Ok so this is how I got started. I have never counted calories and was absolutely sure I wasn't going to do macros. Then I just tried it out and realised it completely suited me - I plan our food a week at a time anyway - I do an online shop so putting it into mfp just became part of my planning. It has made me keep up the food intake and so be able to maintain the training. I chose maintenance macros but after a week decided that I wanted to cut them by 10% - I wanted to have 10% freedom so I could add a snack or a latte etc... and it wouldn't make a difference. One major thing to bear in mind is that the macros are based on weight and hiit training so if you are going to workout less you may not need so much food. I upgraded on mfp - just because numbers addle my brain and I wanted this to be as easy as possible. Put in my rest and workout days (I change them around depending on when I can exercise) and then started planning. At the very least put your food in a day in advance - you cannot just add though out the day and hope it will work out (unless you have been doing it for a while). In the beginning I just thought each day what did I really want to eat for tea - made the menu then put in a breakfast (low carb or high carb depending on training) added protein shake and banana if training then would see what was left for lunch (this is the meal I am least fussed about so happy to make something to fit). I don't have snacks so on training days have two carb heavy meals (overnight protein oats for breakfast then tea will be with a big portion of sweet potatoes or brown rice) on rest days I will have one meal with carbs in (but there will be a sprinkling of carbs in others - veg, berries etc..). However you can split as you want - I do make sure post workout is high carb and protein but other than that you can eat your food however it suits you - some like snacks and smaller main meals. I enjoyed opening up cook books for the first time in 3 months and planning things I hadn't eaten in ages. I used a couple of plan recipes as inspiration and then tweaked to fit. Fage and cottage cheese are useful to increase protein in dishes as are the Two chicks egg whites. Make sure when you put in a food that the macros a. are there (sometimes there are no macros with things on mfp and that totally messes up your totals and b. they look sort of correct - I put in a brown basmati rice which was totally wrong and one of my meals I think had about 4 times the amount of rice I was supposed to have - I only checked it as I couldn't finish it and that never ever happens so I thought something was up! If you are putting in an ingredient put in the name of a british supermarket (if you are in the UK) and that will bring up the item with british weights so helps with inputting.
Not sure what else to say apart from emphasising the need to plan ahead in the beginning - also don't look at the pie charts look at the grams page - the pie chart can be correct even when you are way way under or way way over on all your macros. Good luck it suits some and not others so don't worry if you hate it but just give it a go for a week or two and you might like it!!

Hi all, I'm a long term user of MFP but have never upgraded to the premium version. I just know what my macro goals are in my head and aim to hit them amor at least get really close. I don't mind going over on protein but always aim to stick to my fat and carb goal. Since graduating (approx 3 wks ago) I initially just plodded in with a reduced carb diet and tried out some online weights sets with some HIIT. I've decided that reduced carb is not for me so will probably be having carbs with every meal from now on. Currently i'm reading TLS and am planning a 'shred' menu to start once i'm back at work on Jan 4th. The TLS macros for me are really low so I reckon I'll only be able to manage it for 2weeks but hoping that gives me a real boost to the new year and my training and diet. After that I'm not sure yet! I liked c2 the best so may do gvt again.