Should I prioritize calorie or macros?

pusanisa03pt

Hi, I notice that sometimes my macros when calculating g calorie per g (protein 4, carb 4, fat 9) a quite higher than the calorie total in my fitnesspal. For example, tomorrow, protein 131 g *4, carbs 170 g * 4, fat 60 g * 9 = 1850 cal while it shows only 1631 in myfitnesspal. Should I continue to follow this plan or reduce calories so that my macros will fit with the total calories? Fyi I’m not sure does this affects or not but I eat carb counter wrap (15 g of carbs and 10 g of fiber) and keto bread (13 g of carbs and 10 g of fiber). Thank you so much in advance. I appreciate any suggestions

.

tomcustombuilder

Calories > Macros.

Get your protein in, some good fats and the remaining calories with whatever you want.

AnnPT77

There can be a small difference in the log from rounding issues, but your gap is not that small.

The underlying problem is probably that you've picked entries from the MFP database that are not accurate. There's no obvious way to tell whether it's the macro numbers or the calorie numbers that are wrong, though it's probably the macros. (I'll say why later.)

The MFP food database is crowd-sourced, i.e., entered by regular MFP users. Some of them are more accurate than others. When starting with MFP, if you care about both calories and macros, it's a good idea to check the entries you choose. Check them against the label if the food has one, or a source like the USDA Food Central Database at https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/. Once you log a food you've validated, it will stay in your recent/frequent foods and come up first when logging, as long as you eat it semi-frequently. That means you won't have to check each item every time.

I suspect the calories are more likely to be correct vs. the macros, because of human psychology. Most people here care more about calories than macros, so I'd guess they'd be more meticulous about entering calories correctly. That's a pure guess, thoug. h.

If you care, you can find the problem entry or entries by doing that same arithmetic for each food line in your diary.

If your main goal is weight loss, it's the calories that matter directly. Macros are important for nutrition and health, so can affect body weight indirectly through appetite or energy level. Even then, the effect is via calories: Spiked appetite makes it hard to eat within calorie goal, while tanked energy level makes us rest more and move less so we burn fewer calories than we would if properly nourished and fueled.

Best wishes!

springlering62

KISS when starting. Focus on calories, and the mechanics of weighing and logging. They are the “meat” of MFP.

Once you have those down, you can start worrying on macros.

IME I found that focusing on calories, changing the type of foods and quantities I ate, by the time I got to focusing on macros, I already had a solid base.