What do you monitor?

wewon

When I set up my account I was glad to have my food diary set up so that I could budget and monitor my calories. I left the settings on the items that I monitored on the default settings (calories, fat, protien, fiber).

As I went on my journey I started seeing the benefit of keeping an eye on my protein and carb intakes for energy and general soreness after an intense work out.

I also started keeping an eye on fiber and fats as things became more evolved.

This morning I was looking at my home page and saw all of the feeds of my friends (Joeblow completed his diary and was below his goal!) and decided to see their diaries. Many people are monitoring all sorts of things such as sodium, cholesterol, potassium, ect. This list can get pretty overwhelming.

How do you decide what to keep track of on your diary? Are there certain things that are the best indicators of overall health?

I know that people on this board are really focused on calories, but is there something that trumps calories interms of building a healthier body overall?

cathcakey

Sort of the opposite of what you're asking but what I DON'T track on my food page is sugar. A couple of bits of fruit a day and you'll be over your daily allowance. Because I eat fruit every day I don't bother tracking it.

Obviously though, I'm talking about natural sugars, not sweet and pastries!!

anbegley

I monitor for sugars as my family has a very long history of diabetes (I discount natural sugars from fruits, mostly just trying to keep myself accountable. I don't want to head down that road). I also like to watch my sodium for bloating etc. Probably not what you were looking for as a reply, but saw your picture. Go Boilers! ('96).

bmontgomery87

I track cals, protein, fat, and carbs.

Mainly the overall calories and protein. I make sure I get at least 200 grams of protein dailiy.

I try to not go way over on fat or carbs as well tho. I'm around 40/35/25 carbs/protein/fat


I don't keep up with cholesterol or sodium.
I drink plenty of water and don't notice bloating from sodium and I'm around 5000 mg a day.

DonM46

As you said, the main thing is calories. I'm not concerned about any of the other categories that much, but it is interesting to note. Consequently, I rotate those other components periodically, simply out of curiosity.

Clew

It's all as individual as the person, really. My main focus is protein, carbs, fat and sodium. A diabetic may be more interested in tracking sugars, potassium, etc. Someone anemic may want to track iron, someone with high counts may want to have cholesterol on there. Just all depends. Think abou your health concerns and what you feel are key points to your success and you'll know what to do

myukniewicz

i track sodium, fat, potassium, sodium, carbs and fiber

sodium - because that is very important to watch, because it causes water retention, but more importantly high blood pressure. i keep mine at the American Heart Associations recommended intake of 1500mgs a day.

potassium - because it kind of works hand in hand with sodium intake. it helps water move through your cell walls in your body, and helps proper muscle function. i keep mine around 2,500 - 3,000 mg a day which is pretty difficult to do. i have read multiple sources that say an adult should have 2000 mg a day, and others say that your potassium should be 3 time that of your sodium. *shruggs* all i know is that i try and intake as much as possible, and i also take a supplement. ha ha

fat - because to much of the wrong kind of fat is bad!

carbs - because i try and keep it low on days i don't workout, and higher on days i do workout

fiber - because fiber helps your digestive track i keep mine at 25g a day

melaniecheeks

Calories and carbs mostly. I also track sugar, fat, protein and sodium, but I don't worry too much about those targets. I'm always over on sugar and well under the sodium level.

KatyE213

I think it depends on the individual. As the poster above has said, with family history of diabetes you may need to keep an eye on sugar; if you are prone to water retention or bloating you may be having too much sodium etc etc. I just leave mine on the default settings but it depends if you have any particular issues.

mbnharrison

I monitor my fiber and protein but check in on everything once a day. I don't really factor sodium into the equation only because I don't eat alot of prepackaged or prepared foods and I have very low blood pressure. But fiber is friend!

bizco

Most people here are trying to lose weight so calories are the best indicator for that. Others might have a particular health issue so they track other macros/micros. For high blood pressure, lower sodium is important. For diabetes, it's sugar. Thankfully, I don't have any underlying health issues so I track sodium and fiber in addition to the defaults. Both are critical to losing weight and feeling full for a longer period of time.

jonathandavid_t

The sodium and potassium counts on lots of items here are wrong or don't exist, so I ignore tracking them. Anyway, the body can do what it needs to to maintain potassium homeostasis.

Sodium is an issue for people buying pre-packaged food and/or with high blood pressure or risk factors for it, so, IF the counts are correct (and you have to check -- people seem to enter the "grams" value from the food packaging as the "mg" value on MFP, which obviously should be 1000x higher), it might be worth tracking it (or giving up the pre-packaged food). Persistent intake of high amounts of sodium is linked to arterial hypertension.

Again, lots of food items don't have a cholesterol count.

I've abandoned sugar tracking because one or tow pieces of fruit take me over the "limit" and anyway, I'm going to burn the sugar calories rapidly or store them for use the next time I'm in the gym. I don't have diabetes. If I did, I'd probably care more.

I'd keep it simple and go for tracking fibre and protein (aim over the "target") and low fat and calories (aim just under the target). Anything else just complicates things, and if you're eating reasonably healthy and exercising from time to time, your body will sort things out for itself (sugar can be converted to glycogen or to fat depending on what the body wants, the same happens in reverse, and if you take in too much K or Na you'll pee it out, and the body synthesizes cholesterol pretty-much regardless of what you feed it).

Mmmary212

I only care about (on mfp) is my CARBS #1....(and sugar, but that goes hand in hand), protein and that's it. I keep my fat on there for just curiousity sake, but I dont worry about that. I monitor my fiber because I can subtract the fiber from my carbs. At this time my calories are irrelevant. That's mine.