Macro vs MFP calorie inaccuracy

Hi! So I came across a new issue.... In addition to MFP, I’ve been using a separate excel sheet to average my macros and calories throughout the week to get a better idea of how the week went. It’s been helpful because I’ve started increasing my calories to reverse diet. The problem is that my calories in my excel sheet DO NOT match my MFP calories for the day. I knew that there would be some descrepencies just from food labels since they are allowed to round. However, on one particular day, there was about a 1000 calorie difference! At the end of the day when I typed in all my macros into my excel sheet, which calculates protein x4, carbs x4, and fat x9, my calorie count came out to be 2397, even though on MFP it told me my daily calories were 1289. Just for clarification, my protein for the day was 129.8g, carbs were 371g, and fat was 43.9g. Which calorie count is accurate? I had some coffee with milk, a protein shake, and homemade bagel sandwich with egg whites, an enlightened ice cream bar, and for dinner a pasta and ground beef based meal. How could the calories be so different? Which did I eat closer to? Everything was weighed and calculated accurately. Just wondering how many calories I actually ate!

Replies

  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
    Are you inputting your foods or are you selecting from the entries already available?
  • jmredinger
    jmredinger Posts: 23 Member
    I’m inputting my own foods by scanning barcodes and then weighing out my portions and logging it.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    I'm not sure I understand where you're getting your numbers from.

    Are the numbers on your spreadsheet coming direct from the food labels?

    When you log food in MFP, are you checking that each database entry matches the package info before choosing it?

    If what your saying is that your MFP food log shows 129g protein, 371g carbs, 43g fat, and 1289 calories, then you chose some very innacurate database entries.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    Scanning the barcode isn’t always accurate (or should I say, for me, it’s rarely accurate). Double check each and every one when you log it... especially now that labels are changing their serving sizes.
  • jmredinger
    jmredinger Posts: 23 Member
    Okay so I just went back and double checked some labels and WOW! The macaroni noodles I was using was inaccurately calculating the carbs. Basically, the carbs were showing as 84g per 1oz, when it should’ve been like 20 or something! I think I definitely found the problem. Thank you for all your help!