Does MFP even work

Charmspellbaby

Hello my starting weight was 124 and ive bn logging my diary for 25 days. It now fluctuates between 124-122. Does this app even work??? MFP says by what im eating in five weeks I should weight 114-117 depending on my diary...I run or workout four days a week and always under calorie goals by 200 calories. Im eating healthy foods... wth?

trogalicious

are you using a food scale? if not, you're probably eating more than you think, or burning less calories than you think.

MFP is a tool. You can use a wrench to drive a nail, that doesn't make it a hammer. Learn the tool, use it correctly, win.

livingleanlivingclean

The app works as well as you make it work.
Take in to consideration that the calorie goal is only an estimate based on your stats - there are many reasons why you may require more or less calories.

25 days is not much time in the scheme of things. If your exercise is new you could be retaining some fluid. Your hormones may be doing the same depending on where you are on your cycle. You could be logging incorrectly. You could be overestimating exercise calories....

The type of foods you eat is not important to weight loss - you can eat as healthily as you like but eat too much and you'll not lose. How do you determine your intake - do you weigh and measure everything?

Charmspellbaby

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

The app works as well as you make it work.
Take in to consideration that the calorie goal is only an estimate based on your stats - there are many reasons why you may require more or less calories.

25 days is not much time in the scheme of things. If your exercise is new you could be retaining some fluid. Your hormones may be doing the same depending on where you are on your cycle. You could be logging incorrectly. You could be overestimating exercise calories....

The type of foods you eat is not important to weight loss - you can eat as healthily as you like but eat too much and you'll not lose. How do you determine your intake - do you weigh and measure everything?

diannethegeek

Nope. You caught us. All those posts on the Success Stories forum are made up. None of us really exist. /sarcasm

Useful links:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10196160/scale-stress-syndrome/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10191216/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-to-lose-weight

General advice:
1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

Unknown

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Charmspellbaby

Im eating mostly turkey burger or some type of grilled meat for protein. fruits and vegetables. Unsweetened almond milk and special k cereal. I drink only water, milos, or diet green tea. There's nothing to overeat. Weekends we go out once but I only eat half if that of whatever I order. The rest if the day I don't eat

livingleanlivingclean

Charmspellbaby wrote: »

Im eating mostly turkey burger or some type of grilled meat for protein. fruits and vegetables. Unsweetened almond milk and special k cereal. I drink only water, milos, or diet green tea. There's nothing to overeat. Weekends we go out once but I only eat half if that of whatever I order. The rest if the day I don't eat

Umm.... You can eat that food and be overeating. Besides the water it all has calories. Unless you're weighing and logging it, you have no idea how much you're eating.

4legsRbetterthan2

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

Charmspellbaby wrote: »

Im eating mostly turkey burger or some type of grilled meat for protein. fruits and vegetables. Unsweetened almond milk and special k cereal. I drink only water, milos, or diet green tea. There's nothing to overeat. Weekends we go out once but I only eat half if that of whatever I order. The rest if the day I don't eat

Umm.... You can eat that food and be overeating. Besides the water it all has calories. Unless you're weighing and logging it, you have no idea how much you're eating.

Pretty much this. The app works when used the way it is intended: to accuratelty log intake. If you don't want to do that then this isn't the method for you.