Daily Calorie Target

whatyouwill

Hi Guys,

I wonder if anyone could comment on the below? I am just trying to work out how MFP is calculating things, and make the maths add up in my head

I have set MFP to '2lbs a week loss', and a lightly active lifestyle (I prefer to add cals from exercise manually). Here is my profile:

Male
24
220lbs

My daily target is worked out at: 1790 cals

How is this calculated? To lose 2lbs a week, would I not require a deficit of 1000cals per day? 1000 x 7 = 7000cals, /3500cals (1lb) = 2lbs a week?

This in turn means that MFP is working out I need approx. 2790 cals a day to maintain my current weight , is that correct?

Liftng4Lis

How tall are you?

jemhh

whatyouwill wrote: »

This in turn means that MFP is working out I need approx. 2790 cals a day to maintain my current weight , is that correct?

Yes. 2790 without any exercise, that is. Once you log exercise, those will be added to the 1790.

whatyouwill

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

How tall are you?

Sorry, forgot to add that. 5 foot, 10 inches.

Liftng4Lis

whatyouwill wrote: »

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

How tall are you?

Sorry, forgot to add that. 5 foot, 10 inches.

That's about right. Remember, these are all just guesstimates.

whatyouwill

jemhh wrote: »

whatyouwill wrote: »

This in turn means that MFP is working out I need approx. 2790 cals a day to maintain my current weight , is that correct?

Yes. 2790 without any exercise, that is. Once you log exercise, those will be added to the 1790.

2790 seems rather high, perhaps I will change it to Sedentary. After all I do have a desk job, despite a few KMs walk a day.

wkwebby

If you have a desk job, but everyday you are walking a few km's per day, you are lightly active. So your 1790 could be correct. Your age and current weight is also a factor. You don't want to go too low on the calorie target because you may find that you're really starving and end up eating up the kitchen sink. Why not start at 1790, and if you find that you aren't losing the 2lbs/week like you had hoped go down from there?

If you track honestly, you may find that 1790 may be difficult so don't short change yourself even more calories if you haven't tried this number out yet. Some of us MFP veterans would love the additional calories. Good luck to you!

whatyouwill

wkwebby wrote: »

If you have a desk job, but everyday you are walking a few km's per day, you are lightly active. So your 1790 could be correct. Your age and current weight is also a factor. You don't want to go too low on the calorie target because you may find that you're really starving and end up eating up the kitchen sink. Why not start at 1790, and if you find that you aren't losing the 2lbs/week like you had hoped go down from there?

If you track honestly, you may find that 1790 may be difficult so don't short change yourself even more calories if you haven't tried this number out yet. Some of us MFP veterans would love the additional calories. Good luck to you!

Thanks for the great advice. I will aim for a Net Cals of around 1600 and see how I go from there, that gives me the chance to up slightly or lower it. I tend to add 100 cals 'grace' in case I under-estimate on any foods (but I'm very careful with this).

jemhh

whatyouwill wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

whatyouwill wrote: »

This in turn means that MFP is working out I need approx. 2790 cals a day to maintain my current weight , is that correct?

Yes. 2790 without any exercise, that is. Once you log exercise, those will be added to the 1790.

2790 seems rather high, perhaps I will change it to Sedentary. After all I do have a desk job, despite a few KMs walk a day.

At your age, I have no problem believing that 2790 is correct. Being a young man is pretty much prime stuff for having a higher TDEE. As a 38 yo woman (meaning, not so prime, lol), my TDEE is 2200ish. Just trust the system for awhile and if you find you aren't losing, then tweak it a bit.