Will MFP update my calorie goal?

adi11223344

I’m wondering if/when MFP will update my calorie goal. I’ve lost 12.5 pounds, but it’s still allowing me 1500 calories/day, which seems high for my current weight (I’m currently 5’4 and 147 lbs). I’ve been eating more like 1300-1400 calories per day, but I’m just wondering why it isn’t updating as I lose weight? I read online that it should prompt you/ask you every 10 lbs, but that never happened! I don’t want to reset my starting weight because I like tracking my progress, but I also don’t know how to recalculate my calorie goal on my own...
My goal is 130.
Any insight is appreciated!

diannethegeek

Are you using MFP's defaults or did you customize any of the goals? If you stick to the defaults the system ~should~ prompt you every 10 pounds (but it doesn't always for whatever reason). If you set any custom goals then the system figures you know to adjust as you go.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

The correction for weight is about 5 kcals per pound. MFP may not adjust while you're losing so as not to bum you out. You can see that it isn't all that much.

strongwouldbenice

I just go to goals and swap my "lose x per week" to a different one and then back and it readjusts.

mazcor536

Mine has never prompted me, but go into your goals, select a different activity level, save it, then go back and set it back to where you want it, save it, and voila, new calorie goal. I’m sure there’s a proper way to do it, and I tend to complicate things unnecessarily but this works for me!

CyberTone

Changing your goal temporarily and changing it back is probably the easiest way to ensure that it changes if it is warranted. Note that MFP goals seem to go down (or up) in increments of 10 Calories, so the change may not be enough to bump the Calories by the minimum 10 Calorie change. Also, the minimum daily goal for women is 1200 and for men is 1500 Calories.

I would suggest to take the opportunity to change your goal temporarily to Maintenance and make note of that daily goal number, then change it back to your desired loss rate. The maintenance number would be your estimated Calories to maintain your current weight at your current Activity Level setting. Knowing this number helped me when I had a treat meal, because I could budget the extra Calories so that they at least did not exceed my maintenance number for that day.

adi11223344

Thanks everyone for the replies! I changed my goal from lose 1lb/week to 1.5 and then back again to 1lb/week and it did indeed reduce my calorie target from 1500 to 1420. It’s much better to know for sure, as I had been trying to stick closer to 1300 under the assumption that a 12lb loss on a small frame should make a difference in the calorie intake; I’m only about 12-15 lbs from my goal, so a few extra calories can really add up over the course of a week!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

They say that the reward for doing good work is more work. Well, the reward for losing weight is getting to eat fewer calories per day!

(In theory, you won't miss them because your apatite will adjust with your weight. In practice...)