Nutrition Tracking
Can anyone help me by telling me what to track when I eat. Such as protein, carbs, sodium , sugar etc. How much of each is ideal to have while losing weight? Which app is the best to help me track these nutrients and calories as well.
I use My Fitness Pal and so do a ton of other people. Your nut should advise you where to set your daily goals for protein, sugar, fat, carbs, sodium etc. My Fitness Pal lets you decide what to track and how much daily. You can also log water and lots of other things like exercise if you want to set it up like that.
I find myfitnesspal to be the easiest way to track my food and NUT. I also sync'd it with my fitbit flex so that it picks up my walking and sleeping and activity. I agree with the other posts. Each NUT has something diff set for people. Not all have the same. My big thing right now is tracking protein and fluids. I know Carbs are another thing...but currently right now I am no way going anywhere over that one since I really have to focus on protein first I don't have room for anything but protein..lol
Different surgeons have different ideas about what their patients should track and pay attention to. Some give very strict calories guidelines, som give strict carb guidelines, and some tell you to focus primarily on protein.
My surgeon had us track only protein and had a strict "rule" of protein first at every meal. She believed that if we followed that rule and were making healthy choices (following the food guidelines she gave us, which means almost no "white" carbs), the other things would take care of themselves. most of her patients found that to be true.
There are no universal guidelines on how much sugar, sodium, etc. is appropriate. Also, not all sugar is created equal, so tracking sugar is pretty useless IMO. The natural sugar in milk and fruit is very different, and is processed differently by your body, than added refined sugar. Even plain yogurt, for example, has what looks like a lot of "sugar", but that is the natural lactose. fruited yogurts have higher sugar levels because of the natural sugar from the fruit, but some of them have sugar added as well (while other use calorie free sugaring agents). So instead of just tracking sugar intake, you have to know WHAT KIND of sugar you are eating. (Whether or not you dump will also depend on the type of sugar. 14g of sugar in a vanilla yogurt is very unlikely to be a problem (assuming you are not lactose intolerant), but 14g of refined sugar in something may every well cause you to dump (if you are someone who does).
You really need to discuss this with your surgeon and/or nutritionist (if you have one).
The best app for tracking your food intake is the one that you will actually USE on a regular basis. MFP currently seems to be the most popular.
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.