Guys I have a question about the MFP Daily Calorie Target.

gabercro36

Hi all. So I've been using MFP for just over 2mths now and, combined with exercise, have dropped just over 11kg. It's going really well, and I'm actually enjoying the lifestyle adjustment along with the learnings that come from counting calories. The last couple of weeks though I've noticed my weight-drop start to slow.

When I started my journey my daily calorie goal was 1750 p/day based on my starting weight of 144kg and goal to lose 1kg p/week. My question is this .... as you lose weight are you meant to change your daily calorie goal? I log all my weight fluctuations in MFP, but my daily calorie target has not changed. Should I manually be resetting my stats in MFP so as to recalculate a daily calorie target?

TwistedSassette

MFP doesn't automatically change your goal every time you weigh in, you would need to run through the guided setup again to get a new calorie goal. It's a good idea to do this every so often as your weight drops, or if there are changes in your lifestyle (like changing from an office job where you're mostly sitting all day, to a warehouse job where you're on your feet all day).
In saying that, I wouldn't expect a huge amount of variance with the amount of weight you have lost so far (good job, by the way!) - try going through the setup again and see what your new number is, but don't expect it to be significantly different. Note - to do the setup again, from the MFP home page click on Goals and then View Guided Setup, or in the app tap More and then Goals.

What you're more likely experiencing is something that many people go through, where a lot of the weight that you lose at the beginning is retained fluid, rather than actual fat loss. It means you seem to lose really fast to start with, but it slows down. And it's perfectly normal!
If you've lost 11kg in say 9 or 10 weeks (I don't know how many weeks since you started), that's a loss of 1.1 to 1.2 kg per week, on average. I am wondering whether, if you exclude the first couple of weeks of rapid loss, does it work out to your goal of 1kg/week? Or even, looking at the last couple of weeks where you've noticed your loss rate start to slow, is that still in the ballpark of 1 kg/week? If you're sticking to the 1750 (+ exercise) calories per day, and you are losing the 1kg per week that you're aiming for, then I don't think there's anything wrong.
The other thing to consider is whether, even though you're still losing fat now, you might be retaining some water (which can be from a huge list of reasons, including increased sodium intake, hormone fluctuations, a change in exercise regime causing water retention for muscle repair, insufficient hydration...). I would stick it out for a few more weeks and see what happens as you might find yourself with a "whoosh" when your body decides to release some fluid.

corinasue1143

Great weight loss so far! Sounds like you’re doing great.

gabercro36

Thankyou so much Twisted! I just followed your advice and yeah my Calorie Target changed from 1750 to 1690. I'm glad I asked the question. Would much rather have an accurate goal. Appreciate the advice and the detailed response. Cheers