Macros vs. nutrients

letsdothis119
letsdothis119 Posts: 5 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Hello, can someone please explain why when I look at my macros there’s a percentage for a goal which looks like it’s been reached but when I go to look at my nutrients there’s another goal which has not been met?
Which one should I go by?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,605 Member
    The food entries are (mostly) user-entered. The macros and other nutrients may be wrong. Check all entires you use against a verified database such as the USDA nutrition database.

    https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    The goal under nutrients is the useful one, as it's measured in grammes.
    The percentage just shows the split based on one what you've logged so far that day, and it only matters (if you believe it matters at all!) that it's balanced by the end of the day.

    So if your breakfast is perfectly balanced in terms of the ratio of fat, carbs and protein, then your pie chart could be perfect.
    But you've only eaten breakfast, so you'd be WAY under your calories, which would show up by you missing the goals on the Nutrients screen.

    Basically, ignore the Macros screen and follow Nutrients!
    Also, you can get a good breakdown if you turn your phone sideway when you're on the diary screen. (Also if you log on on a computer rather than through the app.)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    letsdothis119 wrote: »
    Hello, can someone please explain why when I look at my macros there’s a percentage for a goal which looks like it’s been reached but when I go to look at my nutrients there’s another goal which has not been met?
    Which one should I go by?

    Are you looking at the end of the day when you're completely done eating? It tracks it real time...so like if you ate 300 calories and it was all carbs, the % graph is going to show 100% carbs...that doesn't mean you've hit your carb target, it just means that 100% of your calories thus far have come from carbs.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Percent is just 1/100 of something. The percentage, or macro split, can have been "reached" way before you have hit your total calorie goal and macro goals.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    letsdothis119 wrote: »
    Hello, can someone please explain why when I look at my macros there’s a percentage for a goal which looks like it’s been reached but when I go to look at my nutrients there’s another goal which has not been met?
    Which one should I go by?

    I think you are asking about grams vs. percentage. ALWAYS go by grams. The percentages are how MFP determines the grams (taking the percentage of your total calories), but percentages in themselves are useless.

    You can have a good diet with percentages that vary a ton meal by meal.

    More significantly, you will reach your percentages at breakfast whenever a particular breakfast reflects your total percentages, but that does not mean you have eaten enough, or enough of the individual macros.

    For example, if my chosen percentages are 40% fat, 30% each protein and carbs (which on a 1500 cal diet would get me 112 g of protein), and I have a breakfast of a 2 egg omelet, with spinach and broccoli, cooked in olive oil, with a bit of feta cheese, some cottage cheese, and an apricot (chosen from a breakfast I logged when I was last logging at MFP), I could eat a bit more than 400 cal and hit my percentages exactly. Should I decide that means I've had enough and stop eating? No, of course not, I'm way low on all macros by grams, and my protein would be around 33 -- great for a breakfast, terrible for a whole day.

    On the desktop this isn't an issue, but I think MFP is needlessly confusing by focusing on that dumb percentages chart on the app. Percentages are not important, look at grams.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    edited November 2017
    It's just a balancing act.

    For example: you can reach your 'carbohydrate' macro goal by eating bagels or butternut squash. The bagels don't have much in the way of vitamins, whereas the squash will help you reach your recommended intake of Vitamin A & C.

    Obsessing over the numbers isn't good either - just try to incorporate generally nutrient-rich foods into your diet to make sure you're not deficient in anything. But enjoy some treats to keep your sanity!
  • letsdothis119
    letsdothis119 Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks everyone! I understand now and feel way better about it :)
This discussion has been closed.

Categories