tracking cals only

dithoma
dithoma Posts: 31
in Food and Nutrition
I am pretty new to the site, and I have been tracking my 1200 cals. I have not been paying much attention to the other stats...fat, fiber, protein ect. Im sure it is just as important as the calories. I dont see any place on the site that explains the importants of these stat. If I just track based on my calories alone do you think I will still have good results???

Replies

  • English1Mac
    English1Mac Posts: 30 Member
    In your settings, you can choose what you want to track. For myself, I pay attention to sodium because that's one of my biggest challenges. Excess sodium, for example, leads to water retention, which can play tricks with the scale.
  • dithoma
    dithoma Posts: 31
    ahhh thanks I will check out my settings. do you know an area of the site that break down the importance of each catagory?? Sounds like I might need to do a little research on my own too :happy:
  • sr4ca
    sr4ca Posts: 43
    I track calories, fat, protein, fiber, carbs, and sugar. The only problem I am having is I always come up a little short on my calories and almost always over on sugar (even if its just by 1 or 2). Never thought about tracking the sodium, but if I start to plateau I will.

    Anyone else have any suggestions for balancing it all out?
  • PHLLLY
    PHLLLY Posts: 160 Member
    You will achieve weight loss if you stay within your 1200 calories. But that weight will be temporary because a lack of variety will make your body hold on to fat because you might me depriving your body of essential macronutrients. It is definitely easy to go over sugar and sodium intake due to such a low calorie goal. However if you don't eat adequate protein you can start losing muscle mass, carbohydrates you can deplete your carbohydrate stores, not enough fat? it will burn other sources of your body like your muscles for energy. Low on micronutrients? Too many micronutrients? Both can cause problems unfortunately. Everything on MFP is important to healthy living. It will take work and experimentation working with different foods to find the correct amounts. Your diet should consist of 45-65% carbohydrates, 20-35% fat, and 10-35% protein. I can elaborate on where I get these numbers if you want to add me. I do have to say that 1200 is quite low and if you go any lower that can be dangerous. Our bodies can naturally burn 1200-1400 calories if we slept in bed for a 24 hour period. Exercise will burn more calories. giving you a bigger deficit. Calorie Deficit = higher energy output (exercising) than energy intake (eating).

    How do I know this? I graduated with a BS in Foods and Nutrition! Possibly getting my masters in a year to become a Registered Dietitian. Still keeping up on research.

    Add me and I can help with anything you need working on. I will do my best to provide valid resources from RD's and peer reviewed refereed journals so it doesn't sound like I'm BSing you :]

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