Calorie count vs Macro Calories

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Dangerdick
Dangerdick Posts: 7
in Food and Nutrition
Had an interesting realization today about the calorie system in MFP.

Today, I had the following macros:

241g - Protein
51g - Fat
41g - Carbs

Calorie count is 1509.

However, we know that calories in macros are broken down like so

Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories

Therefor, I've had:

964 Calories from Protein
459 Calories from Fat
164 Calories from Carbs

1587 Total calories

= 5% difference of straight calorie count on MFP

As far as my use of MFP, I weigh my food and scan barcodes whenever possible for max accuracy. As well, I double check the MFP entry against the nutritional label to make sure it's accurate.

Anyone have any insight as to why there is a difference?

Replies

  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
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    Scanned items don't necessarily come up with the right information. There have been times that I have gotten totally different brands or horribly incorrect information from scanning.

    Some of the calorie discrepancy may also be from rounding calories on labels. If the macros are accurate, but the calories rounded that can cause things to be a bit off. For example, Wegmans dill spears have 1g of carbs and the label shows 0 calories, but there are at least 4 in each serving...

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