I've been calorie counting and keeping track of exactly what I've been eating since the beginning of the month. Still, I'm not sure that I'm eating the right things or the right amounts, and I'd like some advice on what I can do better. (I'm not going to repeat the whole of my food diary, but I generally have porridge, milk, and berries and/ or honey for breakfast, snack on fruit or vegetables through the day, rye bread with cottage cheese and tomato for lunch, and some sort of low kilojoule meat or meat substitute with a bunch of steamed vegetables for dinner. I sometimes also have Greek yoghurt with berries and honey as a treat. I do a combination of weight training and cardio at the gym 3-5 days a week)
I use a calorie counting program called cron-o-meter. Admittedly, I don't use all its features because I have no idea how I'd track some of the things it asks for- I've just stuck to the basics on the side of packs (energy, carbs, sugar, fat, saturated fat, sodium). I enter everything I eat on there, either the weights (I weigh most things) or a reasonable estimate if I can't weigh (or, in the case of some things, if I, say, use a pot of yoghurt in three goes, I'll say I've used 1/3 of the pot each time).
The program allows you to customise your calories, and to some extent your carbs/ protein/ fat (if you bump one up or down the numbers on the others will change). I edited mine so the fat I was allowed was low, and it bumped my protein down and carbs up. (My macro nutrient ratios stand at 16% protein, 68% carbs, and 16% fat- these appear as goals in the program, in the same way calorie allowance does) I'm not sure if I'm looking at good numbers, and those targets don't seem to match what I've been eating.
I'm 25, 167cm tall, and weigh about 73kg. I'm aiming at 1737 calories, and most days I make within 500 calories of that, almost all under (the only day I didn't make under was my blowout day, and only because I went out unexpectedly) Apart from low calorie, I aim to eat a nutritous, balanced diet (at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, lean protein, no more than one meat meal a day of no more than 100g meat, inclusion of some grains if they're lowish calorie). I don't want to go hungry and preface my wellbeing over calorie counting (if I'm starving, sod it, I'll eat something and hope it's lowish calorie)
My average intakes from 1 April to today are (including one blowout day):
Energy: 1445.1 calories (83% of goal)
Protein: 71.6g (80% of goal)
Carbs: 227.7g (56% of goal)
Fat: 29.4g (74% of goal)
Saturated fat: 7g (35% of goal)
Sodium: 1670.3mg (111% of goal
- not entirely sure where this all comes from!)
Does anyone have any thoughts or criticisms on what I've been doing? Am I missing out on any nutrients? Are my percentage aims acceptable or should I shift them? I feel completely at sea with this sort of thing.
I use a calorie counting program called cron-o-meter. Admittedly, I don't use all its features because I have no idea how I'd track some of the things it asks for- I've just stuck to the basics on the side of packs (energy, carbs, sugar, fat, saturated fat, sodium). I enter everything I eat on there, either the weights (I weigh most things) or a reasonable estimate if I can't weigh (or, in the case of some things, if I, say, use a pot of yoghurt in three goes, I'll say I've used 1/3 of the pot each time).
The program allows you to customise your calories, and to some extent your carbs/ protein/ fat (if you bump one up or down the numbers on the others will change). I edited mine so the fat I was allowed was low, and it bumped my protein down and carbs up. (My macro nutrient ratios stand at 16% protein, 68% carbs, and 16% fat- these appear as goals in the program, in the same way calorie allowance does) I'm not sure if I'm looking at good numbers, and those targets don't seem to match what I've been eating.
I'm 25, 167cm tall, and weigh about 73kg. I'm aiming at 1737 calories, and most days I make within 500 calories of that, almost all under (the only day I didn't make under was my blowout day, and only because I went out unexpectedly) Apart from low calorie, I aim to eat a nutritous, balanced diet (at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, lean protein, no more than one meat meal a day of no more than 100g meat, inclusion of some grains if they're lowish calorie). I don't want to go hungry and preface my wellbeing over calorie counting (if I'm starving, sod it, I'll eat something and hope it's lowish calorie)
My average intakes from 1 April to today are (including one blowout day):
Energy: 1445.1 calories (83% of goal)
Protein: 71.6g (80% of goal)
Carbs: 227.7g (56% of goal)
Fat: 29.4g (74% of goal)
Saturated fat: 7g (35% of goal)
Sodium: 1670.3mg (111% of goal
- not entirely sure where this all comes from!)Does anyone have any thoughts or criticisms on what I've been doing? Am I missing out on any nutrients? Are my percentage aims acceptable or should I shift them? I feel completely at sea with this sort of thing.