Confused about MFP calorie recommendation

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ainokea8
ainokea8 Posts: 95
in Getting Started
So MFP recommended that I eat at 1200 calories a day to lose 1 lb a week. but so far, after 2 weeks I haven't been losing anything.

So I calculated my TDEE on the scooby calculator which told me that if I wanted to cut 15% of calories from my TDEE I should actually be eating at 1500 calories per day and my BMR is 1279 (more than what I've been eating at!)

So I input this into my goal settings and it freaked me out because MFP told me that if I ate at 1500 it would pretty much be maintenance since I'd only be losing 0.2 lbs a week which is basically nothing.

So I'm not sure what to do. Do I trust the scooby more than MFP? I really don't want to waste more weeks trying out one method if it's not gonna get me anywhere.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,020 Member
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    They aren't that different. If you use the Scooby one, you would not eat more on exercise days, so they would be almost identical.

    Just pick one and follow it carefully for a month. If you don't see the results you expect, adjust a tiny bit. No one can tell you which is exactly right. This is your experiment to run, we've all had to do this.

    Good luck.
  • ainokea8
    ainokea8 Posts: 95
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    They aren't that different. If you use the Scooby one, you would not eat more on exercise days, so they would be almost identical.

    Just pick one and follow it carefully for a month. If you don't see the results you expect, adjust a tiny bit. No one can tell you which is exactly right. This is your experiment to run, we've all had to do this.

    Good luck.

    Not sure what you mean by that. I would say 1500 is vastly different from 1200 calories.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Not sure what you mean by that. I would say 1500 is vastly different from 1200 calories.

    both are 1350 +/- 150 which is about as accurate as these things are.

    If 1500 is a 15% cut then the scooby thing believes you expend 1760 per day, if MFP gave you 1200 for 1 lb/week it thinks you expend 1700 or less.

    1760 - 1500 would be about 0.5 lbs/week.

    If MFP says 0.2 lbs/week at 1500 that's a 100 cal deficit so it thinks your expenditure is 1600. 1760 and 1600 are pretty close.

    If you aren't losing while eating 1200 then you can gamble that eating a bit more will change it, or look at what you're eating, or hope someone has a better idea. The answer isn't in the maths.
  • Chairless
    Chairless Posts: 588 Member
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    my advice to anyone not losing on 1200 would be to ensure you are actually only on 1200.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    How active did you tell MFP you were? If you told it you were sedentary, sure it might think 1500 is maintenance for you.
  • ainokea8
    ainokea8 Posts: 95
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    How active did you tell MFP you were? If you told it you were sedentary, sure it might think 1500 is maintenance for you.

    Yup I said I was sedentary. I'm not actually that sedentary, I do light exercise but i don't rigorously work out so I thought sedentary would be a good place to start.
  • HaibaneReki
    HaibaneReki Posts: 373 Member
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    My experience with MFP's predictions is OK. Sedentary + 1 workout a week = 1820 which is +-450 deficit. My progress is 6 kilos (12,xx lb) down so far and dropping. But add to that an 8 months old at home, close to none sleep and I go jogging now and then during the week apart from the 1 workout.

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