Why am I projected to lose less weight even if I am under my calorie goals?

anniecate747

Even thought I started out today with under my calorie intake, it is saying I will have only lost 6 lbs in 5 weeks, even thought I have a goal of 2 lbs a week. I am at 158 and am trying to get to 145. I was under 1200 today and it is still saying "if every day was like today you would be 152 in 5 weeks". WHY?

Lietchi

Probably because MFP will never give a calorie goal below 1200, no matter what weight loss rate you select, to ensure adequate nutrition. It means your goal of 2lbs per week is likely too aggressive.

paperpudding

probably 2lb per week is too aggressive for the amount of weight you have to lose too.

snowflake954

With 13 lbs to lose your deficit should not exceed .5 lbs a week to be healthy.

StaciInGa

Because you cannot realistically expect to lose 2 pounds per week, and since you put that in for your goals MFP gave you the default minimum of 1200 calories.

I will use myself for an example. I am 5'5", 48, 150ish female. MFP I have set to lose .5 pounds per week and it is giving me a goal of roughly 1400 calories per day. That means with my stated activity level, MFP predicts I will use 1650 calories per day to maintain. 1650-250 = 1400, thus my goal. Now if I said I want to lose 2 pounds per week, MFP would think 1650 - 1000 = NOPE so I would get a 1200 goal. I'm not going to lose 2 pounds per week! It just is not possible because I'm not going to starve myself. (And if I tried, I Would be miserable and have no energy and many areas of my life would suffer.)

Adjust your goals. Try .5 pounds per week, and perhaps try to increase your daily movement/activity.

kerry8860

I would have m y breakfast, miss lunch and eat a meal at dinner. I would not snack out through the day but kept putting on weight. I now really need to lose weight have set my calories at 1200 per day and make sure I eat three meals per day having maybe half a sandwich with an apple but try to make sure my daily intake reaches my 1200 calories with plenty of water and have had small successes, but I keep going off track. So I say try keeping to your set calories for a few weeks and see how it goes.

kshama2001

anniecate747 wrote: »

Even thought I started out today with under my calorie intake, it is saying I will have only lost 6 lbs in 5 weeks, even thought I have a goal of 2 lbs a week. I am at 158 and am trying to get to 145. I was under 1200 today and it is still saying "if every day was like today you would be 152 in 5 weeks". WHY?

With only 13 pounds to lose, do change your weekly weight loss goal to something more sustainable:

pridesabtch

kerry8860 wrote: »

I would have m y breakfast, miss lunch and eat a meal at dinner. I would not snack out through the day but kept putting on weight. I now really need to lose weight have set my calories at 1200 per day and make sure I eat three meals per day having maybe half a sandwich with an apple but try to make sure my daily intake reaches my 1200 calories with plenty of water and have had small successes, but I keep going off track. So I say try keeping to your set calories for a few weeks and see how it goes.

Meal timing doesn't really matter except for satiation. Maybe 1200 just isn't sustainable. Perhaps bump it up a couple of hundred to prevent you from going off track. Steady loss is better than than lose & gain rollercoaster. Good luck!

TaariniNeelam

I think change in seasons will also help. For some reason I just weigh slightly extra in winter and less in summer. Not sure why?

paperpudding

You exercise less? You eat different foods?

AnnPT77

TaariniNeelam wrote: »

I think change in seasons will also help. For some reason I just weigh slightly extra in winter and less in summer. Not sure why?

I do less daily life stuff in Winter than in Summer, because it gets cold and I stay inside. Unless there's snow to shovel, there's less lawn/garden work, and things like that. Maybe that's true for you, too?