Can I add fiber to my Macro goals in addition to Carbs, Protein, and Fat?

kschusterman
kschusterman Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
In addition to Carbs, Protein and Fat, the program I'm on has a goal for Fiber to round out the percentages to 100%. Can I add Fiber as a fourth macro?
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Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,377 Member
    edited December 2023
    You can add it as a column in your diary, but you can't add it as a 4th macro.

    Technically, it's not a macro. It's a subset of carbs. Fiber (pretty much) doesn't have useable calories, either. Since the MFP percents are percents of calories, the MFP math wouldn't work.

    If you have a calorie goal and a macro split, or specific macro goals (in grams), you can use arithmetic to figure out compatible MFP goals.

    If you don't know how to do that arithmetic, give the details of your target calorie/macro breakdown here and I'm sure someone can help you figure it out.

    Unsolicited editorial comment: I don't think I'd personally trust a nutritional source that averaged fiber into a percent scheme with fats, carbs, and protein . . . unless the percents are percents of something other than calories.

    Best wishes!
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,189 Member
    I don't know if things are different with the app, but in the website I list five macros in my diary, besides calories. Protein, Carbs, Fats, Fiber, and Sodium, and in my Nutrients goals I also list the amount of daily fiber that would like to reach, besides other nutrients.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,302 Member
    Gisel2015 wrote: »
    I don't know if things are different with the app, but in the website I list five macros in my diary, besides calories. Protein, Carbs, Fats, Fiber, and Sodium, and in my Nutrients goals I also list the amount of daily fiber that would like to reach, besides other nutrients.

    You can track up to five nutrients (out of 16 choices) in your diary, but only three of them are macronutrients - protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Neither fiber or sodium is a macro. I only track two macros on my diary - protein and carbohydrate. For the time being, I track saturated fat instead of total fat. I also track fiber and calcium currently.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,189 Member
    @mtaratoot
    You are correct, my bad. I should have clarified that in my response as Ann already did in hers. However, the OP can still track fiber in her diary even if it is not a macro.
  • cstringer77
    cstringer77 Posts: 1 Member
    I came looking for this same info; did you find a solution?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,377 Member
    cstringer77 wrote: »
    I came looking for this same info; did you find a solution?

    It's not possible in MFP to add fiber as a percent of macros. It's not a macronutrient.

    Like I (and others) said before, you can track fiber in MFP. You can make it display as a column on your daily diary, and in the phone/tablet app you can easily see it otherwise via the Nutrition option.

    If someone external to MFP gave you goals for fiber as a percent of calories, which IMO would be an odd thing to do since fiber generally doesn't have calories we can metabolize), you can use arithmetic to figure out your macro and fiber goals in the terms MFP expects.

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