How much do carbs count?

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louiseei
louiseei Posts: 254 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm just in my first week on here. Not having a problem staying within the calorie and fat limit, bit, for instanc, today if I add up what I've had for breafast and the lunch and snacks I've brought with me to work, whilst I've 500cal and 30g fat left for dinner, I'll have already had the carbs alotted for the day (in fact I'm 8g over.)

For info, I had porrige with a little maple syrup for breakfast, pitta bread with chicken and salad and lite mayo for lunch, and have an apple, satsuma and a special K bar for snacks.

Is there such a thing as a carb free dinner, or should I not worry too much about this if I'm under on my fat and calories?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Louise

Replies

  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Firstly, I believe the standard MFP ratios for protein carbs and fat are a bit off. I double the protein intake and halve the carbs as I feel that I function better like that.

    I try to eat protein with each meal. It helps to keep you full for longer and helps with muscle growth and recovery if you are exercising a lot.

    I wouldn't say carb free dinner but my regular lowish carb dinner is 2 carrots and a full head of broccoli or cauliflower. Just stick to fibrous veggies and you'll be right ie. not potatoes :)
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    I don't think giving a person new to calorie counting a high protein low carb diet recommendation is in their best interest, chris, that's just my opinion but all I'm saying is that messing with the macro settings is fine (I do it, many do it) but it's probably not something this particular new user is comfortable with yet.


    Louiseinman,

    First things first, where are the vegetables? You NEED veggies in your diet, that's the one thing that we all agree on, some people can cut out meat, some carbs, some fish, some can't eat wheat, but almost everyone is in agreement, veggies are required.

    You do that, and replace one of those high carb foods with a lower carb veggie, and you'll be doing a lot better (as a matter of fact, I would recommend at least 6 servings of veggies of various types and colors a day, I know that sounds like a lot, but a serving size of veggies is pretty small). Maybe your salad was full of veggies, I don't know, but unless it was packed to the hilt with them, you probably aren't getting enough.
    I'll say this, MFP does tend to be a tad low on the protein, but that's not really a huge issue at this point. I usually recommend people use the veggies for their snacks if they can't fit enough into meals. It's easy to buy a big bag of baby carrots and bag them up in the fridge, and the same goes for sugar snap peas and broccoli, all excellent snacks chocked full of the good vitamins and minerals.
  • louiseei
    louiseei Posts: 254 Member
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    SHboss1673.
    You're right, I much prefer fruit to veg, so apart from salad I do tend to eat fruit through the day, though I have plenty veg in an evening as I'm married to a vegetarian. Still it's probably more like 3 portions than 6.

    I'll have a try at upping the veg intake, thanks.

    Louise
  • BrockDoe
    BrockDoe Posts: 25
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    SHBoss1673 is on the money, replace those processed pre-made snacks (Special K Bars etc) with unprocessed natural carbs. Carbohydrates from natural sources i.e. fruit and veg are almost gimme carbs, slow digesting and full of fibre and wont be stored away.

    Just like diet soda, these packaged "health" snacks aren't as good as one would hope.

    Hope this helps :)

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