Dashboard Macros don’t match my Goals

xanderkross9545
xanderkross9545 Posts: 4 Member
in MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions
Hi all,

The macros goals on my dashboard are much higher than my actual goals. When I go to the “goals” section it lists the correct macros, but the dashboard lists them much much higher.

I have tried reinstalling and it made no difference.

Anyone know what this is about or how to fix it?

Thanks.

Best Answers

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,888 Member
    Answer ✓
    Screenshots might help us to understand?
    One potential cause (aside from a bug in the system) could be if you exercised and/or were more active than your selected activity setting. When you log exercise or your activity tracker gives a positive calorie adjustment, your calorie goal goes up and your macro goals accordingly.
  • durden
    durden Posts: 3,592 MFP Staff
    edited April 1 Answer ✓
    Hi all! Really important clarification here;
    marciajerez wrote: »
    How do I keep the macros fixed but still have it discount the calories burned from calories i’m supposed to eat

    This is physically impossible to do because your macronutrient (grams) are how calories are calculated.

    Carbs and protein are 4 calories per gram.
    Fat is 9 calories per gram.

    If you exercise and add calories back into your net calorie total, your macros have to change in order for the calculation to be mathematically sound.

    So, if you're on a specific plan where your macros absolutely need to stay the same (which is totally valid), then you should turn Exercise Calories OFF using that Premium feature. However, if you want to include exercise calories, your macros are going to change, and that has nothing to do with MyFitnessPal; that's science!

    Alternatively, if you have your macros set to a percentage (instead of grams, which you can only use if you are Premium) then your percentages will stay the same even if you add exercise. However, those percentages are naturally going to represent higher figures based on your increased calorie goal. (30% of 2158 is naturally going to be higher than 30% of 1970).

    As always, if you're confused about the calculations please feel free to reach out to our support team and we'd be happy to double check things or offer clarification as needed.

Answers

  • xanderkross9545
    xanderkross9545 Posts: 4 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    Screenshots might help us to understand?
    One potential cause (aside from a bug in the system) could be if you exercised and/or were more active than your selected activity setting. When you log exercise or your activity tracker gives a positive calorie adjustment, your calorie goal goes up and your macro goals accordingly.

    Wow. I had no idea the Dashboard macros adjusted for exercise.

    Thanks.

    Anyway to turn this adjustment off without losing the exercise total?

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,888 Member
    What do you mean by 'without losing the exercise total'? You mean seeing the exercise in your diary? With a premium membership, you can choose to have a fixed calorie goal, or you can choose to have the extra calories allotted to specific macros.
  • marciajerez
    marciajerez Posts: 1 Member
    I have premium. I turned off Adjust calories for exercise because my macros kept moving but now it doesn’t subtract the exercise calories whatsoever?? How do I keep the macros fixed but still have it discount the calories burned from calories i’m supposed to eat

    It was working perfect. Macros stayed fixed and your exercise calories automatically discounted from total calories consumed. I then adjusted my new macro settings to work better with my meal plan and now it’s not working like before.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,888 Member
    marciajerez wrote: »
    I have premium. I turned off Adjust calories for exercise because my macros kept moving but now it doesn’t subtract the exercise calories whatsoever?? How do I keep the macros fixed but still have it discount the calories burned from calories i’m supposed to eat

    It was working perfect. Macros stayed fixed and your exercise calories automatically discounted from total calories consumed. I then adjusted my new macro settings to work better with my meal plan and now it’s not working like before.

    If you have premium, I believe you can choose to which macro(s) your exercise calories are added with calorie adjustments activated. If you deactivate calorie adjustments, then you will simply have a fixed calorie goal no matter how much you exercise (this is mostly meant for people who use a different way of calculating their calorie goal, for example a TDEE calculator).
  • Elyssa815
    Elyssa815 Posts: 1 Member
    I have premium. My chosen goals don’t match (macros/calories). Example: my goal is 2,158 calories and the daily goal is 1970 calories. I go into edit/update the daily goals for macros and calories and macros/calories are my chosen goals.
  • y9pd4h4c9b
    y9pd4h4c9b Posts: 1 Member
    I’m having the same problem. Extremely frustrating. Defeats the whole point of premium if this feature doesn’t work. Might cancel
  • kondochloe
    kondochloe Posts: 1 Member
    Here's how:

    1. On the bottom right of your app, click "More"

    2. From the list, choose "Goals"

    3. Scroll down to the bottom, you'll see "exercise calories", turn it to "off".
  • suesarnfen
    suesarnfen Posts: 1 Member
    Go to Goals, Exercise Calories, and turn off adjust my calorie goals. This should correct it. I was having the same issue until I realized my macros increased as I exercised more.

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