I am lost on the goal calories.

liongirl031191

Im trying to lose weight am I supposed to stay under the goal calories or go over them? I'm very new at counting calories and thought I was supposed to stay around 1,200-1,400 a day my goal daily is 2,040. When I completed my dairy for the day with just going over my goal calories it showed I would weigh less in 5 weeks then it did the day before.

sollyn23l2

You're meant to stay as close to goal calories as is reasonable (a little above or below is fine)

yirara

Your goal depends on your gender, current weight, size, age, activity level without exercise and weightloss goal. If you give us a bit more information on those things then we can help you a bit more.

But yeah, if you're really heavy then it's possible MFP has given you a reasonable goal to lose weight, and that you ate substantially more before to gain the weight. 1200 calories is just some weird online thing. Ignore it.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10934707/i-am-lost-on-the-goal-calories

It's a dangerous myth that all women need to eat tiny numbers of calories in order to lose weight, as if we were all tiny little delicate birds. Do some women need to eat 1200? Sure, some . . . and they're usually petite, not very overweight, sedentary, and pretty old. Losing weight aggressively fast is not a path to thriving good health. Quite the contrary.

If you were as accurate as practical in setting up your MFP profile, told MFP you want to lose weight at a rate of X pounds or kilos per week, and got a goal of 2040, then 2040 is what you're supposed to eat. It's not necessary to be exact, but it's a good idea to be pretty close, maybe roughly +/- 50 calories on average over a few days to a week.

That starting goal is based on the average number of calories people demographically similar to you would need. You're not an average, you're an individual. Follow the goal consistently and closely as per above for 4-6 weeks, or one menstrual cycle if you have those.

Once you've continued that long, compare your actual weight change to the goal weight loss rate you requested. If necessary, adjust your calorie goal to individualize, using the assumption that 500 calories per day is about a pound a week, 1100 calories per day is about a kilo a week, and use arithmetic for partial pounds/kilos.

Three more things:

1. If you set your "activity level" in your profile assuming you do NO exercise, and you don't have a fitness tracker synced to MFP, you're intended to log your exercise when you do some, and eat at least a fair chunk of the exercise calories, too. If you included planned exercise in your activity level setting, don't log exercise, because that would be double counting exercise calories.
2. The reason for "one full menstrual cycle" for those it to whom it applies is that hormone-related water retention can distort scale results, sometimes dramatically. With cycles in the picture, compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two different cycles to estimate average weekly loss rate. That will reduce distortion from the water weirdness.
3. Don't put too much faith in that "in 5 weeks" thing. It's nice when it says we'll lose, maybe motivating, I don't know. But that, too, is based on averages for similar people. On top of that, it says "If every day was like today", and that's never true. At minimum, we move more on some days than others - more/less to do at work, more/less home chores, whatever - and there's minor variation in eating. Treat that projection as a silly game, at most, not a guaranteed outcome.

Best wishes!

megomerrett

1200 has never been enough for me and I'm a 5'1" woman. I am hungry on 1200 and it's miserable. I've done 1530 and it's been far more realistic and sustainable and has still resulted in weight loss.

Are you also tracking your exercise? I loathe the approach but if it's stressing you out, the more you move, the more you can eat and still hit that magic number.

Also, although just tracking the calories and eating less you will lose weight, please make sure you're also eating well and you're getting the nutrition your body needs. I know friends (and me) who have done silly diets in the past and lost weight but we were eating rubbish. You'll feel fuller for longer and you'll fuel your body better if you eat wholegrains etc.

Final thing, our weights fluctuate through the month depending on menstrual cycle and more, and it fluctuates through the day and week depending on when you last ate or pooped. Be kind to yourself and focus on positive changes, move more in ways that bring you joy.