Counting Calories or PRO/CHO/FAT Ratios

[Snoofle]

Could someone tell me which one is more important?:
Counting Calories
Staying within your pro/cho/fat ratios (50/30/20 or 40/40/20 whatever it may be...)
Making sure each meal has a protein, carb, fat

OR
Counting Calories
Making sure each meal has a protein, carb, fat
Add in some Fruit sometimes
Add some yogurt sometimes

I'm just having a hard time counting calories AND going by a target pro/cho/fat ratio.
It just gets WAY too confusing...and long

[bouncingpuka]

The best way to go is to get a combination of both.....keeping track of your cals as well as your macro ratios.....but doing this manually is virtually impossible and inaccurate. That's why there are sites out there that magically do all the calculations for you!!! :-) Have you taken a look at fitday.com for example? It's free to sign up, and takes all the brain work and craziness away from something that is actually very simple once you get the hand of it :-)

[nextsuperhero]

If you count your macros you are essentially counting calories. Just multiply grams of fat by 9, grams of carbs (minus g of fiber) & protein by 4, & then add everything up, it gives you your calorie intake.

If you have experience with what portions of which foods will help you meet your goal, you can just do that. But if you can't estimate accurately & you try this, you run the risk of being off of your calories & macros.

[Snoofle]

The best way to go is to get a combination of both.....keeping track of your cals as well as your macro ratios.....but doing this manually is virtually impossible and inaccurate. That's why there are sites out there that magically do all the calculations for you!!! :-) Have you taken a look at fitday.com for example? It's free to sign up, and takes all the brain work and craziness away from something that is actually very simple once you get the hand of it :-)

I signed up for fitday.com today so, I'm hoping this will help... So many foods to search through!

[Emma-Leigh]

I signed up for fitday.com today so, I'm hoping this will help... So many foods to search through!

fitday is probably the least accurate of all the calorie counters.
If you want something better - www.nutritiondata.com or www.nutridiary.com

[bouncingpuka]

fitday is probably the least accurate of all the calorie counters.
If you want something better - www.nutritiondata.com or www.nutridiary.com

I don't use fitday's food catalog personally....I have customized all my foods based on their nutritional info and plug those values in......but I like the rest of it! :-) Lol.....I think Italian broccoli may be different......haha, joking......

[Snoofle]

I signed up with nutritiondata and nutridiary. Fitday seems like the easier one to use. I'll give the others a try