Maintenance calories set by MFP way too low

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 !

Replies

  • takemetosingapore2019
    takemetosingapore2019 Posts: 52 Member
    Also just realized I didn’t specify but I did set my profile to “active” on here. :)
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    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: 10,092 Member
    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: 34,204 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Hmm that doesn't sound particularly right to me. What is your height, weight, and gender?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    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
    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: 16,011 Member
    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
    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: 10,092 Member
    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: 10,092 Member
    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: 41,865 Member
    These calculators only provide for reasonably good estimates...they aren't gospel and expecting them to be is pretty unrealistic.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    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.

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    edited March 2019
    If you are set as active, most likely it is higher than 1800, I only weight 155 and my maintenance is set at >2000 set at light active. so unless you only weight 120 or so lbs, I would guess your maintenance is higher, even in MFP, maybe you set it to lose and it is giving you 1800 cals

    Also note that maintenance in MFP excludes exercise, which is why calories get added to your day when you log exercise.

    another thing to check, if you think it is way off, is MFP set for lbs and you entered your weight in KGs? as that would account for a lot of difference if you weigh twice as much as the site thinks you do.

    What is your gender, age, and weight?
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    erickirb wrote: »
    If you are set as active, most likely it is higher than 1800, I only weight 155 and my maintenance is set at >2000 set at light active. so unless you only weight 120 or so lbs, I would guess your maintenance is higher, even in MFP, maybe you set it to lose and it is giving you 1800 cals

    Also note that maintenance in MFP excludes exercise, which is why calories get added to your day when you log exercise.

    another thing to check, if you think it is way off, is MFP set for lbs and you entered your weight in KGs? as that would account for a lot of difference if you weigh twice as much as the site thinks you do.

    What is your gender, age, and weight?

    Yeah something is definitely off in the users settings. If they set it to active (1.6 multiplier), to get a maintenance of 1800, that means that MFP thinks their BMR is 1100. Considering the user described themselves as "very tall" that seems very unlikely and the more likely error is that there is an input error. My guess is their maintenance by MFP is really 2300-2500 they just entered something incorrectly.
  • kariadner
    kariadner Posts: 12 Member
    I like clicking complete at the end of the day. It just feels so… complete!
    And I like seeing how many calories I have left for the day.

    So, I went into my Goals page in MFP and manually edited my Daily Nutrition Goals to set the number of calories I have determined to be correct for me.

    I suggest you do the same.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    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.

    This comment and your comment above about not using the friend feature or completing a diary - we are like, MFP mood twins, lol. I do the exact same things. While I'm not at maintenance yet, I like to set a lower goal and then just go over a little everyday. There's something psychological about it that I can't quite put my finger on either.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,204 Member
    lynn_glenmont 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.

    But you're not going to get appropriate "support" if the post to your newsfeed every day says that you've exceeded your calories.

    If you manually set your calories (which I do), it publishes an "under calorie goal" message if you're under your custom-manually-set calories. At the same time, for the same day, it can be giving an "in 5 weeks" message that reflects weight gain (presumably because it's calculating that based on your demographic data and activity setting, i.e., based on the default calorie goal it would've given you if you let it set the goal based on its calculations.

    All your MFP friends will see is "under calorie goal", even as you see the gain number on your diary. So, "support" will be appropriate to the goal you've set yourself.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    edited March 2019
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    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.

    This comment and your comment above about not using the friend feature or completing a diary - we are like, MFP mood twins, lol. I do the exact same things. While I'm not at maintenance yet, I like to set a lower goal and then just go over a little everyday. There's something psychological about it that I can't quite put my finger on either.

    original.gif





  • StargazerB
    StargazerB Posts: 425 Member
    MFP is to be used by eating back your exercise calories. Personally I don't use mfp to measure my calorie intake, I use a TDEE calculator that has been incredibly accurate for me.
  • Roza42
    Roza42 Posts: 246 Member
    I'm 53 and 5'6. I lose about a lb a week at 1900 calories and recently had my rmr tested at 1800 kcal. It's very individual. You can add 100 cal per week and if you gain, then cut it back.

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