Do you aim for Calories, or Carbs/Fat/Protein/Sugar

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chrisjathompson
chrisjathompson Posts: 227 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am trying to preplan my work week's meals. I am wondering if it is more important to be close to your calories, or to make sure you got enough of everything else?

It seems the fad diets focus on Carbs/Fats/Protein/Sugar, but I see all the success from calorie counting.

Do you have a secret weapon when it comes to balance? Certain foods that fill in the one sided gap?

...and would you rather be 250 calories under, or 35g protein under ?

Replies

  • Mutant13
    Mutant13 Posts: 2,485 Member
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    I think you need to learn to balance both out. There isn't really any excuse to not reach your protein targets because gram for gram protein is not particularly "expensive". I find the best way to get a good balance is to allocate calories to fill my fat and protein requirements first, and then use the rest for carbs. Feel free to add me and check out my diary for examples
  • Liftnlove
    Liftnlove Posts: 235
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    Depends on what your goals are. If your goal is strictly weight loss, then calories are the only thing that matters. However, if you are weight training and you're concerned about retaining your lean body mass, then protein becomes important. I would cry if I was 35 gm under my protein goal for the day, but that's just me. Luckily it rarely happens. ;)

    I think you have to find the balance of macros that works for you, something reasonable that you can actually live with and maintain indefinitely. Then tweak as needed. I started out here over a year ago (with a different profile name) and I had my macros set to 50c/30p/20f....I soon learned that for ME, personally, I needed more fat and fewer carbs or I felt hungry all the time. So I tweaked and tweaked, and now I eat 35c/30p/35f.... It's a comfortable way to eat for me, but not for everyone. Find what you can sustain and do it. :)
  • EmmaKarney
    EmmaKarney Posts: 690 Member
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    Calories are the bottom line.

    But I use the macros to help me try to get the right kind of food. If I use all of my allowance on sugar and carbs I know I'll be hungry!
  • beets_yum
    beets_yum Posts: 36
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    I'm a couple weeks into eating Primal/Paleo and I'm aiming for 50--100 grams of carbs a day. I would way rather eat 300 calories of grass-fed beef than 100 calories of fat-free fake sugar fake flavored yogurt any day--and I'm sure my body feels the same way.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    I aim to meet my protein and fat goal or at least close to it. Then based on the calories I have left I'll have some carbs like a cookie or something. By aiming to hit my macros my calories just fall into place.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Calories are the bottom line unless you have some other goals such as building muscle.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I am trying to preplan my work week's meals. I am wondering if it is more important to be close to your calories, or to make sure you got enough of everything else?

    It seems the fad diets focus on Carbs/Fats/Protein/Sugar, but I see all the success from calorie counting.

    Do you have a secret weapon when it comes to balance? Certain foods that fill in the one sided gap?

    ...and would you rather be 250 calories under, or 35g protein under ?

    Ideally, you don't want to be under on protein at all, if you're using the default settings. And you don't need to be 250 calories under your goal, either. It's called goal for a reason. You're supposed to try to reach it. :wink: You already have a deficit built into your goal.

    Personally, I aim for calories AND macros. I aim to go over my protein goal, and if I'm way under on my fat goal, I might add an extra bit of olive oil or butter with dinner. I don't pay any attention to sugar and try to keep my carbs around 50%. If I weren't a runner, I might aim for lower carbs, but that's what works for me.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    I try to do both calories and macros but calories win if I can only have one. What I do is aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass, which is 98 grams. I also keep an eye on fat but I never have trouble getting enough of that. Whatever's left is carbs. Hitting macros takes practice. If you're new to calorie counting I would focus on calories first. And Lorina is right, you want to hit your goal as closely as possible.
  • IsleEsme
    IsleEsme Posts: 175 Member
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    This is what I did: When I started last August I only watched my calories/fat. I was aware of the other things but was unaware I was really supposed to pay close attention to them. Just watching cals/fat (and working out of course) I lost 37 pounds. Then I became interested in the other numbers and realized my sodium was off the charts a lot of days. So I revamped my food to lower salt and lost 3 pounds in a matter of about 9 days (water weight????). Then the scale stopped moving again. I started reading again and decided to do my homework on the TDEE and all that stuff that I had read about previously but found scary and out of my comfort zone. Now that I'm into these new TDEE numbers and have set my grams accordingly on my protein, fat and carbs the scale has moved again.

    When I first started I thought the people who calculated their own numbers and drank protein powder where a little crazy/obsessed and I thought I'll never do that plus honestly it confused the hell out of me. Now here I am 7-ish months later and I've switched my numbers and yesterday found myself in the nutrition aisle reading protein powder labels. I truly think this is a process and if you jump in to fast and furious you may burn out quickly.

    I suggest starting out with what mfp tells you in the beginning and take baby steps from there as you feel comfortable. You don't need to watch anything but cals in/cals out until you are ready to. Hope that helps.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    If I eat some meat with each meal, then I will usually hit my protein. Since I'm not picky or restrictive about my meat, then I normally hit my fats without even trying. I have found that for me personally, when I hit my protein goal, I have a good day and everything else falls into place. If I don't hit my protein, then I am probably a couple hundred calories under my goal.

    I don't track sugar at all, and I don't care where my carbs fall, so long as I hit my protein and fats and stay under my calorie goal.
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
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    This is what I did: When I started last August I only watched my calories/fat. I was aware of the other things but was unaware I was really supposed to pay close attention to them. Just watching cals/fat (and working out of course) I lost 37 pounds. Then I became interested in the other numbers and realized my sodium was off the charts a lot of days. So I revamped my food to lower salt and lost 3 pounds in a matter of about 9 days (water weight????). Then the scale stopped moving again. I started reading again and decided to do my homework on the TDEE and all that stuff that I had read about previously but found scary and out of my comfort zone. Now that I'm into these new TDEE numbers and have set my grams accordingly on my protein, fat and carbs the scale has moved again.

    When I first started I thought the people who calculated their own numbers and drank protein powder where a little crazy/obsessed and I thought I'll never do that plus honestly it confused the hell out of me. Now here I am 7-ish months later and I've switched my numbers and yesterday found myself in the nutrition aisle reading protein powder labels. I truly think this is a process and if you jump in to fast and furious you may burn out quickly.

    I suggest starting out with what mfp tells you in the beginning and take baby steps from there as you feel comfortable. You don't need to watch anything but cals in/cals out until you are ready to. Hope that helps.

    A squillion times this...
  • XRavenhood
    XRavenhood Posts: 102
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    I just make sure to eat healthy, wholesome meals in not huge quantities so I just pay attention to my overall calorie count. As long as you put aside time to research and get used to the general quality and composition of food, you can give yourself an idea of the fats/carbs/protein etc and try to keep it balanced.
  • benflando
    benflando Posts: 193
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    If you give yourself a set macronutrient goal - carbs proteins and fats. In example 200g of carbs, 200g of protein, and 50g of fat. You can consume whatever types of food fit under those limits. This itself will take care of calories. Good luck. Message me for further questions.
  • chrisjathompson
    chrisjathompson Posts: 227 Member
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    Wow, a lot of great replys- thanks!
  • TheTrimTim
    TheTrimTim Posts: 222 Member
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    Do not focus on calories if you're aiming for muscle gain/fat loss. 100 cal of protein isn't the same as 100 cal of carbs for example. Think a can of diet coke too ... Only a few calories for sure, but is that diet coke better than a cup or two of spinach that may have similar calories? I think not.

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