Negative for calories

Belleebuttons
Belleebuttons Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi 👋
New to MFP, what does it mean if I go i into negative in calories but haven’t hit my targets of protein, fat & carbs?
Thank you in advance

Replies

  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 711 Member
    Probably that you are using inaccurate entries in the database that have not entered values (or the correct values) for those macros
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,353 Member
    Yep, I'd check your entries against the packaging, manufacturer's website or the USDA database. People can enter anything they want into the database, or they have fat fingers, or the info wasn't required when the entry was made.....it's the wild, wild west of data out there!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,216 Member
    If you haven't hit any of fat, protein or carbs, yeah, probably bad database entries . . . unless you consumed alcohol, which is none of those micronutrients, but has calories.

    That's if you're talking about "calories remaining" being negative, as I'd assume - not net calories being negative.

    If you're negative on calories remaining, but below maintenance calories, you'll still expect to lose fat, just a little bit slower than targeted.

    It's calories that matter directly for fat loss. Macros are about health, satiation, body composition, energy level, and that sort of thing - indirect effect at most on body fat, via energy level or satiation.

    If you're under on one or two macro totals, over on at least one, that's just arithmetic, pretty much, if just one day. Being consistently a lot under on protein or fat - if using accurate database entries - isn't a great plan for nutrition/health, IMO.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,847 Member
    Fwiw, calories are the most important metric. You'll probably be under on any given day on one or two out of fat/carbs/protein unless you magically get the exact grams of each to not go over your calorie target, so don't worry so much about those unless you have a specific goal or are severely low.

    For example, I only look at calories and protein. If I can meet my protein grams goal while keeping total calories at a reasonable level, generally the rest takes care of itself. I don't even remember what MFP has my goals for each macro set to, because I look for a certain number of grams protein.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited October 2022
    COGypsy wrote: »
    it's the wild, wild west of data out there!
    Indeed. Also keep in mind that nutrition facts labels are always subject to change and that they are also often just wrong, so even if the person who entered the data into the database did so flawlessly, the data may still be wrong.

    In fact, I recently had a package of dried beans of which the nutrition facts label said there is 0 g of fibre in those beans. That is an easy one to dismiss as an obvious error, but it happened nevertheless.

    I tend to blame those errors, not on malevolence, but on nonchalance and irresponsibility: the people creating those labels often have no idea what they are doing and how important it really is. That amazes me, but my amazement does not change the reality of the problem.

  • ChickenKillerPuppy
    ChickenKillerPuppy Posts: 297 Member
    Just wanted to echo the idea that calories are most important for weight loss. So if you are new to this, I wouldn’t worry too much about your macro distribution because that’s a lot to focus on at once. After a few months when you get used to counting calories, then maybe start looking at macros. You are much more likely to stick to these changes if you make them slowly and allow yourself to get used to them.
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 499 Member
    It means the entries are incomplete/incorrect. I set up my own as often as I can as there's a lot of rubbish entries here.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

    To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

    Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

    Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

    For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    Fwiw, calories are the most important metric. You'll probably be under on any given day on one or two out of fat/carbs/protein unless you magically get the exact grams of each to not go over your calorie target, so don't worry so much about those unless you have a specific goal or are severely low.

    For example, I only look at calories and protein. If I can meet my protein grams goal while keeping total calories at a reasonable level, generally the rest takes care of itself. I don't even remember what MFP has my goals for each macro set to, because I look for a certain number of grams protein.
    I more or less do what you do. For decades, I have looked at calories, protein and fibre. Because it was once thought (and shown not to be the case) I had diabetes, I added net carbs to that.
    That said, I only look at calories all the time. The others, I check a day or two every once in a while to be sure I am still on track, and that's it. Otherwise, it becomes a full time job and already have a more than full-time job to pay the rent and the calories needed to continue doing it ^_^.

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Belleebuttons wrote: »
    Hi 👋
    New to MFP, what does it mean if I go i into negative in calories but haven’t hit my targets of protein, fat & carbs?
    Thank you in advance

    By negative I assume you mean you have exceeded your calorie target. If you've done that and still have macros remaining you are selecting erroneous entries from the database. They may or may not be accurate in regards to calories but something would definitely be off with the macros. Macros make up your calories. 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate, 4 calories per gram of protein, 9 calories per gram of dietary fat.

    In theory, all of those would mathematically be equal to or very close (rounding) to your total calories when added together. Database entries are user crowdsourced so it's best to vet the entries you're selecting against a known source like your own nutritional label or the USDA website, etc until you have a good list of entries that you've confirmed.

    As others have mentioned, calories are what matter for weight management and there's really no need to get too wrapped up in macros, particularly MFPs default macros...they don't really mean anything, they are just the default. There is no universally optimal macro ratio and one's preferences are just that and have more to do with physical performance and satiety than anything else. If you want to delve into them, you can at some point, but just start with the basics of calories if you're just getting started out.

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