Counting Macros

This might seem like a silly question to all of you… but when you count up your calories to get your macros. Do you get your % through calories, or by the total amount of grams?
Do you do it by calories where a gram of fat carries greater weight? or by grams were everything is even??

By calories.

ok… when i add up my total calories…multiplying my final grams by 4 or 9, it doesent equal the total that i have for the day. Maybe the web site ive been using is inacurate. Ive been using the atkins gram counter.

I figure out my carbs, fats and proteins in grams. If I want a diet of 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat, I would take my total calories, times it by the percent and then divide that number by 4 for protein and carbs. For fats I divide it by 9.

Are you by any chance taking in a lot of foods (e.g. protein bars) that include glyerin? It’s not including in the carb count because it affects blood sugar differently, but it is a part of the total calories. Also, remember that food manufacturers usually round up or down to the nearest 5 or ten calories. For instance, if a food has 3g carbs, they’ll list it as 15 calories instead of 12. The FDA allows them some wiggle room; it’s the same reason that sugar substitutes like Equal can say that they have no calories when they actually have about 1/4g carbs (1 calorie).

its mostlikly the rounding that gets me off.

Calories is correct. Mine never add up either.

Partly for the same reason Eric mentions, those bars have “hidden” carbs, the same as alcohol.
This is true of all processed foods, calories seem to come out of nowhere.