New to Macros

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Hello fellow fitness pals. I’m 54, been running and working out for a while now, but just now trying to clean up my diet. And new to this Macros counting. Also I am ex chef that still loves to cook and it’s hard for me to give up butter, sugar and bread. I would love to learn some great healthy recipes.

AnnPT77

Welcome!

You don't necessarily need to give up butter, sugar, or bread, unless you find you can't moderate them. Most of us can fit some of those into our calorie goal and still get good overall nutrition at appropriate calories, as long as we don't try to lose weight silly-fast by cutting calories to an extreme. You wouldn't want to do that "fast loss" thing anyway, I'm sure, because decent odds it would hinder your athletic performance. Slow and steady is good, if you have weight to lose plus athletic goals. Actually, slow and steady is good in most cases: Easier to stick with, more likely to establish new eating habits that stick long-term.

Nutrition, health, body composition and performance - to the extent that they're influenced by food choices - is a matter of overall way of eating in total, not about specific individual food choices. It's not necessary to eat all "superfoods" or never to have treats or rich foods.

Is your main goal weight loss or improved nutrition or both equally? You don't say. I started with MFP in 2015, lost weight, tuned up my nutrition, and have maintained a healthy weight since. Like you, I'm athletically active (on-water rowing is my thing), so performance is important to me.

As a trained chef, you're in a perfect situation to lighten up your own recipes. It's not essential to get everything perfect from day one, especially if you don't have some dire pre-existing health condition in the picture. You can gradually make changes over a period of time, which can make the changes more manageable.

A web search will turn up many suggestions for reducing calories (or other things that many be considered less health-promoting), and many "healthy" recipes. EatingWell.com is one popular source for the latter.

One thing I found fun during weight loss was experimenting with all kinds of veggies and fruits, including some that were new to me. YMMV, but I actually found shopping, cooking, and eating more fun when I was more selective, vs. just eating whatever I felt like in whatever quantities I could consume.

However you get there, IME the result is worth the effort. I'm wishing you success!