What is more important for you? Daily calories or perhaps meals you ate?

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cinalicikler
cinalicikler Posts: 30 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone,
Just wondering, and maybe you could help me decide?
Is just the macros important or should I be concerned with each meal? Please select which one is most important for you, it would really help me :blush:

What is more important for you? Daily calories or perhaps meals you ate? 57 votes

Daily Calories
64% 37 votes
Calories per Meal (Breakfast, Lunch etc)
3% 2 votes
Daily Nutrition (Such as fiber, protein and other nutrion info)
10% 6 votes
Daily macros
7% 4 votes
Daily water intake
0% 0 votes
Daily macros + daily water intake
8% 5 votes
Other (please write in comments :) )
5% 3 votes
«1

Replies

  • sbelletti
    sbelletti Posts: 213 Member
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    What's your goal?
  • cinalicikler
    cinalicikler Posts: 30 Member
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    sbelletti wrote: »
    What's your goal?

    Thank you for your kind comment :) When recording my macros, I am really insecure and thus just wanted to know what is generally important for different people. Some claim that the meal is important whereas others say the overall calorie intake. Thus I wanted hear people's opinions on this :smiley:
  • sbelletti
    sbelletti Posts: 213 Member
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    I track calories only.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,702 Member
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    cinalicikler wrote: »
    sbelletti wrote: »
    What's your goal?

    Thank you for your kind comment :) When recording my macros, I am really insecure and thus just wanted to know what is generally important for different people. Some claim that the meal is important whereas others say the overall calorie intake. Thus I wanted hear people's opinions on this :smiley:

    Is your goal weight loss? Muscle gain? Overall health? If multiples of those, what's most important?

    Personally, I don't care at all about calories per meal. I'm not saying it's wrong to care, but my days vary, and I sometimes eat different numbers of meals/snacks, let alone varying the timing of those, and the relative size. As long as I stay reasonably full and happy, it doesn't matter which meal has which calories.

    I care about average daily calories (averaged over a small number of days) because that's what directly affects my weight management goals. (I'm in maintenance now, but that was equally true during weight loss.)

    I care about overall nutrition, again averaged over a small number of days, for reasons of health and energy level, plus exercise performance. (Our bodies don't reset at midnight, even if MFP does.) Some nutrients matter more day to day, others are more flexible, but that's a whole other level of detail discussion.

    Overall nutrition, to me, includes adequate minimum protein, adequate minimum fats, reasonable balance of types of fat, adequate minimum fiber, and reasonable levels of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) plus probiotics/prebiotics and various beneficial phytonutrients. Everything at the end of that list starting with fiber and after: If I get 5-10 daily servings of varied, colorful fruit and veggies (preferably 10), then those things fall into place without detailed individual attention, in my experience.

    But that's a lot to think about. That's not reasonable to juggle from day 1, and it's not important to do so. Humans are adaptable omnivores. You can dial stuff in gradually in priority order, evolve your eating gradually in a direction that supports your personal goals.

    And (of course), that's where your goals come in. If weight management is your highest priority, then calories are job 1, followed closely by satiation (so you can stick to the calories). If health or fitness performance are your highest priorities, then nutrition may be more important, simplistically speaking.

    Water doesn't matter much, with two caveats: (1) If water helps you feel full, it can help weight management be easier; (2) as long as your urine is pale yellow (not dark, not clear), you're almost certainly getting enough fluids for reasonable health, and don't need to worry about micromanaging your fluid intake.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,866 Member
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    By what's your goal I believe the previous poster was asking you whether your goal is weight control, or nutritional optimization, or whether you have some other particular goal in mind.

    My vote above reflects that guess that you are primarily interested in weight control.

    There are many reasons why you may want to optimize your macros, including the fact that by doing so you may be improving your chances of adhering to your caloric goals. But in the longer term (absent medical conditions and pharmaceuticals that may change your water weight levels) your weight trajectory will reflect your EFFECTIVE caloric balance.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,803 Member
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    It all comes back to weekly calories as far as what your results will be.

    Personally it’s protein and overall calorie intake
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,543 Member
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    For my goals, protein and total calories. The rest takes care of itself.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,011 Member
    edited January 2023
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    If it's weight loss I'm concerned about then I'm looking to higher protein for satiety and for the lowest cost to energy, which would be the proteins with higher water content as opposed to proteins with carbs or fat calories attached.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,517 Member
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    I am curious how you are "recording your macros."

    Be aware that the MFP database often has errors. It was put together by staff from the USDA data as well as from us users. Some users aren't as worried about macros. Some foods actually change what's in them sometimes.

    @neanderthin and @PAV8888 put it succinctly; some macronutrients will help you feel full. For a lot of people protein does it. Fat does it for some. Some people find too many carbs actually increases hunger. Your experience will be unique.

    @sbelletti asked about what your goals are. If your goal is to lose weight, your primary focus should be on calories and being in a deficit most days and for sure on average over several days. The amount of deficit will depend how much you need to lose. If it's less than 20 pounds to lose, shoot for about 250 calorie deficit per day to lose about a half pound per week. Up to 40 pounds you can double that deficit. There's some good graphical explanations in the "most helpful posts" sticky post in the getting started section.
  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 1,018 Member
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    calories by meal AND by day are important to me and also protein. on heavy workout days, a little more carbs and protein. but beside losing fat, i also want to build some muscle. almost recomp with a little more fat loss.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
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    I’ve voted ‘Daily Calories’ because that’s the main driver that keeps me in weight maintenance.

    But I do think about ‘Daily Nutrition’ too, making sure I hit my fibre goal, and am at least somewhere close to the protein goal. I eat as varied a diet as I can, as a long time vegetarian, to try to make sure I’m as healthy as I can be!
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited January 2023
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    IF you are talking about *weight loss*, energy, a.k.a. calories, is the only thing that really matters. Macros might/may/could/can have some influence, but that does not change the fact that an energy deficit is *guaranteed* to cause fat loss. The opposite is somewhat less strict: an energy excess will very probably cause fat gain, but there is some wiggle room there most of which depends on your own, i.e. personal, biological/chemical situation.

    IF you are talking about overall health, lots of factors play a role, and depending how intricate your diet (food intake) is, it *can* become very complicated very quickly.

    I am tracking calories and weight. My spreadsheet is set up to record macros as well, so I can extract those data if I really want, but I don't actively track them. I just set up my diet in such a way that protein, fat and fibre meet or exceed what I need while maintaining an energy deficit and "carbs minus fibre" are along for the ride.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,011 Member
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    It's nice to see that most people here that have, generally speaking, a decent knowledge of nutrition continue to promote protein as very important as it pertains to weight loss. Lets face it, before we can lower calories we need to stuff some food down our throats. Cheers.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    My goal is weight loss, and I stay fullest for the least calories when I hit my protein and fiber goals, so I keep an eye on them for each meal. I also need to pay attention to calories for dinner and in the evening.
  • VegjoyP
    VegjoyP Posts: 2,734 Member
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    It is both CALORIES AND QUALITY.
    Why? This is MY experience and people close to me who are successful with this-
    What I ear affects all aspects of health, including calorie absorption, satiation, digestion, mood, heart health, blood pressure, nutrient absorption, cognition, sleep, sugar control and all immune interaction.
    When I just count calories, it is great way to handle weight, at first. For some this works enough for what they want. For me, it's way deeper. When I eat whole foods, plants, vegetables without oil, legumes without added fat or sugar, whole in- tact grains, non GMO Soy, hemp, greens, certain sweet potatoes, herbs, herbal tea,raw foods, mostly organic and chemical free, my skin, hair, energy,sleep, everything is better. If I just counted calories it would be challenging to keep up and h accuracy. Often times for just a day where I have a treat, it's great. To just do that over all and eat foods that have sugar, saturated fat, etc. I do not see same results or feel nearly as good.
    Plus a big bonus, I can eat LARGE amounts of food. Why? My choices. What I choose to nourish with. I've lost weight just counting calories but it to me it is more challenging and much harder because when I eat WFPB, I feel so much fuller, LESS restrictiveand it feels natural. Now, it's my lifestyle over all.
    Fiber and many foods absorb much different. Oil for example, all calories are absorbed. Whole raw nuts, not all calories are absorbed due to the fiber and carbohydrate components. On a big scale with a total outlook on good nutrition, it feels much more abundant. Plus, tastes change, cravings diminish and things taste richer. 😋
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 986 Member
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    Daily calories for me, but I know that I have limited saturated fats and transfats in my diet. I try to eat more protein, but I'm not overly attentive to that. And although total daily calories are important to me, I purposefully eat very little (130 calories for oatmeal) or nothing for breakfast because I like to save my calories for later in the day. And, like probably all of us, I change this up, as needed. I will probably become more attentive to my protein intake after a bit. You have to figure out what works for you and for the goal(s) that you have.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,614 Member
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    Another vote for keeping my protein at or above arbitrary amounts, with total calories for the day below nutritionist-recommend amounts. From there I try to keep a variety of foods in my diet, including daily fruits and veggies, burgers or pizza multiple times per month (sometimes weekly), and most days some small amount of dessert "for the soul". I don't care if all my calories come from a single meal, two meals equally large, six smaller meals of varying sizes, or any combination thereof. If I'm thirsty, I drink water until I'm no longer thirsty.

    I used to keep track of fiber, sodium, and a couple other items, but I find if I stick to the above, I feel healthy, and my doctor's happy with my annual blood test results.
  • PCOS_Cyster
    PCOS_Cyster Posts: 18 Member
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    My goal is to lose weight but with PCOS I focus on limiting my carbs and upping my protein. Im also vegan. As a result I am forced to really look at my food choices.

    Sometimes I get ravenous, but drinking water keeps me through the day. So I would say I focus on macros and following my calorie goals so I can lose weight AND manage my PCOS.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,064 Member
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    I didnt answer the poll because none of the options really fit for me.

    I find daily tracking of calories is good - but I also look at my weekly calories and my aim is to get to around the target per week - so every day doesnt have to be on target as long as the average is.

    Same with nutrition - every meal doesnt have to be nutritionally complete , every day doesnt have to be - but aim for overall reasonably nutritionally balanced intake

    The importance of water intake is over rated IMO - and I do not track that at all.

    One important thing when starting IMO is not to become overwhelmed by trying to have everything perfect.
    My advice - concentrate on getting the main things pretty well right and dont get caught up in nitty gritty detail.

  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,517 Member
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    paperpudding wrote: »
    The importance of water intake is over rated IMO - and I do not track that at all.

    One important thing when starting IMO is not to become overwhelmed by trying to have everything perfect.

    I cannot agree more with these two statements. Avoiding dehydration is extremely important. For a long time I've been saying that folks have taken it too far though. Lately it's getting some attention. People forget we get fluids other ways, and even coffee counts contrary to popular belief.

    Continuous improvement beats trying to be perfect and falling short any day.

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