Always over my carbs and sugar intake. Help?

loveless_me

I seem to always go over my carbohydrates and sugar intake but I am always under my calorie intake. I guess I'm not eating the right things. Anyone give me advice on something I can eat for as a filling delicious meal that has little to no carbohydrates and sugars? I am a chocolate addict so I refuse to cut out my one bar of chocolate a day XD Its my only pleasure. Also, I don't eat meat, poultry or fish.

Aaron_K123

I seem to always go over my carbohydrates and sugar intake but I am always under my calorie intake. I guess I'm not eating the right things. Anyone give me advice on something I can eat for as a filling delicious meal that has little to no carbohydrates and sugars? I am a chocolate addict so I refuse to cut out my one bar of chocolate a day XD Its my only pleasure. Also, I don't eat meat, poultry or fish.

To fix your problem with going over your "sugar" intake you can go into the settings on MFP and turn that tracker off because it doesn't matter.

As for carbs you can never have to many carbs if you are still hitting your calorie goals...what you can have though is too little protein or too little fat.

You should be getting about 1 gram of protein per pound of lean mass and about 0.3-0.4g of fat per pound of bodyweight.

How many grams are you getting?

BigT555

if you are a vegetarian its going to be very hard for you to cut down on carbs. but this isnt really a bad thing, you can be over on you carb goal and still lose weight.

nuts, avocado, legumes, and soy products are good low carb options to name a few

Aaron_K123

Yeah I took a look at your diary. Your protein goal and your calorie goal are both way low.

Your protein goal is set to 66 grams which isn't really enough and on top of that you aren't meeting it.

As BigT said nuts, avocado, legumes, soy products. Lentils are a good option they are about 1:1 protein and carbs. A lentil curry can be a tasty meal that is fairly high in protein. Snack on almonds or other nuts for added fat and protien.

1200 calories, I hate to see that.

tracy_getsfit

I agree you need more calories and more protein. I would aim for more like a 100 a day. You can have lean meats and veggies. But no carbs is also not a really good idea. You need color in your diet and to get that you will have to have carbs.

AsaThorsWoman

It looks like all your foods are packaged.

Why not try cooking?

If you're in a dorm or new at cooking all is not lost.

The freezer section has microwavable steam in the bag veggies (avoid corn to cut down on carbs).

It looks like you're falling in a common vegetarian trap, which is avoiding meat by eating tons of non-meat containing junk food.

Try to start with at least one fruit and one veg a day, and move up to 10+ serving veg and several fruits a day on top of your whole grains & lentils.

But you really, really need to cook.

You can survive out of packages, but most people are not going to recommend it.

Aaron_K123

I second 100g a day of protein as being a goal you should strive to hit.

I don't know your height or weight so I cannot recommend a specific calorie goal but I'm pretty darn sure it should be higher than 1200.

GBrady43068

EDIT: I misread your diary initially so if you read me talking about "too few calories" please ignore.

I see you eat yogurt..try switching from "regular" to Greek style to get more protein.

And I would second what Asa says..start cooking more. Pre-packaged stuff is going to add extra carbs (usually sugars) as filler.

You can probably cut out a lot of carbs (if that's your only goal) by making it yourself with less sugar (or artificial sweetener unless you're eating "clean").

climbing_trees

What about eggs?
An omelette with lots of vegetables is a great vegetarian meal!

Aaron_K123

What about eggs?
An omelette with lots of vegetables is a great vegetarian meal!

Are eggs considered vegetarian? If so yeah, eggs.

stephanieharms1290

I agree with some of the posts above that your protein intake is def. way to low. I understand as a vegetarian that may be a difficult hump, but there are certainly other options. Raising your protein intake will keep you fuller much longer throughout you day, which helps to avoid snacking. I believe eggs of any kind could work, and are a great snack if you hard boil them. Eggs for breakfast every morning, plus adding veggies is an awesome way to start you day. You will be a lot fuller than from yogurt. (That right there is cutting out some sugars)

As for carbs, try cooking "good" carbs. Eizkel bread, a wheat wrap, brown rice, sweet potatoes are great for you. You can try all different sorts of meals/sides with each. Rice cakes with some low fat almond/peanut butter make an awesome snack.

I know how hard it is to kick a sugar habit, especially chocolate. But daily candy bars are soaking up 200-300 calories daily you can replace with an entire meal. It is extremely difficult at first, but that much better if you allow yourself a treat once a week.

marissanik

I was a strict vegetarian for 3+ years, I tried losing weight with it but hitting the protein macros are too much. My cheat days are always vegetarian and never enough protein. I'm now a polo vegetarian... Only chicken. And like I said, it's a fitness thing, I still feel guilty but it's all about how bad you want it.

Suggestions for protein sources:

whey (they have vegan options)
eggs
tofu (there are lots of recipes online don't tell me you don't like it)
vegetarian meat supplements (look for lower sodium, even vegan burger patties)
greek yogurt
cheese
skim milk
nuts
peanut butter
beans

marissanik

In regards to going over sugar intake - I wouldn't worry too much about it. Fruit sugar is good for you, please keep that in mind. MFP doesn't separate good and bad sugars.

I aim for about 20g of artificial sugars a day. I normally go for 5g of sugar or less per serving.

GBrady43068

Look for ways to "convert" meat-based recipes to veggie. For example, make homemade chili with vegetarian "meat".

You don't address eggs so I'm not sure if you're vegan or just vegetarian but if you aren't vegan and you like spinach, there's a great spinach casserole recipe you can get from Jiffy.com (it does contain cornmeal so it's not low-carb but it is pretty good on your other nutrients.)

If you're making something like say, orange-glazed carrots (another yummy recipe I have) I wouldn't obsess too much over the sugars unless there's a medical reason you're watching sugar. In the end, if your calories in is less than out, even if some macros are "in the red", you'll still be losing weight.