Calories Or Grams

ayamourada92
ayamourada92 Posts: 62 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I eat all my calories daily but I found that it exceeded the last limit of grams of carbs, sugar and protein but I see that I still have like 300 cals so Am I on track or should I watch the grams not the calories??

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    You don't have to think of the macro goals as limits - you can think of them as guidelines to get reasonably close to, most of the time.
    It's your calorie balance that determines whether your weight goes up or down over an extended period of time. To a degree it depends on what you are trying to achieve and what your priorities are in tracking your nutrition.
    Many would see exceeding MFP's protein goal as a good thing and exceeding (or under-cutting) your carb goal as irrelevant.

    If there's a big disparity between being close to all your macro goals but not to your calorie goal it's worth checking you are using accurate database entries. Making your diary public means people could help you with that.
  • ayamourada92
    ayamourada92 Posts: 62 Member
    @sijomial thanks a lot.
  • xrj22
    xrj22 Posts: 197 Member
    Day by day use the calorie goals. I look at the macro goals as more of an average-over-time thing. It you tend to be high on protein, that is usually not a problem. For the fat or carb goals, it really depends on whether you have other health goals in mind, and also on WHY you are high on those things. If you are getting lots of carbs in the form of sugar and white flour, that is probably a problem. But if you look at your carbs, and it is whole grains, legumes, complex carbs, then I wouldn't worry (unless you have diabetes or some other reason to worry about carbs). Likewise fats per-se are not that bad. Saturated fats (red meats, cheeses, store-bought pastries) are more the problems, especially if you are worried about cholesterol. And they are really calorie dense, so if you are going over your calories, then high fats are often the reason.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,937 Member
    ayamourada92 wrote: »
    I eat all my calories daily but I found that it exceeded the last limit of grams of carbs, sugar and protein but I see that I still have like 300 cals so Am I on track or should I watch the grams not the calories??

    Another thing of which to be aware is that the foods in the database may be entered incorrectly - they are entered by other random users.

    The macros and calories may not line up. Fat is 9 calories per gram, Protein is 4 calories per gram and Carbs are also 4 calories per gram. If you drink alcohol the macros will also be skewed. If someone entered that pizza into the database incorrectly, your numbers won't add up.
  • RockingWithLJ
    RockingWithLJ Posts: 243 Member
    edited April 2022
    I prefer a higher fat intake. I do endurance training regularly and found that having a higher fat intake was better for my energy levels then for me to have higher macros in other areas. There was a time in my life where I was lifting heavy regularly and needed higher carb and protein intakes to feel better. It's really about your goals and what you're trying to accomplish in this moment of time and if your activity level is not specific like those listed above then macros do not matter as much
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,408 Member
    I’d make myself bonkers meeting macros (and even calories) on a daily basis.

    So once a week I check the Seven Day view, and generally find that the daily macros average is golden, and my calories are bang on.

    If not, I know where and what to work on.

    That takes a lot of the pressure off.

    It’s almost like, once you get the hang of it, your body is like, “More of that please” and does the work for you.

    And no, I’m not an Intuitive Eater. I’ll be counting calories til my teeth fall out.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 873 Member
    I didn't ever, and still don't really pay attention to my macros. I only look at calories. My macro split in MFP is whatever the default one is. You can change them if you happen to find a split that works best to help you feel satiated.

    Example: I have two main breakfast meals I make for myself on weekends. They have a similar amount of calories but one has a higher ratio of fat and protein vs. the other one being higher in carbs. I find that when I eat the one higher in carbs...I'm hungry for my next meal ~2hrs earlier than if I eat the one higher in fat/protein.

    So it really just matters what keeps you satisfied and able to comfortably stay within your calorie goal. I routinely am very very very far over on my fat. Still lost 30lbs and don't have any negative affects of that as far as I can tell.

    The only time I look at my macros really is if I know that I have a certain amount of calories I'm shooting for for my last meal of the day I might say to myself, "What do I still need?" --- so like if I still need like 30 grams of protein I'll consider that when I'm thinking about what I'm gonna make/eat. But I really don't ever stress out over it at all.

    Also, the sugar/sodium...etc......I NEVER look at bc it literally doesn't matter unless there's a medical reason to be tracking that stuff.

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