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It's a major head scratcher meeting my trainers recommendations on nutrition I got a breakdown of not only the range of calories that I'm supposed to be eating to lose weight, but also percentages of Protein (30 - 50%), Carbs (45 - 50%), and Fats (20%) I have to maintain within that range of calories.
So how do I even start to be able to purchase groceries that I can track which has Protein, Carbs, Fats, or how many calories for each? I asked him and he said they have a policy not to give diet advise.
For those of you that have solved the puzzle on how/where to buy food with trackable calories that can also meet the Protein, Carbs, and Fat recommendation could you please share how you've done this. A dozen high fives to you for all your suggestions, comments, and general participation.
Last edited by Morpheuss; 10-14-2022 at 09:02 AM..
Reason: added percentages.
This is called "tracking macros" and it's pretty common. You need a tracking app. Most like MyFitnessPal although they just made a change where you can no longer scan in food labels unless you pay for the advanced version. MacrosFirst is an app that was recommended to me, although I do admit I have yet to use it.
A good app can be used to scan and/or search foods, enter them in grams or ounces (you will need a small food scale) and the app will give you the macros breakdowns.
Don't get too hung up on this. If you eat a diet of fresh foods - as in no processed, no junk, no fast foods you will be fine. You can input your food into Myfitnesspal as the above poster stated.
You will make yourself crazy if you try and follow those percentages which will probably lead to diet failure. Keep it simple.
Seeing a nutritionist is all about getting diet advice, and his telling you to eat X number of calories consisting of this many grams of this and that is nothing but diet advice. Perhaps he meant he couldn't recommend DASH over Atkins or something.
Read the nutrition labels to see what foods have what, and educate yourself.
Stuff made of grains--rice, wheat, corn, etc., and including anything with flour--are mostly carbs.
Sugar in all its forms--honey, syrup, fructose, sucrose, palm sugar, agave nectar, etc, etc, etc--are all carbs.
Veggies are mostly carbs, but their carbs include a bunch of indigestible fiber that doesn't count. Plus, they're full of nutrients. Good carbs, eat these instead of grains or sugar.
Fruits can be healthy, but have a lot of sugars. Berries seem to be your best choice.
Fatty stuff like butter, margarine, coconut oil, lard, and the fat on meat is high in...Surprise!... fat. Avocados and olive oil have a lot of fat, but it's a healthy fat, so choose them over the others.
Proteins include meat, dairy, nuts. They often have a lot of fat to consider.
Beans, peas, soy have both carbs and protein.
See, easy as pie; (the crust is a mix of carbs and fat, the sweet fruit filling is mostly carbs...)
Seeing a nutritionist is all about getting diet advice, and his telling you to eat X number of calories consisting of this many grams of this and that is nothing but diet advice. Perhaps he meant he couldn't recommend DASH over Atkins or something.
Read the nutrition labels to see what foods have what, and educate yourself.
Stuff made of grains--rice, wheat, corn, etc., and including anything with flour--are mostly carbs.
Sugar in all its forms--honey, syrup, fructose, sucrose, palm sugar, agave nectar, etc, etc, etc--are all carbs.
Veggies are mostly carbs, but their carbs include a bunch of indigestible fiber that doesn't count. Plus, they're full of nutrients. Good carbs, eat these instead of grains or sugar.
Fruits can be healthy, but have a lot of sugars. Berries seem to be your best choice.
Fatty stuff like butter, margarine, coconut oil, lard, and the fat on meat is high in...Surprise!... fat. Avocados and olive oil have a lot of fat, but it's a healthy fat, so choose them over the others.
Proteins include meat, dairy, nuts. They often have a lot of fat to consider.
Beans, peas, soy have both carbs and protein.
See, easy as pie; (the crust is a mix of carbs and fat, the sweet fruit filling is mostly carbs...)
I think I kind of get the gist of which ones have fat, protein, and carbs. It's just getting the percentages right like the trainer mentioned is where the head scratching is.
I think I kind of get the gist of which ones have fat, protein, and carbs. It's just getting the percentages right like the trainer mentioned is where the head scratching is.
In all honesty it's not going to matter all that much. No need to try and figure out something so tedious.
It's a major head scratcher meeting my trainers recommendations on nutrition I got a breakdown of not only the range of calories that I'm supposed to be eating to lose weight, but also percentages of Protein (30 - 50%), Carbs (45 - 50%), and Fats (20%) I have to maintain within that range of calories.
So how do I even start to be able to purchase groceries that I can track which has Protein, Carbs, Fats, or how many calories for each? I asked him and he said they have a policy not to give diet advise.
For those of you that have solved the puzzle on how/where to buy food with trackable calories that can also meet the Protein, Carbs, and Fat recommendation could you please share how you've done this. A dozen high fives to you for all your suggestions, comments, and general participation.
I've solved the puzzle. Why I had to: bariatric surgery, detailed in other threads, mid 2020.
My solution was pre-prepped meals. Choose your favorite service. The company I work with appears to pre-enter their info...what you specified...into various nutrition tracking apps like MFP. I happen to like MFP as it plays well with Garmin. That doesn't mean that other apps don't too.
For me a half tray is a meal. I enter the meal name in MFP and select .5, it fills in protein, fat, sodium, sugar, etc. I have goals for the day and call them guardrails. I enter all I consume into MFP. This is not a difficult thing to do as I'm a bit cautious about what I consume. Being obsessive doesn't help as mindfulness is key.
So no I really don't purchase groceries. Doing all that tracking on my own of specific ingredients is possible but a drag on a day to day basis. All I buy are berries in the 3 lb bag and plenty of them. Eggs. All natural peanut and almond butter. Triple Zero yogurts. Almond flour and similar. Various other healthy snacks in bulk. All have known nutrition values, see above. I've built out a few meals that I have weekly prepared myself with maybe 7 components so it's not rocket science.
Using MFP this way is not an exact science. It does not need to be. The Garmin on my wrist has "outputs" by measuring steps, activities, tons more. Consumed food is "inputs". When A = B on a consistent basis around goals I setup, I'm good and steady state on weight. At this writing it's been steady 13 months so we'll see after a few more years.
It's really not all that complicated. Butter is a fat. Oil is a fat. Fat that you see on a broiled chicken is fat. The meat of the chicken is protein. Ground chuck is a protein, but it's also around 20% fat.
So if you're going to have a cheeseburger, get a leaner cut of burger - maybe ground sirloin. Enjoy it with a slice of cheese that naturally has less fat than others. Mozzarella, bleu, or a smear of soft goat cheese are options. That's your protein and fat. Instead of a hamburger bun, put it on a bed of chopped romaine lettuce or torn baby spinach, with some chopped fresh raw red onion and tomato and eat it with a fork and knife. If you choose goat or bleu cheeses, you don't even need condiments. It'll be plenty flavorful without. Cook a 1/4-pound burger. That sounds like a lot but it's only 4 ounces, uncooked. After cooking, some of the fat cooks out, and it leaves you with around 3.5 ounces of meat. Perfectly reasonable for your diet.
That's some gourmet food right there, delicious, proportionately "correct" for your diet, with fresh veggies, low carb but doesn't use any "fake" foods or "analogues."
I asked him and he said they have a policy not to give diet advise.
He's a trainer, not a dietician, so you can take his nutritional advice with a grain of salt. A lot of fitness folks subscribe to disordered eating in order to be "optimal" or whatever they call it. And for some people, tracking food is great tool, and for others, it leads to unhealthy obsessions and poor mental health. Stick to a healthy, balanced diet with as much fresh food as you can, though some packaged foods make it easier to stick to it when you don't have to prep literally every morsel.
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