Met macronutrient goals but am under on calories???

NyxPDX
NyxPDX Posts: 4
in Getting Started
I'm just confused as to how this is even possible (see attached image).

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    That just means some of the food choices were wrong. If you were over by 1 gram of each you should have an excess caloric intake of 17 (9+4+4)
  • NyxPDX
    NyxPDX Posts: 4
    Okay, that's kinda what I was just realizing. I think the stats on one or more of the food entries doesn't add up, though I'll have to go through and see which it is. Thanks! :smile:
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
    Could be wrong but doesn't fiber account for calories too?
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    This is because the nutritional information labeling on products are always incorrect. Some can be off by as much as 20%. to make this quick, I'll use a simple example:

    A 355 mL can of Coca Cola: Says it's 160 calories. However, take a look at the nutritional information, and you'll see it contains 42g of sugar/carbs.

    There are 4 calories per gram of carbs.

    42 x 4 = 168.

    So, in reality, you're actually drinking 8 more calories than it says you are. Now, that's not a huge difference, but say everything were off by this much, and you ate 2000 calories. In reality, you've actually eaten 2100 calories.

    This is why I go by my macros and ignore my caloric intake. It's still inaccurate, as it's impossible to be perfect in this, but it's more accurate than using just calories.
  • NyxPDX
    NyxPDX Posts: 4
    I just ran through some of them and I think another issue is rounding. For example, the site shows 3g of fat when I enter a certain food item that if you go into edit in the database, it actually only has 2.5g... although, it does correctly show 5g if I change it to 2 servings, but after doing some playing around I've found that if you split those servings up (e.g. 1 in breakfast, 1 in dinner) that the totals at the bottom will use the rounded 3g and show 6g for the day.
  • jstout365
    jstout365 Posts: 1,686 Member
    Check the fiber content as mentioned above. I typically find that fiber will reduce calorie amount by 1-2 calories per gram of fiber, especially non-soluble fiber that isn't digestible. Some nutrient labels offset the calories based on "net" carbs.
  • NyxPDX
    NyxPDX Posts: 4
    So, I guess the real question is, which is more important to shoot for, calorie goal (keeping macros in the same ratio), or macro goals... or, I guess the third option would be, am I being a little too OCD about it?
  • habit365
    habit365 Posts: 174
    Macro grams are rounded a lot more than total calories, so I go for the calories (and if things are really out of whack, I go look for an incorrectly entered food). You are also probably being just a tad OCD but you won't be the only one. I am absurdly psyched if I ever manage to hit exactly "zero calories left". :smile:

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