Vitamins & minerals

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FL_Hiker
FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi y'all,
I know MFPs macros and goals can be off sometimes, I'm curious what the consensus on the vitamins and minerals are? Today I bought a multivitamin to try and see if it makes a difference... how much of everything should I actually be getting? Even with the vitamin I'm not meeting the MFP goals! I was especially worried about my iron levels, I've been tracking for a few months and every single day has been consistently wayyy low according to MFP except for today when I took my new vitamin. Does someone knowledgeable want to take a look at my food diary and offer some suggestions of how I can improve ? I'm training for a big race so I want to make sure I'm getting enough vitamins and don't injury myself! Just a side note the calories are not the most accurate since I don't weigh my food (all rough estimates, intuitive it works for me), but the food types logged are accurate. I've been losing at a pretty steady pace and not too quickly 😊. I also only have .5 lb until my goal weight so I'll be going into maintence soon which I think should help...?
Thanks!

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,098 Member
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    The iron allowances on a lot of the foods in the database are incorrect.

    I eat really carefully and I almost never hit my Iron on the food diary - BUT my bloodwork is always in range for anemia so I know I'm getting enough.

    Iron is one of those heavy metals of which you really don't want to get too much.

    You can go to the USDA food database and alternately you could read through this thread for more fine-tuning:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10621050/how-to-use-the-usda-food-database-mfp-food-database-for-accurate-logging/p1
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    I wouldn't trust the database for vitamin and mineral data. It might have a higher rate of accuracy when it comes to the few that are required on labels, but even then, I wouldn't trust it. You are probably getting more than you think, especially of you are consuming a varied diet. A few of the vitamins and minerals you need to be careful with because it is possible to get too much. Generally speaking a multi isn't going to be harmful. Most of it will pass through you. Bloodwork is the best way to know if you are deficient.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    All I can say is "garbage in - garbage out". I would decide between diligentrly tracking and intuitive eating, both strategies have merit as long as you don't mix them up. If you are going to track diligently, you have to use food entries with correct values for all the micronutrients you want to track, and weigh everything so you know how much of each item you get. Generally, though, a healthy diet will provide you with all the nutrition you need. I would say cookies every day on a 1200 calorie diet in itself is a no-no, and you run? I don't understand how you can keep it up. Please be careful!
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    edited August 2018
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    All I can say is "garbage in - garbage out". I would decide between diligentrly tracking and intuitive eating, both strategies have merit as long as you don't mix them up. If you are going to track diligently, you have to use food entries with correct values for all the micronutrients you want to track, and weigh everything so you know how much of each item you get. Generally, though, a healthy diet will provide you with all the nutrition you need. I would say cookies every day on a 1200 calorie diet in itself is a no-no, and you run? I don't understand how you can keep it up. Please be careful!

    That's a really good point, when I started several months ago I was just focused on the calories and protein amount (since I knew I was lacking protein!) and the entries I grabbed were probably not accurate with minerals. Don't worry, I've lost at what I feel like is a very slow steady rate, I'm definetly eating more than that ( I never feel hungry!) .. and since running I'm glad to be done with the weight loss journey and on to focusing on training and overall wellness lol.

    Thanks all for your help 😊
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    You cant track micros on MFP
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    edited August 2018
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    You cant track micros on MFP

    Huh really? Mine says iron, vitamin A, etc. what do you consider those? Click on your food diary, then nutrients, and they are at the bottom.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    FL_Hiker wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    You cant track micros on MFP

    Huh really? Mine says iron, vitamin A, etc. what do you consider those?

    I mean you can't do it accurately :laugh:
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    edited August 2018
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    FL_Hiker wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    You cant track micros on MFP

    Huh really? Mine says iron, vitamin A, etc. what do you consider those?

    I mean you can't do it accurately :laugh:

    Oh gotcha lol, yeah it looks like it's missing a bunch anyways at least for the freebie app! Sounds like my best bet is bloodwork to make sure I'm not deficient in anything . Thank y'all again! 😊
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,020 Member
    edited August 2018
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    Different amounts of any given food have different amounts of vitamin and minerals (i.e., if you log 85 g of food X but are actually consuming 120 g of it, because you're just using rough estimates, you are substantially undercounting the micros that MFP tracks, even if you're using valid database entries).

    ETA: you really shouldn't be supplementing iron without a blood test and a doctor's advice. Also, if you're post-menopausal, you don't need 100% of the nutrition label RDA, which is based on 100% for pre-menopausal women (18 g). Post-menopausal women only need 8 g, or about 43% of the RDA used on labels (which is what makes its way into MFP database entries, to the extent that the users bother to enter it).
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Different amounts of any given food have different amounts of vitamin and minerals (i.e., if you log 85 g of food X but are actually consuming 120 g of it, because you're just using rough estimates, you are substantially undercounting the micros that MFP tracks, even if you're using valid database entries).

    ETA: you really shouldn't be supplementing iron without a blood test and a doctor's advice. Also, if you're post-menopausal, you don't need 100% of the nutrition label RDA, which is based on 100% for pre-menopausal women (18 g). Post-menopausal women only need 8 g, or about 43% of the RDA used on labels (which is what makes its way into MFP database entries, to the extent that the users bother to enter it).

    I'm anemic and agree with not supplementing with iron without getting blood work. I personally need almost 400 % RDA to stay in Low Normal, but too much iron can be dangerous, so this should be done with regular blood work to monitor levels.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,816 Member
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    I think the best strategy is to eat plenty of varied, colorful fruits and veggies: At least 5 servings daily and 10+ is better.

    There's lots of evidence that higher-veg/fruit eating does lots of good things for us, and it's not even always clear why: Vitamins? Minerals? Fiber? Phytochemicals? Something else? Often, isolating the components and supplementing with them just doesn't have the same effect, when research takes this course. Some things in common supplement form can even be dangerous, even though it's hard to OD from the natural sources (lookin' at you, vitamin A!)/

    Veggies and fruits are evolution tested, I figure.

    Every once in a while, my doctor tests me for things that are common problems, and so far I've been fine. Every once in a while, I spot check a few days, looking at as complete a data source as I can find for key micronutrients, with a special focus on ones that are most likely to be a problem for me because of eating patterns, geography, etc. So far, I've been fine.

  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
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    I get my Vitamin D checked and then I try to supplement up to 40. I do notice a difference. I also take A and K2. A should be taken with D and K2 is good for bone health.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    Well I did look at your diary and it doesn't appear you eat very many fruits and vegetables. So you might work on that. It's hard to track your vitamins/micros on MFP because a lot of the entries don't include them. You'd have to be super diligent about selecting entries, checking them against the USDA database... I think as long as you eat a diet with variety and plenty of vegetables and fruits you're fine. But like I said it doesn't look like you do lol

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