Macro grams do not equal pie chart percentage

mistydtorres
mistydtorres Posts: 1 Member
edited November 25 in Food and Nutrition
Hi all, hoping someone can help me out with something I’ve noticed on my app. My macro totals are as follows:
Carbs 64g or 24%
Protein 85g or 33%
Fat 51g or 43%

Why is it if I ate 85g of protein, that my percentage on the pie chart is only 33%, which is less than my fat percentage, yet I’ve ate less fat grams? Shouldn’t the protein have the biggest percentage since I’ve ate more protein?

Replies

  • dknight36
    dknight36 Posts: 182 Member
    Roughly 4 calories per gram of carbs and protein. 9 calories per gram of fat.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Fat has more calories per gram than carbs and protein. The pie chart breakdown is based on calories consumed.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    There is a difference in how many Calories each macronutrient contributes to Total Calories, based on how many Calories per gram each nutrient provides.

    Carbs and protein provide about 4 Calories/gram, fat provides about 9 Calories/gram, and alcohol provides about 7 Calories/gram.

    MFP does the math for you based on grams, converts them to Calories, and then determines the Calorie percentages.

    Total Cals = Cals from (Carbs + Fat + Protein + Alcohol)

    In your case...

    Total Cals = (64 x 4) + (51 x 9) + (85 x 4) + (0 x 0)
    Total Cals = 256 + 459 + 340 + 0
    Total Cals = 1055

    Percent Calories from Carbs = 256/1055 x 100 = 24.3%
    Percent Calories from Fat = 459/1055 x 100 = 43.5%
    Percent Calories from Protein = 340/1055 x 100 = 32.2%
    Percent Calories from Alcohol = 0/1055 x 100 = 0%

    The Pie Chart gives a snapshot of the percentages based on the Calories provided by the subtotal grams of each macro logged at that time you view the Pie Chart. If you add more items to your Diary, the percentages may change throughout the day.
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