Maintenance calories set by MFP way too low

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takemetosingapore2019
takemetosingapore2019 Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone. I’m 20, have used MFP to maintain my weight for over a year. I got very frustrated however, with the maintenance set to 1800cal for a teenager ( last year) who is active and also very tall. Every time in my life I have ate 1800 calories I have lost 0.5-1lb a week without trying. I used a few TDEEs as well as had my metabolic rate measured at my school and it’s 2600 calories. Has anyone else noticed the MFP maintenance is too low? If you think it is too low, then how do you work around it? I stopped using MFP for a long time, and now I have preset my calories in here using my own numbers- just as I did when I wasn’t on MFP.

Thanks !
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Replies

  • takemetosingapore2019
    takemetosingapore2019 Posts: 52 Member
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    Also just realized I didn’t specify but I did set my profile to “active” on here. :)
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,945 Member
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    It's way low for me too and I'm 65 :)

    I eat a full 500 calories more per day than any of the calculator suggest I should. They are just a general starting point, your own numbers will always trump an online calculator. Some people find the calories are too high, so there's that.

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    Yes. It's too low for me and I'm 57. I can eat more than 400 calories more than MFP thinks I should. I never thought of it as something to complain about. I imagine most people trying to lose weight would be happy to have that "problem."
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,085 Member
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    If you've been eating 1800 calories and losing a pound a week, your maintenance is 2300 calories (1800 + 500). If you want to maintain your weight, try eating that. You can set your calorie goal to anything you want it to be.

    I'm a li'l ol' lady, age 63, and MFP underestimates my maintenance calories. I just set the goal manually to the right number of calories for me to eat. That works fine. (Well, the "In 5 Weeks" thing says stupid stuff, but I don't care.)

    Set your goal to whatever you want it to be.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    The recommendation starts with a calculator that provides recommendations for typically 80% of the population..ppl will fall outside it, you are likely one of them
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
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    Ultimately, your personal data (estimates of calories in and out and how the scale responds over a couple of months) is what matters.
  • takemetosingapore2019
    takemetosingapore2019 Posts: 52 Member
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    Thanks everyone!! These are all super helpful. I have ignored the MFP recommendation and worked off what works for me as someone else had said. It is scary though when this app tells me after completing a diary that I will gain 10lb in 5 weeks... and I end up maintaining. I don’t want to gain and become overweight but I’m also not looking to lose so I have to be pretty exact with calories. Like someone else said 2300 sounds about right. I tend to average between 2300-2600 and stay the same. The medical study showed my TDEE to be ~2600 but I think that was inflated a bit so I typically use 2300-2400 :)
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    Hmm that doesn't sound particularly right to me. What is your height, weight, and gender?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    Yes its a bit low for me too, it gives me 1860 to maintain at 5ft 2/126lbs/49yrs, but my reality is closer to 2000. Not as lot of course, but still more that MFP.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    takemetosingapore2019 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone!! These are all super helpful. I have ignored the MFP recommendation and worked off what works for me as someone else had said. It is scary though when this app tells me after completing a diary that I will gain 10lb in 5 weeks... and I end up maintaining. I don’t want to gain and become overweight but I’m also not looking to lose so I have to be pretty exact with calories. Like someone else said 2300 sounds about right. I tend to average between 2300-2600 and stay the same. The medical study showed my TDEE to be ~2600 but I think that was inflated a bit so I typically use 2300-2400 :)

    There is absolutely ZERO benefit or need to do that "Complete this entry" thing. It doesn't affect anything and the only function it serves is that totally lame "in 5 weeks" thing.

    I've been on this site for 12 years and I m a y have clicked that ten times or so..? Just don't click it! Problem solved! It won't affect your reports or anything.

    If you don't click "complete this entry" it won't publish to your newsfeed, so you won't get the support from your MFP friends. I realize for some it doesn't matter, but for others it's beneficial to have the encouragement.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    MikePTY wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    takemetosingapore2019 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone!! These are all super helpful. I have ignored the MFP recommendation and worked off what works for me as someone else had said. It is scary though when this app tells me after completing a diary that I will gain 10lb in 5 weeks... and I end up maintaining. I don’t want to gain and become overweight but I’m also not looking to lose so I have to be pretty exact with calories. Like someone else said 2300 sounds about right. I tend to average between 2300-2600 and stay the same. The medical study showed my TDEE to be ~2600 but I think that was inflated a bit so I typically use 2300-2400 :)

    There is absolutely ZERO benefit or need to do that "Complete this entry" thing. It doesn't affect anything and the only function it serves is that totally lame "in 5 weeks" thing.

    I've been on this site for 12 years and I m a y have clicked that ten times or so..? Just don't click it! Problem solved! It won't affect your reports or anything.

    If you don't click "complete this entry" it won't publish to your newsfeed, so you won't get the support from your MFP friends. I realize for some it doesn't matter, but for others it's beneficial to have the encouragement.

    If the support of friends is important to a user, it doesn't seem like it would be too much effort to manually post that you are done for the day and hit your calorie goal. But I guess it's even easier to ignore the dumb 5 week projection pop up. Whatever works :smile:
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
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    takemetosingapore2019 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone!! These are all super helpful. I have ignored the MFP recommendation and worked off what works for me as someone else had said. It is scary though when this app tells me after completing a diary that I will gain 10lb in 5 weeks... and I end up maintaining. I don’t want to gain and become overweight but I’m also not looking to lose so I have to be pretty exact with calories. Like someone else said 2300 sounds about right. I tend to average between 2300-2600 and stay the same. The medical study showed my TDEE to be ~2600 but I think that was inflated a bit so I typically use 2300-2400 :)

    Yeah -- that's the big thing that I've found. You can't click "complete your entry" and get an accurate read/alert if you change your goal. It's one of the stupidest things about MFP. (I know it bases off an algorithm for a reason, but it doesn't acknowledge that people have different needs.)

    So you either need to not complete the entry, or just accept that it's not accurate. Doesn't matter. When I set my calories to maintenance -- my true maintenance, not the MFP proclamation of maintenance -- I just don't complete it.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    takemetosingapore2019 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone!! These are all super helpful. I have ignored the MFP recommendation and worked off what works for me as someone else had said. It is scary though when this app tells me after completing a diary that I will gain 10lb in 5 weeks... and I end up maintaining. I don’t want to gain and become overweight but I’m also not looking to lose so I have to be pretty exact with calories. Like someone else said 2300 sounds about right. I tend to average between 2300-2600 and stay the same. The medical study showed my TDEE to be ~2600 but I think that was inflated a bit so I typically use 2300-2400 :)

    Then don't click on the "complete" button. It doesn't do anything but generate the message (and possibly post to your news feed, depending on your settings).
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    MikePTY wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    takemetosingapore2019 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone!! These are all super helpful. I have ignored the MFP recommendation and worked off what works for me as someone else had said. It is scary though when this app tells me after completing a diary that I will gain 10lb in 5 weeks... and I end up maintaining. I don’t want to gain and become overweight but I’m also not looking to lose so I have to be pretty exact with calories. Like someone else said 2300 sounds about right. I tend to average between 2300-2600 and stay the same. The medical study showed my TDEE to be ~2600 but I think that was inflated a bit so I typically use 2300-2400 :)

    There is absolutely ZERO benefit or need to do that "Complete this entry" thing. It doesn't affect anything and the only function it serves is that totally lame "in 5 weeks" thing.

    I've been on this site for 12 years and I m a y have clicked that ten times or so..? Just don't click it! Problem solved! It won't affect your reports or anything.

    If you don't click "complete this entry" it won't publish to your newsfeed, so you won't get the support from your MFP friends. I realize for some it doesn't matter, but for others it's beneficial to have the encouragement.

    But you're not going to get appropriate "support" if the post to your newsfeed every day says that you've exceeded your calories.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    These calculators only provide for reasonably good estimates...they aren't gospel and expecting them to be is pretty unrealistic.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,945 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    MikePTY wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    takemetosingapore2019 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone!! These are all super helpful. I have ignored the MFP recommendation and worked off what works for me as someone else had said. It is scary though when this app tells me after completing a diary that I will gain 10lb in 5 weeks... and I end up maintaining. I don’t want to gain and become overweight but I’m also not looking to lose so I have to be pretty exact with calories. Like someone else said 2300 sounds about right. I tend to average between 2300-2600 and stay the same. The medical study showed my TDEE to be ~2600 but I think that was inflated a bit so I typically use 2300-2400 :)

    There is absolutely ZERO benefit or need to do that "Complete this entry" thing. It doesn't affect anything and the only function it serves is that totally lame "in 5 weeks" thing.

    I've been on this site for 12 years and I m a y have clicked that ten times or so..? Just don't click it! Problem solved! It won't affect your reports or anything.

    If you don't click "complete this entry" it won't publish to your newsfeed, so you won't get the support from your MFP friends. I realize for some it doesn't matter, but for others it's beneficial to have the encouragement.

    I guess some choices need to be made, then. I no longer use the "friend" features. So if one needs outside encouragement or attention I suppose that would be a consideration. It isn't something that affects me.

    Personally I dislike the red numbers. I wish I could turn that off. :lol: It is what it is.

    If they're red and green, pretend it's Christmas; all red, Valentine's Day. Celebrate! ;)

    :lol: Great answer.

    Here's the thing though (and it's kinda on topic) - I have my calories set to 1700 even though I know I maintain somewhere north of 2100. I do that because psychologically for me it works better to be set lower so I don't start adding snacks midday or having a big lunch.

    My hunger/appetite switch is pretty non-functional. I could easily eat 3000 calories every day - and I did that for years. Hence 220 pounds. Now that I've been a healthy weight for many years, I still want to eat a lot more than my Goal. Every. Stinking. Day.

    I haven't been good at setting it at my *actual* maintenance amount of 2100 - because then I start looking at that as my goal to hit and I tend to eat too much too early. If I set it at 1700, I'll have my 800 calories before noon and then I'm able to stop until dinner - usually.

    I find it difficult to stick to a calorie goal - I don't know if it's the 60s Rebel in me or what, but I do better when I set it low and then allow myself to go over, even though it's every day.

    Those red numbers tho.

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