Low carb diet and food diary?

AdAstra34

Hi all,
I've been using MFP mainly to log exercise for the past few weeks. I eat a lower carb diet. My question is how to use the food diary and log my foods? Do I need to stay within the caloric guideline that MFP has given me - or can I go over it? And what happens if I do go over and I'm logging in the food diary? Am I over-thinking this?

Please help! ...and thanks!

VCanadapt

MFP does have a recommended amount of calories you can intake. However, you can adjust your goals to coincide with your Low carb diet.
If you go over your calories for any given day, it simply turns a different color to let you know you've exceeded the goal you've set.

AdAstra34

Thanks! How do I go about figuring out how many calories to take in per day on a low-carb diet?

FIT_Goat

That depends. You can start with the numbers MFP gives you, as a reference point, and then adjust after a month or so based on the results you're seeing.

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

I personally think, MFP is wildly inaccurate, at least for me it was off by 400-500 cals. MFP was recommending me to eat 1500 cals to 1.5 pounds a week. I ate 2200-2500 cals and had no problem losing more than 2 lbs a week. I am glad I didn't eat that less because my metabolism actually went up with what I ate. Listen to your body on a low carb diet, I eat if I am hungry over or under cals doesn't matter.

pltjess

I also think MFP isn't very accurat. It set me far below what I'm currently eating and losing with. I used several calculators that asked for a lot more information and found a middle ground I was comfortable with to start. And don't forget to adjust your macros under goals... Then custom.