First time calorie counting. Help!

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Keenkick43
Keenkick43 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! New here, wanting to lose 20lb. I’ve done keto in the past and of course lost a ton of weight, but then got pregnant and I don’t want to get back into keto. New to this app completely and tracking macros (I’ve always been engrained to have low carb or no carb diet) so trying to understand what my goal should be. This app does give me a ratio for macros, but wondering if anyone tweaks it or is it usually pretty in line with what the goal would be?

It’s so hard trying to learn about macros and what is necessary to gain or lose weight when there’s so many different weight loss plans and strategies.

Starting out through calorie counting, anyone have any tips or guidance? Did you just focus on calorie counting each day and not so much on macros? Did you focus more on macros and not so much calorie counting?

Replies

  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
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    If weight loss is the goal, calories are all that actually matter; where macros come in is figuring out what balance of fats, protein, and carbohydrates works best for you to stay satiated so that you don't overeat. Your ideal macro split is going to take some trial and error to figure out for yourself.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,651 Member
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    Agreed. I would just add that once you get your calories down, keep an eye on how much protein (and fats) you're taking in. I'm not sure about fats but, just like under eating, long term under proteining can have some not so fun consequences.

    Try not to go low carb just for diet's sake. Low carb is just sad to me. :p
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,853 Member
    edited February 2022
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    It's the calories that matter directly to weight loss. Nutrition (including macros) may have an indirect effect via appetite/cravings or fatigue, but it's still the calorie intake vs. output that determines weight loss.

    Nutrition is important for health, of course. For most people, the default MFP macro distribution is reasonable, as long as a person isn't targeting too-fast weight loss for their current size. (If you don't get enough nutrients, it's still a problem, even if those you do get are in reasonable proportions to one another.)

    Try to hit your calorie goal, and work your way toward the default macros. Protein and fats are "essential nutrients" in the technical sense that our bodies can't manufacture them out of other nutrients, so we need to eat some. You can treat those goals as minimums, and it's preferable to at least come close to them (if you care about nutrition at all). It doesn't have to be exact daily, though. A few grams under one day, a few grams over another day, so that it averages out close to your goal: That's fine.

    Carbs are more flexible, in that they're not technically "essential nutrients". Our bodies can manufacture carb-equivalents out of fat or protein. That said, some people find that carbs increase their appetite: Those people may benefit from a lower-carb routine (increasing protein or fats above their minimums to compensate). Other people find that eating too few carbs (as defined subjectively, individual to them) causes low energy, reduces useful calorie expenditure: Those people may benefit from keeping carbs a bit higher, letting protein/fats fall closer to reasonable minimums.

    These are things you can work out for yourself, by varying your routine for a few days at a time, and paying attention to the results. As long as you're not going into this diagnosed with some nutritional deficiency at the start, you can gradually tweak your eating to reach the right macro levels for you. Humans have a long history as adaptive omnivores, so if what you're doing isn't way out of the realm of reasonable, you can take a few weeks figuring out what's optimum for you.

    Best wishes!

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