Over on macros but under on cals
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sgasales1954
Posts: 3 Member
OK all my fellow MFP stars.....please help. If you are counting calories while watching your big three macros + sodium, what is the general opinion about being under your daily calorie goal but being over on your macros/sodium? Please advise.
Thanks.
Thanks.
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Replies
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Being over on individual macros isn't a big deal. Calories are King for weight management.
I focus on hitting or exceeding my Protein and Fat goals. I don't worry about being over on those.
Salt I try to watch as it can cause health problems for me long-term. So I try to keep it around 2500.0 -
Calories for weight loss/gain. If your primary goal is weight maintenance, calories are king.
Macros for satiety, and some health and fitness goals. They are a guideline, not a hard and fast number you must stick to.
Many of us look at protein, fat, and fiber as minimums to reach or exceed and let carbs fall where they may. Obviously, if you are doing low carb or keto that won't apply for you, but calories are still priority #1.
I actually don't watch sodium, I just try not to overdo the typical culprits.5 -
I try and keep my salt around 2300mg.....how about occasionally going over on carbs?0
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sgasales1954 wrote: »I try and keep my salt around 2300mg.....how about occasionally going over on carbs?
Going over on carbs is fine (unless your'e on Keto.) The problem I find with too many carbs is that it cuts into my Protein or Fat calories. Not only that, too many carbs make me want more carbs.
When I first started weight loss I was eating way too many carbs. It's a process to bring things in line. One day at a time. It's a bit of a Rubiks Cube.1 -
If you're counting macros just worry about hitting those goals and don't worry about the calories. It has something to do with the rules that companies follow for displaying how many calories are in something-being able to round up or down- I don't recall what it is exactly. If you are tracking macros then don't worry about the calories lining up exactly, just focus on hitting those goals. If you are only worrying about calories and not your macro ratios, then as long as you're hitting about the same calorie goal then you will be fine.
Sodium is not a macro and will not influence either your macro goals or your calorie goal. This is something you will need to pay attention to outside of hitting these goals. You can hit your macro or calorie goals exactly and still be way over or under on sodium.
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If you are over on all of your macros, but under on calories, this would indicate the you have one or more erroneous entries from the database given that your macros make up your calories...ie carbs 4 calories per gram, protein 4 calories per gram, fat 9 calories per gram.
Your actual macro breakdown doesn't really matter and is a matter of preference...there's nothing magical about the MFP default macro settings...they're just the default.4 -
sgasales1954 wrote: »OK all my fellow MFP stars.....please help. If you are counting calories while watching your big three macros + sodium, what is the general opinion about being under your daily calorie goal but being over on your macros/sodium? Please advise.
Thanks.
For weight loss calories are the important thing. You should not really be eating under your calorie goal from MFP.
Recommended macros from MFP are a guideline. You do not have to exactly eat those amounts. If you are falling very short of your goals then you might want to rethink your food choices. I look at calories and then meeting my protein goal and don't worry much about the rest.
Excess sodium might be important to you if you have a health condition.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »If you are over on all of your macros, but under on calories, this would indicate the you have one or more erroneous entries from the database given that your macros make up your calories...ie carbs 4 calories per gram, protein 4 calories per gram, fat 9 calories per gram.
Your actual macro breakdown doesn't really matter and is a matter of preference...there's nothing magical about the MFP default macro settings...they're just the default.
He didn't say he was over on all of them. But yeah, there are "bad" entries in the database.1 -
cmriverside wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »If you are over on all of your macros, but under on calories, this would indicate the you have one or more erroneous entries from the database given that your macros make up your calories...ie carbs 4 calories per gram, protein 4 calories per gram, fat 9 calories per gram.
Your actual macro breakdown doesn't really matter and is a matter of preference...there's nothing magical about the MFP default macro settings...they're just the default.
He didn't say he was over on all of them. But yeah, there are "bad" entries in the database.
I don't know how to interpret "over on your macros"...could be one, could be all.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »If you are over on all of your macros, but under on calories, this would indicate the you have one or more erroneous entries from the database given that your macros make up your calories...ie carbs 4 calories per gram, protein 4 calories per gram, fat 9 calories per gram.
Your actual macro breakdown doesn't really matter and is a matter of preference...there's nothing magical about the MFP default macro settings...they're just the default.
He didn't say he was over on all of them. But yeah, there are "bad" entries in the database.
I don't know how to interpret "over on your macros"...could be one, could be all.
That was my initial thought - over on all three macros but under on calories, which obviously isn't possible without erroneous entries. More info is needed from the OP on what they meant.
I get finicky about my macros adding up to my calories within a reasonable margin of rounding and could waste way too much time on it
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Actually, I am usually about 10% UNDER my custom calorie goal daily but about 10% OVER on my carb goal. Usually my fats and proteins, along with the salt, are right on. I eat A LOT of fresh, single ingredient type foods and very few complex carbs.0
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. nm. I need to learn to read. 0
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sgasales1954 wrote: »Actually, I am usually about 10% UNDER my custom calorie goal daily but about 10% OVER on my carb goal. Usually my fats and proteins, along with the salt, are right on. I eat A LOT of fresh, single ingredient type foods and very few complex carbs.
If you aren't eating many complex carbohydrates, what foods are causing you to go over on carbs? Fruit? Soda?
I'm a bit confused about your numbers. If you're going 10% over on carbohydrates, that has to be coming from either fat or protein. If you're meeting both of those and under on calories while being over on carbohydrates, then something is off with your logging.
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sgasales1954 wrote: »Actually, I am usually about 10% UNDER my custom calorie goal daily but about 10% OVER on my carb goal. Usually my fats and proteins, along with the salt, are right on. I eat A LOT of fresh, single ingredient type foods and very few complex carbs.
Please change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
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If over on macros means all 3 while under calories means you have erroneous entries.1
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