Is the calorie calculation off?

asknapek

My goal is to lose 1.5 lbs a week. The apps says I need 1720 calories to maintain my current weight and 1470 calories to lose 1.5 lbs a week at light activity.

At 1470 consumed calories a day, my weekly deficit is 1750 a week. Which is only about half a pound.

A pound of fat is made up of 3500 calories, so in order to lose 1.5 lbs a week I would need a deficit of 5250 a week.

What am I missing? A deficit of 1750 a week doesn’t equal 1.5 lbs(5250).

Can someone help me understand the equation that My Fitness Pal is using to determine my calorie consumption cause this doesn’t seem right…

Retroguy2000

What is your estimated TDEE here?

https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

totameafox

Without knowing age and weight it would be hard to confirm your numbers. But it seems that you are smaller side if 1720 is your maintenance calories. The less you weigh the slower your weight loss is going to be. It might not be possible for you to get a healthy deficit for 1.5lbs a week.

yirara

Yeah, it looks like you selected a weightloss goal of 0.5lbs per week, and not 1.5lbs per week.If 1720calories per day are really your maintenance calories then 0.5-1lbs per week is really what you could realistically lose as eating less than 1200 calories per day is not healthy, nor sustainable.