Marcos?

Counting calories is all you need for general weight loss.. MFP will set the other macros at the recommended guideline amounts for your weight so you'll know if you're getting the recommended amounts.. for other people that may be doing low carb, low fat, high protein etc they will set their Macros to specific amounts so they can keep track of how many they should be having. Depends what eating plan you wish to follow.

Hornsby wrote: »

Polos

lol

Lucieflower wrote: »

why I’m I over my marcos but still have about 400 calories left to eat … If I eat the 400 calories I will be over the marcos

Macros are for nutrition and health. Calories are the direct determinant of fat loss.

Under-eating (too low calories) isn't healthful.

My suggestion would be that you eat the 400 calories. If you want to optimize nutrition, eat extra protein, extra fats (ideally shooting for a well-rounded balance of fat types), or some nice veggies/fruits. It'll be fine. If you're within your calorie goal, weight should end up fine. If you're over your macros, it's not a problem health-wise or weight-loss-wise.

If you don't care about optimizing nutrition, eat a treat if you prefer. That's OK, too.

That said: If you have 400 calories left, but all your macros are maxed out, there's some problem with the food database entries you chose. The database is crowd-sourced, and not everything is accurate.

If you were over calories but under macros, I'd ask if you'd consumed alcohol (which has calories but isn't fats, protein, or carbs). But you have the reverse situation.

Each macronutrient has a characteristic calorie level: Carbs and protein are around 4 calories per gram, and fats are around 9 calories per gram. (Alcohol is about 7 calories per gram. Sugar alcohols also have calories but aren't a macronutrient, but you'd be unlikely to eat enough of those to make a huge difference.)

Macros having a characteristic calorie level implies that your calories and macros should come out fairly close, if the database entries are complete/accurate. (There can be minor differences because of rounding at various levels, from product labels on up, among other reasons. But 400 calories is a big difference - probably some incorrect database entries, to get to that level.)

If you want to figure out where the issue is, multiply out the macros' calories for each individual food, and see if it's close to the food's calorie estimate.

Personally, I probably wouldn't worry about it, if over all the macros with calories left. I do try to make sure my choices from the database are reasonably accurate in the first place, though.

Generally speaking, if you don't have any medical conditions, the recommendations are:
Protein- 0.8 to 1.2 g per kg bodyweight. If overweight, you can also substitute your goal weight if you find it hard to get in the amount of protein the based on your current weight. 0.8 is for sedentary, 1.2 for active. Heavy weight lifters, extremely active people may benefit from up to 1.5 g/kg. The older you get, you'll want to move that a bit higher to compensate for age related cell breakdown.
Carbs- 45-65% of your total calories.
Calories- there's various formulas, but the Mifflin-St Jeor is considered most accurate (for now). This is for your basal metabolic rate.
Men: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) - (5 × age in years) + 5
Women: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) - (5 × age in years) - 161
When you've got that number, you'll have to multiply by an activity factor, (1.2-1.9) lower for sedentary, highest for extremely active (I'm talking like the Rock extremely active).
Fats- everything else. Quality is more important than quantity, you want to focus on polyunsaturated fats.
With those put out there, it's important to note that there are at least 90 different conditions and mechanisms known to put a person at increased risk of being overweight, because those mechanisms effect your metabolic function. Many of these don't currently have consumer available diagnostic tests. The best way to get a concrete calorie number is CO2 calorimetry (bodpod, etc) Outside of that, you'll have to set your goals, and follow through for a month or two, and reassess based on results and how you're physically feeling.

ETA: And obviously, if you have a medical condition, see a dietitian if possible, they're the experts. Dietitian, not nutritionist; dietitians are licensed in each state and have a national standard level of education and experience, nutritionists may not, depending on the state.