New to MFP need help

lindseygibeault

I have been using this app for a little under a month now. When I started I was over in sugars, then it was proteins, now its fat. But yet I never reach my calorie goal almost every day. So my question is... Do I need to focus on the fat intake or is it the calories to watch? Obviously I want to be right on the mark for everything but Im trying to work up to that as I learn to eat healthy. I know most of the fat I intake comes from 1% milk for my VISALUS, cashews, and almonds. I do not eat meat often once in a while I will have some lobster, but thats it, also NO EGGS. Any advice is more then welcomed, thank you!

Binkie1955

It's the carbohydrates. you can overeat on protein, fat and calories all you want. It's the carbohydrate reduction that causes you to lose fat. You'll find once you get the carbohydrates down (say 50 grams of carbs a day) it's almost impossible to screw up on calories. Also don't think you do yourself any good by failing to reach your calorie goal each day. if you starve your body of required calories, you slow your metabolism thus defeating your purpose of 'burning calories' to lose weight. but overall if you've lost what you say you've lost, you're doing well, just be current on what drives weight gain, it's the carbs.

melaniecheeks

Get your calories right first, that's the only thing that will cause you to lose weight. Worry about the other stuff after that.

Dori_Gaga

Ok, this is going to be a long one, hope you're ready!

First, calories are king. The simple fact of the matter is, no matter what you are eating, if you eat less than you burn off, you will lose weight. The carbs, fat, protein and sugars come into play when you are losing weight and being healthy, and trying to avoid losing weight in an unhealthy way.

Yes, if you cut out carbs you will lose weight, but when you cut out any food group, to compromise your overall health. The simple fact of the matter is, our bodies need more carbs than protein. Carbs are the body's source of energy. Carbs are "go food" and protein is "grow food", because protein is used to build muscles and organs. The reason you drop weight quickly on low-carb diets is that you are depriving your body of it's source of energy, and the idea is that you will burn fat for fuel when no fuel is available. The problem is, our bodies like to store fat, so you will burn muscle before you will burn fat. You can also throw your metabolism out of whack that way.

As for fat, we need fat in our diets, but you want to make sure that less than 30% of your calories come from fat, and that less than 10% come from saturated fat. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories, so take your total grams of fat and multiply by 9 to get the total amount of calories from fat, and from there find your percentage. (ie, if you ate 1500 calories total, and you ate 40gram of fat, then 40X9=360, 360/1500=0.24 or 24%). As long as the total is under 30% (and total saturated fat is under 10%) then you are good.

Sugar on MFP can be way over if you eat a lot of fruit. Don't worry about the sugar in fruit, it's not bad. Worry about the amount of refined sugar you eat, and cut back wherever possible. The problem with sugar is that it is a carb, and people forget that, and also if you eat a lot of sugar that you don't burn off quickly, then it is stored as fat. Sugar is broken down quickly and it needs to be burned off right away.

As a woman, you want to watch the protein and don't go over too much, because protein can hinder your body's ability to absorb calcium. From a weight loss standpoint, protein seems safe because it doesn't make you gain weight, but in the long run it's more important to lose weight in a healthy way.

Try not to look at it as you need to be perfect every day. What you should strive for is balance. If you are over on protein today and over on carbs tomorrow, it balances out. If you are over on carbs every day, you might want to make some changes. Losing weight is not about being perfect every day, you'll go crazy and want to quit. Try to strive for 80/20, as in if your numbers are good 80% of the time, the other 20% isn't going to hurt you. But if you are over on one thing more than 80% of the time, then make a change and get it in check.

Live4theLift

It's the carbohydrates. you can overeat on protein, fat and calories all you want. It's the carbohydrate reduction that causes you to lose fat. You'll find once you get the carbohydrates down (say 50 grams of carbs a day).

????? I agree and disagree. Carbs will not make you fat in any way as long as they are good carbs. Here’s the real reason why carbs get such a bad reputation: Up to 50 percent of the carbohydrate intake in the typical American diet is in the form of high fructose corn syrup and sugar. That will cause your insulin to spike and you will most likely have weight gain from over eating of these types of foods but potatos and bread, i eat those everyday its fuel for a workout and healthy

Dori_Gaga

It's the carbohydrates. you can overeat on protein, fat and calories all you want. It's the carbohydrate reduction that causes you to lose fat. You'll find once you get the carbohydrates down (say 50 grams of carbs a day).

????? I agree and disagree. Carbs will not make you fat in any way as long as they are good carbs. Here’s the real reason why carbs get such a bad reputation: Up to 50 percent of the carbohydrate intake in the typical American diet is in the form of high fructose corn syrup and sugar. That will cause your insulin to spike and you will most likely have weight gain from over eating of these types of foods but potatos and bread, i eat those everyday its fuel for a workout and healthy

Thank you! A voice of reason!

lindseygibeault

Thanks for your input! I never ever ever come close on my carbs....

lindseygibeault

Ok, this is going to be a long one, hope you're ready!

First, calories are king. The simple fact of the matter is, no matter what you are eating, if you eat less than you burn off, you will lose weight. The carbs, fat, protein and sugars come into play when you are losing weight and being healthy, and trying to avoid losing weight in an unhealthy way.

Yes, if you cut out carbs you will lose weight, but when you cut out any food group, to compromise your overall health. The simple fact of the matter is, our bodies need more carbs than protein. Carbs are the body's source of energy. Carbs are "go food" and protein is "grow food", because protein is used to build muscles and organs. The reason you drop weight quickly on low-carb diets is that you are depriving your body of it's source of energy, and the idea is that you will burn fat for fuel when no fuel is available. The problem is, our bodies like to store fat, so you will burn muscle before you will burn fat. You can also throw your metabolism out of whack that way.

As for fat, we need fat in our diets, but you want to make sure that less than 30% of your calories come from fat, and that less than 10% come from saturated fat. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories, so take your total grams of fat and multiply by 9 to get the total amount of calories from fat, and from there find your percentage. (ie, if you ate 1500 calories total, and you ate 40gram of fat, then 40X9=360, 360/1500=0.24 or 24%). As long as the total is under 30% (and total saturated fat is under 10%) then you are good.

Sugar on MFP can be way over if you eat a lot of fruit. Don't worry about the sugar in fruit, it's not bad. Worry about the amount of refined sugar you eat, and cut back wherever possible. The problem with sugar is that it is a carb, and people forget that, and also if you eat a lot of sugar that you don't burn off quickly, then it is stored as fat. Sugar is broken down quickly and it needs to be burned off right away.

As a woman, you want to watch the protein and don't go over too much, because protein can hinder your body's ability to absorb calcium. From a weight loss standpoint, protein seems safe because it doesn't make you gain weight, but in the long run it's more important to lose weight in a healthy way.

Try not to look at it as you need to be perfect every day. What you should strive for is balance. If you are over on protein today and over on carbs tomorrow, it balances out. If you are over on carbs every day, you might want to make some changes. Losing weight is not about being perfect every day, you'll go crazy and want to quit. Try to strive for 80/20, as in if your numbers are good 80% of the time, the other 20% isn't going to hurt you. But if you are over on one thing more than 80% of the time, then make a change and get it in check.

lindseygibeault

Lack of carbs must be why I am always tired! After my daily workouts thats about all the energy I have. All ll of my sugars come from my fruits I would imagine. When I started this journey I cut out all sweets and soda. Last question, if I exercise why do I have to replace the calories I burned? I thought the point was to lose weight.

Dori_Gaga

Lack of carbs must be why I am always tired! After my daily workouts thats about all the energy I have. All ll of my sugars come from my fruits I would imagine. When I started this journey I cut out all sweets and soda. Last question, if I exercise why do I have to replace the calories I burned? I thought the point was to lose weight.

Lack of carbs is most likely why you are tired, because you need energy!

As for eating back exercise calories, that's a tricky question. If you have a lot of weight to lose, you can get away with creating a huge calorie deficit, because you have a ton of stored fat to rely on for energy.

The point is, you want to set your net calorie goal so that you automatically have a deficit, so if you were to eat your calorie goal and never exercise, you should still lose weight. MFP tries to estimate, but you are far better off figuring it out for yourself and manually inputting your calorie goals. Go on google and find a BMR calculator. Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the lowest possible intake of calories you can live on, because it's the number of calories you need just to exist. Once you know your BMR, you need to figure out your activity level to find your AMR (Active Metabolic Rate). If you sit most of the day you are a 1, if you are on your feet all day but more standing and slow walking, you are a 2, if you are fairly active all day you are a 3 and if you are extremely active all day you are a 4. This is only your daily activities, not including exercise. So, for example, if you were say a waitress, you would be a 2. So if you are a 2, to find your AMR, multiply your BMR by 1.2 (or 1.1, 1.3 or 1.4 depending on which one you fall under). This is how many calories you burn day to day without adding exercise. So if you want to lose a pound a week, a pound is 3500 calories, so you want to create a deficit of 500 calories a day (ie set your calorie goal at 500 less than your AMR).

Make sure your calorie goal is never below your BMR, and most experts recommend not setting it below 1200.

So, if you do this and follow it, you will lose a pound a week. To create a bigger deficit without compromising nutrition, that's when you start using cardio to burn more calories. Again, experts also recommend aiming for losing no more than two pounds a week, so if you are already eating at a deficit and you are burning a LOT of calories, that's when you would want to eat them back. A lot of people say you always should eat them back, and you always have to net your BMR, but I don't believe that. You need to listen to your body. If you are hungry and you have extra calories available because you worked out, yes definitely eat them back because going hungry will NEVER help you. But if you are not hungry, don't eat them back. Some days you will want to, some days you won't, but it balances out.

Some forms of exercise (like interval training) can continue to burn calories for 24 hours after you complete them, so you will likely feel more hungry and it's ok to eat those calories back! But if you are not hungry don't force yourself to eat them back. The choice is yours, but since you already know you are eating a deficit, then if you do eat back your exercise calories you will still lose weight.