Nutrition goals

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oceanerin
oceanerin Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How accurate are the nutrition goals in my fitness pal? I really need to learn more about nutrition and I'm not sure if I should blindly follow what the app tells me.

Replies

  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    See how accurate the 'goals' are to your eating habits... I am always over the 15% protein default setting because of my habits so I changed my goals to be at 35% protein which gives me what I wanted 1 gram of protein per pound of my goal weight. I don't always hit it but gives me something to work towards.
  • abirdy
    abirdy Posts: 36
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    I followed it and I have succeeded with my weight loss,,, Good luck to you....
  • gp79
    gp79 Posts: 1,799 Member
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    There's definitely alot of information available out there to guide you in the right direction. Is MFP right or wrong....that's subjective.

    On my own reading, I've come to believe that a good starting point is

    1g protein for every lb of body weight
    .35-.4g fat per lb of body weight
    Remainder of your calories from carbohydrates.

    I've made alot of adjustments over time and so far I've been on the above for 5 weeks and feel pretty good. Good strength gains and I feel like I'm trimming down a little.

    The tough part is figuring out how many calories you require and then sticking too it.
  • Deirdre_R
    Deirdre_R Posts: 54 Member
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    Does anyone try to keep track of the goals for RDA of Vits A, C, Calcium and Iron? I am really struggling to meet my iron goals, yet always over my Vit A by about 400%. Usually struggle to meet the calcium goal too, despite a serving of milk, a serving of yoghurt, cheese and green leafy veg.
    It doesn't help that a lot of the food items in the database don't have these nutrients listed.

    Am I being too pernickety?
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    Depends on where you are tracking them. I found I couldn't count on the numbers from MFP as the foods I was looking at at least included calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium (maybe) and not much else off the label. So going by here even if I tried tracking them my numbers would be way off due to it not being a metric tracked on all food items.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    They set calories too low, IMO.

    It doens't present a problem if you log exercise and "eat back" all the calories, but I see way to many 1200-1300 cal diets on here, and people wonder why weight loss stalls.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    They set calories too low, IMO.

    It doens't present a problem if you log exercise and "eat back" all the calories, but I see way to many 1200-1300 cal diets on here, and people wonder why weight loss stalls.

    ^ I fully agree with this.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    They set calories too low, IMO.

    It doens't present a problem if you log exercise and "eat back" all the calories, but I see way to many 1200-1300 cal diets on here, and people wonder why weight loss stalls.

    It is a dumb computer program and it sets the calorie goal based on a person's selected weight loss goal. If you tell it you want to lose 2lbs a week it'll tell you how (theoretically how, rarely works that way). It also doesn't do a good job explaining why you need to eat your exercise calories to maintain your calorie deficit.

    It also sets protien really low.... Most people say 1gram for every pound of lean body mass. This helps preserve muscle as you lose weight.
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
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    They set calories too low, IMO.

    It doens't present a problem if you log exercise and "eat back" all the calories, but I see way to many 1200-1300 cal diets on here, and people wonder why weight loss stalls.

    ^ I fully agree with this.

    yes, they do.
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
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    Does anyone try to keep track of the goals for RDA of Vits A, C, Calcium and Iron? I am really struggling to meet my iron goals, yet always over my Vit A by about 400%. Usually struggle to meet the calcium goal too, despite a serving of milk, a serving of yoghurt, cheese and green leafy veg.
    It doesn't help that a lot of the food items in the database don't have these nutrients listed.

    Am I being too pernickety?

    I track them, but on another app that has micros, Cron-o-meter. Like here though, many foods don't have micros listed. Annoying but it is free. Oh, everything's in grams too, it takes a while if you don't own a food scale and have to estimate and convert everything, but at least you'll get an idea of anything you're lacking.
  • Deirdre_R
    Deirdre_R Posts: 54 Member
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    I can't find Cron-o-meter - what platform is it for?

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