Remaining Carbs on Calorie Count

kmessinger14
kmessinger14 Posts: 57 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm not really knowledgable about carbs, but my food diary today only reached half of my "daily goal" of carbs. Is this something I MUST reach (kind of like a minimum 1200 cal/day) or is it the less the better, or what? Thanks!

Replies

  • johnboy513
    johnboy513 Posts: 39
    You should always try and reach your macro goals (carbs, fats and proteins) your body uses carbs as energy. your body will/can make the energy it needs from fats and protein. If you are low on carbs every once in a while I wouldn't be to worried about it. If it starts becoming an everyday thing you might find your self low on energy and less motivated. some diets have low carb days (burn) and high carb days(refuel). I wouldn't be too worried about it. calorie in vs calories out should be your main goal at this point but I wouldn't make it a habit. You should strive to make you daily calories for the day Eating too little calorie could make your body go into starvation mode and add body fat for storage. If you go over/under every now and again isn't a big deal. It will keep your metabolism from getting use to one level of calories in a day. that is where cheat meals come in to play and eat more calories. just be careful with fats. Fats have 9 calories per gram where carbs and proteins have 4 calories per gram. Hope some of or all of this helped.
  • kmessinger14
    kmessinger14 Posts: 57 Member
    Thanks! I looked at the past week or two of my food journal and I definitely need to work on getting more carbs in my diet. However its good news to hear about the benefit of cheat days with the "keeping your body guessing" on the cal. count especially since I know I will be "cheating" this weekend with lots of work for the holiday!
  • MartinaNYC
    MartinaNYC Posts: 190 Member
    I find the macros from MFP a little messed up- proteins level is too low and carbs level is too high IMO (I even discussed this with my friends on here). I am a runner and I usually load on carbs and healthy fats before my evening runs and have proteins afterwards. Although my diet usually consists in 55% carbs, 20% fat, 25% proteins, MFP usually says I'm over with proteins and under with carbs which, as you can see yourself, is impossible. So try to have a balanced diet but don't go too crazy about the macros MFP provides you with!
  • kmessinger14
    kmessinger14 Posts: 57 Member
    It says my goal is 219 carbs/day and right now I'm doing 1290 cal/day .... does this seem right or are those rather high for daily carbs?
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    In my opinion the default macro levels on MFP are not desirable. I set mine to 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. I usually come close to those but I don't overly stress about it.
  • johnboy513
    johnboy513 Posts: 39
    If you do a lot of cardio you want to eat a little more carbs and healthy fats. I do more weight training/bodybuilding type workouts and almost zero to very little cardio so I require more proteins. I eat about 1g to 1.50g of protein per body weight and about .25g to .50g of fat and the rest is carbs so mine is around 45/35/20 carb/protein/fat. I customize my calories and macros in MFP but I thought they was off by a lot when I first signed up for MFP. If you do a lot of cardio I would do some research on daily carbs % for runners. Most of my research is in bodybuilding. Talk to people that have done what you want to do but talk to multiple people don't just take one persons advice. its all trial and error. find what works for you. everyone body is diff and requires ways of eating and training. try something for a few weeks if it isn't working change it up. write everything down and find out what works for you
  • johnboy513
    johnboy513 Posts: 39
    And I wish I could write back from my phone instead of my comp. would be easier since Im always on the go. think they should update the app so we can!!
  • RunForChai
    RunForChai Posts: 238 Member
    Hi--I've been losing weight at a pretty steady, healthy rate by eating half of the carbs on MFP but always allowing myself more protein. People on this site and in the world will swear by their own manner of losing weight---less carbs, more protein, limited sugar and wheat--this works for me. Experiment and see. Good luck.
  • kmessinger14
    kmessinger14 Posts: 57 Member
    I JUST realized that MFP changes your "daily goals" of protein, carbs, and fat when you add exercise to your daily log. I knew it changed my calorie goal but I didn't realize it changed all of the other numbers! Without exercise its set to 177 but when I do a lot of exercise it goes up into the mid 200s.

    I guess I will just research a little more on what is a healthy number for me... I am usually right on target with the protein and fat goal #s.
  • johnboy513
    johnboy513 Posts: 39
    I would not take it as I can eat more if I do cardio.... I would stick with the a number and that is all the calories I would eat for that day... On rest days I would go under that number of calories. I would never eat more just because I went on a run or worked out. I do eat after my workouts but that is all added in on my original calories.
  • triggsta
    triggsta Posts: 140
    MFP automatically adjusts your macros based on, I believe, 50/30/20. If that is what you want your diet to look like, then you need to eat more carbs to achieve this (I suggest a post-it or something of those macros BEFORE workout so you're not eating your calories back, if you choose to eat that way).

    However, you CAN change your macros on a custom basis. So if you don't like eating that many carbs and want, say, 40/40/20 or 30/40/30 or whatever, then you can adjust those however you want, including your calories. But that's going to take a lot of research and trial-and-error to find what will work for you, including your metabolism and your psychological eating lifestyle (i.e. if you need to have a square of chocolate once a day, it's hard to do a keto diet where you are extremely low in carbs).
  • The__Deflator
    The__Deflator Posts: 13 Member
    I agree with the fact that the carbs on MFP are way up and protein too less in my opinion. In my experiences, the protein is "the macro" that keeps me away from hunger the most of the 3! So I changed my goals to 40/30/30 protein/carbs/fats. With that settings, I can eat just about 1800 calories a day (excercise calories eating back just on days I do cardio) and do not have to starve at all!
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
    I think 177 is well enough, i wouldn't go much higher than that as a woman for weight loss. Men can eat more carbs than women. I personally stick to 120. Works pretty good for me. I eat 100-120 protein and around 60-70 fat.

    Zara x
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
    I agree with the fact that the carbs on MFP are way up and protein too less in my opinion. In my experiences, the protein is "the macro" that keeps me away from hunger the most of the 3! So I changed my goals to 40/30/30 protein/carbs/fats. With that settings, I can eat just about 1800 calories a day (excercise calories eating back just on days I do cardio) and do not have to starve at all!

    40/30/30 is a great set of numbers and easy to stick to x
  • triggsta
    triggsta Posts: 140
    Also, this is what I personally try to achieve:

    Protein: 1g-1.5g per body weight. If you weigh 150, eat 150g-215g of protein per day.
    Carbs: 1.5g per pound. 150 --> 215g/day
    Fat: .5g per pound. 150 --> 75g/day. (give or take. some people are afraid of eating fat and want to lower this. fat is good for you though. your body NEEDS it)

    However, this is based on if you are maintaining. So basically, for protein, take your final number and times that by .8 (20% reduction) to find out how much you should eat to lose.

    A great calculator is found here. It does most of the work for you: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

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