MFP can't math good.

Options
elv1ra
elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I was just looking at my diary and realized that my numbers don't add up. My fats add up to 14g, but MFP has added it up to 13g. My protein adds up to 92g but MFP has it added up to 94g. My carbs equal 58g but its added up to 57g. Anyone elses diary fail math class?

Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Options
    Doesn't surprise me

    But they are all estimates anyway so it's probably good enough

    Well that and the fact that a lot of user based entries don't include macro splits, or have the wrong macro splits, or have different carb definitions (did you know US includes fibre in carb count, UK and Australia don't)
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    Options
    It's probably due to rounding. I've never noticed the error in that much detail.
  • elv1ra
    elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
    Options
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Doesn't surprise me

    But they are all estimates anyway so it's probably good enough

    Well that and the fact that a lot of user based entries don't include macro splits, or have the wrong macro splits, or have different carb definitions (did you know US includes fibre in carb count, UK and Australia don't)

    No I didn't know that actually, thats kind of interesting. But Im not talking about nutritional info on the packages though, I'm talking about my actual diary entries adding up to different totals than those displayed at the bottom where they add all your entries up. I've also previous noticed weird things where if I hit my protein target exactly it says 0 remaining, but if I hit the fat exactly, it says I've gone over by 1 gram. It just seems weird to me that an automated system would have discrepancies like this.
  • jacklifts
    jacklifts Posts: 396 Member
    Options
    Actually what bothers me is if I target a calorie goal, I'll notice I've gone over my macros, which add up to a higher calorie amount...usually by 100 or so. It's annoying. There should be an option to choose that the calories displayed are calculated from the macros.
  • elv1ra
    elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
    Options
    ^^ Thats REALLY weird. I'm usually pretty far off my macros so I've never noticed if mine add up properly to my calorie goal or not.

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited February 2016
    Options
    elv1ra wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Doesn't surprise me

    But they are all estimates anyway so it's probably good enough

    Well that and the fact that a lot of user based entries don't include macro splits, or have the wrong macro splits, or have different carb definitions (did you know US includes fibre in carb count, UK and Australia don't)

    No I didn't know that actually, thats kind of interesting. But Im not talking about nutritional info on the packages though, I'm talking about my actual diary entries adding up to different totals than those displayed at the bottom where they add all your entries up. I've also previous noticed weird things where if I hit my protein target exactly it says 0 remaining, but if I hit the fat exactly, it says I've gone over by 1 gram. It just seems weird to me that an automated system would have discrepancies like this.

    I only pointed it out because unless you are personally adding your own foodstuff every single time you do not know who originally added that food you've selected, nor which country they are based in

    Also it's rounding up if you add 3.3 and 5.2 you get 9

    what difference would 1 gram of carbs make anyway? As long as you hit your protein and fat macros (going over is fine) or if you're low carb as long as you're in the region
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,222 Member
    edited February 2016
    Options
    Pretty certain it's just rounding up the decimals that you can't see. It doesn't list anything after the decimal in the diary, but if you look at the nutrition details you will see that it might actually list something like 4.4 grams of fat. If you were to have 8 separate entries in your diary over the day they would each list as 4 in the meals, but in the daily totals that would be listed as 35 grams. Granted, I have no way to know for sure, but that seems logical to me.
  • Abby2205
    Abby2205 Posts: 253 Member
    Options
    Orphia wrote: »
    It's probably due to rounding. I've never noticed the error in that much detail.

    That's my thought too. For example, let's say you have two items, each 14.4 g. They are both displayed as 14 g, but the true value is stored. Add them together, it's 28.8, but is displayed as 29 g due to rounding.
  • sabified
    sabified Posts: 1,051 Member
    Options
    Orphia wrote: »
    It's probably due to rounding. I've never noticed the error in that much detail.

    I think it's this. Sometimes a food is 10.1 or 8.7 or something like that. So if it's 10.1 the calculators will round down and if it's .7 it'll round up.. but then in the totals it'll add all the entire total and then post that. I have actually noticed this before and came to this conclusion (I was adding a lot of my own recipes at the time, so it was easier to see).

    But honestly, as someone else said, not all the info in MFP is correct anyway, so take it all with a grain of salt.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Options
    Orphia wrote: »
    It's probably due to rounding. I've never noticed the error in that much detail.

    Yep, it happens all the time due to rounding. It's not an error, it's that we can't see the decimals. If you have something that is 5 g fat (but really 4.6) and something else that is 9 g fat (but really 8.7), the total seems to us like it should be 14 g, but in reality it is 13.3 g, rounded to 13 g.

Categories