Which one do you pay the most attention to? Do you count calories, fat, carbs or sugars?
Replies
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I focus on calories, but will pay attention to the others. If I can make a choice with fewer carbs, or sugars I will.1
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Calories is what controls weight (or more exact, amount of fatty tissue on your body). If you eat too many (more than you burn), over time, you gain weight. If you eat less than you burn, over time, you lose weight.
A healthy diet means getting in sufficient amounts of all the nutrients you need every day, but not too much of anything. Eating a lot of different foods from all the food groups is an easy way to get in the right amounts.
A healthy lifestyle includes a healthy diet, sufficient knowledge, and a healthy mindset. Apart from trans fat, fat and sugar is the same in every food. Different foods contain different amounts and combinations of nutrients, but no foods are "poison" and to be completely avoided (unless you want to). Buzzwords and ideas without the proper context can create fear. "Processed" sounds scary (a little like "possessed"). But if you think about what it means - it can mean a lot of different things. When you cook, or chew, or digest, you "process" your food. What you really should be doing, is eat food you like, and have a healthy diet. Worrying too much about what you eat can paradoxically lead you to take poorer decisions, food-wise. One example is orthorexia, another is the "what the hell"-effect.4 -
Protein-->Fat-->Calories-->Fiber1
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1. Calories
2. Carbs
3. Sodium
4. Sugar
Calories and Carbs are main focus. I have a Carb sensitivity so to many will increase weight or prevent weight lose. Which really sucks I miss having potatoes and peanut butter sammiches.
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Calories, Protein/Carbs/Fat, sodium. I don't bother tracking sugar. If I'm at/under calorie goal and felt satiated all day, I find I'm usually pretty close to the suggested Carb/Fat/Protein ratio. Sodium, because I feel like crap for at least an extra day If I overdo that.1
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Net Carbs. I eat as little carbs as possible. From there I try to get 2X fat calories vs protein.
While I track everything I eat, I eat how much I want. I stay under my calorie goal without really working at it, because I am not hungry.
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I eat LCHF. For me, it's carbs, protein, fat and calories. Sugar is from vegetables or dairy (nothing processed) so I don't pay much attention to that one.1
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I focus on calories for weight loss. I do also try to keep an eye on protein and iron since I have a history of hypoglycemia and anemia and my doctor has recommended that I try to get more protein and iron.1
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Jalexander33 wrote: »1. Calories
2. Carbs
3. Sodium
4. Sugar
Calories and Carbs are main focus. I have a Carb sensitivity so to many will increase weight or prevent weight lose. Which really sucks I miss having potatoes and peanut butter sammiches.
But sugar is a carbohydrate? Also your carbohydrate is not going to increase or stall your weight, it is your overall calorie intake.2 -
I have a calorie maximum and minimums for fiber, fat and protein. I don't worry about carbs or sugars.... let them fall where they may.
This is pretty much what I do, except that it is so rare (maybe one day in a month) for me not to be over my fat minimum by a fair bit that in practice I don't really worry about it, or at least I don't have to make any kind of special effort to make sure I hit it. I also glance at my micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) at least a couple of times a week, and will take a supplement if it doesn't look like I'm getting enough.1 -
Calories first. Then I I make sure I get enough protein. Everything else generally falls into place on it's own when I get those two things in line.1
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For me:
- carbs - I am prediabetic and need to keep this low to control BG. Low carbs also reduces my appetite which helps with....
- calories
- protein - I have to make an effort to hit y moderate protein macro
- sodium
I don't worry about fibre or fat. I get way more than the dietary minimum for fat, and I don't believe fibre is as helpful to health as people thought.2 -
I don't count anything but I pay most attention to calories, fiber and protein, in that order.1
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My priority focus is on calories.
Secondary are carbs & sugar (I try to keep them low/in check)
And my third is iron, I try to keep it up if possible (damn near impossible)
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dragon_girl26 wrote: »bluebell67 wrote: »This is my second day on here and have found it very interesting to read what everyone has said. This is probably a silly question but when I look at my good diary the carb column is showing two figures one with a bracket around it and one without. What do each mean?
HI there...was trying to help answer this question but maybe I'm not looking at the correct page or something. Are you maybe referring to your Totals (what you ate for the day), and your Daily Goal? I don't have brackets around anything, though...you said you're looking at your food diary page?
This is what I'm referring to:
Hi dragon_girl26
Thank you for trying to help. This is what I mean:-
I hope this message comes out ok. I'm new to all this. Fingers crossed I've attached a photo and this message gets to dragon_girl26 ok.
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Calories and protein. If I hit those, the carbs & fat take care of themselves.1
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@bluebell67
Are you, by chance a premium member? I don't know if premium does this, but my guess - and this is just a guess - is the numbers in parentheses are net carbs? Because if you subtract the fiber listed from the total carbs, you get the number in parentheses - that number is also your net carbs.2 -
@bluebell67
Are you, by chance a premium member? I don't know if premium does this, but my guess - and this is just a guess - is the numbers in parentheses are net carbs? Because if you subtract the fiber listed from the total carbs, you get the number in parentheses - that number is also your net carbs.
Hi, no I'm not a premium member. Ah yes I think you are spot on. Thank you. I feel a bit silly that I didn't notice this myself. I just decided to dive in and trying to take in so much on here.
Oh my goodness looking at my food diary now I'm try to eat a low carb diet which was recommended to me by a nutritionist. She told me to aim for about 20% net carbs but I'm struggling with how to work this out. I suppose it's early days. Any tips on this would be gratefully recieved.
Als I read somewhere today that if someone is following a keto diet their daily net carbs should be at 5%. I cannot get my head round this, I mean what can you eat to achieve just 5% net carbs. I think carbs are everywhere.. 0 -
I focus on:
1. Calories to lose weight
2. Increasing protein and lowering carbs, which helps with my satiety, which helps with # 11 -
CALORIES. It doesn't matter if I'm getting 0 calories from carbs if I'm getting too many calories from other macro nutrients, I will still gain weight. However, I do try to keep a balanced diet. I pay special attention to protein, as I want to maintain as much muscle mass on a deficit as I can. I try to be reasonable with carbs, sugar, and fat (though f I'm a little over or under, I don't sweat it). Don't care too much about sodium, so long as I'm not thousands of mg over.1
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bluebell67 wrote: »@bluebell67
Are you, by chance a premium member? I don't know if premium does this, but my guess - and this is just a guess - is the numbers in parentheses are net carbs? Because if you subtract the fiber listed from the total carbs, you get the number in parentheses - that number is also your net carbs.
Hi, no I'm not a premium member. Ah yes I think you are spot on. Thank you. I feel a bit silly that I didn't notice this myself. I just decided to dive in and trying to take in so much on here.
Oh my goodness looking at my food diary now I'm try to eat a low carb diet which was recommended to me by a nutritionist. She told me to aim for about 20% net carbs but I'm struggling with how to work this out. I suppose it's early days. Any tips on this would be gratefully recieved.
Als I read somewhere today that if someone is following a keto diet their daily net carbs should be at 5%. I cannot get my head round this, I mean what can you eat to achieve just 5% net carbs. I think carbs are everywhere..
The Low Carber Daily group, in their stickies /launch pad, has some instructions to set it up with net carbs.... I don't know if it is just for premium or not.
If you want 20% net carbs, set your carbs for 25 or 30%, using higher if you tend to eat a lot of high fibre foods.
As to the 5% carbs, I eat this way. If you skip most pre-prepared foods - foods you won't find in nature without a fair amount of processing and refining - then 5% is not too limiting. I tend to eat about 3 servings of veggies and nuts per day. I skip all sugar and grains. Nothing essential missed there.2 -
Calories, calories, calories, with some attention to protein for satiety.2
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bluebell67 wrote: »@bluebell67
Are you, by chance a premium member? I don't know if premium does this, but my guess - and this is just a guess - is the numbers in parentheses are net carbs? Because if you subtract the fiber listed from the total carbs, you get the number in parentheses - that number is also your net carbs.
Hi, no I'm not a premium member. Ah yes I think you are spot on. Thank you. I feel a bit silly that I didn't notice this myself. I just decided to dive in and trying to take in so much on here.
Oh my goodness looking at my food diary now I'm try to eat a low carb diet which was recommended to me by a nutritionist. She told me to aim for about 20% net carbs but I'm struggling with how to work this out. I suppose it's early days. Any tips on this would be gratefully recieved.
Als I read somewhere today that if someone is following a keto diet their daily net carbs should be at 5%. I cannot get my head round this, I mean what can you eat to achieve just 5% net carbs. I think carbs are everywhere..
The Low Carber Daily group, in their stickies /launch pad, has some instructions to set it up with net carbs.... I don't know if it is just for premium or not.
If you want 20% net carbs, set your carbs for 25 or 30%, using higher if you tend to eat a lot of high fibre foods.
As to the 5% carbs, I eat this way. If you skip most pre-prepared foods - foods you won't find in nature without a fair amount of processing and refining - then 5% is not too limiting. I tend to eat about 3 servings of veggies and nuts per day. I skip all sugar and grains. Nothing essential missed there.
Thank you so much nvmomketo. I've just asked to join The Low Carber Daily group. Hopefully they will accept me. I've also send you a friend request as I'd very much value any advice you can give me as this is only day 3 for me so need to start implementing changes and need to learn a lot. 1 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »Priority for me:
1) Calories
2) Protein (make sure I'm getting enough)
3) Fibre (same reason, plus I'm old!)
4) Fats (make sure I'm in range)
5) Sodium (make sure I'm not getting too much)
6) Carbs/Sugar (meh, don't care.)
This is pretty much me, too. I focused primarily on calories and try to meet or exceed my protein goal each day.1 -
I pay attention to calories, protein, fat, fibre, and iron. I ditched the sugar tracking ages ago...2
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lifeforsubstance wrote: »Okay, so I know in order to maintain a brand new healthy lifestyle it's kinda important to take note of all these things (carbs, calories, sugar, fat ect..) but does anyone solely focus on just one more than the other? Lately I've been focusing a lot on my carbs, because the majority of the fat and sugar I consume come from meats like chicken or fruits like apples, banana's and such..so I don't think they are as the fat and sugar you find in candy bars, and and other sweets/fatty foods that are processed....anyone else do this?
I focus on calories for weight management...macros and micros for proper nutrition and fitness performance.
Also, carbs are more than just processed foods and candy bars...there are many nutritious, whole food sourced carbohydrates. Veggies are carbs, fruits are carbs, things like lentils and oats and legumes are carbs...whole food starches like potatoes and sweet potatoes and other root vegetables are carbs. These are all pretty good for you.1 -
I do low carb so mine are;
Calories, carbs (low), protein (high)1 -
I try to keep my macro ratio in line. If I am going to go low, I will go love on carbs. I do look at sugar.1
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Calories
Carbs/sugar (If I keep carbs at 20-30% calories are easy!)
Fiber: have had some tummy problems...enough fiber seems to help
Fat: too much of a good thing is just too much!1
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