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I'm getting serious and I am joining a gym tomorrow my head is messed up with all the different advice about what to eat my dr thinks vegan ah no I don't think so had to eat two pork chops to up my protein when I thought my two soft casita chicken tacos would do enough. I just barely went over 1200 because my fitness pal wanted me to have more carbs and a small apple should cover it now it wants more stuff and I'm not eating any more i'm stuffed

mystoflaura1 wrote: »

I'm getting serious and I am joining a gym tomorrow my head is messed up with all the different advice about what to eat my dr thinks vegan ah no I don't think so had to eat two pork chops to up my protein when I thought my two soft casita chicken tacos would do enough. I just barely went over 1200 because my fitness pal wanted me to have more carbs and a small apple should cover it now it wants more stuff and I'm not eating any more i'm stuffed

You don't need to be exactly exact on macros. Pretty close on average over a few days to a week: That's plenty good enough.

Carbs in particular are flexible: Protein and fats are "essential nutrients", in the sense that our bodies can't manufacture some of their vital subcomponents out of any other food intake, so we need to eat some. Our bodies can make their own carb-equivalents out of fats/protein if needed. I mean, an apple is a nutritious thing, and it's good to get fiber and micronutrients . . . but you don't need to have more carbs just to hit carb goal.

Just make food choices you enjoy eating. First, work on feeling reasonably full at reasonable calories most of the time with those food choices. Once you're on a pretty sustainable course for calorie level and enjoyability, start working on improving nutrition. Unlike sollyn, I think protein is very important, so first I'd work on getting adequate protein (on average, most of the time), then fats, then fiber and micros. This can happen gradually. If you're not starting out with some diagnosed nutritional deficiency or a diet-relevant health condition, you can take a few weeks or so to work this out, without causing any notable self-harm.

More about that "gradually remodel your eating" approach here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

If your key goal is weight loss, then really calories are the main show. Eat the right number of calories, .)stick to it, and you'll lose weight. There's no direct contribution from getting nutrients exact. To the extent that sub-par nutrition can sap energy so we move less, or spike appetite so we can't stay within calories, it can affect weight loss indirectly.

For sure, though, weight loss isn't some kind of magic spell or incantation where we have to get every syllable (nutrient) exactly correct, or weight loss won't happen. Pretty good on average, for calories or nutrients, will get the job done if the job is weight management.

Best wishes!