Variations of MFP to lose weight

beth0277

My biggest weight loss barrier is feeling restricted. Once I start feeling that way, I binge. I'm considering going back on WW since it allows for weekly extra points, which I think helps me some in not feeling restricted. Knowing that at the end of the day, if I really want a few scoops of ice cream, I can fit it in. I have an app I paid just a few dollars for for WW so it's not a monthly expense. I've also considered sticking with MFP but giving myself one day a week at maintenance calories. Has anyone had success with that? I'm someone who loves to cook a special weekend breakfast for my family (think pancakes or waffles) or have a meal out as a family. I think setting myself up for 1500 calories a day (with no variations) will cause me to fail. I could also save up exercise calories and use those for a weekly "splurge". What do you all think?

janekana

Even if you go to WW, you will still need to ensure that you are within their points, which is a similar form of restriction anyways. You also need to be careful of their fruits if you're using the new system too, apparently fruits are 0 points which doesn't work because they still have sugar in them.

You need to realise that even with MFP, you can still fit a scoop of ice cream at the end of the day if you have enough calorie allowance. Try looking for Halo Top (if I'm not wrong) ice cream, they do low calorie ones.

If you feel like 1500 is too aggressive, either do more exercise or go for a slower rate of weight loss. Honestly, even if you go for either WW or MFP, you're still going to restrict yourself, it just comes with a different name.

leooftheyear

Honestly I follow the 80/20 method, 80% of the time im really good, aka during the week, and 20% of the time I allow for a treat or two, aka the weekend. But honestly, you can earn extra calories by going for a walk or going to zumba, if that's you thing, which is really no different than the WW extra weekly points.

At the end of the day its CICO, I leave a little wiggle room during the week so I can have my drinks or mega cinnamon roll on the weekend

Also, what are your MFP settings?

beth0277

To lose 2 pounds a week, MFP recommends I eat 1200 calories a day. I know that isn't realistic (for me) so I manually put in 1500.

janekana

beth0277 wrote: »

To lose 2 pounds a week, MFP recommends I eat 1200 calories a day. I know that isn't realistic (for me) so I manually put in 1500.

Losing 2 pounds a week is already really aggressive, lower your settings down to 0.5-1lbs per week. MFP would give you a much higher calorie allowance.

Also, I hope you understand that even if you put in 2 lbs per week but then manually raise the calories, that you won't be losing 2 lbs per week, so don't be disappointed when you go on the scale.

beth0277

I just changed it to one pound a week and it only increased me to 1556.

Yes, I realize that by manually changing it that I wouldn't be on track to lose two pounds a week.

ericwhitt

Once you learn the science behind the math, you don't really need WW to keep track. Maybe for your mentality and personality, you're better off looking at it as a weekly deficit instead of a daily deficit. Instead of trying to be in a 500 calorie a day deficit, try and hit ~3500 for the week. This way if you have a day you go over, you don't hurt your mentality because you still have the rest of the week to make up for it. It also lets you still have that weekend meal where you have been good all week and are already at a deficit of 3200 and can afford to eat a little more.

SusanMFindlay

beth0277 wrote: »

I've also considered sticking with MFP but giving myself one day a week at maintenance calories. Has anyone had success with that?

There's no reason that wouldn't work. All that matters is your average calorie deficit over the week (or month). Having one higher day won't interfere with weightloss unless it's so high that it counteracts your deficit on all the other days.

maidengirl_

Counting calories here is the same as WW. Your exercise calories are your "free" calories for the week but the only difference is that it's calculated daily. The more you exercise, the more you can eat. But if you don't stay in some sort of deficiency, you won't lose weight. Good luck.

fitoverfortymom

I was beside myself when MFP spit out 1250 calories for me to lose 2lbs per week, so I spent some time fooling around with prelogging to see what I could eat for 1250. It was quite liberating. I tried it for a week. Than another. Then another. I figured after 3 weeks, I could keep going at that rate because I consistently could plan meals to reach my goals. Some days I eat almost exactly 1250 and other days (time of month it seems) I eat into my exercise calories.

It's a learning curve and it can be done, but I had to really, really commit to it.