Meeting or exceeding Macros, Not Meeting Calories...

Hi All,

I like to keep track of my macros as well as calories. Lately, I have been finding that I am meeting all my macros, but I am short on calories at the end of the night. I don't want to go over on fat, sodium, or cholesterol, I don't mind going over on protein, but I am of the group "If I don't eat enough calories (~1250-1300 at least), my metabolism is going to get angry" NOTE- This point is not up for debate. It is how I feel. I'm not forcing it on anyone, just how I feel.

Should I be worried about going over on these macros? I have seen articles online that say as long as you have a caloric deficit you will lose weight. Has anyone had any experience with going over on macros, under on calories, and still losing weight in a healthy manner? Should I be eating something different?

Thanks for any thoughts and advice folks!

If you're exceeding or at your macro intake and not meeting your calorie intake then there is an entry error in your diary.

Lets assume C= grams of carbs, F = grams of fat, P = grams of protein and KC = kilocalories.

KC=4(C)+9(F)+4(P)

Mathematically, if you're consuming all of your C,F,P, it will add up to your kilocalorie totals when you multiply it out. Realistically it may be off by a few, but if it's a few hundred off, something is definitely wrong.

Or over-reporting macros.

I don't want to go over on fat, sodium, or cholesterol,

Agree on the salt (subject to exercise regime) & cholesterol... but not all fats are the same. The recommended consumption of saturated fats is not more than 10% of total calories per day and 30% for unsaturated fat. More than the amount of fat, it’s the types of fat you eat that really matter.

I monitor both saturated and monounsaturates & polyunsaturates.

You might find this helpful.

http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_fats.htm

This happens to me as well, and it doesn't necessarily mean there's an error! She's talking about sodium, which could be however much salt is used in product x. cholesterol, which varies a lot and doesn't rely on calories for the calculations. And fat. Some things we use (oils, particularly) are very high fat and adding it in can throw off the fat while consuming other fat free foods with calories (salads, etc). It also depends on the ratios that her account is set to.

Yesterday, I struggled to get my 1470 calories, and then I was over on protein (I'm ok with this, in fact, I TRY for this), carbs (I don't like this), fiber (I'm okay with this too and aim for it). I had only 9 calories left, but should have had at least another 9 g fat (because I'm not afraid of fat). There are days where my carbs are way low and my fat calories are way high even though I've only just reached my calories.

Of course it can happen...



OP: if you are looking to add something calorie dense while keeping the fat, cholesterol and sodium on the lower side, I'd look to fat free Greek yogurt. Personally, I don't worry about fat content.... and I too watch my cholesterol and sodium.

I'm a little confused. You talk about macros, but then you talk about being over on your sodium and cholesterol, which are NOT macros. If you're going over on protein, potentially on fat, unless you're severely undereating your carbs, you should not be seriously under on calories.

I think the point was "I can eat up to my calories, but then I'll be over on these bad non-macro things, or I can meet my macros without eating all these bad things, but be under on calories".

The problem, as already covered, is that if you are meeting all of your macros every day, you pretty much HAVE to be eating all of your calories. A gram of protein is a certain number of calories, as is a gram of carbs or fat. If you hit your macros dead-on perfectly, you SHOULD be pretty much dead on in your calories, or at least within a couple of hundred calories due to rounding errors (macros are usually counted as whole numbers, but each gram of a macro is worth 4 or 9 calories).

So what if you ate something with a serving size that contains exactly 1.5 grams of fat? It would contain 13.5 calories (it'd probably list 13 or 14 calories on the label). Would it be listed as 1 or 2 grams of fat?

Even if the database entries for everything were perfect, if you ate a lot of things with small macro counts each, these rounding errors could rapidly add up. And the calories is probably a more precise and accurate measure, but you'll have to research more to find out which macro you are really short on.

Or you just ignore it if you're feeling OK and energetic, secure in the knowledge that your body is sending you feedback that you're pretty darned close.

Bump, I'm always over on protein but everything else is under.

How do you manage that? Do you eat chicken for every meal? I don't eat a lot of meat (not a vegetarian, though) and I have a really hard time hitting my protein goal every day. Where do you get most of your protein? Just curious

I have a really hard time keeping the sodium level down....but I have had days where I met my calorie goal but not my macros. I just recently adjusted it to see if that helps. I don't like the fact that I have a goal of 100g of protein a day regardless of a workout, but when I workout MFP up s my macros. I know it has to in a way since my calorie intake increases it just gets annoying at time.