Macros on Target but Calorie intake low

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MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH
MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH Posts: 18 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi There! As I type this I am 400+ calories shy of hitting my caloric intake for the day BUT I am close to being right on target with my macros for the delay. Weird?

Ps: Bikini to figure shape. Looking to gain size. 5'7, 150lbs, 27 years old.

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  • TravisDarling
    TravisDarling Posts: 6 Member
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    Macros are you bread and butter. Caloric intake is important but if you have hit your macros for the day your good unless your looking for muscle gain. The muscle gain game is where your calories will come in and play a huge part. I always hit my macros a little early so I may eat over a macro like if I'm going for a bulk I'll eat more carbs or overload on protein for the day to hit my calorie intake.
  • RunRachelleRun
    RunRachelleRun Posts: 1,854 Member
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    It's because MFP rounds up. Not sure if it's .5 or at what point over it does this. It happens to me all the time. I can be under calories but over on all my macros.
  • MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH
    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH Posts: 18 Member
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    RunRachelleRun wrote: »
    It's because MFP rounds up. Not sure if it's .5 or at what point over it does this. It happens to me all the time. I can be under calories but over on all my macros.

    Okay good to know! Thank you!
  • MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH
    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH Posts: 18 Member
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    TravisDarling wrote: »
    Macros are you bread and butter. Caloric intake is important but if you have hit your macros for the day your good unless your looking for muscle gain. The muscle gain game is where your calories will come in and play a huge part. I always hit my macros a little early so I may eat over a macro like if I'm going for a bulk I'll eat more carbs or overload on protein for the day to hit my calorie intake.
    Thank you! I am bulking so I would be going over my macros? That doesn't make sense!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    It is not mathematically possible to hit your macros but not your calories. Calories come from your macros. 4 cal per gram carb & prot. 9 cal per gram fat.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    If there is that much of a discrepancy I would check the exact entries you used to log. Something might be off in the calories/macros.
  • MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH
    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH Posts: 18 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    It is not mathematically possible to hit your macros but not your calories. Calories come from your macros. 4 cal per gram carb & prot. 9 cal per gram fat.

    Yes. That's why I don't get it. I'm guessing MFP isn't giving exact macro calcs.. Just a percentage? What do you suggest I use to track the macros?
  • fishshark
    fishshark Posts: 1,886 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    It is not mathematically possible to hit your macros but not your calories. Calories come from your macros. 4 cal per gram carb & prot. 9 cal per gram fat.

    i think its a MFP/entry thing it happens to me all the time. Il be over on all macros but still under cals.
  • MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH
    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH Posts: 18 Member
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    Okay good I'm not the only one. Would you suggest going over on your MFP macros and hitting your caloric intake?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH wrote: »
    Okay good I'm not the only one. Would you suggest going over on your MFP macros and hitting your caloric intake?

    When I was bulking I always went by calories. You can mess around with it. You'll have a better idea once you see how much you are gaining on average.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Are you looking at the percentages or gram totals for macros? I just want to be sure we're all talking about the same thing.
  • MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH
    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH Posts: 18 Member
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    The percentages
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH wrote: »
    The percentages

    You really should be going by grams
  • MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH
    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH Posts: 18 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH wrote: »
    The percentages

    You really should be going by grams

    My question was about the offset of MFP's macro calculation to Calorie intake. @diannethegeek was asking what I was looking at in MFP and I was looking at the targeted percentages. Bottom line here is that MFP does not customize macros correctly.

  • RunRachelleRun
    RunRachelleRun Posts: 1,854 Member
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    MISSJAMIENICOLERUGH wrote: »
    RunRachelleRun wrote: »
    It's because MFP rounds up. Not sure if it's .5 or at what point over it does this. It happens to me all the time. I can be under calories but over on all my macros.

    Okay good to know! Thank you!

    Yep, if I have 1/10th of a protein powder scoop, it should give me 2.5 g of protein but MFP doesn't work in decimals so will give me 3. And I've especially noticed it with fruits and vegetables. 500 g of cucumber will give me 3 of protein, but 100 g of cucumber will still give me 1. If you do that enough times throughout the day, the rounding up messes with the accuracy.

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