My Fitness Pal newbie question!

[cuissesdetonnerre]

Having read about my fitness pal on here I have downloaded the app on my phone and it's going really well so far (ahem only day 3 but it's a start!).

I have a question about the daily summary and the daily goals for all the nutrients. I know from past experience that I do best on low carb, and I won't do so well if I eat lots of carbs, no matter how few calories I eat. So I have reduced my goal carbs to 30g per day (I'm happy to go over that when the carbs are veg). Given that the daily calories have to come from somewhere, I imagine that MFP then increased the fat and protein goals - but the fat goal is 37g a day and the protein goal is 165 g a day, which just sounds like a tiny tiny amount of food!!

Am I missing something, or is that actually the whole point (that that's exactly what I should be eating and my idea of portion size is all wrong)? I'm a bit confused...

And while I'm here if anyone wants to throw in any tips and tricks to help it all along that would be great. (I'm 43 and need to lose about 2 - 2.5 stone). thanks!

and p.s. I am cuissesdetonnerre on mfp as well in case anyone wants to add me as a friend, I am billy no mates at the moment and would love to have a friend!

165g of protein is about 600g of chicken breast which is a massive amount of food. You don't need to be eating quite that much protein though - MFP just adjusts the protein when you lower the carb percentage so you should probably up your fat percentage a bit.

Aha thanks QueenStromba, I had assumed chicken would be 95% protein or something so that makes much more sense.

I have been googling the issue of percentages of carbs/fat/protein etc and found something that suggests if you're doing 10-15% carbs then you should do 20-30% protein and 60-70% calories from fat. So I've adjusted all the numbers on mfp and we'll see how we go, I don't have much of an idea what that means in terms of real food but at least as you add each food item a day you can see how you're measuring up against the total.

I'm feeling really optimistic about this, and love reading some of the success stories on here! have you had success with mfp QS?

Natasha it's under Goals - "change goals" then "custom" then you can reset whatever you want, what a great feature.

I was just coming on here to ask a question about mfp ( hope you don't mind me asking on your thread op)
When you put exercise in is it only extra activity? On a school day I walk about 6 miles doing school and nursery runs so do I include this or only if I do something extra?

I've lost a bit over 3 stone by low carbing and using MFP.

jimblejambles: If you took that walking into account when you set your activity level then don't log it because you'd be counting it twice.

No problem jimblejambles

QS wow that is seriously impressive, you are an inspiration. May I ask a silly question, have you found that you've got into the groove and it's quite manageable or has it been a hard struggle every day?

I have discovered something that is going to help me - the kids' Toy Story freeze pops, basically frozen flavoured water, negligible calories but they feel like a treat!

I've honestly found it really easy. It probably helped that I eased myself into it slowly though. I didn't just stop eating high carb food one day, I reduced my portions of starchy food over the course of a week or two. Even once I'd cut out potatoes, rice, bread etc I was still eating around 100g of carbs a day for the first month and that's slowly creeped down over the last 3 months to 20-30g. I also have a personal rule that I can eat something carby if I think it's worth it so at first I'd have some ice cream, sushi or a slice of cake a few times a month. Christmas was the last time I had anything like that though. The ice cream maker I got from DP's parents has definitely helped with that - I've been making ice cream sweetened with xylitol and stevia.

On top of losing weight, I've gone from being borderline pre-diabetic to having pretty much perfect blood sugar, my depression has gone and I have so much more energy than I used to. I also don't get really bloated and gassy like I used to - turns out I have a wheat intolerance which makes it a lot easier to stick to the diet! I really don't see myself going back to "normal" eating because I know if I eat too many carbs, especially wheat, I'll feel like crap for a few days until it's out of my system - it's just not worth it.

If you are going low carb, higher protein, set goals so 1g of protein per lb of target bodyweight. So if your target is 120lbs then thats 120g of protein - thats my target.... mine is 45% carbs, 35% protein and 20% fat.

If you want to do really low carb then need to eat more fat, think 35% protein is probably a sensible maximum.

Thanks foreveronadiet that's a really useful guideline. My goal is also 120lb. I see that my 100g of gammon today was 35g of protein and my 2 large eggs were 14g protein, so it's not as bad as I thought, you can eat quite a lot of filling "protein" food... I also think I'm going to increase the carb goal and just make sure they're good carbs, my Brussels sprouts yesterday took me over my limit which seems a bit silly.

QS that's v inspiring to hear all the happy side effects of losing weight, and that you've even found it easy. I'm going to follow you and allow myself something carby if it's worth it, then get back on the wagon, I don't want to fall into the "I've blown it now so I might as well stuff my face" trap again. Also I read on another thread someone say have a treat meal once a week with something you fancy ( but don't go mad), that sounds good to me - I'm trying to adopt the mindset it's marathon not a sprint... (but I would like to see some results instantly!!)

Thank you! I didn't realise I could customise it! Perfect, now I have nooooo excuse

Glad to be of service

Thank you to the people who have befriended me, more friends welcome!

Glad to be of service

Thank you to the people who have befriended me, more friends welcome!

Sorry phone froze

Another question - is there any equivalent on mfp of the WW weekly points? Can you average out the days on mfp as long as your weekly average is within the limit, or doesn't it work that way? I suppose in principle if it works on one diet it ought to work across the board, but I don't know if I'm missing something. Anyone experimented with this?

thanks Natasha that's useful. I reckon the carbs thing will make a big difference to your plateau. If all else fails, you could consider an Atkins-type fat fast? but that's quite hard-core...

Oh gosh yes I can't lose weight if I eat toast and mash, definitely say goodbye to them! It only hurts for a few days then you don't fancy them any more!

Hi, just joined Mfp....tried exante meal replacement but only lasted 2 days as I would rather starve than eat the bars soups or shakes...just couldn't stomach them...so here I am...bit disappointed in myself but very determined to lose this weight somehow...got 4 stone to shift...bit confused with ratios...have set calories to 1000 a day but it wants me to increase them to 1200...have been sticking to a 1000...would I lose more successfully if I did increase them does anyone know? Thanks

Laputa unless you are v short (ie 5 foot) keep at 1200.... I am 5 4.

I lost 4 stone, never go below 1200 but don't always at exercise calories.

For me weight comes off fastest on moderate carb - ie no sugar, grains, no potatoes, limited fruit. All carbs come from veg dairy and fruit (2 a day, sometimes none if I hit plateau). If I plateau I snack on meat instead of fruit!