What do you guys do?
penlanderin88
Posts: 4 Member
I was just curious to see what and how you guys use myfitnesspal food tracker. I know when I signed up it gave me like a calorie/carb/fat/ect plan to not go over these numbers. When you guys are doing low carb do you stick with what my fitness pal gave you or do you tweak it a little bit? How many of you guys count carbs and calories together? I am starting back on my low carb journey. Few years back on the low carb life style i just counted my carbs to not go over 20 and left calorie counting alone. If you count calories with carbs do you see better success that way?
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I don't subscribe, so I can only adjust my macros by (up or down) 5-gramme ratios.
I've adjusted the amounts to equal 100% of intake, with -
Carbs at 10%,
Proteins at 35%
Fats at 55%.
Here's the bit I can't get my head round. Not because it's a total mystery, but because I'm not good with numbers (Dyscalculia) and don't understand the logic.
Respectively, these percentages mean that I eat, in grammes/day:
Carbs: 30g
Proteins: 105g
Fats: 73g
How those add up to '100%' I'm not sure, but someone explained it to me once. I'm hoping someone will again!
I've also set my nutrients tracked, to Carbs, Protein, Fats, Fibre and Sodium.0 -
I set my macros to 5% carbs, 25% protein, and 70% fat. I eat at a caloric deficit or I don't lose weight. I don't always eat all my fat calories because I've plenty of fat in reserve on my person, lol.
Edited to add: Which is to say I eat 20g carbs (aiming for net) 90 g protein and about 110 g of fat.1 -
@AlexandraCarlyle, the grams you listed above per macro do add up..or very close to...100% of your CALORIE target if you'd hit each of them.
30 grams of carbs x 4 calories per gram = 120 calories.
105 grams of protein x 4 calories per gram = 420 calories.
73 grams of fat x 9 calories per gram = 657 calories.
120+420+657=1197 calories so I'm guessing you assigned or MFP gave you 1200 calories for the amount to eat daily. The 3 calorie difference is due to rounding.0 -
I've switched my percents up too. I went with 5/30/65. Which gives me 17g carbs, 101g protein, and 97g fat for 1341 calories daily. Gotta have that deficit to lose, right
Also moved my diary around to track, in order, carbs/fiber/protein/fats/sodium. The carbs and fiber side by side help me math out the net carbs easier.2 -
@penlanderin88, I've varied mine over the years I've been here. MFPs default is 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein. Even in the beginning when I was only about losing weight, 50% carbs was more carbs than i was interested in eating so I switched mine to 40c/30/30. Frankly, that is a preferred way of eating for me. I like lots of vegetables, some fruit, lean meat and legumes but full fat dressings, butter, etc. It worked fine for me for weight loss and for awhile in maintenance...but I was always hungry. Always.
In 2016 I decided to switch to keto for a reason other than weight/body comp so changed my macro percentages to 5%c/20%p/75% fat. I ate all the fat because I was eating Medically Therapeutic Keto and was in maintenance. 5% carbs happened to be 19 grams so it worked out fine. With the free version of MFP one has only the choice of 5% increments. Perhaps I could have set carbs to 0%. Never thought to do that but didn't really need to.
Anyway, I'm not eating keto any longer. Just LCHF. I think I have the macro percentages set to 15%c/25%p and 60%f. That really isn't how I ate because for the couple of months I tracked with those macros, I ate considerably fewer carbs than the 77 grams allotted. Just this month, I decided not to track at all...for the heck of it. I eat a pretty simple diet. fat and protein in the AM (if I eat) with misc carbs. Fat and protein (with miscellaneous carbs) in the afternoon and c/f/p in the evening. Maybe a piece of fruit every now and then. I'm not diabetic or insulin resistant so a hit of carbs doesn't have much noticeable physiological effect on me.
I'm ever cognizant of calorie intake even when not tracking. I've seen very little indicating calories don't matter when it comes to weight management, even on keto. When I ate keto I weighed and measured everything. Maybe some folks can cook with a teaspoon of oil but that's not how I cook.
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Thank you guys for the wonderful replies. I am new to this and need to figure out how to work it . And also to adjust it.0
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@AlexandraCarlyle, the grams you listed above per macro do add up..or very close to...100% of your CALORIE target if you'd hit each of them.
30 grams of carbs x 4 calories per gram = 120 calories.
105 grams of protein x 4 calories per gram = 420 calories.
73 grams of fat x 9 calories per gram = 657 calories.
120+420+657=1197 calories so I'm guessing you assigned or MFP gave you 1200 calories for the amount to eat daily. The 3 calorie difference is due to rounding.
Thank you for explaining that to me. so every gram of food has 4 calories, is that it....?
I think I heard that before but it just didn't 'compute'...
I wonder how that total (4 carbs/gram) was worked out? By whom...? Interesting....0 -
Almost. Protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram. Fat has 9. I'm sure all those who like to debate calories in calories out know all the details of who/how. Like nearly everything else, it is not exact in/to each and every body but for the masses it has to be close enough or we all might go a bit looney.0
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@AlexandraCarlyle Not every gram is 4 calories. Proteins and carbs are 4 cals/gram. Fats are 9 cals/gram. Which explains why the calories of a tablespoon of butter = 3oz of chicken breast, give or take.
But as far as not counting calories, some people have success with it. Especially when they eat very little carbs. I count net carbs. I can go as high as 80g total carbs but have 30-40g net carbs. I eat tons of veggies. Broccoli and brussel sprouts are my go-to. When I counted total carbs, I rarely ate vegetables just bc I thought they were unnecessary and only made my carb count higher. But now, I eat some type of veggie with every meal just bc they're low cal, low carb and very filling. Organ meats are very nutritious too but I hate them lol I don't eat organ meats1 -
penlanderin88 wrote: »Thank you guys for the wonderful replies. I am new to this and need to figure out how to work it . And also to adjust it.
Tip - I like the keto calculator at ketogains.com.3 -
Yes, @kpk54 , @LolaDeeDaisy23, I saw that about fat (9 cals/gram) that makes more sense now.
Trying to wrap my poor inadequately-mathematical head round all that...!
Reading it a few times will hopefully get it to penetrate.
But it's invaluable info. Thanks so much!1 -
Rycbar_123 wrote: »
Also moved my diary around to track, in order, carbs/fiber/protein/fats/sodium. The carbs and fiber side by side help me math out the net carbs easier.
There is a script you can install from the stickies to compute your net carbs for you.
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penlanderin88 wrote: »I was just curious to see what and how you guys use myfitnesspal food tracker. I know when I signed up it gave me like a calorie/carb/fat/ect plan to not go over these numbers. When you guys are doing low carb do you stick with what my fitness pal gave you or do you tweak it a little bit? How many of you guys count carbs and calories together? I am starting back on my low carb journey. Few years back on the low carb life style i just counted my carbs to not go over 20 and left calorie counting alone. If you count calories with carbs do you see better success that way?
You can track all kinds of stuff. The software is very flexible.
I keep my diabetes log as part of my food diary.
or 
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There is a script you can install from the stickies to compute your net carbs for you.
I'm usually on my phone, and was under the impression those scripts were for PC use. But then, I hadn't clicked the link yet to see...0 -
Rycbar_123 wrote: »
I'm usually on my phone, and was under the impression those scripts were for PC use. But then, I hadn't clicked the link yet to see...
Yes, the script if for PC browsers only. Guess you are stuck with subtracting the fiber from the carbs then. Or going premium, supposedly you have all kinds of control over you macros with that. I don't have premium, so not sure.0 -
KenSmith108 wrote: »
You can track all kinds of stuff. The software is very flexible.
I keep my diabetes log as part of my food diary. or
Interesting on the glucose tracking... Is there another script for that?0 -
retirehappy wrote: »Yes, the script if for PC browsers only. Guess you are stuck with subtracting the fiber from the carbs then. Or going premium, supposedly you have all kinds of control over you macros with that. I don't have premium, so not sure.
Premium doesn't give you the 'net carbs' function. I do the same as @Rycbar_123 and just list carbs and fiber next to each other, and subtract in my head. Pretty simple.
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Interesting on the glucose tracking... Is there another script for that?
No, they are just custom food.
Anyone can make their own or just
copy mine. or 0 -
I've changed my macros a bunch of times, never used the default MFP ones. Started around 30-35-35 (I was at 1250), and then lost a lot of weight at 40-30-30 when I raised my calories (but I was only strict on protein and let carbs and fat vary, and I tended to go over on fat and under on carbs). Now I have mine set to 94 g protein, 100 g fat, 56 g carbs, which is 25% protein, 60% fat, and 15% carbs, but in my head my protein goal is around 100, carb goal is hard stop 60, under 50 would be nice, and have the net be in the 30s or below. Fat is whatever depending on how many calories I eat (as I'm in a deficit and should supply the rest from body fat).
My current thinking, for what it's worth, is that if one is at a deficit it makes sense to think of the percentages (if one does at all) based on the maintenance calories, with the deficit calories made up by body fat. So if my maintenance is roughly 2000, 50 g of carbs is really 10%, 100 g of protein is 20%, and the rest is fat (eaten or body fat) at 70%.0 -
Tip - I like the keto calculator at ketogains.com.
I second this. Seriously, I think this is the best macro calculator out there.1 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
I second this. Seriously, I think this is the best macro calculator out there.
Thanks for converting me.
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I use the Keto calculator to figure out what I should aim for.. then use carb grams as a max, protein grams as a 'do my best to met' and fat grams as a 'filler' to make me not hungry ( so up to that number of grams, but not 'gotta get it' kind of thing).
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