My Fitness Pal Preset Goals

Hi,

On My Fitness Pal, what do you suggest I put as my daily goal presets if I am 4.5 months out and still in the losing phase? I want to make sure I have the right settings to maximize my weight loss. Thanks!

Calories:

Carbs:

Fat:

Protein:

Sodium:

Sugar:

 

Did your nutritionist give you a daily protein goal?  I would start there.  The dense, lean proteins we are told to eat first and foremost have driven my numbers for me for the most part due to the enforced portion size and also due to my intention to undereat my sleeve always. 

No, I was self pay in Mexico and was given the basics as to food suggestions per phase, but not an actual count on calories, carbs, etc. I don't have a nutritionist so most of the information I've gotten has been from here or other online sources.

Ooh, okay.  Didn't realize that. 

Are you having labs done on a regular basis, perhaps ordered by your PCP?

Yes, I had my 3 month check up and had the following done:

Upper GI X -Ray 
Blood Work
    •    CBC ( to check anemia  )
    ▪    SMAC 24 “Comprehensive Metabolic Panel” ( to check glucose, cholesterol, calcium and hepatic functioning )

• Vitamin D and B12

Thankfully everything looks great! :)

That's great!

For me having my protein at a minimum of 60 but shooting for 80.  People have different philosphies on what the carbs should be.  If you are going low carb then 40 grams.  If you want higher then start moving it up to 50, 60, 80.  My calories at that time were 400-600, then 600-800 (for quite a while) and now 700-900 at 8 months out.

You have to do what is best for you and your exercise level.  Just remember it is easier to start low and slowly move than it is to start high and try and cut back.

I can't improve much, if any, on what Jackie T. has already told you.  My personal goal was calculated to be 95g/day, but I'm 5'8" tall and have a large frame.  I usually read the 60-80g/day that she mentioned.  I was getting over 100g/day routinely, but was told at my nutrition meeting on Monday to back off of that and not to exceed 100g/day due to the increased risk of developing kidney stones.

There are 320 calories calculated to be in 80g of protein, FWIW.  The calories for 30g of carbs would rough out to 120.  Then figure 9 calories per gram of fat. 

As I'm sure you've read already, many people here have success from keeping the carbs low, but not everyone holds that philosophy. 

The challenge with MFP is that if you set custom goals, the system forces you to be balanced among your macronutrients, PLUS it only lets me set them as percentages, not absolute values. So, in order to keep it close to where I wanted it to be, I set my carbs at 10% or 30g (even though I do 40 - I can't pick 12.5% which would = 40), my protein at 20% or 60 (no way to say "or more"), and that set fat at 70% or 93g (which seems like an awfully high value).

Laurie

I gave up trying to use MFP's goals.  I tried tinkering with the manual settings a few times but it only lets you enter percentages and then back into some of the calcs.  For me it seemed like a good tool for normal weight loss efforts but doesn't seem to calibrate well for those of us in the WLS group.  Just my opinion.

That said, I use it every day to track my intake on the stuff you mentioned.  I just keep my own goals in my head for comparison to the daily totals it generates for me, and I ignore it's suggested goals.