How do you stay within your calorie goal while meeting your daily nutrient goal?

SorceEdea

Hello everyone,

I got into the weightloss diet with my mother. Our goal is to stay within 1200 calories. I don't really need it, but I decided to do it for my mom. However, I'm having a hard time meeting my nutrient goal.

I seem to always go over my carbs, sometimes fiber, fat, and on occasion sugar. It's usually always fiber, fat and carbs I always seem to go over. But my calories are always within the 1200. So how do you guys balance it out?

Do you know what foods you should consume based off what you ate in the morning, afternoon, and evening, etc to meet your nutrient goal and not go over? Or does that not matter at all as long as you're eating homemade healthy non-processed foods? Thanks!

sollyn23l2

SorceEdea wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I got into the weightloss diet with my mother. Our goal is to stay within 1200 calories. I don't really need it, but I decided to do it for my mom. However, I'm having a hard time meeting my nutrient goal.

I seem to always go over my carbs, sometimes fiber, fat, and on occasion sugar. It's usually always fiber, fat and carbs I always seem to go over. But my calories are always within the 1200. So how do you guys balance it out?

Do you know what foods you should consume based off what you ate in the morning, afternoon, and evening, etc to meet your nutrient goal and not go over? Or does that not matter at all as long as you're eating homemade healthy non-processed foods? Thanks!

It doesn't matter (though there are groups of fanatics on here who will try to tell you you really ought to eat this, not that, blah blah blah). You can eat whatever mix of macros you want and you will be fine. The only exception really being type 1 diabetics, who have to closely monitor and calculate their insulin dosages.

yirara

eat whatever you like. But chose a slower weightloss goal as whatever you've chosen won't happen anyway. If a female is given 1200 calories then they've chosen a too agressive goal and MFP spits out 1200 as the bare minimum a woman should eat.

Lietchi

There is nothing wrong with being over your fiber goal (fiber is a minimum to achieve). Even being over your fat or carb goal isn't bad, but considering you are only consuming 1200 calories it makes me worry that you are not consuming enough protein, which is important to maintain muscle mass. How much protein are you consuming?

I'm also wondering if 1200 is an appropriate calorie goal for you, it's too low for many women. What are your stats: age, weight, height? Getting a goal of 1200 on MFP often indicates having chosen a weight loss rate that is to aggressive and/or being older, smaller and/or sedentary.

AnnPT77

I agree that protein is important, and if you're seriously low on that, that's not a good idea. It's fine to be over on fats, fiber and even carbs or sugar . . . but it's not good to be low on protein, fats, or micronutrients. Obviously, we can't go way over on everything (or many things) and still stay within calorie goal.

Nutrition won't directly affect bodyweight: That's directly about calories. However, nutrition is important for health, energy level, body composition (lean vs. fat), and more. (It can have some indirect effects on weight loss through energy level or appetite.)

I also agree with others that for many women, 1200 is a very aggressive calorie goal, hard to sustain, plus makes it more difficult to get adequate nutrition, and can increase health risks. You don't say whether you're overweight, or how overweight, or your age/height/weight, so it's hard to say for sure. Some very petite, very inactive, usually older women may need to eat that little. But for many, it's too low.

A person who has weight to lose would be better off sticking with a calorie goal designed to lose 0.5-1% of current body weight per week, with a bias toward the 0.5% (half a pound per hundred pounds of body weight) unless under close medical supervision to monitor for nutritional deficiencies or health complications.

The idea that all women need to eat 1200 calories or less to lose weight is a total myth.

If you want to balance your eating better, that's where reviewing your food logs can help. I'd encourage thinking more about how to get the things you're missing INTO your eating, and only think about what to take OUT to the extent you need to free up calories for the new choices.

I'll use protein as an example, since I had to work on that when first reducing calories. What I did was look at my food diary, see where my protein was coming from, and think about other protein sources I enjoy eating that could be increased to reach my protein goal. That identified some good things I could add to my eating routine.

Then I went through my diary looking for foods I was eating pretty often that were relatively high in calories, relatively low in protein, not so important to me for other nutrition (or general happiness). I would reduce those foods (portion size or frequency) to free up calories, and add some foods I like that made a better protein contribution.

I tried to focus on changing my habits, my routine that was on repeat, so that I didn't need to micromanage each and every day. By doing this repeatedly every few days for a while, I eventually worked my way to a reasonably happy set of routine eating habits that I enjoyed, that added up to the right number of calories, kept me reasonably full most of the time, and ticked the nutritional boxes in the way I wanted.

Best wishes!

SorceEdea

Lietchi wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with being over your fiber goal (fiber is a minimum to achieve). Even being over your fat or carb goal isn't bad, but considering you are only consuming 1200 calories it makes me worry that you are not consuming enough protein, which is important to maintain muscle mass. How much protein are you consuming?

I'm also wondering if 1200 is an appropriate calorie goal for you, it's too low for many women. What are your stats: age, weight, height? Getting a goal of 1200 on MFP often indicates having chosen a weight loss rate that is to aggressive and/or being older, smaller and/or sedentary.

I always try to max out the protein part of the goal. I calculate what we eat based off what's left. So we're never extremely low on protein. We just tend to always go over on carbs, fat and fiber because I always add fruits with cottage cheese, nuts and seeds to increase our protein intake. So I was just curious

SorceEdea

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I agree that protein is important, and if you're seriously low on that, that's not a good idea. It's fine to be over on fats, fiber and even carbs or sugar . . . but it's not good to be low on protein, fats, or micronutrients. Obviously, we can't go way over on everything (or many things) and still stay within calorie goal.

Nutrition won't directly affect bodyweight: That's directly about calories. However, nutrition is important for health, energy level, body composition (lean vs. fat), and more. (It can have some indirect effects on weight loss through energy level or appetite.)

I also agree with others that for many women, 1200 is a very aggressive calorie goal, hard to sustain, plus makes it more difficult to get adequate nutrition, and can increase health risks. You don't say whether you're overweight, or how overweight, or your age/height/weight, so it's hard to say for sure. Some very petite, very inactive, usually older women may need to eat that little. But for many, it's too low.

A person who has weight to lose would be better off sticking with a calorie goal designed to lose 0.5-1% of current body weight per week, with a bias toward the 0.5% (half a pound per hundred pounds of body weight) unless under close medical supervision to monitor for nutritional deficiencies or health complications.

The idea that all women need to eat 1200 calories or less to lose weight is a total myth.

If you want to balance your eating better, that's where reviewing your food logs can help. I'd encourage thinking more about how to get the things you're missing INTO your eating, and only think about what to take OUT to the extent you need to free up calories for the new choices.

I'll use protein as an example, since I had to work on that when first reducing calories. What I did was look at my food diary, see where my protein was coming from, and think about other protein sources I enjoy eating that could be increased to reach my protein goal. That identified some good things I could add to my eating routine.

Then I went through my diary looking for foods I was eating pretty often that were relatively high in calories, relatively low in protein, not so important to me for other nutrition (or general happiness). I would reduce those foods (portion size or frequency) to free up calories, and add some foods I like that made a better protein contribution.

I tried to focus on changing my habits, my routine that was on repeat, so that I didn't need to micromanage each and every day. By doing this repeatedly every few days for a while, I eventually worked my way to a reasonably happy set of routine eating habits that I enjoyed, that added up to the right number of calories, kept me reasonably full most of the time, and ticked the nutritional boxes in the way I wanted.

Best wishes!

As I stated before, I don't really need it. But got into the duet to help my mom who really needs it. She's 62 and currently weighs 198. She doesn't workout so she only does house chores. I typically always calculate our protein intake and always try to max it out or keep it at the number closest to the goal. I'm a 42 weighing at 143. My mother is 5'4 and I'm 5'6. I walk the dogs every day and Right now, I'm slightly active. Not as active as I used to be. But yeah, I always try to figure out how to increase our protein but that always leads to our fat, carbs, and fiber going over. That's why I asked. Thanks!

AnnPT77

If protein choices specifically are what's driving up your carbs and fats, have you taken a look at this thread?

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

It links to a spreadsheet that lists many, many foods in order of most protein for fewest calories, which inherently implies that things high on the list are lower in carbs/fat (the other sources of calories). If you can find things on that list you like eating, and sub them for a protein source that's more calorie dense, you may be able to better balance your eating.

Speaking as a woman who lost weight at 59-60 (severely hypothyroid, though medicated), starting at 5'5" and 183 pounds and who is now 68 and 130s pounds since a year of loss . . . please do keep an eye on your mom's calorie intake and weight loss trend over 4-6 weeks. Even some of us older, non-big women can find 1200 calories to be too little for best results. It's hard to tell in theory, but the trend over that many weeks will tell a true story.

Fast weight loss isn't best weight loss. It can increase health risks. Permanent weight management (loss then maintenance) is best weight management, IMO, and that depends on finding sustainable new habits for the long term.

It won't be true for everyone my age, but for me 1200 calories (plus all carefully estimated exercise calories) was too low even though I'm pretty sedentary outside of that exercise. It resulted in too-fast weight loss, caused me to suddenly hit a wall and become weak/fatigued, then it took multiple weeks to recover. No one needs that! If your mom's weight loss rate at 1200 is sensibly moderate and the eating routine sustainable for her, everything should be fine.

Best wishes to both you and your mom!

Retroguy2000

The only thing I've ever tracked is calories and protein. I'm sure I'm getting plenty of fiber with daily oatmeal and other foods, and I expect I get at least as much fat as needed. Basically if I get around X calories and Y grams of protein, the rest likely falls into place for me.

csplatt

I ignore macros and just aim for balanced intake - veggies, fruits, carbs, fats, proteins - without tracking those percentages