Discrepancy in wife's suggested net goals

soyum

For myself all the data I've researched matches how MFP is guiding me daily. However, for my wife, it doesn't seem to add up. For instance:

http://www.calorieking.com/interactive-tools/how-many-calories-should-you-eat/

Female, age 47, weight 215, height 5:3, Goal weight: 165 (MFP set to sedentary activity.)

Her (first) goal weight is 165, which means to maintain 165lbs she would need to eat around 1600 calories a day. But her daily net reported by mfp is 1220! Shouldn't her daily net be closer to 1600? Thanks for your comments.

trogalicious

MFP is notoriously full of suck with the calculations... because it doesn't limit input... but that's a whole other rant.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

Check that out, it'll give you some better numbers.

soyum

Thanks, but that reported she would need closer to 1900 to maintain at 165?!? So, is it safe to assume, her current calorie intake of 1220 is too low?

trogalicious

Thanks, but that reported she would need closer to 1900 to maintain at 165?!? So, is it safe to assume, her current calorie intake of 1220 is too low?

depends on the information you put into the calculator, honestly.. but yeah the 1220 is likely going to be too low.

soyum

Cheers, I think I'm going to up her numbers a bit to play it safe. Thanks!

callas444

I'd suggest trying something more reasonable, 1,500 to 1,600 for a couple weeks to a month. If she is logging perfectly (measuring, weighing, etc), her losses for those weeks will tell her how her body is responding. If she loses 1-2 pounds a week, that's an excellent sign that those are good limits for her. If she loses under a pound, perhaps go down by 500 calories. If she loses more than 2 pounds a week, she might need to up her calories by 500. 1-2 pounds is a healthy, sustainable weight loss.

soyum

Thanks callas, that's what we're going to do.

trogalicious

do keep in mind that it isn't an instant change. Whatever direction you go, give that change a solid 4 to 6 weeks before you decide it's working or not.

wild_wild_life

Not sure if I'm clear where you're coming from, but you can't always use the calories needed to maintain at your goal weight as your target for weight loss. I know there are some who promote that strategy but I think it breaks down at the high and low ends.

MFP also uses a different equation for BMR than many other sites and obviously doesn't count exercise so often there is a lot of discrepancy when comparing the calorie goals here and elsewhere.

I agree trying something for awhile and monitoring your loss is the best way to figure out your true maintenance.

endoftheside

Is she set to lose 2 pounds a week? In that case MFP will take her maintenance at current weight and subtract 1000 from it and set that as her goal. MFP calculations don't care about maintenance calories at goal weight, if you want to use that method (I do), you will need to adjust the calorie goal manually.