Setting goal calories on MFP

bsavarin

I'm trying to reset my goal calories on the MyFitnessPal app, now that I'm very close to goal and would like to know my maintenance calories.

For information, I'm 51/F 5'2'' and now 128.8 lbs, down from around 216 lbs at this time last year. My goal weight is 125 lbs, which would make my TDEE around 1360-1375 depending on different calculators. I would like to eat at the calorie level which would take me down to and maintain at 125 lbs, but MFP gives me 1441 because I chose "Maintain Current Weight" so I think it's giving me to maintain at 128.8 but I want a little less to get down to 125.

Does that make sense? How do I set it on MFP to get the correct calories?

Lietchi

I think you'll have to set your calorie goal manually, or lie to MFP and tell it you already weigh 125lbs 😉
At that kind of deficit, it will most likely be very slow going, by the way. A deficit of 80 calories per day equals a weight loss rate of around 0.16lbs per week, easily masked by weight fluctuations. And that's if your logging is accurate, and if you're statistically average (=if you burn the amount of calories calculators say you burn).
The best basis for your actual TDEE is to look at your food intake and weight trend and then adjust accordingly (1lb of bodyfat corresponding to approximately 3500 calories).

bsavarin

Thanks for your answer and advice. I think you're right about needing to set the calories manually, because if I even set it to "Lose at 0.5 a week", the lowest loss, it automatically resets the goal back to 1,200!

I don't mind 1,200 really, but I would prefer to work towards the real calorie level for the weight I want to be.

nanastaci2020

I would say to set MFP to maintenance, and go with what you think your calorie target should be. If MFP tells you 1441 and you think 1360 is right, you'll just show a few calories remaining each day.

yirara

Just set them manually. There's no need to use the guided setup, and you don't need premium to do so. I have my calories set to 1400 (plus exercise of course), and this is a nice number for me, allowing me to eat lots of nice food and feeling happy.

AnnPT77

You'd have to do a little extra math for some of them to base it on your goal weight vs. current weight, but this post from the "Most Helpful Posts" section has a lot of discussion about different ways to determine maintenance calories.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1

bsavarin

Thanks for all your valuable advice showing the different approaches. I've decided to leave my settings as they are on the app, which is to set goal to maintenance which shows 1441. I will work towards that each day and see what happens with the weight and make adjustments when necessary.

I realise this is ongoing and as I've just started the maintenance process, I'm currently feeling my way around what works for me.

westrich20940

As other's have suggested, forget using the set up thing on MFP and just manually set your daily calorie goal to your TDEE for 125lbs. Honestly, I'm not sure with a TDEE calculator it'll be much different than what you've already got calculated for 128 (3lbs...so little difference).

So, if I were you I'd just manually set your calorie goal to ~1350 (just to make it easy and not have some wonky number). And then go from there and make any adjustments needed based on your results. But, know that those last 3 lbs will maybe go away REALLY SLOWLY.

Strudders67

For various reasons, I tweak something in my set up every so often, so MFP recalculates my maintenance cals based on the last weight I logged (which, of course, fluctuates).

I'm also female, 54yo and 5'1 and a bit, so very close to your own stats. With my last recorded weight of 56.2kg, which is apparently 123.9 lbs, my maintenance cals are 1390. That's not much less than the 1440 you're getting for 128lbs.

An extrapolation implies that 125lb is probably going to come in at around 1405 cals.

sofrances

For me it has been trial and error, and I never stop adjusting. Sometimes I seem to be able to eat more without gaining, sometimes I have to cut. It can vary by about 400-500 calories. I use a weight trend app to keep track of whether I'm on an upward or downward trend and adjust accordingly.

One thing I have found helpful is to have a calorie "range" of a couple of hundred calories, so that I can adjust somewhat for hunger. If I'm not hungry on a particular day, I deliberately eat towards the lower end of that range - there's no point eating more than you feel you need. If I'm having a hungry day, I let myself go towards the top end of my range.

I adjust this, so my allowable calorie range can be as much as 400 calories if I'm on a level or downward weight trend, but more like 100 calories if I need to get control of an upward trend.

That's what has been working for me, anyway. YMMV.