Nutrition Calorie Count Seems Way Off!

kyto7288
kyto7288 Posts: 13
in Food and Nutrition
Myfitnesspal Nutrition table is telling me that I ate 2300 calories for a day BUT when I calculate the carbs fat and protein it comes out to 2745.

Carb - 4 cal
Protein - 4 cal
Fat - 9 cal

My day consisted of 298g Protein, 215g Carbs, 77g Fat
298x4= 1192
215x4= 860
77x9 = 693

1192+860+693= 2745 calories

This comes up to 445 calories over my target daily intake but is not showing up like this on my nutrition page. This is quite a large cunk of calories and could result in a massive slowdown in weight loss.

Can anyone explain what myfitnesspal is doing here or if I am missing something here?

Replies

  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    Open you diary, it will help us figure out where the problem lies.
  • kyto7288
    kyto7288 Posts: 13
    Open you diary, it will help us figure out where the problem lies.

    I just set it to public. I'm new to this site so not sure what's goin on with the calorie coutner.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    The database entries with a * are user-entered and can be incorrect. The cheddar cheese you have listed in your diary has no carbs - even the string cheese I just ate has carbs in it. That PB&J sandwich entry looks to be off by 100 calories if you add up the macros.

    I had a PB&J today; I enter each ingredient separately. It still doesn't come out to be mathematically perfect because MFP rounds calories up, but it's pretty darn close, and food labels can legally be off by a certain percentage anyway. Calorie counting is never perfect, it's always estimates, but you can reduce the margin of error somewhat.

    If you're going to be eating PB&J every day and making it the same way with the same ingredients and measurements, use the recipe builder and create your own personal entry. Make sure you are weighing your foods and measuring liquids, and don't go with generic entries unless you have to for something like produce. In those cases, look for entries without the *, as those are MFP entries from the USDA database. If you have the manufacturer of the item, look for the entry for that, or create it if it's not in the database.
  • kyto7288
    kyto7288 Posts: 13
    Good call, I didn't realize the entries would be so far off. I will create my own from now on. Thanks for the tip!
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    No problem. You might this thread helpful as well for database searches: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1225047-searching-the-database-cross-posting-b-c-it-s-helpful-here?hl=database#posts-19171606
  • kyto7288
    kyto7288 Posts: 13
    Thank you again! Do you happen to know if there is a way to see if someone has replied to a thread or post? I keep having to reopen all of my threads that I'm involved in to see if someone actually posted in it. I'm not great with forums -_-

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