Do you count calories, and/or carbs, fat, and protein?
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jessmastrilli
Posts: 203 Member
Before joining this site, I was on weight watchers, which paid no attention to calories, but to fat, carbs, protein and fiber. This past week on MFP, I lost 1.2 pounds (which is pretty decent and healthy), but I'm just making sure I'm doing this right. Do you guys focus more on just calories, or do you also count in carbs, fat, and protein in what you eat per day? Thanks!
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Calories most important of all.
Within that, I thry to hit around 100g carbs, 100g protein, and let the fat fall where it might. I track fat and sugar, even though I'm almost always over, but I want to make sure they're not going sky high!0 -
Calories most important of all.
Within that, I thry to hit around 100g carbs, 100g protein, and let the fat fall where it might. I track fat and sugar, even though I'm almost always over, but I want to make sure they're not going sky high!
Mostly my reason for asking is because it's pretty easy to count calories. But then when you start adding in the other elements, it starts to get confusing. That's why I enjoyed weight watchers for a while because you just calculated it all into a food point. But I wanted to kind of get away from that because I was getting a little bored with it. Plus everyone on here is so nice and supportive!0 -
Before joining this site, I was on weight watchers, which paid no attention to calories, but to fat, carbs, protein and fiber. This past week on MFP, I lost 1.2 pounds (which is pretty decent and healthy), but I'm just making sure I'm doing this right. Do you guys focus more on just calories, or do you also count in carbs, fat, and protein in what you eat per day? Thanks!
This is more of a side note, but if you're counting fat, carbs, and protein, you are essentially counting calories.
1g pro = 4kcal
1g cho = 4kcal
1g fat = 9kcal
I think it would be in your best interest to track these and additionally it requires no additional work on your part because MFP will automatically do this for you.0 -
balance them all0
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BBL0
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balance them all
This. I try to stick within my macros while making the best choices possible.0 -
I just count the calories but try to get as clean and healthy as possible.0
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along with calories, i watch my carbs, protein, fat, sodium and even fiber. getting healthy and losing weight is so much more than just watching your calorie intake. i work hard at trying to keep my carbs under 100g a day.0
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I concentrate more on the carbs, protein and fats then the calories but just make sure I'm within my calorie limit. I try to choose my carbs, protein and fats wisely and pick whole grain carbs, lean proteins and healthy fats.0
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I pay attention to everything especially sugar,fat and sodium ^u^ Congrats on the loss doll!0
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Keep carbs to under 50g a day, eat real food and rest will work itself out.0
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I focus first and foremost on my cholesterol, since that's what I really joined to lower (my weight is fine, I'm just a Southern lady who ate too much fried junk), but I've noticed that on my really good low cholesterol days, I don't have any trouble staying within my calories, carbs, or fat. I do tend to go over on protein, but I try to keep it lean proteins. I keep a close eye on sodium too, because if you're eating a ton of salt, your weigh-ins aren't going to be good because of water retention.
I've been doing this for about 150 days now (minus a 10 days break for injury) and have fluctuated between 5 lbs lost and 8 lbs lost, depending on how well I behave.0 -
Carbs, fat, and protein ARE calories. So yes.0
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Personally, I try to get at least 25 grams of fiber a day, to help keep my cholesterol down. My trainer advised me to take my weight in KG (not pounds) and try to get at least that many grams of protein in a day, preferably lean, just to maintain the muscle mass I have. If I'm building muscle intentionally, I'll eat more protein. There are days I eat nothing but egg white omelets and fruit, maybe a spoonful of peanut butter at the end of the night.0
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CRAP! I just had a huge write-up explaining my PoV. Damn you, F5 button!
Ok, lets try this again:
I use my BMR and TDEE - X kcal to determine how much I should be eating. From there, I figure out an appropriate macro I should be consuming every day. I then ignore the calories and just try to eat the macro. I feel WHAT you eat will make a bigger difference than HOW MUCH you eat.
Yes, I know, once you've broken the food down into it's simplest form, and your body can then use it, a calorie is a calorie, regardless of where it came from. How many calories you eat ultimately determines how much weight you gain/lose. Theoretically, you could eat pure lard and/or white sugar, and as long as you're under your calorie goal, you'll lose weight. However, without the macro and micro nutrients, you'll probably die trying that.
The difference between every calorie is what your body has to do in order to break it down into it's simplest form. Simple carbs, complex carbs, protein and fat all break down at different speeds. You'll have a different effect from each one. Also, protein is the only product your body can use to repair muscles (important for after working out), and fat is the only product that your body will actually store in fat cells (correct me if I'm wrong). Simple carbs will give you a quick boost of energy, and spike your insulin (not always a bad thing) and complex carbs will give you a decent amount of energy over a longer period of time.
Then there's all your micro nutrients that you should be trying to eat as well... If you eat mostly fruit, veggies, nuts, and lean meats, you'll do a lot better than if you are frozen pizzas, candy, chips, pop, and other junk foods, even if you meet your calorie needs.
If you eat your macro, you will meet how many calories you should be consuming.0 -
I used to count calories but did not have success as I always struggled to either dont eat over my budget or struggling to meet my budget.
Now I dont count calories at all as I have adapted a new kind of relationship with food. (Because I have counted calories for around 6 months I now know subconciously that I consume around 1000-1400 calories a day which is fine with me and I keep losing weight this way. would not change my new lifestyle for the world!0 -
Just calories.
My macros are set at 60% carbs and 20% fat and protein. Due to IR/PCOS/hypoglycemia, I care about the type of carbs I eat but not really how much of them I eat.0 -
Calories and Carbohydrates.
I take note of how much protein I'm getting and fiber as well...but I don't count it persay.
I'm a little more of a stickler on carbohydrates because I'm diabetic, so the amount and types of carbohydrate I eat impact my blood sugar levels.0 -
I'm doing 1800 calories per day, but I'm also managing my macros. So right now, I'm aiming for 20% Fat, 30% Carbs, and 50% Protein. That comes out to about 40g of fat, 135g of carbs, and 225g of protein per day.0
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Thanks for all your replies! Definitely a wide range of answers. I think what I will do is continue to do what I'm doing, if I don't see a big loss (although I have noticed with all the walking/jogging I've been doing, my clothes seem to fit better, just not seeing numbers on the scale go down as much as I would like), then I will change what I'm doing. I seem to usually eat just a bit more carbs than MFP recommends but I do walk/jog a lot every day so I'm not too worried right now. Like I said, if I don't see the results later on, I'll change what I'm doing. Thanks for all your help guys!0
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