Eating just under MFP given maintenance calories and it's predicting I'll put on weight!
sefajane1
Posts: 322 Member
Just that really.
MFP gives me 1470 cal's/day to maintain. I've eaten 1458 calories and just closed my diary. It says I'll gain 1lb over 5 weeks. What?? 🤔
MFP gives me 1470 cal's/day to maintain. I've eaten 1458 calories and just closed my diary. It says I'll gain 1lb over 5 weeks. What?? 🤔
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Replies
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Sorry, I just checked again and it's a 1.4lbs gain, not 1lb.
How is that maintenance?1 -
And I've just done a "quick add" to make tomorrow's calories up to the 1470 calories and closed the diary - I'd gain 1.6lbs in 5 weeks. Something's not right 🤔 I want to maintain, not gain.1
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Ok so, jiggling about with tomorrow's calories I'd need to eat only 1317 of the 1470 maintenance calories that MFP has set me to actually maintain.
Any ideas as to why this would be?
That's a potential 153 calories/day I'd be overeating 🙄1 -
Ignore the MFP prediction it is worthless. Just eat what you think is your calories and check the results.12
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I get that, I just don't understand how they can get it so wrong?
I'm new to maintenance and quite frankly I'm scared now about trusting the daily calorie amount. I think I'll stick with the 1317 to be on the safe side.3 -
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I get that, I just don't understand how they can get it so wrong?
I'm new to maintenance and quite frankly I'm scared now about trusting the daily calorie amount. I think I'll stick with the 1317 to be on the safe side.
Have you logged any weight loss since MFP generated its maintenance prediction for you?5 -
I don't think being scared of calories is necessarily a good way to start maintenance but then I have no experience doing it. Seems like you would start with a number that makes sense and then check the results and then tweak as needed.7
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It will not just look into calories, but the quality of food, and in what proportions. For example, a pudding snack pack might raise the prediction up 1 pound (saying if you had an extra pudding cup every day for 5 weeks you may gain a pound), while an applesauce cup may raise the prediction 0.5 lbs. Try to make sure you also balance your macros and be careful of sugar and excessive carbs. If the protein and fat macros are left behind but carbs are exceeded, that is a known indication of weight gain. It is something that adds up over time.
Best of luck!!61 -
Um no, because the quality of food doesn’t impact weight loss, maintenance or gain. Only calories. If the pudding cup and the applesauce have equivalent calories then the impact on weight (and the prediction from MFP)would be the same.19
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hammondgirl wrote: »It will not just look into calories, but the quality of food, and in what proportions. For example, a pudding snack pack might raise the prediction up 1 pound (saying if you had an extra pudding cup every day for 5 weeks you may gain a pound), while an applesauce cup may raise the prediction 0.5 lbs. Try to make sure you also balance your macros and be careful of sugar and excessive carbs. If the protein and fat macros are left behind but carbs are exceeded, that is a known indication of weight gain. It is something that adds up over time.
Best of luck!!
There is not a word of truth in this statement.28 -
Transitioning into maintenance is scary and having the app throw out curveballs like this does not help the process.
Rather than relying on this gimmick though you are better off looking at your own data from the last month or so of losing. If you were losing at an average rate of about 1/2 pound a week over that time then it is a pretty safe bet that adding 250 extra calories a day will be pretty close to your maintenance calories.10 -
Have you logged a lower weight but not run through the goal setting yet? It doesn't auto-update.8
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Cough cough cough.
Hello there tigress!
You're getting sidetracked due to fear.
Assuming you're now at a comfortable weight? Wasn't it like yesterday when you were too low and heading for a vacation? Have you given your weight some time to settle after coming back?
How much of the unwanted loss have you managed to reclaim?
Anyway.
Plug your weigh ins into your weight trend app... which one are you using?
Eat the higher cals.
If your weight TREND increases by +2 lbs above maintenance, scale back by recent excess cals and an extra 50 till you're level where you want.
Until your trend increases while eating full maintenance calories... there is no reason to scale back.
Btw . Didn't you use to need 1600 to maintain and were losing at 1300? How are you now maintaining below. I definitely could be misremembering the numbers ...13 -
Ignore the pudding cup analogy. You could eat only pudding cups and as long as you stayed within your daily intake you’d be fine. I would eat the prescribed amount of maintenance calories and after two weeks if you’re gaining lower then.5
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hammondgirl wrote: »It will not just look into calories, but the quality of food, and in what proportions. For example, a pudding snack pack might raise the prediction up 1 pound (saying if you had an extra pudding cup every day for 5 weeks you may gain a pound), while an applesauce cup may raise the prediction 0.5 lbs. Try to make sure you also balance your macros and be careful of sugar and excessive carbs. If the protein and fat macros are left behind but carbs are exceeded, that is a known indication of weight gain. It is something that adds up over time.
Best of luck!!
I am not sure where you think you are or what software you are talking about but this is MFP. The predictor here was badly written but it wasn't that badly written.7 -
hammondgirl wrote: »It will not just look into calories, but the quality of food, and in what proportions. For example, a pudding snack pack might raise the prediction up 1 pound (saying if you had an extra pudding cup every day for 5 weeks you may gain a pound), while an applesauce cup may raise the prediction 0.5 lbs. Try to make sure you also balance your macros and be careful of sugar and excessive carbs. If the protein and fat macros are left behind but carbs are exceeded, that is a known indication of weight gain. It is something that adds up over time.
Best of luck!!
How would an algorithm know to look at the quality of food and then make that type of judgment?13 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »I get that, I just don't understand how they can get it so wrong?
I'm new to maintenance and quite frankly I'm scared now about trusting the daily calorie amount. I think I'll stick with the 1317 to be on the safe side.
Have you logged any weight loss since MFP generated its maintenance prediction for you?
@sefajane1 probably there is a mismatch like this going on. Double check your entries in https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided0 -
hammondgirl wrote: »It will not just look into calories, but the quality of food, and in what proportions. For example, a pudding snack pack might raise the prediction up 1 pound (saying if you had an extra pudding cup every day for 5 weeks you may gain a pound), while an applesauce cup may raise the prediction 0.5 lbs. Try to make sure you also balance your macros and be careful of sugar and excessive carbs. If the protein and fat macros are left behind but carbs are exceeded, that is a known indication of weight gain. It is something that adds up over time.
Best of luck!!
Thank you for responding but I'm afraid that I completely disagree. MFP doesn't base it's calorie allowance on where the calories come from. A calorie is a calorie regardless of whether it comes from a pudding or fruit.10 -
Age 51 female, 5' 4", 99.8lbs
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »Have you logged a lower weight but not run through the goal setting yet? It doesn't auto-update.
I refresh my goals daily to make sure it's correct.
My issue is that if I ate at the 1470 it gave me I'd gain weight, not maintain.0 -
MelanieCN77 wrote: »Have you logged a lower weight but not run through the goal setting yet? It doesn't auto-update.
I refresh my goals daily to make sure it's correct.
My issue is that if I ate at the 1470 it gave me I'd gain weight, not maintain.
I think the predictor is inaccurate enough to be ignored but you are already underweight by BMI charts so I’m not sure why you are so hung up on this metric that everyone has told you is unreliable....8 -
Cough cough cough.
Hello there tigress!
You're getting sidetracked due to fear.
Assuming you're now at a comfortable weight? Wasn't it like yesterday when you were too low and heading for a vacation? Have you given your weight some time to settle after coming back?
How much of the unwanted loss have you managed to reclaim?
Anyway.
Plug your weigh ins into your weight trend app... which one are you using?
Eat the higher cals.
If your weight TREND increases by +2 lbs above maintenance, scale back by recent excess cals and an extra 50 till you're level where you want.
Until your trend increases while eating full maintenance calories... there is no reason to scale back.
Btw . Didn't you use to need 1600 to maintain and were losing at 1300? How are you now maintaining below. I definitely could be misremembering the numbers ...
Hi @PAV8888 👋 My holiday was back in May. I was 112.2lbs at the start and 114.4lbs after. I lost the holiday weight, and more. I've continued to lose, I'm now 99.8lbs. I'm trying to maintain before gaining as that seems the safer way for me (mentally) to cope.
I've got a 3.5 week holiday coming up in 5 weeks time, I'm hoping to maintain until then. I know I'll gain quite a bit over the holiday and I'll try to maintain that new weight afterwards.
I use the Libra app but I don't really find that very helpful.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »MelanieCN77 wrote: »Have you logged a lower weight but not run through the goal setting yet? It doesn't auto-update.
I refresh my goals daily to make sure it's correct.
My issue is that if I ate at the 1470 it gave me I'd gain weight, not maintain.
I think the predictor is inaccurate enough to be ignored but you are already underweight by BMI charts so I’m not sure why you are so hung up on this metric that everyone has told you is unreliable....
It's a matter of trust. I trusted MFP to lose weight, I want to have that same trust to maintain.0 -
I'll look at my net calories over the last 2 months, compare that with my weight loss and calculate my maintenance number from that. I just wish that MFP would get it right 😣0
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Age 51 female, 5' 4", 99.8lbs
I ran your numbers myself, and your maintanence calories are 1317 if your activity level is sedentary. I am not sure where 1470 came from. MFP may be using an older weight for that calculation.
That being said, your BMI is 17.2, which is pretty severely underweight. Gaining would actually be the healthy and beneficial thing to do. Are you currently seeking counseling or treatment for an eating disorder? I am seeing red flags left and right in the posts in this thread. I know sometimes eating disorders may be thought of as a younger person's disease but they can happen with anyone regardless of age. If you are not currently seeking help, I strongly recommend that you do so. That can help get you on a path to a healthier weight.20 -
Age 51 female, 5' 4", 99.8lbs
I ran your numbers myself, and your maintanence calories are 1317 if your activity level is sedentary. I am not sure where 1470 came from. MFP may be using an older weight for that calculation.
That being said, your BMI is 17.2, which is pretty severely underweight. Gaining would actually be the healthy and beneficial thing to do. Are you currently seeking counseling or treatment for an eating disorder? I am seeing red flags left and right in the posts in this thread. I know sometimes eating disorders may be thought of as a younger person's disease but they can happen with anyone regardless of age. If you are not currently seeking help, I strongly recommend that you do so. That can help get you on a path to a healthier weight.
1470 is maintenance at lightly active.
I've had ED's on and off all my adult life (usually every 3-5 years) but this isn't that. I've lost weight healthily this time and I recognise that now I need to maintain for a while until my holiday next month. I'll maintain whatever the holiday weight gain is afterwards also.5 -
Age 51 female, 5' 4", 99.8lbs
I ran your numbers myself, and your maintanence calories are 1317 if your activity level is sedentary. I am not sure where 1470 came from. MFP may be using an older weight for that calculation.
That being said, your BMI is 17.2, which is pretty severely underweight. Gaining would actually be the healthy and beneficial thing to do. Are you currently seeking counseling or treatment for an eating disorder? I am seeing red flags left and right in the posts in this thread. I know sometimes eating disorders may be thought of as a younger person's disease but they can happen with anyone regardless of age. If you are not currently seeking help, I strongly recommend that you do so. That can help get you on a path to a healthier weight.
1470 is maintenance at lightly active.
I've had ED's on and off all my adult life (usually every 3-5 years) but this isn't that. I've lost weight healthily this time and I recognise that now I need to maintain for a while until my holiday next month. I'll maintain whatever the holiday weight gain is afterwards also.
You lost a lot of weight in a short period of time and this put you underweight. How can you even begin to perceive this as healthy? You are paranoid about putting on weight and MFP getting calculations wrong when you need to put on weight. How can you perceive this as being healthy? You are making excuses as to why you need to maintain rather than gain weight. How can this be perceived as healthy? You may not have binge eating, bulimia or anorexia at the moment but you definitely have a disordered relationship with your weight and food.
I came across this that you posted a couple of weeks ago. For your health please seek some professional help before it gets even worse.
Age 51 female, 5' 4", 99.8lbs
I ran your numbers myself, and your maintanence calories are 1317 if your activity level is sedentary. I am not sure where 1470 came from. MFP may be using an older weight for that calculation.
That being said, your BMI is 17.2, which is pretty severely underweight. Gaining would actually be the healthy and beneficial thing to do. Are you currently seeking counseling or treatment for an eating disorder? I am seeing red flags left and right in the posts in this thread. I know sometimes eating disorders may be thought of as a younger person's disease but they can happen with anyone regardless of age. If you are not currently seeking help, I strongly recommend that you do so. That can help get you on a path to a healthier weight.
Hi, I've suffered with anorexia and bulimia on and off for the past 30 years (I'm 51 now). I've been fine for the last 5 years. I wanted to lose a couple of pounds in February to prepare for 2 big upcoming holidays so that I could enjoy my holiday food and still be a good weight for summer.
Anyway, that couple of pounds has turned into 32.2lbs loss in 4.5 months. I'm now underweight (BMI: 17.5).
I've been trying to eat at maintenance for the last few weeks but it's a struggle. I'm averaging about 1000 cals/day because I just am so scared to see the scale number stop shifting downward and even more terrified of it moving upwards.
I look terrible. I feel terrible. It's impacting on my health and daily life but, I can't bring myself to change it.
I don't want to end up really ill again (I've been in ED units in the UK before. I live in Turkey now though) and I know I should eat more but I just can't.
Can anyone else relate to this?
P.S.
This is the first time that I've admitted to struggling again to anyone so please be gentle with me ☺
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »
Age 51 female, 5' 4", 99.8lbs
I ran your numbers myself, and your maintanence calories are 1317 if your activity level is sedentary. I am not sure where 1470 came from. MFP may be using an older weight for that calculation.
That being said, your BMI is 17.2, which is pretty severely underweight. Gaining would actually be the healthy and beneficial thing to do. Are you currently seeking counseling or treatment for an eating disorder? I am seeing red flags left and right in the posts in this thread. I know sometimes eating disorders may be thought of as a younger person's disease but they can happen with anyone regardless of age. If you are not currently seeking help, I strongly recommend that you do so. That can help get you on a path to a healthier weight.
1470 is maintenance at lightly active.
I've had ED's on and off all my adult life (usually every 3-5 years) but this isn't that. I've lost weight healthily this time and I recognise that now I need to maintain for a while until my holiday next month. I'll maintain whatever the holiday weight gain is afterwards also.
You lost a lot of weight in a short period of time and this put you underweight. How can you even begin to perceive this as healthy? You are paranoid about putting on weight and MFP getting calculations wrong when you need to put on weight. How can you perceive this as being healthy? You are making excuses as to why you need to maintain rather than gain weight. How can this be perceived as healthy? You may not have binge eating, bulimia or anorexia at the moment but you definitely have a disordered relationship with your weight and food.
I came across this that you posted a couple of weeks ago. For your health please seek some professional help before it gets even worse.
Age 51 female, 5' 4", 99.8lbs
I ran your numbers myself, and your maintanence calories are 1317 if your activity level is sedentary. I am not sure where 1470 came from. MFP may be using an older weight for that calculation.
That being said, your BMI is 17.2, which is pretty severely underweight. Gaining would actually be the healthy and beneficial thing to do. Are you currently seeking counseling or treatment for an eating disorder? I am seeing red flags left and right in the posts in this thread. I know sometimes eating disorders may be thought of as a younger person's disease but they can happen with anyone regardless of age. If you are not currently seeking help, I strongly recommend that you do so. That can help get you on a path to a healthier weight.
Hi, I've suffered with anorexia and bulimia on and off for the past 30 years (I'm 51 now). I've been fine for the last 5 years. I wanted to lose a couple of pounds in February to prepare for 2 big upcoming holidays so that I could enjoy my holiday food and still be a good weight for summer.
Anyway, that couple of pounds has turned into 32.2lbs loss in 4.5 months. I'm now underweight (BMI: 17.5).
I've been trying to eat at maintenance for the last few weeks but it's a struggle. I'm averaging about 1000 cals/day because I just am so scared to see the scale number stop shifting downward and even more terrified of it moving upwards.
I look terrible. I feel terrible. It's impacting on my health and daily life but, I can't bring myself to change it.
I don't want to end up really ill again (I've been in ED units in the UK before. I live in Turkey now though) and I know I should eat more but I just can't.
Can anyone else relate to this?
P.S.
This is the first time that I've admitted to struggling again to anyone so please be gentle with me ☺
By healthily I mean that I've lost weight simply by calorie counting, no laxative abuse, exercise abuse (ok, that did start to get out of hand but, I recognised where it was going and stopped) and I've not been deeply distressed about weight fluctuations and there's been zero self-harming. To me, all things considered, I've done it healthily. I've learnt a lot by reading posts in this forum and that knowledge has kept me on the right path. See, I'm trying to maintain, not lose any more weight. That's brilliant for me.14
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