Grams of Macros doesn’t match Calorie Count!

Hello, I just wanted to let you know there is definitely a discrepancy with your calorie count and your macro count. 


Here’s a screenshot of the calories on my husbands Cronometer gold account for today.


As you see he has in his meal plan a total of 2066.2 calories. I checked to see if that number was correct by adding the calories of each individual food item and sure enough, it equaled 2066.3 , as you can see in the screenshot of the calculator equation. 


The protein, carbs and fat however is where there is a problem. 

Cronometer says he has 181.3 grams protein, 247.5 grams carbs, and 55.4 grams fat in his diet today. However if you do the math and multiply the grams of carbs and protein by 4 (calories per gram) and the fat multiply by 9 (calories per gram) the total calorie count SHOULD BE 2213.8. But in actuality it is 2066.3. 

Somehow your macro count is off by a couple hundred calories. I’m not sure why there is a discrepancy but when I’m asking all this work to eat a certain amount of grams of protein, fat and carbs it’s disturbing that it is off by that much. It makes me wonder how many grams of each I was actually eating and if I even made it to my goal. Please explain what’s going on and help me understand if it’s something wrong that I did in my settings or what. Thanks,


Camille 

Comments

  • Hi Camille,

    The amount of energy for each macronutrient (4/4/9 kcal/g for protein/carbs/fat) are average estimates. Cronometer uses more accurate values when they are available for the foods you log in your diary. For example, some carbs are 2, 3.8, 4.1, 4.3 kcals per gram etc. Same is true for protein and fats.

    Swipe the top banner in your diary to the right and tap on your energy Consumed circle. This will show you how many calories are coming from protein, carbs, fat, as well as alcohol if there was any.

    Karen Stark
    cronometer.com
    As always, any and all postings here are covered by our T&Cs:
    https://forums.cronometer.com/discussion/27/governing-terms-and-disclaimer

  • I think I'm encountering something similar.

    With the caveat that I'm new to macro tracking and Cronometer, I find it confusing to see all of the macros over 100%, but the energy still below. Furthermore, if I follow the common 4/4/9 equation, the consumed grams gives me 3057 kcal, i.e. 222 more than the 2835 that Cronometer shows.

    I was not aware that actual kcal/g could very so much from the average. Can you share any resources that go into more depth? I also feel like there's an opportunity to explain this in the diary UI.

  • This is definitely not good.

    This problem arise just two days ago on my app. I’m looking at November 10th for example vs November 16th.


    November 10 macros and calories reflected accurately. Last night, November 15th, as I was putting together my meal plan for the 16th, I started to notice that I was already maxing out my calories while my macros weren’t filled in.

    I took the time to add total calories of the macros I needed to meet, the macros of what I had put together, the total calories, and the subtotal calories of each meal.


    All of it is inaccurate. There’s no way to decipher what food item is 4 cals or 4.x or 9 cals or 9.x.


    I'm at a loss, I have no idea what food items I need to change in weight. All I know is my macro percentages are out of whack while my calories are over 200 +/- my allotted calories for the day.

    Why the heck did this have to happen during a cut?

    it needs to be fixed, otherwise we’re spending money on an app that’s essentially ruining our goals.

    This app is broken as it stands and it’s unacceptable for paying customers. Either fix this with an update specifying what food items are 4.x and 9.x cals for protein, carbs and fats or I’m done being a gold member and moving back to fitness pal. I can’t play guessing games.