Help! How to balance everything??

Are you using the mfp macros or custom ones. I think mfp is too low on protein. If you are under calories you will lose weight. If you are way under on calories add healthy fats like avocado or olive oil.

Being over on the MFP protein is preferable, it is the healthy minimum.

You could look aim for .8-1g protein, and .4-.6g fat, per lbs of your goal weight, (or mid BMI) letting carbs fill in the rest of your calories.

However, for weight loss it is calories that count. Aim to eat a the calories you are allotted, plus those you earn from exercise. Eating low the occasional day will not harm you, but consistently being under your calories will eventually be detremental to good health.

Eat foods you enjoy within your calorie goal and aim to fulfil your nutritional needs. No food is good or bad.

Cheers, h.

I solved that by changing my diary so it will not display sodium or sugar. I'm not sensitive to sodium and my bp is great, so I don't care. When I'm on track with my calories, my sodium intake is low anyway. That leaves me with seeing calories, carbs, fat, protein, and potassium. I don't care if I'm low on carbs. I do care if I'm low on protein. When I see that I have calories remaining and need more protein, I can have a protein shake or a can of tuna to get that up. My protein shake is powder mixed with kefir, which is a fermented whole milk source of additional fat and protein.

I think of my calorie goal as a maximum.
I think of protein, fat and fiber goals as minimums.
I don't track carbs, sugar or sodium, as others have said, because I have no medical reason to limit those.

Also, I'm not alarmed if I miss the mark one day so long as the weekly average is good.

middlehaitch wrote: »

However, for weight loss it is calories that count. Aim to eat a the calories you are allotted, plus those you earn from exercise. Eating low the occasional day will not harm you, but consistently being under your calories will eventually be detremental to good health.

^^^ good points! In addition, consistently under eating is, for me, a binge waiting to happen. It really saves much angst in the long run to adopt an appropriate calorie goal (deficit not too aggressive) and to eat all the calories you get. Cheers!

Instead of logging your food into your diary as you go, you can enter it ahead of time. This will give you the oppurtunity to teak your meals and snacks, in order to use your calories and macros and achieve your goals. This allows me to arrange my day around certain meals. Typically my dinner is something special and I can therefore adjust my breakfast and lunch to accommodate my dinner and still hit my goals! It's espescially helpful if you are just beginning to log your food and you aren't sure where certain foods stand, in their calories and macros.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

If you are over on protein and sugar and low on calories I would suggest eating more fat. And possibly more non-sugar carbs, depending on whether you are low or high on total carbs.

Sugar: Not disagreeing, really, but it matters why sugar is over.

I was losing, I was over the MFP sugar default every day, from no-sugar-added dairy products and 2-3 (max) servings of whole fruit. The only added sugar I ate was concentrated fruit juice that was well down the ingredient list in a single daily 30-calorie tablespoon of all-fruit spread. The default MFP sugar goal is really silly in some scenarios.

If it's mostly added sugar putting a person over goal, it's a worry that it can be driving out needed micro/macronutrients by taking too much calorie bandwidth. If it's sugar from whole foods, and macros are OK, it's probably not an issue.