Do Macros Blow You; Or is it just me???

mochabearmommie3

One of the reasons why (some) processed foods work so well is because its easy to calculate and log. When I make something at home that's slightly complex, adding all the ingredients and having to tally them, etc, gives me a migraine LOL.. I know, 1st work problems/ complaints.. but that's just how I'm feeling today.
How do YOU do your macros? Do you feel good about the process?

COGypsy

My answer is probably not popular and certainly isn't the experience some people have, but when I decided to start tracking calories to lose weight (and for other reasons too), I just quit most elaborate cooking. I make bowls with vegetables and meat and can just track single ingredients that way. I eat a lot of salad mixes, with meat and/or beans added. Noodles with vegetables and poached eggs (okay, that's technically cooking, but still doesn't require the recipe maker!) I mostly just keep it really simple and stick to single ingredient logging.

I'm not much help on the macros, I check in on protein, but don't really bother about the rest.

yirara

My cooking is somewhat complex and I do log. I do use a lot of produce that I use over and over again. If I use onion I only need to type 'on' in the search field and get everything with on that I used the last past many months (hint: it's only onion). Throw the whole, peeled onion on scale, add weight in grams in app, cut onion. The actual logging takes seconds. And this is what I do for all produce. Including spices. Though there I put the pot on the scale, tar the scale, take out spice, log the weight difference. Also takes seconds as I've logged any of my 50 or so spices again and again (ok, asafoeitida is rarely used, and it indeed doesn't show up). Thus actually, logging is quite fast. And if you like a varied diet and don't like to eat something different every day then this might actually not be faster in the end as you still need to check that the nutritional info of the readymade meal and weight are correct. Once you have a good pile of produce you use over and over again you don't need to check.

jbs116

Loggin got to the point of diminishing returns for me. As you noted, it can be a pain. I also noticed it started to turn my eating into a math problem. I also noticed that logging my food did not prevent me from eating too much and had no bearing on losing or gaining weight. I have not logged my food for years. However, I can pretty much tell you the calories and macros on a plate from all the years I did log, so I kind of keep a general calorie and protein count in my head. If @COGypsy thinks her answer is not popular you should see how my opinion/answer goes over on MFP... Logging your food for more than a few days (maybe weeks) is not natural or helpful, and if you need to do it long term something is off. See. Popular stuff! 😂

frhaberl

I'm a data nerd, so I'll put that disclaimer up front. That said, I would find entering my food REALLY tedious because I do tend to do a fair amount of "complex" cooking. My saving grace is the Meals and Recipe builders and the fact that I tend to cycle through the same 20 or so recipes pretty regularly. Don't get me wrong, it took some time to get everything entered over the first 1-2 months, but now I can either just use the entry for the recipe I created as is, or make minor adjustments to it (different weight of protein used, different number of servings, etc) before adding it to my meal.

When I'm in a rush and don't have time to enter the full recipe and weigh every ingredient, then I do something more similar to what @COGypsy describes. I kind of ignore the less calorie dense ingredients and only weigh and log the components that represent the majority of calories (usually the protein and starch, and any fats I use). Sometimes the data nerd in me goes back and adds in the veggies because I like hitting my fiber target every day, but I am okay with "eyeballing" those items.

AnnPT77

You mention macros, but then talk about the difficulty of logging?

If the problem is in part that you're trying to be very exact with macros, that's not necessary. Pretty close, on average, is plenty good enough.

Even logging isn't necessary, if you can reduce calorie intake some other way. (There are other ways, as some have commented. People lost weight even before calorie counting was practical: I was already an adult when it was still very impractical and ineffective to calorie count. I saw weight loss happen, even lost some myself, without counting. That's still a reasonable option.)

jbs116 wrote: »

Loggin got to the point of diminishing returns for me. As you noted, it can be a pain. I also noticed it started to turn my eating into a math problem. I also noticed that logging my food did not prevent me from eating too much and had no bearing on losing or gaining weight. I have not logged my food for years. However, I can pretty much tell you the calories and macros on a plate from all the years I did log, so I kind of keep a general calorie and protein count in my head. If @COGypsy thinks her answer is not popular you should see how my opinion/answer goes over on MFP... Logging your food for more than a few days (maybe weeks) is not natural or helpful, and if you need to do it long term something is off. See. Popular stuff! 😂

Yeah, psychoanalyzing others whom you don't actually know, and finding them broken, that usually will be an unpopular opinion.

I count. I like it, it takes negligible time for me, I don't feel obsessive about it: It suits me. It doesn't suit you. That's fine. Calorie counting is optional. Those who don't like it, or find it stressful or obsessive, shouldn't do it.

mtaratoot

Logging foods can be a little challenging at first. I don't remember that long ago. I think it can get easier the more you do it. If you have items you make at home routinely, turn them into a recipe so you can log them more easily. Pro-tip: When you're done making the recipe, weigh it (tare out the container and weigh just the ingredients). Then make your recipe have the number of servings as there are grams (or tens of grams or hundreds of grams) in the final product. When you serve yourself some, just weigh the serving, and the number of grams is how much you ate.

I keep an eye on macros to make sure I'm not way out of balance, but I don't try to hit the goals exactly. I just let MFP assign the values, and I just keep an eye on them.