Calories!!!!
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gillgolfgal
Posts: 6 Member
Here I am trying to keep my net carbs to 20g per day, medium protein and high fat. The site flags up telling me I have not eaten enough as my calories are too low! It is frustrating that this site is fixated on calories when my macros seem good for my aim. There does not seem to be anywhere to enter the type of eating pattern you are using i.e. Vegetarian low carb (my sort!), Atkins, etc. That would be useful and then perhaps it would not nag me about the amount of calories I eat :-)
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Replies
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You'll get flagged if you go below 1,000 calories...because calories are also important to proper nutrition and MFP isn't going to promote VLCDs and anorexia.32
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type of diet doesn't mean it is any safer to eat less than the minimum recommended to sustain living.23
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Eating fewer carbohydrates doesn't mean that you require less energy than you otherwise would.25
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Calorie needs are the same regardless of what way of eating you follow. If you are logging less than 1,000 cals and are a healthy, averaged sized person, you are either under-eating or logging inaccurately. Calories are the energy your body needs to do all the important stuff it does every day.19
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You can keep to your preferred macro ratios, or even go by grams for each macro as you wish... as long as they, all together, total sufficient Calories to meet your goals.
When you're getting the warning, you're getting it because you are not meeting a basic minimum level of Calories.
As an aside you may want to carefully re-evaluate your carb needs, perhaps with the help of some of the more experienced users in the low carb groups... most low carb people including people in ketosis do not have to stay at that low of a carb level in order to meet their goals.
At such a low level you're potentially crowding out nutrients from vegetables that may be relevant to your health.12 -
I already eat lots and a varied amount of vegetables. I could up my eggs and cheese consumption that would add calories and as I don't eat meat I am aware I need to keep my protein levels up so I sometimes add protein powder if I feel I am under. The advice differs from site to site as to how many net carbs are necessary to remain in ketosis, I opted for 20g net carbs but what is the advice from this group?5
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Your goals here are expressed (and the calories added up) as TOTAL grams of carbs, not as net carbs.
@nvmomketo might have some direction for you in terms of suitable keto goals and or good groups to join.
My personal understanding as a non keto person is that many people can remain in ketosis while consuming ~50g of TOTAL carbs--but it is not something I've looked into...
However I will note for you that other than achieving water weight changes through glycogen manipulation, actual fat loss during keto or any other diet will depend on your Caloric balance. And yes, for many people a low carb lifestyle will make it easier to stick to the appropriate caloric balance.
You may also want to consider fish if that would be appropriate for you, and definitely varieties of full fat yogurt in addition to eggs, cheese, and protein powder.2 -
I list fibre and deduct that from gross carbs to get my net. I do eat fish - that helps. I eat double cream and butter, just doesn't add to many calories though! Thanks for response.3
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Regardless of which type of 'way' you choose to eat, i.e. Me to, vegan/vegetarian or vegan lo carb, you still need the min calories. You can't get by with 800 cals or whatever because your diet differs from mine or his or her.10
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gillgolfgal wrote: »I do eat fish
Technically that makes you a pescatarian5 -
gillgolfgal wrote: »I list fibre and deduct that from gross carbs to get my net. I do eat fish - that helps. I eat double cream and butter, just doesn't add to many calories though! Thanks for response.
Double cream and butter are quite calorific though. How much of each do you consume a day?6 -
Your goals here are expressed (and the calories added up) as TOTAL grams of carbs, not as net carbs.
@nvmomketo might have some direction for you in terms of suitable keto goals and or good groups to join.
My personal understanding as a non keto person is that many people can remain in ketosis while consuming ~50g of TOTAL carbs--but it is not something I've looked into...
However I will note for you that other than achieving water weight changes through glycogen manipulation, actual fat loss during keto or any other diet will depend on your Caloric balance. And yes, for many people a low carb lifestyle will make it easier to stick to the appropriate caloric balance.
You may also want to consider fish if that would be appropriate for you, and definitely varieties of full fat yogurt in addition to eggs, cheese, and protein powder.
Yep, most keto'ers set their total carb goal somewhere under 20-50g a day. It varies. Inactive people who are petite and have insulin resistance may need to stay below 20g of carbs. More active people may be able to go much higher than 50 g if they time their carbs around exercise.
You can change your MFP food dairy settings in My Home and Goals. You can also adjust what information is shown in Settings.
Most seem to use 5-10% for carbs, 20-35% for protein (it is wise to try to go above 20% while losing), and the rest is fat. Whatever your calorie goal is will determine how much you eat in each macro. Roughly. It is best to get enough protein (often at least 70g) and then get more fat or protein if you need more calories. Nuts, avocados, olives, cheeses, and eggs add fats and protein.
The Low Carber Daily has a great list of resources in it's Launch Pad stickie. The Keto group also has a lot of helpful info.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1143-keto2 -
gillgolfgal wrote: »I already eat lots and a varied amount of vegetables. I could up my eggs and cheese consumption that would add calories and as I don't eat meat I am aware I need to keep my protein levels up so I sometimes add protein powder if I feel I am under. The advice differs from site to site as to how many net carbs are necessary to remain in ketosis, I opted for 20g net carbs but what is the advice from this group?
Like nvmomketo said, I aim for 5-10% of my calories from net carbs, and I have no trouble remaining in ketosis on that amount. Subtract fiber grams from carbohydrate grams and multiply the result by four; compare that number to your total calories and adjust as necessary throughout the day.
That way you don’t have to eat in a dramatically different way on active days from the way you eat on inactive ones. If you have a hard ceiling of 20 carbs and have to fill 2000 calories, your options are much more limited than if you’re only eating 1200 calories that day. A percentage system allows you to eat more or less of the same basic stuff.
Avocado, coconut oil, coconut milk, pesto, peanut butter, eggs, macadamia/pecan/Brazil nuts, and heavy cream should all be in your regular rotation. Keto is a lot harder without meat, although seafood will help. Favor carb-y foods that include a lot of fiber, and look for any opportunity to add extra calories from fat. The last couple of nights I’ve just scooped a few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese on top of my dinner. There’s always a way. 🙂0 -
gillgolfgal wrote: »Here I am trying to keep my net carbs to 20g per day, medium protein and high fat. The site flags up telling me I have not eaten enough as my calories are too low! It is frustrating that this site is fixated on calories when my macros seem good for my aim. There does not seem to be anywhere to enter the type of eating pattern you are using i.e. Vegetarian low carb (my sort!), Atkins, etc. That would be useful and then perhaps it would not nag me about the amount of calories I eat :-)
If you think the software has stupid rules, but you like the way it tracks your intake, why are you worried if it gives you advice you disagree with? If stupid people give me bad advice, I ignore them. Use the tracking, ignore the advice.
That said, everyone else is right: Keto-ers/low-carb-ers need just as many calories as anyone else does to achieve good health. Vegetarians need just as much protein as anyone else does to achieve good health.
No matter what some advocacy blog site says in its propaganda, there's no decent scientific evidence that particular diets magically change the basic rules of nutrition.
You can still choose to ignore that. I think it's a bad plan, but you can.13 -
gillgolfgal wrote: »Here I am trying to keep my net carbs to 20g per day, medium protein and high fat. The site flags up telling me I have not eaten enough as my calories are too low! It is frustrating that this site is fixated on calories when my macros seem good for my aim. There does not seem to be anywhere to enter the type of eating pattern you are using i.e. Vegetarian low carb (my sort!), Atkins, etc. That would be useful and then perhaps it would not nag me about the amount of calories I eat :-)
It is frustrating that a calorie counting site is fixated on calories? 😂25 -
I have researched this plan well and I already do most if not all of the given advice I.e. Avocados, nuts, heavy cream instead of yoghurt, coconut oil, cheese, eggs etc. are all in the food plan along with additional protein powder as and when. I add avocado oil to salads and use butter too. I am quite active and even on this diet am not losing weight. I do not have much to lose but even the few pounds I want to shift are sticking with me!12
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MsBaz2018 - not by any means a helpful comment! The site does not ONLY track calories, if that were the case I would not have signed up. I wanted to get away from the old calorie counting thing.16
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gillgolfgal wrote: »I am quite active and even on this diet am not losing weight. I do not have much to lose but even the few pounds I want to shift are sticking with me!
If you have only a few pounds to lose, I am sorry, but you cannot achieve this quickly or by applying large deficits, not if you want to primarily lose body fat.
I suggest that you start using a trending weight application and apply a large degree of patience instead of trying to achieve a small weight loss by drastically changing your way of eating.
Keto induction reduces glycogen stores and gives you a quick scale loss because of glycogen reduction and the loss of the water bound to the glycogen that was utilized. However glycogen replenishes as soon as you eat sufficient carbs and that water weight is restored at that point of time. It is a borrowed scale loss that is not reflecting an underlying change to your body fat level.
Of course if you're not changing your way of eating for the purpose of weight loss, absolutely keep on going. Again, though, don't expect a quick loss with only a few lbs left to lose. *Personally* I would consider 10lbs over a year to be excellent progress for someone already in the normal range, especially in the lower parts of it. And you cannot tell that a slow loss like that is even happening unless you look at your trending weight over several weeks (4-6 weeks at the very least).gillgolfgal wrote: »The site does not ONLY track calories, if that were the case I would not have signed up. I wanted to get away from the old calorie counting thing.
I am a user of MFP just like you are, so what I am saying is in no way an official position, but a look through the forum rules points strongly to MFP advocating that people should consume a minimum amount of calories during weight loss.
Every site that allows you to log calories and macros can be used in whichever way you decide to use it. However I would be hard pressed to differentiate how MFP is LESS of a purely calorie counting web site than any one of the other calorie counting web sites I checked out before deciding to use MFP.
Counting macros IS counting calories. 4 Cal per 1g of carb or protein, 9 Cal per 1g of FATs, 7 Cal per 1g of alcohol, deduct anywhere from 4 Cal to 1 Cal for fiber depending on how much energy is extractable while it passes through your body. Within, say, 10% to account for "accidental" inaccuracies by producers who want their products to appear to be lower Cal than they truly are.... you just adds up your macros and you gets your Calories.17 -
gillgolfgal wrote: »I have researched this plan well and I already do most if not all of the given advice I.e. Avocados, nuts, heavy cream instead of yoghurt, coconut oil, cheese, eggs etc. are all in the food plan along with additional protein powder as and when. I add avocado oil to salads and use butter too. I am quite active and even on this diet am not losing weight. I do not have much to lose but even the few pounds I want to shift are sticking with me!
If you were eating enough of those things, MFP wouldn’t be flagging your calories as too low. If, on the other hand you really were eating less than 1000 calories per day on a sustained basis, you would certainly be losing weight.
Which brings us to: how are you deciding what portion sizes to log? Are you eyeballing your food, using measuring cups, or weighing what you eat? When it comes to calorie-dense food like avocados and cheese, the difference can be significant.14
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