Eating healthy help

Your protein/carb/fat macros do not add up to your total daily calories.

According to your macro goals, you should be eating 1200

But you are on 1350


Did you adjust something?

Congrats on your goal to eat better!!

I would ask - How do you feel through out the day? Are your meals satisfying enough? Just curious on your percentages for Carbs, fat, and protien - Did you choose them or are you using the default provided by MFP?

You might want to shift some of the carbs you are eating to more veggies and fruit.

I am not a nutritionist, just based on my experiences and opinions. I can't stand eating the same meals everyday. I enjoy variety. Even my breakfast smoothies are different every day.

Feel free to look at my diary and a friend request. Try to ignore the Peanut M&M's, they are a weakness!!

Your protein/carb/fat macros do not add up to your total daily calories.

According to your macro goals, you should be eating 1200

But you are on 1350


Did you adjust something?

I have a vague recollection of upping my calories as someone told me to? I think =s

If you upped your calories, you need to up your macro goals as well. They should just about add up to your calorie goal using 9 cal per fat 4 cal per carb 4 cal per protein

Ps-my food diary is open if you want to browse.

I do weigh on a digital scale at home & use a postage scale at work. some things I estimate - like I'll make a salad of lettuce/spinach/cucumbers/cherry tomatoes at the local grocery store salad bar. I don't weigh the ingredients because the only option is a produce scale and its not good for detail like spinach in grams. But I figure those things are fairly low cal so whether I have 7-kcal of spinach vs 10kcal its not a big deal. But then I keep shredded cheese & salad dressing at the office, and do weigh them by using the postage scale.

When out & about I try to buy/order things that are well portion controlled or from chains that should control their portions. Such as the nutritional info provided by Long Horn for their 6 oz steak, salad (with light dressing, no cheese, no croutons), mixed veggies: I figure should be accurate.

I scan alot of labels into the food diary log, and adjust quantities based on actual weight of food that I consume.

I should have said my breakfast bar was this minus the coconut and I used quinoa instead of quinoa flakes - www.deliciousasitlooks.com/2014/02/pb2-quinoa-granola-bars.html?m=1

and my salad was: 1 cup of lettuce, half a cup of spinach, 4 cherry tomatos, 28g of walnuts and 1 boiled egg.

Thank you dmenchac. I do feel full today. Not sure if it is because I'm in the rite mindset tho. We'll see how long it lasts!

And Thank you SnicciFit. There was spinach in my salad (sorry I should have said) but I know i need to up it. ANd I'm not sure what macro nutrients are but I'm assumin i have gone over mainly due to the breakfast bars and salad contents? What should the carbs level be? I'm assumin I ave gone way over then? Are some carbs better then others tho? I will only be eating one bar tomorrow just miscalculated today x

Macro nutrients are Fat, Carbs & Protein. Micro nutrients are things like calcium, vitamin D, Vitamin C...etc.

Everyone is different on what Macro ratios work for them. As a general rule, if you have a sedentary job & lifestyle, I would recommend lower carbs. Personally, I try to eat about the same number of grams for each (so, for example: 100g fat, 100g protein, 100g of carbs). It's just whatever fits in your calorie goal. You may find that you do better with less fat and more carbs, or more carbs and less fat. It really depends on your activity level...etc. I find that if I don't let carbs dominate, I don't feel hungry all the time. Good luck!

Just because I think the comments you've received on the macronutrients and database entries are correct, but may be a little confusing, here's a summary:

Macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) are the breakdown of where your calories come from. All calories will be one of these. A gram of protein has 4 calories, one of carbs has 4 calories, and one of fat has 9 calories. What this means is that if the entries are correct you can't go over all four macronutrients and be under your calories--if that happens you are either overcounting one or more of the macros or undercounting the calories, and you need to look at the specific entries you've used and see what's up. This is not your fault, it's because the entries you used may have been incorrect. Unfortunately, there are lots of incorrect entries in the database, so one trick for new users is learning how to avoid them.

Setting aside this problem with logging, it's fine to go over on particular macros and is probably easiest to get your calories consistent first and then start playing with the best macro ratio for you. MFP's recommendation is very generic, and there's a lot more flexibility in what's okay and people differ on what works for them. The one exception to this is that the protein is on the low side in MFP's recommendation and often helps dieters, so I'd treat that one as a minimum. I'd also avoid trying to cut fat--the goal is fine as a start. But don't stress about it.

It seems from the discussion that you may have changed your chicken entry, but I noticed a couple of issues with that entry, with the apple, and with the salad. (All good foods to be eating.)

First, the calories in the chicken entry are possibly off because it doesn't say what kind of meat it is (breast, leg, etc.). Also, it's best to weigh it raw if possible and if so you should use a raw entry. There are ones without asterisks and one's from the USDA that can be checked. The ones without asterisks were put in by MFP and are generally correct. The ones with asterisks were put in by users and may not be, although if there are lots of confirmations, especially for a USDA one, it's a pretty safe bet. 100 grams of raw chicken breast is about 110 calories, if memory serves. The cooked vs. raw indicates the state when you weighed it, not when you eat it, as what happens is the calories stay the same but the weight shrinks, because it loses water. If you weighed the cooked chicken, the count per weight will be higher, if you use skin-on chicken the calorie count will be higher, and don't weigh it with bones--I use the cooked entries when I roast bone-in chicken and can't weigh it raw. Anyway, the count may be about right here, but the lack of information makes the entry suspect. You'd want to find one that says, for example, chicken breast, cooked, dry heat, no skin, meat only, or some such. Also, if you add some kind of oil for cooking you'd want to add that.

Second, the salad is one of the places where your macros aren't adding up, and it's also a suspect entry because salad can be almost anything. Better to log the pieces separately unless it's a bought salad in the database. Also make sure to log dressing if you use it.

Third, the apple is just one example where the entry seems off because the macros don't add up again. I think it's usually easier just to use the standard MFP in-put entries for fruits and veggies--apple, raw--and then of course the weight in grams, even if there are slight differences in the sugar content in a Gala vs. a Macintosh. The size is probably going to be the main difference, and those entries are more trustworthy.

This all sounds a lot more complicated than it is--once you do it for a while it gets really simple and second-nature.

The defaults are good and easy, As long as you set your height, weight, activity level, and goals accurately.