MFP accuracy of maintenance calories

GretaGirl8

What are people's opinion regarding how accurate MFP's maintenance calories estimator is? (The number of calories MFP tells you to eat a day to maintain your weight). I know individuals vary for a variety of reasons...metabolism, genetics, medications, etc. Just curious if generally you have found the estimation to be accurate. thank you. Currently, I am not very physically active, so I don't factor in exercise.

martyqueen52

Mine was somewhat accurate.

Really, no one can tell you an ACCURATE number. It's all trial and error and playing with variables.

FlaxMilk

MFP has been pretty spot on accurate for me.

GretaGirl8

I am leaning toward saying it is pretty accurate for me as well. though, i don't have a lot of history to back that claim.

parkscs

From what I've read, most people have a metabolism that's within a 200-300 calories range from their estimated caloric expenditure, and it's pretty rare that someone's metabolism is drastically different from the norm. Where you will typically see variations is not in the estimate of caloric expenditure but in how people log. Some people overestimate what they eat, many underestimate what they eat, and some are simply inconsistent. My advice would be to using MFP's estimate as a starting point and adjust if you find yourself gaining or losing weight over a significant period of time.

editorgrrl

Estimates by definition are inaccurate. That's why weight loss & maintenance take so much trial & error to find what works for you. Change your goal to maintenance & eat back your exercise calories at the same rate you did while losing. After a few weeks, reevaluate. If you're still losing, start eating back all your exercise calories (if you weren't before), or increase your goal by 100 calories. Give it a week or two, then reevaluate.

Eventually, you'll find the number of calories at which your weight stabilizes. Everybody's different. (And keep in mind your weight will fluctuate day to day & throughout the day. Don't panic.)

daniellabella986

It's all trial & error - what your'e able to stay at permanently and not feel deprived/starved. See what works best for you first before relying totally on MFP.