Confused! Help please 😕

Sophiemount88

Hey,

Trying to work this all out and currently going through 'the plan' on here to get used to macro counting step by step. However I noticed on my macro pie chart it shows the total and my goal and I have met my goal ie used everything up, yet on the nutrient dashboard its telling me I still have so many grams of carbs etc.. remaining?!

Any advice please would be greatly appreciated 😊

Thanks
Sophie

quiksylver296

If I’m understanding you correctly, the macro chart is just your percentages of what you’ve eaten so far. It will change throughout the day as you eat more meals.

Sophiemount88

Thank you for your reply, yes and it has showing that I have reached my goal percentages _ looking at the totals but the nutrients dashboard on the home page is then showing me I have more grams of carbs etc to use, so which one is out? Or am I interpreting it incorrectly? 😕🤔

kimny72

Sophiemount88 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, yes and it has showing that I have reached my goal percentages _ looking at the totals but the nutrients dashboard on the home page is then showing me I have more grams of carbs etc to use, so which one is out? Or am I interpreting it incorrectly? 😕🤔

You're not understanding percentages. Your macro percentages will always add up to 100%, those percentages will go up and down as you log food, always though equalling 100% because that's how percentages work. What the pie chart can do is show you if your percentages are out of whack early in the day, say you have not eaten much protein and instead have eaten a lot of carbs, you know you want to try to have some protein packed meals and snacks for the rest of the day.

If you don't understand how percentages work right now, just go by the grams.

Sophiemount88

Thanks for your reply but you haven't read my question, I fully understand the percentages, I keep saying the nutrient dashboard on the home page is then telling me something completely different to the macro pie chart whether this is percentage or grams both are saying completely different things to one another ?!?

This is seeming too difficult

kimny72

Sophiemount88 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but you haven't read my question, I fully understand the percentages, I keep saying the nutrient dashboard on the home page is then telling me something completely different to the macro pie chart whether this is percentage or grams both are saying completely different things to one another ?!?

This is seeming too difficult

There's no contradiction, it's two different variables. Your pie chart after breakfast could show 40%/30%/30%. Then after a fat heavy lunch could become 35%/25%/40%. Then after a mostly carbs snack might become 40%/25%/35%. Then a dinner that's got some extra protein you'll see 40%/30%/30% again.

Your grams will go up as you log food, your percentage of your total food logged per macro will go up and down and up and down throughout the day as you log food.

Perhaps just logging your food and watching how your stats change each time for a few days will make it clearer for you.

PAV8888

Macros are NOT something you even remotely have to worry that much about hitting bang on, unless you're repeatedly and substantially off balance.

If the percentage is off by 1, 2, 3, or 5... oh well. If your protein is low by 5%+ over the MONTH... sure, next month push a bit more towards where you want to be!

What time is all this gram-macros thing happening at?

I saw a chart earlier (not in this thread i believe) that referred to breakfast. So yes. The percentages were perfect at breakfast time. But there were many more grams remaining to the end of the day since all the day's food had not been eaten yet; but the food that had been logged had the right macro percentage composition.

The nutrient chart is showing how many grams you have consumed so far today and how many grams are remaining for the day. If all the grams end up at 0 at the end of the day, the percentages will still be perfect. If some of the grams end up in the red and some in the green, the percentages will be slightly skewed... and see above about how much this doesn't matter.

If ALL your grams are red or ALL your grams are green, then your CALORIES will be off.

The last one does matter in terms of achieving your reasonably and appropriately selected weight management goals.

cmriverside

Sophiemount88 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but you haven't read my question, I fully understand the percentages, I keep saying the nutrient dashboard on the home page is then telling me something completely different to the macro pie chart whether this is percentage or grams both are saying completely different things to one another ?!?

This is seeming too difficult

No, we understand your confusion. I'll link screenshots from the web version. If you are seeing something else, please submit your own screenshots so we know what you are asking. It's a common confusion, so we're answering the most common issue as we don't have a lot from you to go on.

The colored pie chart represents whatever you have eaten so far today. So it may look like this:

My percentages are 57% Carbs, 20% Fat, 23% Protein in this pie chart. That's what I've eaten so far.


57+20+23=100%




I don't have macros on my dashboard, but if you do then it is probably telling you what you have left, not what you've eaten already - and I wouldn't know what the breakdown is representing since mine doesn't have that feature. If yours is different, please give us a screenshot.

My dashboard says:







If you were to look at the percentages in the pie chart and the bottom of the FOOD diary, you might have a misunderstanding:



The "TOTALS" at the bottom of my FOOD columns are for the grams of the macro, not the percentages. So the 146, 23 and 60 in the Carbs, Fat, Protein totals represent GRAMS, not percentage. Then by looking at the pie chart, you can see how your breakdown is doing so far today. That way you can track both percentages and grams at the same time with a handy visual.

FitCat4536

Hi, I'm new today and have exactly the same question as sophiemount88. But I'm still not getting it even after reading all the replies. My macro counter says I'm over on my carbs by 2% but my nutrients says I still have 24 grams left until my 'goal'. Which do I go by?

eminater

FitCat4536 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new today and have exactly the same question as sophiemount88. But I'm still not getting it even after reading all the replies. My macro counter says I'm over on my carbs by 2% but my nutrients says I still have 24 grams left until my 'goal'. Which do I go by?

When I was a beginner - I just focused on the calories to being with! Just stay under calories. I would look at my pie chart at the end of the day for the first few weeks - to see what the percentages where. I never really worried about anything else. After a couple of weeks, I adjusted the "% goals" to suit me, based on what trends I had noticed.

My advice for beginners - keep it very simple:
1) try to log as accurately as possible, using barcodes, weighing items etc
2) Just try to stick to the calorie goals.

Spend the first few weeks or month or so, getting to know the other things. You're not going to get exactly X% carbs everyday, and I personally don't think it matters too much!

I did notice that my pie charts over the weeks looked fairly consistent. I didn't use them as a goal to achieve but more as a pattern to look back over.

Mithridites

The macros don’t matter much when you are starting. Learn to log correctly and use a kitchen scale. That will help you count the calories and stay on track easily. Unless you’re an athlete, macros won’t make a real difference to you. They may provide further insight, if you want that, but it’s perfectly fine for 99.9% of beginners to ignore them.

FitCat4536

Thank you both. That's the kind of answer I was hoping for. 😁