Understanding Your Macros

Rubric tracks three macronutrients — protein, carbohydrates, and fat — alongside calories, because calorie count alone does not tell you what you are eating.

What Macros Are

Macronutrients are the three categories of nutrients your body uses for energy. Every food contains some combination of them:

Protein — used for muscle repair, immune function, and satiety.
Carbohydrates — the body’s primary and fastest energy source.
Fat — used for hormone production, nutrient absorption, and sustained energy.

Two thousand calories of grilled chicken and vegetables is nutritionally different from 2,000 calories of pastries. Macro tracking captures that difference.

How Rubric Estimates Macros

When you log food by text, voice, or photo, the AI estimates protein, carbohydrates, and fat in grams alongside the calorie total. These are estimates. AI nutrition analysis is imprecise — a “grilled chicken breast” could range from 150 to 250 calories depending on size, preparation, and seasoning. Macros carry similar variance.

Treat the numbers as directional, not exact. If an estimate seems off, the Universal Resolver lets you adjust it. See The Universal Resolver for details.

Where Macros Appear

Dashboard. Below the score card, horizontal progress bars show your protein, carbs, and fat against daily targets. Each macro has a distinct color (blue for protein, green for carbs, yellow for fat). When you exceed a target, the bar displays a warning indicator.

Profile. Your profile screen shows your macro targets as a breakdown with percentages, alongside your calorie target.

Journal entries. Individual food log entries display estimated macros so you can see the breakdown per meal.

Coach context. The Coach has access to your macro totals and can discuss nutrition patterns during conversations.

How Targets Are Set

Your macro targets are calculated from your profile — height, weight, age, activity level, and goal — combined with your calorie target. The system uses an established metabolic formula to determine your baseline energy needs, then applies a macro split based on your selected nutrition strategy.

Macro targets are set during onboarding and adjust automatically if you update your profile or calorie target.

Why Ranges, Not Exact Numbers

AI nutrition estimates have inherent variance. Rubric shows your macro progress to help you notice patterns — consistently low protein, high carbs on weekends, fat intake creeping up — rather than to hit exact gram targets. The value is in the trend, not the decimal.

What this means for you: If your protein bar is consistently at 60% while carbs hit 120%, you have a useful signal regardless of whether the exact gram counts are precise.

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