How to keep the nutrition under whats recommended

ronnie_hutton08
ronnie_hutton08 Posts: 6 Member
edited April 2 in Food and Nutrition
I keep going over on some of my nutritions and im wondering how others are staying under it

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,918 Member
    Yeah, what Suzy said, but in general it just takes practice and some basic nutrition understanding/knowledge and then playing with your portions and food choices.

    It helps to log them before you eat them, or even log the whole day in the morning.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 38,191 Community Helper
    Also, even once you figure out what you want to treat as a minimum or maximum, close is good enough. A little over one day, a little under the next, it'll be fine. It doesn't need to be exact every day. In the ballpark, on average, that'll be good.

    If you're *consistently* low on an essential nutrient, like protein or fats, that may be worth working on improving. Even then, working at it gradually over time should be fine, unless you're starting with a diagnosed nutrient deficiency or relevant health condition.

    Further, nutrients are for health, performance, energy level, satiation, body composition, and things like that. If your key goal is weight loss, that's all about the calories. Even there, a little over one day, a little under on another day . . . if it averages out pretty close to goal, you're doing fine.
  • ronnie_hutton08
    ronnie_hutton08 Posts: 6 Member
    69eb9cqwfaml.jpeg

    This is the problem im having
  • ronnie_hutton08
    ronnie_hutton08 Posts: 6 Member
    All im workin towards is weight loss im gettin around 1500 calories bout 800 below my limit
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,364 Member
    OK, first things first. You say you’re eating around 1500 calories, 800 below your ”limit”. The calorie goal that MFP gives you is not a limit. It is a goal you’re supposed to hit. Think of it as a shooting target, with the MFP-given number as the bullseye. It doesn’t matter if you shoot left, right, up or down, you get less points the farther you’re from bullseye. The same with calories. The number is the goal, and hitting it as closely as possible, on average, gives you best results. (If it doesn’t and your tracking is consistent, you need to change that goal. Also, losing as much as fast as possible is not the goal, that’s not very sustainable.)

    Then the nutrition. The fats I’m not an expert on, but sodium is essentially salt and too much salt is not a good thing for your heart. I’d focus on that. Sodium is found in salty foods, and you’re eating a lot of it, 4 times the recommended amount. High-sodium foods include salt you add to food while seasoning, soy sauce, potato and tortilla chips, french fries, to name a few. It’s difficult to say what might be the biggest culprit without seeing your diary, but maybe this will help.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,887 Member
    What are your main goals? If weight loss, I'd focus on getting the logging and calories right first and then start modifying your diet. Even if you want to improve the healthiness of your diet (which is a good goal!) it might be easiest to start by eating all your cals and logging everything and then looking back and seeing changes you can make.

    On a quick look, you are eating lots of premade/highly processed foods, so that's why the high sodium (canned soups will have lots of sodium unless you get low sodium) and sat fat (the hot dogs). You also would ideally want to include more veg and some fruit for health, but it will likely be easier to focus on things like that, as well as protein, fiber, once you know what your current days look like with all the calories you should eat.

    On fat, I'd probably not make that a priority -- there's no inherent harm to going over fat, and the mono and polyunsaturated fats aren't even real limits, they simply don't have limits or goals set. Sat fat might be something to watch eventually, but I'd get cals straightened out and do some basic things like adding more vegetables and lean proteins before worrying specifically about that.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,918 Member
    ronnie_hutton08 wrote: »
    69eb9cqwfaml.jpeg

    This is the problem im having

    That looks like snack food. High salt, some potassium, quite a bit of fat...

    You just have to pay attention and study that food diary.

    Basically when I'm trying to lose weight I go back to the basics: 3 meals. No snacking. Lots of whole fruits and vegetables. Lean protein, dairy, nuts, legumes. Pre-log and tweak portions to make sure I'm getting enough fat, protein and fiber.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,918 Member
    Jeebus @pcychod787....That's some serious citeage.


    :lol:


  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    @ronnie_hutton08 - if your talking about going over on sodium. - just count the grams in everything and stay close to your goal number.

    Just wondering - What has 9000mg of sodium?

    1 full teaspoon of table salt has 2,325mg of sodium. Are you sure you are counting the sodium correctly?

  • ronnie_hutton08
    ronnie_hutton08 Posts: 6 Member
    edited April 2021
    Im starting to get it under control
  • ronnie_hutton08
    ronnie_hutton08 Posts: 6 Member
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  • ronnie_hutton08
    ronnie_hutton08 Posts: 6 Member
    Safari_Gal_ that was campbells soup that done that

  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,364 Member
    edited April 2021
    Great to hear! I do have a question though: is this a full, completed day? Calories come from 4 things: carbs, protein, fat and alcohol. Since you’re way below your goal in all 3 main macros, there’s no way you’re getting enough energy (=calories) unless you’re drinking them as alcohol, and that would have a whole different set of health consequences.

    I’m gonna say this one more time: that calorie goal is not the limit to stay under, that’s the goal you should aim for.

    ETA: there is, of course, the possibility of you using incomplete entries that don’t have macros logged, but that’s a different story.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,887 Member
    hipari wrote: »
    Great to hear! I do have a question though: is this a full, completed day? Calories come from 4 things: carbs, protein, fat and alcohol. Since you’re way below your goal in all 3 main macros, there’s no way you’re getting enough energy (=calories) unless you’re drinking them as alcohol, and that would have a whole different set of health consequences.

    I had the same thought and checked his diary. It looks like he's either not completing his days (I hope that's the case, Ronnie) or eating way too little.

    Ronnie, again I say worry less about being under all the nutrients (some, like protein and fiber and others are minimum goals, and the calories are a goal to be neither much over or under) and focus on logging what you eat in a day to hit your calorie level. Then adjust the foods -- don't just eat less -- to figure out how to improve the nutrition profile, if you want.
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