I think somethings screwy with my food diary numbers.. or am I just misunderstanding something?

PB4Lyfe

I give you.. today’s completed food diary. As you can see, my calorie goal is 1560, and I’ve come in close at 1503. However, you’ll also see I’ve not quite hit any of my macros.. this is where my confusion sets in.

If I’m short 22g of carbs and 13g of protein, both of which are 4 calories per gram, and 8g of fat, which is 9 calories per gram, how can I only be 57cal under my target? by my calculations those macros should add up to 212 calories.

am I missing something?

pinuplove

You've probably used a food entry that's a bit off on the macros (ie, calories are correct but reported macros are not). It bugs me too so I usually find the offending entry and fix it.

PB4Lyfe

pinuplove wrote: »

You've probably used a food entry that's a bit off on the macros (ie, calories are correct but reported macros are not). It bugs me too so I usually find the offending entry and fix it.

Ooh.. I never thought of that!

concordancia

1) incorrect entries
2) rounding errors
3) fiber - this technically counts as an incorrect entry, but some people enter net carbs in entries or subtract out the fiber calories, etc.

akartzinel

Why is fiber not counted as carbs? What constitutes fiber? I am new so I am trying to learn as much as possible

concordancia

akartzinel wrote: »

Why is fiber not counted as carbs? What constitutes fiber? I am new so I am trying to learn as much as possible

Atkins focused on "net carbs," which was carbs minus fiber, so it has made its way into other low carb programs.

Fiber is a carbohydrate found in plants and does technically have the same 4cal/gr energy load that other carbs do, but your body doesn't break it down for fuel, but rather uses it to scrub your intestines (insoluble fiber) and arteries (soluble fiber).

PB4Lyfe

So I’ve gone back through everything I’ve logged, and everything adds up (ie the PCF add up to equal the calories) within about 5cal..

But when I checked my diary again, by my calcs 115g of carbs, 44g of fat and 124g of protein should add up to 1348 calories, not 1503. I’m really not sure whats going on..

This is very upsetting.. I could use those numbers for an excellent snack, but I don’t know if I should believe the remaining calories or the remaining macros!!

PAV8888

On average and in the context of my personal ~2900 Cal average intake I am not alarmed at a 5% variance between caloric count and multiplied macros count. Almost every time the variance exceeds 5% when looking at a complete month, I either have had more alcohol than usual or used a database entry with bad macro counts.

I note that legitimately and **on average** about 2 Cal per fiber gram should be subtracted from carbs, assuming that they were included in the carbs calories in the first place--most manufacturers seem to exclude them.