries to find the ones that match what YOU are eating. It's an investment of time. It will get easier and simpler. It's an investment that will pay you back with interest.
Using a food scale is the best way to measure what you are eating. For pasta, you should weigh it before you cook it. One serving is a lot less than what many people think. It would be very easy for me to eat two servings any time I eat pasta. Same with rice. You'll learn. Then, after you get an idea of what that serving looks like AFTER it cooks, you can use your power of estimation when you are away from home. The caveat is that you have to keep doing the weighing at home or your eyeball will go out of calibration.
Restaurants present their own unique challenges, and they almost always will have more calories than the same dish you make at home. There's a reason they add more oil. Makes people happy. You'll have to make the best choice from the database that you can. Restaurants can be minefields.
The bottom line is that it's your choice how you manage your diary. However you go about it, be consistent with it, and log everything. Then after several weeks, see if the results you are getting match what you were expecting. If your results are what you expect, you're doing it right. If the results don't match expectations, you'll have to do something different with your diary.
Yes it takes some time and effort. It takes more at first. It does get easier. It really all depends if you want to make positive changes in your life and how much effort you are willing to invest. Using MFP to monitor what you eat and how much you move is really simple. It is NOT, however, easy.
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I lost most of my weight on MFP eating over 2500 calories per day which for most people here would be a maintenance or weight gain amount. I've been maintaining at around 2900 plus calories a day which for most people here again would be a weight gain amount.
I still have to make arrangements and work around restaurant meals when I choose to indulge in them.
Unless I'm eating at my dad's independent living facility where the portions are substantially smaller than a regular restaurant, I have to either cut down the numbers or contents of my other meals or snacks in order to accommodate the minimum 1200 to 2,000 calories that a regular restaurant meal brings to the table.
Of course if at the restaurant I special order using substitutions such as steam vegetables with no butter, no sauce, non fried foods, reduced pasta or rice substituted with extra vegetables then that meal would probably have the chance to better fit my day.
You don't have to walk very far to figure out approximate calories for a restaurant meal. Pretty much every food vendor makes Frozen macaroni and cheese or some sort of spaghetti with meat sauce dinner, or even lasagna that are approximately 300-400 calories of minuscule sadness in the frozen meal section of your favorite convenience or grocery store. Not to mention 360 to 500 calorie noodle bowls where you just pour water and wait 3 minutes
Put ok Google two or three of these on a plate and see if they even come close to the volume of your restaurant meal. And realize that at the restaurant they will add extra oil on top or nicely grated extra cheese on top neither which is zero calories!
Restaurant meals tend to be tasty and Rich. Reducing calories means either reducing the median caloric content by fluffing it up with lower caloric value items, or reducing portion size, or a combination.
A combination of higher volume lower calorie choices and fewer restaurant meals certainly worked for me but you will have to figure out your own compromises that will keep you satiated enough and happy enough while lowering your total calories in1
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