Using MFP with a Paleo/Primal Diet
DianaBinOR
Posts: 5
So I've been trying to figure out how to best use MFP with a primal/paleo diet. What numbers should I be most concerned about, if any? If I stick to the plan I have in place (no grains, high meat & veggie with moderate fruits & nuts, occasional raw/fermented dairy), do I need to actually track calories or other numbers? Or just use the food tracker to help me know what I've eaten?
What do YOU do?
What do YOU do?
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Replies
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I track everything I eat/drink, most things I cook are either recipes from Paleo sites or if not listed I input all the ingredients into Spark People which has a recipe calculator- it's a bit tedious but I'm trying to be as accurate as possible in my calories,etc.0
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I have my macros set so that I get:
protein: lean body mass x 0.8 (I don't exercise a lot, or else I might multiply by 1)
carbs: 75 daily grams (ranges between 30g and 100 g a day, but try to average 75/day for the week
fat: enough to make up the rest of my daily 1500 calories
Works for me. I log, mainly because I'm usually not hungry (paleo keeps me satisfied and feeling full almost all the time) and would probably be happy with 600-800 calories a day, except that wouldn't be healthy, and my body would go into starvation mode and stop gradually losing weight.
Hope this helps.0 -
I tracked for 6 months or so and then did a Whole30 which when you do that they want you to not track, so I didn't (felt really weird) then I couldn't get back into it so I stopped and went intuitive on this thing. No weighing, counting and not registering workouts. I encourage people starting out to track then get comfortable with the lifestyle and go off the radar.0
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I do track, but just to bring awareness to what I'm eating, and to see if I'm getting way over the top with calories. I like tracking--it actually makes me feel less anxious about what I'm eating.
I'm reading "The Paleo Approach" right now, and she says not to sweat the macros.0 -
I track because I have a habit of not getting enough calories with Paleo!! (Clearly I was getting more then enough before.) I was diagnosed pre-diabetic a month ago so I watch my sugars and carbs, I have my macros set to 20/40/40 (C/F/P) I like MFP for monitoring my grams of carbs, sodium (gotta watch that), and sugars. I also make sure I do my minimum number of calories which means sometimes I have my very frequent lunch of leftover chicken with some Paleo Italian dressing to up my fat and calories. LOL. Without MFP, I didn't always get all my calories, which can lead the body to think you're starving and slow down weight loss. It REALLY helps me realize when I've had too much sugar/carbs and why. I've been over on carbs three times this month. Once was when I was at a friend's house and ate more fruit than I intended because of lack of Paleo options and twice were because of Larabars. LOL.0
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I track my calories religiously. My mind is so programmed to overeating, that if I do not weigh and type in every single thing that I eat, I'm likely to eat 2000 calories a day (and I'm a 5 foot woman). So, whether you have a hard time eating enough or overeating on Paleo, I think it's definitely smart to track for *at least* the first few months. It also helps so that you can look back on the weeks that you felt really strong and healthy and the weeks that you didn't feel so awesome to decide how to move forward. I have my macros set, but honestly don't follow it.0
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I track my calories religiously. My mind is so programmed to overeating, that if I do not weigh and type in every single thing that I eat, I'm likely to eat 2000 calories a day (and I'm a 5 foot woman). So, whether you have a hard time eating enough or overeating on Paleo, I think it's definitely smart to track for *at least* the first few months. It also helps so that you can look back on the weeks that you felt really strong and healthy and the weeks that you didn't feel so awesome to decide how to move forward. I have my macros set, but honestly don't follow it.
The problem with this approach is that our body knows better than our conscious brain which is influenced by all the garbage that we think we know. I was under-eating (not according to MFP) for a year and half and that has backfired in a big way. Loss of lean body mass and a terribly sluggish (aka "efficient") metabolism. I was already severely metabolically disordered and I made it even worse with calorie obsession. Calorie counting is a fail for the long term. Our ancestors didn't do it, had no clue of calories, and were not obese/sick (prior to agriculture). Very few of us would be able to determine accurately what is best for our body. However, when we feed our body ONLY the best quality foods, it is more than capable of managing EVERYTHING all on it's own. We screw it all up by messing with a perfect system that has been tried and true for millions of years. We wouldn't be here otherwise.0 -
That would be all fine and good if we were starting paleo with a blank slate but unfortunately years of unhealthy food habits have an impact on how/when you eat and your attitude towards food. If you are used to overeating it is hard to just "listen to your body" right off the bat. I tried not tracking and it didn't really work for me so now I am back to tracking my meals because I feel that it helps me.0
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That would be all fine and good if we were starting paleo with a blank slate but unfortunately years of unhealthy food habits have an impact on how/when you eat and your attitude towards food. If you are used to overeating it is hard to just "listen to your body" right off the bat. I tried not tracking and it didn't really work for me so now I am back to tracking my meals because I feel that it helps me.
Um, I've been here two years and I have been as heavy as 290 pounds. So I did not start with a "blank slate". Everything that I talked about is supported by how calorie counting has failed for me over the long term. Yup I had some rapid weight loss in the first year and did more damage than good than had I ONLY focused on the food (with tracking macros).
I had pre-diabetes, binge eating disorder, severe depression and many many other metabolic disorder related problems. I had 39 years of unhealthy eating habits. I still have problems IF I don't stick to Paleo foods 95% of the time.
I am tracking though "listening to the body" only works for me, for now, if my sugar/starch are kept very low. So I'm not necessarily against tracking but I am trying to speak up against the excessive calorie restriction that most of us have been convinced is true and correct. It FAILS over the long term, badly.0 -
That would be all fine and good if we were starting paleo with a blank slate but unfortunately years of unhealthy food habits have an impact on how/when you eat and your attitude towards food. If you are used to overeating it is hard to just "listen to your body" right off the bat. I tried not tracking and it didn't really work for me so now I am back to tracking my meals because I feel that it helps me.
Um, I've been here two years and I have been as heavy as 290 pounds. So I did not start with a "blank slate". Everything that I talked about is supported by how calorie counting has failed for me over the long term. Yup I had some rapid weight loss in the first year and did more damage than good than had I ONLY focused on the food (with tracking macros).
I had pre-diabetes, binge eating disorder, severe depression and many many other metabolic disorder related problems. I had 39 years of unhealthy eating habits. I still have problems IF I don't stick to Paleo foods 95% of the time.
I am tracking though "listening to the body" only works for me, for now, if my sugar/starch are kept very low. So I'm not necessarily against tracking but I am trying to speak up against the excessive calorie restriction that most of us have been convinced is true and correct. It FAILS over the long term, badly.
And in my experience, MFP sets calories too low. When MFP had me at 1200 daily calories to lose a pound a week, I actually stopped losing altogether. Someone advised me to up my calories to at least 1500, and I did. Had to fool MFP by adjusting the calculated weight loss to less than 1/2 pound a week, I think, but after that I started losing at a pound per week, oddly enough. (And then I went six months without losing, or hovering around the same point plus or minus five pounds, because we were traveling two weeks out of every month. Home for the summer, having better control, I've started slowly losing again.)0 -
That would be all fine and good if we were starting paleo with a blank slate but unfortunately years of unhealthy food habits have an impact on how/when you eat and your attitude towards food. If you are used to overeating it is hard to just "listen to your body" right off the bat. I tried not tracking and it didn't really work for me so now I am back to tracking my meals because I feel that it helps me.
Um, I've been here two years and I have been as heavy as 290 pounds. So I did not start with a "blank slate". Everything that I talked about is supported by how calorie counting has failed for me over the long term. Yup I had some rapid weight loss in the first year and did more damage than good than had I ONLY focused on the food (with tracking macros).
I had pre-diabetes, binge eating disorder, severe depression and many many other metabolic disorder related problems. I had 39 years of unhealthy eating habits. I still have problems IF I don't stick to Paleo foods 95% of the time.
I am tracking though "listening to the body" only works for me, for now, if my sugar/starch are kept very low. So I'm not necessarily against tracking but I am trying to speak up against the excessive calorie restriction that most of us have been convinced is true and correct. It FAILS over the long term, badly.
Just for clarification, I wasn't saying 'you" meaning you specifically. The fact that you don't feel you need to track calories is great and that's nice for you. I hope to get there one day but I know it is not today. I tried not tracking for a month and even though I was mostly paleo (80/20) I was overeating. 34 years of bad eating habits vs 2 years of good habits have that effect on me.0 -
That would be all fine and good if we were starting paleo with a blank slate but unfortunately years of unhealthy food habits have an impact on how/when you eat and your attitude towards food. If you are used to overeating it is hard to just "listen to your body" right off the bat. I tried not tracking and it didn't really work for me so now I am back to tracking my meals because I feel that it helps me.
Um, I've been here two years and I have been as heavy as 290 pounds. So I did not start with a "blank slate". Everything that I talked about is supported by how calorie counting has failed for me over the long term. Yup I had some rapid weight loss in the first year and did more damage than good than had I ONLY focused on the food (with tracking macros).
I had pre-diabetes, binge eating disorder, severe depression and many many other metabolic disorder related problems. I had 39 years of unhealthy eating habits. I still have problems IF I don't stick to Paleo foods 95% of the time.
I am tracking though "listening to the body" only works for me, for now, if my sugar/starch are kept very low. So I'm not necessarily against tracking but I am trying to speak up against the excessive calorie restriction that most of us have been convinced is true and correct. It FAILS over the long term, badly.
And in my experience, MFP sets calories too low. When MFP had me at 1200 daily calories to lose a pound a week, I actually stopped losing altogether. Someone advised me to up my calories to at least 1500, and I did. Had to fool MFP by adjusting the calculated weight loss to less than 1/2 pound a week, I think, but after that I started losing at a pound per week, oddly enough. (And then I went six months without losing, or hovering around the same point plus or minus five pounds, because we were traveling two weeks out of every month. Home for the summer, having better control, I've started slowly losing again.)
I agree that MFP sets calories too low. At one point it was recommending for me to be around 1200-1300 cals/day. I talked to my dietitian before I started on paleo and she told me that with my level of activity I should have at least 2000 cals/day so I adjusted MFP for that. I immediately started performing much better at the gym.0 -
My life goal is to be able to "listen to my body" & eat only what is necessary to fuel my body..... I'm working on that, and I'm doing better, but I'm definitely not to that point. Still in the process of reprogramming my brain!!!
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