Odd weight gain and caloric goal questions

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fredoviola1
fredoviola1 Posts: 4 Member
edited February 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there, I am 51, a bit overweight and certainly under-muscled! I have been doing a daily HIIC workout routine for the last month and have started to see the start of some muscles coming. I eat VERY well and had started Noom, which had set a daily caloric goal of 1350. Noom is ok, and far tooooo expensive and a friend recommended MyFitnessPal. I love it so far, but am confused about the caloric goal it offers. It has a goal of almost 1900 calories per day. Watching the percentages I notice I don’t get enough protein so after each workout I drink a plant-based protein shake, or after a meal if my protein and calories are too low I will add this drink as well. Yesterday I weight 183.4, Hooray!!!! But this morning... 185.6...?!! What happened? I have cut down my salt intake as well and mostly I eat vegetables. I am careful not to get more than 1 tablespoon of olive oil a day. The part that gets really confusing is that in order to post here I seemed to have to create another account and that account had the goal of 1200 calories per day! It’s very confusing!

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    The goal of 1,900 is based on your inputs -- you put in your current weight, your goal rate of loss, and your activity level. In response, MFP gives you a target that it thinks will get those to your goals. 1,900 would be a reasonable goal for many people -- I have no idea if it is for you or not, but it's certainly possible.

    There's no need to have protein after every meal if your protein and calories are too low. Your goal should be to hit your protein and calorie goal for the total day -- you don't have to adjust after each meal.

    It's totally normal to have days where you weigh more than the previous day even if you're losing weight. Many things can cause this -- muscle repair after intense exercise, food being processed by the body, a day that is higher in carbohydrates or sodium, dehydration, or other factors. Pay attention to the long term trend, the day-to-day is just part of that.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,660 Member
    As you're trying to lose weight, it sucks when the scale doesn't tick down day after day!

    Just remember that a sustainable weekly loss is less than 2lbs, and more commonly 1lb or below. But, you daily weight can vary by 1-2 lbs. If you weight daily (in the morning after toilet in underwear) and watch the trend over several days, you will know how you're doing.

    As for your plan, double check your profile and make sure everything is entered correctly. For starters, select sedentary and 1lb/week loss. I would think your suggested daily intake would be closer to 1500kcals/day (roughly).

    Best of luck!
  • fredoviola1
    fredoviola1 Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you all for these very thoughtful and helpful replies! I feel funny about setting the profile to sedentary, because I try to exercise at least once a day and walk as much as I can, but my job truly is seated so perhaps I should readjust that. Will the program instantly readjust caloric goals when I make these changes?
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,660 Member
    fredoviola1 wrote: »
    Thank you all for these very thoughtful and helpful replies! I feel funny about setting the profile to sedentary, because I try to exercise at least once a day and walk as much as I can, but my job truly is seated so perhaps I should readjust that. Will the program instantly readjust caloric goals when I make these changes?

    Yes!

    If you do a workout, you can enter it under "exercise" and get a calorie compensation. If you find you are losing weight faster than you want, you can bump your activity level up to the next level. In general, it seems to work better to start conservative and work up in terms of your plan.
  • fredoviola1
    fredoviola1 Posts: 4 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    fredoviola1 wrote: »
    Thank you all for these very thoughtful and helpful replies! I feel funny about setting the profile to sedentary, because I try to exercise at least once a day and walk as much as I can, but my job truly is seated so perhaps I should readjust that. Will the program instantly readjust caloric goals when I make these changes?

    Yes!

    If you do a workout, you can enter it under "exercise" and get a calorie compensation. If you find you are losing weight faster than you want, you can bump your activity level up to the next level. In general, it seems to work better to start conservative and work up in terms of your plan.

    Thank you! :)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    fredoviola1 wrote: »
    Thank you all for these very thoughtful and helpful replies! I feel funny about setting the profile to sedentary, because I try to exercise at least once a day and walk as much as I can, but my job truly is seated so perhaps I should readjust that. Will the program instantly readjust caloric goals when I make these changes?

    MFP is designed so that you choose an activity goal based on your regular daily activity without exercise and then log your exercise (or used a synced device like a Fitbit) and eat back the calories burnt from additional activity.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    fredoviola1 wrote: »
    Thank you all for these very thoughtful and helpful replies! I feel funny about setting the profile to sedentary, because I try to exercise at least once a day and walk as much as I can, but my job truly is seated so perhaps I should readjust that. Will the program instantly readjust caloric goals when I make these changes?

    You can do it one of two ways: adjust the profile and don't log the exercise, which is probably less precise. Or you can leave it and log your deliberate exercise. The second won't change the goal because MFP doesn't know your burn until you enter it, it will impact the calories remaining.
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