What is your food diary set at?

angbieb
angbieb Posts: 668 Member
Hi!
I have my food diary set at MFP recommendations:

1230 cal/day
Carb 169
Protein 46
Fat 41
Fiber 14
Sodium 2500

What is your diary set at? I'm trying to do more research and figure out if these are good settings for me? Please share your settings and ideas?

Thanks!!
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Replies

  • eileenchristine
    eileenchristine Posts: 228 Member
    I had mine set at MFP settings but changed it to up to 1600 cuz I wasn't losing, I also wasn't eating back my exercise calories, so was not eating enough. Am back to losing, still slowly but at least it is moving. There is lots of info on here why to eat more. You can do a search and google for calculators.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    is one site. There are others.

    I changed my calories to 1600 from 1250. MFP said I would lose 1/2 lb a week at 1250. When I changed it to 1600 said I would lose 1 lb. a week. Its a bit screwy.

    Seems weird to be eating more but the scales are moving. Only lost 1 lb in Feb. and then when I changed Iost 4 lbs in March. Would love to lose 6 lb a month but its moving in the right direction, so will keep plodding along. I alos upped my protein. Rarely do I reach the protein goal due to I don't eat much meat, but it does fill you up more.

    Good luck.
  • angbieb
    angbieb Posts: 668 Member
    I had mine set at MFP settings but changed it to up to 1600 cuz I wasn't losing, I also wasn't eating back my exercise calories, so was not eating enough. Am back to losing, still slowly but at least it is moving. There is lots of info on here why to eat more. You can do a search and google for calculators.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    is one site. There are others.

    I changed my calories to 1600 from 1250. MFP said I would lose 1/2 lb a week at 1250. When I changed it to 1600 said I would lose 1 lb. a week. Its a bit screwy.

    Seems weird to be eating more but the scales are moving. Only lost 1 lb in Feb. and then when I changed Iost 4 lbs in March. Would love to lose 6 lb a month but its moving in the right direction, so will keep plodding along. I alos upped my protein. Rarely do I reach the protein goal due to I don't eat much meat, but it does fill you up more.

    Good luck.

    If you don't mind sharing...what do you have all your settings at? How much do you weigh now? What is your average loss per week? Sorry for all the questions...you don't have to answer them if you don't want to...:wink:
  • AliandTrev
    AliandTrev Posts: 194 Member
    Mine is set at

    Calories 1,200
    Carbs 165
    Fat 40
    Protein 45
    Fiber 14
    Sodium 2,500
  • spaghetti93
    spaghetti93 Posts: 140 Member
    MFP kept lowering and lowering my limits whenever I lost weight and I started to plateau. when it changed them last time I decided to change it back to what it had been.
    Also, I was eating around 200 calories under my goal (which was/is 1460) and recently started to try harder to completely fulfill my goal to restart losing. I think when you first start out, the recommended settings work, but after a bit you have to experiment and find what works for you.
  • Calories: 1500
    Carbs: 150
    Protein: 150
    Fat: 30

    This is also not including the workout's calories burned.
  • Getit_Simpson
    Getit_Simpson Posts: 69 Member
    Hi!
    I have my food diary set at MFP recommendations:

    1230 cal/day
    Carb 169
    Protein 46
    Fat 41
    Fiber 14
    Sodium 2500

    What is your diary set at? I'm trying to do more research and figure out if these are good settings for me? Please share your settings and ideas?

    Thanks!!

    Mine is set like this....

    1,860 Cal/day
    Carbs 256
    Protein 62
    Fat 70

    I'm not sure how they calculate these settings. It would be interesting to know though.
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,472 Member
    Mine's set at 1500, which is about TDEE - 15%. That includes light exercise so I don't log exercise. MFP "recommends" 1200 (for a pound a week loss), but I find that quite difficult and when I was using their system I'd sometimes change it to 1/2 a pound a week.

    I've tried going down to TDEE - 20%, but I find it difficult! Unlike many people, I have NO problem reaching my goal! I would love to be able to eat more, but I can manage on the 1500 and am steadily losing weight.

    My figures are relatively small because I'm shorter and older, I think.
  • kr1stadee
    kr1stadee Posts: 1,774 Member
    My calories are at 1800
    Carbs 248
    Fat 60
    Protein 68
    Sodium 2500

    I changed my calories manually, but left my macros at what MFP set them. I really should change them too though
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
    Mine is set at 1900, which is my maintenance calories. That way I know that as long as I come in under, I'll lose weight. I try to stay 250-500 cals under every day, and I eat back my exercise cals.

    Anyway, carbs are set to 166g, fat 63g, and protein 166g. Since I don't eat all my calories I don't end up eating quite that much of any of them, though. I generally aim for 150g or less of carbs, 50g or less of fat, and 120g or more of protein.

    I'd definitely recommend raising your protein a bit; MFP automatically sets the protein count really low, but a high-protein diet is great for weight loss. Especially if you're exercising.

    Finally, you might wanna raise your calories as well. MFP usually automatically sets people somewhere around 1200, bu that's not actually a satisfactory amount of calories for most people. I used to lose weight on 1200 calories, but now I lose weight just as easily on 1400-1600, and it's so much easier :) Check out this post for more details, it's kind of famous around the boards here haha: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
  • My cals are set at 1750
    and macros left alone. I have a pretty active lifestyle, and tend to eat back most of exercise calories. MFP cals are generally set too low for people who are active in any way I found.
  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
    1800
    C 158
    P 158
    F 60
    ^ for weekdays

    weekends i up to 2400 cals
  • niknokd
    niknokd Posts: 127 Member
    1450 (a 100 calorie a day defecit)
    55% carbs
    25% fat
    20% protein
  • LavenderBouquet
    LavenderBouquet Posts: 736 Member
    1,400 calories, which is roughly my TDEE - 20%. Though this doesn't include any exercise calories, I eat most of them back.
    86g fat (55%)
    88g protein (25%)
    70g carbohydrates (20%) but I am frequently below this.

    I've been losing around 1lb/week for the past 9-10 weeks.
    I also realize that I likely eat very differently from most people on here, I follow the Primal Blueprint, which is a lower carbohydrate way of eating.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Mine is (MFP recommended for now):

    1770 calories + I aim to eat most of my exercise calories back
    243g carbs
    59g Fat
    66g protien

    I downloaded heybales spreadsheet and compared the numbers:

    2363 TDEE
    1721 TDEG a 25.9% deficit and apparently my BMR

    I tried going without eating back exercise calories (because I included them on the spreadsheet) and all that did was leave me hungry and tired half way through the day. So now I'm going to see how the next few weeks pan out with eating 1770 + exercise.
  • MrsR0SE
    MrsR0SE Posts: 313 Member
    I've set mine at my BMR, which is currently 1450, then eat back most of my exercise/fitbit adjustment calories.

    I changed the macros to 40/30/30 carbs/fat/protein, but find it hard to get it right most days!
  • MeaghanAnderson
    MeaghanAnderson Posts: 22 Member
    I'm 5"4' am 23 and I weigh 128. My diary is set at 1680. 1200 is ridiculous to me, I personally can't live off that. I exercise every day but don't always eat all my calories back.
  • angbieb
    angbieb Posts: 668 Member
    After reading these posts...I'm going to change mine to

    cal:1400
    carb: 40%
    Protein: 30%
    fat: 30%

    Let's see how that goes!?
  • MsPudding
    MsPudding Posts: 562 Member
    I haven't consumed the number of carbs MFP automatically sets for me, for years. I can't even imagine how I'd go about it. MFP is currently set to 1,600 with 40% protein, 30% fat, 30% carbs for me...though I'm regularly under the carb threshold even then.
  • carolinesparkle
    carolinesparkle Posts: 60 Member
    I currently weigh 133 pounds and my TDEE is around 1900 depending on which calculator I use! I am working on TDEE - 10% as I have about 8 more pounds to go. I do Jillian Michael's Body Rev 6 days a week and I eat 1700 cals with my macros set at 40%c, 30% f+p. I do find it hard to hit that protein goal quite a lot! I don't eat back my exercise cals as TDEE already takes that into consideration.
  • majope
    majope Posts: 1,325 Member
    My calories are set to 1770.
    Fat: 69
    Carbs: 221
    Protein: 66

    Pretty sure the percentages are set at 50% carbs, 15% protein, and 35% fat. With exercise calories, I usually end up eating 80-110g of protein and more like 75-90g of fat. I try to hit or exceed protein and fat, then let the carbs take care of themselves. At the end of the week I'm usually 46-48% carbs, 16-17% protein, and 36-38% fat.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    My diary is open if you want to take a look at it. The calories are set at 1775. I set my macros at the closest thing possible to 0.35 grams of fat per pound body weight and 1 gram of protein per pound body weight. I think it's important to go by grams moreso than percentages, especially since MFP only lets you change those percentages in factors of 5.
  • freelancejouster
    freelancejouster Posts: 478 Member
    the cals you've changed too are a bit better (and only moving them up by less than two hundred was very smart of you, you'll plateau or gain for a bit with any more). I would maybe even try a little more after awhile.

    I'm 5' 4", 145 lbs.

    Calories: 1695
    Carbs: 55% (though I'm considering lowering it soon, I just want to be consistently under it first)
    Protein: 20%
    Fats: 25%

    Dairy's open and always welcoming new friends.
  • rawhidenadz
    rawhidenadz Posts: 254 Member
    MFP's preset recommendations are ridiculously low.
    my settings are:

    1800 calories per day
    180 g carbs
    135 g protein
    60 g fat

    i don't worry about sodium or saturated fats or anything else.

    sometimes I go under the limit, sometimes over but I do average out at about 1800/day

    according to MFP, this should have me losing .1 pound per week. I lose about 1.5 pounds a week when sticking to these numbers.

    (I don't eat my exercise calories back, though)
  • angbieb
    angbieb Posts: 668 Member
    I lose about 1.5 pounds a week when sticking to these numbers.

    (I don't eat my exercise calories back, though)

    rawhidenadz...how many exercise calories? 1.5 consistently? That's great!
  • kusterer
    kusterer Posts: 90 Member
    MFP recs: 2210, 304, 74, and 83. Averaging a couple of other sites' calculators, MFP seems to have given me about my BMR. Eat back exercise, but usually not all of it. Lost 20 pounds in first 13 weeks.
  • JennChamb
    JennChamb Posts: 55
    Calories 1800
    fat 60
    Carbs 248
    Protein 68

    I don't bother messing with mine. I'm breastfeeding on demand so I'm supposed to be eating high calories. Plus I exercise. As much as I try though I generally end up under my calories.
  • rawhidenadz
    rawhidenadz Posts: 254 Member
    I lose about 1.5 pounds a week when sticking to these numbers.

    (I don't eat my exercise calories back, though)

    rawhidenadz...how many exercise calories? 1.5 consistently? That's great!

    No idea. I don't have an HRM or anything like that. I don't worry about how many calories I burn. I don't have a car and I walk or bike everywhere so I get an hour or two of light activity a day, and lately I've been trying to do 30-45 minutes of actual get-your-heart-rate up exercise five times a week. I do running/elliptical for cardio and weights (admittedly I do much less strength training than I should because I just don't enjoy it and it's a pain and a bore for me to do. I'd rather run).

    I'd guess I burn about 400 calories per workout? But again, I really just don't think about it much because there's no way to know how much I'm actually burning.

    I lost 60 pounds in 11 months or so = 6 pounds a month on average, 1.5 pounds a week. My average intake was 2000 or higher during that year though. I've been maintaining for the past year and a half and decided to get serious about losing another 10-15 pounds. I just restarted last week. I'm fairly sure that I'll continue to lose at the old rate. I'm much closer to goal now but I'm also a lot more active. We shall see how it goes!
  • Eatkansasbeef
    Eatkansasbeef Posts: 71 Member
    Bump
  • shartran
    shartran Posts: 304 Member
    After reading these posts...I'm going to change mine to

    cal:1400
    carb: 40%
    Protein: 30%
    fat: 30%

    Let's see how that goes!?

    Hi - How do you change the settings to read in percentages instead of grams/day?
    Thanks so much
  • Ramberta
    Ramberta Posts: 1,312 Member
    I see that you've already changed your ratios and cal goal, those look good. Basically-- pile on the protein and good fats, watch the carbs but not too closely. Those daily macro goals are minimums, not maximums, as long as you are not exceeding your overall calories. Good luck!