Understanding the food diary

marianb2001

I watch the calorie and protein, carb, etc on my diary. I am new to this and have been losing weight but I am not sure how to read the diary.

I have maxed out on protein, sugar, but not enough carbs and certainly not enough calories. I am concerned about going over on some, but still being in 'starvation mode". Any advice on how I should read this thing? Please? Sould I eat more and ignore the negative values or what?

Thanks

pastryari

Ignore the sugar unless you have a medical reason to monitor your intake.

MFP sets the protein levels low, think of it as a minimum not a maximum.

Just try to get as close to your numbers as you can for the rest, you'll get the hang of it and learn how to adjust to meet each cal/macro goal to the best of your ability.

81Katz

Starvation mode is mostly myth IMO, meaning *I* think it takes some pretty serious doing to get into a true starvation mode (but that is another topic)

Myself, and plenty of others feel that MFP sets the protein levels very low. (protein is good for your body, your muscles and it keeps you full)

I think MFP tends to UP the carbs too much (and no I am not anti-carb, nor do I do low-card) just saying! lol

The sugars, I tracked at first but no longer do. I would blow my sugar amount on fruit and dairy alone (not talking added sugars in dairy) so after a while it just didn't seem that important for me to track it, so I don't.

The goal of this is to hit your goals, not to grossly over eat or grossly under eat. A lot of people post things like "I am almost always under my goals for the day!" -- you're not supposed to be. I think sometimes you do get to where you're not hungry here or there and that is ok, I don't think you should force yourself to eat. But to purposely undershoot your goals thinking it would 'speed' up the process, bad idea.

marianb2001

Thanks al. i was getting to the point where I spent too much time calcualtig what i could and could not eat. I had a habit of eating around 700 calories a day. It just worked for me hunger wise, but I was getting bigger around the stomache for years. Now I am trying to eat 'right' and I have finally been losing. I was about 30 lbs overwaight and could not lose any weight. Then by upping my intake I started losing. Amazing, but I have been overthinking it going by all your kind responses.
Thank you