Gotta say, MFP is disappointing more each day

Leskent

So, I'm about 5.5 weeks into my first diet and exercise program ever, compliments of MFP. I was just reading some other posts here on the forum and I'm really getting frustrated.

I have a small weight loss goal (15 pounds) but honestly, I didn't think it was all that small as I didn't go comparing it to other people on this site. I'll be 40 this year, have seen a small amount of weight gain the last few years when I stopped having/nursing babies and figured I should probably get this weight thing in hand before it got away from me. I've mostly been an average weight and fairly active so I've not really done this before, except for a stint doing aerobics in university.

I trusted MFP to get me set up in a healthy, effective way. When I inputted my info at the start, I put the 15 pounds in that I wanted to lose, decided I'd exercise 3X a week for 30 minutes and when it asked how many pounds I wanted to lose per week, I shrugged and clicked on 2. Frankly, I thought it was a weird question (why should I care how many pounds per week I would lose? Just get me to my goal! But I figured it was probably there for people who had a deadline, like fitting into that wedding dress or something).
Got quite a shock in the days that followed when the 1200 calorie limit MFP imposed was impossible to keep without upping my exercise to every day. I'd never counted calories before and was pretty amazed at how many I was finding in my food.
After the first week I lost 2 pounds. At the end of my second week weigh in, I was up .2 of a pound. I wasn't finding my clothes fitting much differently, so posters who went on about losing inches but weight staying the same as being normal didn't seem to jive with my experience.

Didn't get my third week weigh in, so I don't know how I did after that.

About halfway through week 4, I caught Norwalk virus. Ever had that? BRUTAL. I was laid out for 3 days and very weak for days after. I thought I was taking in enough fluids during the worst of it, but I guess not....around 11pm the second day I passed out, scared the living lights out of my husband who called the ambulance. My blood pressure was like 60 over 40 or something insane like that. A few hours of fluids and some high powered anti-nausea drugs and I was back home to rest and get through the remainder.

So now, I haven't been able to weigh myself, but I was probably taking in 200 calories tops for 3-4 days in a row because of this. I'm back on my feet now and my clothes are definitely less snug, tummy feels flatter and honestly now that I have my energy back, I'm feeling pretty darn good. Clearly I lost weight from all that.

However, read the Sophiology link someone else posted (http://sophieologie.me/2013/09/26/1200-calories/comment-page-3/#comments ) and now I'm A) highly suspicious that my fainting wasn't entirely from being sick from Norwalk, but perhaps from having Norwalk after 3.5 weeks of 1200 calories and doing cardio every day. I'm really frustrated with the 1200 calorie limit that MFP instituted when I didn't know any better. She asks in the blog post when you (women) first heard of the 1200 limit for weight loss. I can tell you! HERE! I'd NEVER heard this number before MFP. I'm frustrated that MFP set me on this course that I blindly trusted and thought would lead me to a healthy weight loss, and now I find that it's probably doing me way more harm than good and likely contributed to an ambulance bill. :-S

Yes, perhaps I shouldn't have been putting my health into the hands of a free website.

Anyways, on a final note, can someone please with much detail, explain this 'eating back your calories' concept? Call me dense (I'll admit it) but I'm not understanding what this means at all. A few people tried explaining in one of my previous posts, but it still didn't get through. I would be appreciative....

MarKayDee

If your weight loss goal is small (I'd call yours pretty minimal) the weight will come off slower, and you don't really need the 1000calorie deficit (which is what losing 2lbs a week is roughly). You can also manually adjust your activity level in the accounts settings (I use the iPhone app so I'm not sure where it is on the website). If you're doing more cardio than you had planned to you should increase your activity level, that will allot you more calories.

The basic point of eating back exercise calories is that the 1200 calorie goal for you has your deficit built into it so you don't need to exercise to lose. For example my goal is 1,450 if I burn 200 calories exercising then I can eat 1,650 calories that day and still be at a 1000 calorie deficit. To lose a theoretical two pounds a week.

outofworkpediatrician

when you input your details at mfp, it will calculate your daily metabolic calorie burn (depending on your weight, height, activity level you put in.) say 1600 calories. that is the number of calories you burn with your normal activities. that means, if you eat 1600 cals, you maintain your weight. when you answer that you want to loose 2 pounds per week, MFP calculates you need to have a 6000 calorie deficit per week, so it calculate that you need to limit your calorie intake to whatever number it gave you (in your case 1200 cals) to loose 2 pounds per week. so, as you can see, the 1200 cal daily intake is not a dietary advise from MFP, but simply a calculation based on the goals you entered. unlike a dietitian, MFP will not tell you that for your height and weight, 1200 cals will be too little or anything like that.

eating back the calories means when you excercise, you burn calories, which will help you to get closer to your goal set, so you can consume more calories and still loose weight as per your goal. if you enter the excersise and the calories burned in your daily log, you will see that MFP calculator will say on the food page, that you can eat that much calories more. for example, for my height and weight and activity level and the weight loss goal (yeah, i put 2 pounds per week too!) MFP gave me a calorie limit of 1200 cals/day. if i walk on the treadmill and burn 1000 cals on a day, MFP food page will say that i have earned 1000 cals by excersice today, and up my cal intake to 2200 cals/day for that day.
hope this clears up "eating back calories" for you.

defauIt

This probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but the problem isn't the tool it's the user.

You told this website that you wanted to lose TWO lbs per WEEK. That's a 7000 calorie deficit per week, or 1000 calorie deficit per day. Is it really a surprise that it gave you an absurdly low calorie target?

The reason you kept seeing 1200 calories a day recommended is because MFP will never recommend lower than that. That's the absolute minimum it will possibly recommend to anyone for any reason.

Set your weight loss to a more reasonable 0.5 lbs/week and you only need a 250 calorie deficit per day.

The danger wasn't putting your health in the hands of a free website, the danger was not knowing how the tool worked and using it anyways.

bethannien

With such a low weight loss goal, losing two pounds per week is so so so unrealistic. The tool is limited by what you tell it. Change your goal to 1 pound or .5 pound per week and it'll up your calories accordingly.

rosiereally2

With such a low weight loss goal, losing two pounds per week is so so so unrealistic. The tool is limited by what you tell it. Change your goal to 1 pound or .5 pound per week and it'll up your calories accordingly.

Agreed.

Shaky44

1. As other posters have correctly pointed out, the MFP suggested target of 1200 calories/day was due to your requirement to lose 2 lbs / week. If you had done some reading on weekly weight loss goals, you would know that probably wasn't your best choice of goal.

2. If netting 1200 calories / day for 3.5 weeks caused you to be so poorly nourished that you were fainting, you probably have health issues above and beyond being a few lbs over weight. People with TDEEs far in excess of yours survive on 1200 calories for periods far longer than a month without serious health ramifications. It's not necessarily recommended for long-term weight loss, but it shouldn't cause you to get seriously sick either.

CMB1979

This probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but the problem isn't the tool it's the user.

You told this website that you wanted to lose TWO lbs per WEEK. That's a 7000 calorie deficit per week, or 1000 calorie deficit per day. Is it really a surprise that it gave you an absurdly low calorie target?

The reason you kept seeing 1200 calories a day recommended is because MFP will never recommend lower than that. That's the absolute minimum it will possibly recommend to anyone for any reason.

Set your weight loss to a more reasonable 0.5 lbs/week and you only need a 250 calorie deficit per day.

The danger wasn't putting your health in the hands of a free website, the danger was not knowing how the tool worked and using it anyways.

^^ Amen!

BinaryPulsar

Yeah, you really need to be eating more when you have a small amount to lose. You should input a lower weight loss rate such as .5 or 1 pound. When I joined I made the same mistake and I only had 5 pounds or less that I was looking to lose. I only lasted on 1200 calories for about two days before I knew it was not right. I thought it set me so low because I'm petite. So, for me I decided to not do the exercise calorie thing and instead to just eat my TDEE. I didn't even bother with a deficit since I really didn't have weight to lose. I just ate at maintenance and lifted weights. I calculated my TDEE from Scooby's workshop and Fat2Fit Radio BMR calculator. I started at 1800 a day and found out that was a deficit for me. So, even if the calculators say one thing, through trial and error we find what works. I personally need to eat more than 1900 a day or I will lose weight. And so I vary and can eat anywhere from 1900 to 2300 (more on occasional days or weeks). I hope this might help you out. Scooby's can help you calculate the right deficit. Other people can advise you better on that than I can.

flatlndr

I agree with the others. 2 lbs per week at your level is too much.
I started from 279, with 104 to lose.
I initially set my goal for 2 lbs per week, but now that I've dropped 40, I've reset it to 1 lb per week.
Once I get to 200, I'll reset to 0.5 per week.
Healthy weight loss takes time.

hortensehildegarde

I had just been wondering why MFP would even compute goals for a 2lb/wk loss for people who were not morbidly or clinically obese. A few moments around these forums and a little bit of education would tell anyone that that kind of goal is not realistic for people who just have a few pounds to lose.

So on the one hand, I can sort of fault the person who is a smidgen overweight and thinks it is ok to try to drastically cut calories even though they are not staring in the face of competing health concerns and it is likely just an issue of vanity.

On the other hand, I figure it only fair to consider these people perhaps really don't know all the ins and outs of watching caloric intake, in which case it really is a bit irresponsible for MFP to even offer them the 1200/cal day option.

Let's face it, restricting that much only really makes sense if you have the health-horrors of obesity knocking on your door. For people who are just barely overweight (or not even overweight) aren't they best served by more minimal calorie deficits?

I should mention to for OP's benefit, years ago I was eating around 900 cals a day and running about 3 miles a day with some other cardio/exercise in there to. I was fine when I did that. IMHO there is no reason to think that doing so (assuming you are eating good nutritious food at that level) is making you vulnerable to anything. There is so much info out there readily available on nutrition it's a little crazy to be upset at MFP when it calculates a number for you that you asked it to calculate.

BinaryPulsar

Yeah, for me personally when I joined mfp I had never thought about calorie intake and how many calories a person needs per day. I had always just focused on good nutrition and portion control and not eating past full signals. So, when it set me at a low amount I didn't know what that really meant. But, when I joined mfp I didn't even know it was a calorie counting site. I was just curious and checking out what it was. But after two days I felt like I couldn't get out of bed and move on the low amount of food, so I knew I needed to learn about calories and set a better goal.

Plus, I had heard all my life that small people need less calories. But, I'm a very active person.

ihateroses

In regards to the eating back calories...

If you have "calories remaining" after you logged exercise, eat them.

Others have explained it better, but that's the simple end of it.

Also, no matter what program you are doing, number one is to pay attention to your body. If you are so hungry you make yourself sick, bump up those calories.

DopeItUp

1) It's not the website's fault that you set your goal for 2lbs/week loss when you only have 15lbs to lose. That's your own fault. Set it to .5lbs/week. 1lb/week, TOPS.

2) You blaming your 1200 calorie diet for passing out is just silly. 1200 is low but not THAT low. There are people here eating 500/calories a day for months at a time, fasting for days at a time (0 calories a day) and they aren't passing out. I'm not saying that any of this is a good idea, but you have to have some pretty serious issues to just randomly pass out. Issues like having a virus that causes you to vomit a lot, resulting in poor nutrition, dehydration and passing out. OH WAIT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. You admitted yourself that you were dehydrated, and fluids were given to help you recover. What does that have to do with 1200 calories/day diet?

Stop trying to push blame onto a simple website when the issues are entirely your own.

DopeItUp

Also, http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

LKArgh

1) I have about 10-15 lbs to lose, and I am not aiming at 2 lbs loss per week, because it simply makes no sense for this type fo weight. If you set an unrealistic goal, it is not the tool's fault.
2) I work full time, take care of 3 kids and exercise daily. There are days where I only eat little, and there have been periods in my life where I have gone a few weeks with very few calories per day for reasons not related to diet. I have lost weight, but have definitely not been ill from it. I doubt you can pass out from a few weeks on a very low calorie diet, not unless there areother issues. Unless your 1200 calories per day come from 1 slice of pizza and a mars bar, but I am sure no one would consider this a great idea.

paperpudding

I was in a similar situation to you OP - I had 10 kg to lose, which I think is about 22 lb.
Setting it at 0.5 lb loss a week (and lightly active) gave me 1540 calories per day, plus any extra calories for exercise.

This was do-able.

Re set your goal at 0.5 lb/ week and start again is my advice.

Also not sure about the comment about just losing for vanity - that wasn't my motivation. I realised my weight had crept up over the years and was over the healthy weight range for my height - not morbidly obese, no - but over by enough to be unhealthy.

Surely it is better to do something about it then and not wait till one is morbidly obese before doing so.

Vailara

When you're setting up MFP it SHOULD recommend a rate of loss, and it always recommends 1lb a week (unless it's changed recently, which is possible).

MFP works out how many calories it thinks you would burn in an average day without exercise. The speed you set it to lose at, sets how many calories it subtracts from that total for you. So to lose 1lb a week, it would subtract 500 calories a day. To lose 2lb a week, it would subtract 1000 calories a day, which (in my opinion) is quite a big deficit. However, 1200 is the cut-off for MFP - it won't go lower than that. So if subtracting 1000 calories (or 500) calories would take you below 1200 calories, then your goal will be 1200 calories.

Whatever exercise you put into your goals doesn't matter - it's just a "goal". To make your calorie allowance alter to suit your activity level, you have to enter your exercise daily. That's the MFP system. As well as going to the food tab and entering food, you'd go to the exercise and put your exercise in there too. MFP will then add your exercise calories to your calories to eat for the day, so that you end up with the same deficit (500 calories for 1lb a week, etc.). It's not supposed to be a 1200 calorie diet. It's supposed to be Your Activity Level minus a fixed deficit (500 calories recommended).

However, none of this is really clear when you first set up your profile on MFP. I wish it was designed with more of a walkthrough. I wish it allowed you to chose your deficit rather than the speed at which you lose. I agree with you - lots of people are going to choose the fastest speed - why not? But it's not even accurate - I get the same deficit whether I put in 2lb or 1lb, because of the 1200 cut off (as will anybody who burns less than 1700 without exercise). I'm not sure if the "recommended" amount is clear, because a lot of people seem to miss that.

I'm sorry you've been ill and hope you feel better soon. If you do come back to dieting, you could maybe look at the posts on using TDEE minus a % (i.e. do your own calculations of how much you burn WITH exercise, then subtract a percentage of your calories), which might be easier as you don't have a lot to lose. Best of luck!

Pebble321

Hi OP, you haven't got much sympathy here, which I think is a little harsh!

I was going to say "MFP says "lose 1lb a week (recommended)"... which I'm sure it used to offer, but when I went to check the goals it just gave me a choice of up to 1kg/week (about 2lb/week) with no guidance.

I think it is a fair point that people who haven't done much reading aren't necessarily going to understand that that's probably too aggressive a goal when you only have a smallish amount of weight to lose.

Having said that, you make a good point about trusting your health to a free website. It's not a great idea unless you are sure what you are doing, or have done some reading around the topic. However I doubt that you were so unwell simply because you were eating 1200 cals, that sounds like bad luck to me.

You have lots of good advice here - I would summarise it by saying
- choose a smaller weight loss goal (1/2 pound a week sounds like a good place to start).
- when you do some exercise, enter it into MFP. The number of calories available to you will increase when you exercise and that's absolutely right. MFP has already calculated a calorie deficit for you, you don't have to make to make it larger with exercise.

Just give it a go this way and see how you go.

eldamiano

So, I'm about 5.5 weeks into my first diet and exercise program ever, compliments of MFP. I was just reading some other posts here on the forum and I'm really getting frustrated.

I have a small weight loss goal (15 pounds) but honestly, I didn't think it was all that small as I didn't go comparing it to other people on this site. I'll be 40 this year, have seen a small amount of weight gain the last few years when I stopped having/nursing babies and figured I should probably get this weight thing in hand before it got away from me. I've mostly been an average weight and fairly active so I've not really done this before, except for a stint doing aerobics in university.

I trusted MFP to get me set up in a healthy, effective way. When I inputted my info at the start, I put the 15 pounds in that I wanted to lose, decided I'd exercise 3X a week for 30 minutes and when it asked how many pounds I wanted to lose per week, I shrugged and clicked on 2. Frankly, I thought it was a weird question (why should I care how many pounds per week I would lose? Just get me to my goal! But I figured it was probably there for people who had a deadline, like fitting into that wedding dress or something).
Got quite a shock in the days that followed when the 1200 calorie limit MFP imposed was impossible to keep without upping my exercise to every day. I'd never counted calories before and was pretty amazed at how many I was finding in my food.
After the first week I lost 2 pounds. At the end of my second week weigh in, I was up .2 of a pound. I wasn't finding my clothes fitting much differently, so posters who went on about losing inches but weight staying the same as being normal didn't seem to jive with my experience.

Didn't get my third week weigh in, so I don't know how I did after that.

About halfway through week 4, I caught Norwalk virus. Ever had that? BRUTAL. I was laid out for 3 days and very weak for days after. I thought I was taking in enough fluids during the worst of it, but I guess not....around 11pm the second day I passed out, scared the living lights out of my husband who called the ambulance. My blood pressure was like 60 over 40 or something insane like that. A few hours of fluids and some high powered anti-nausea drugs and I was back home to rest and get through the remainder.

So now, I haven't been able to weigh myself, but I was probably taking in 200 calories tops for 3-4 days in a row because of this. I'm back on my feet now and my clothes are definitely less snug, tummy feels flatter and honestly now that I have my energy back, I'm feeling pretty darn good. Clearly I lost weight from all that.

However, read the Sophiology link someone else posted (http://sophieologie.me/2013/09/26/1200-calories/comment-page-3/#comments ) and now I'm A) highly suspicious that my fainting wasn't entirely from being sick from Norwalk, but perhaps from having Norwalk after 3.5 weeks of 1200 calories and doing cardio every day. I'm really frustrated with the 1200 calorie limit that MFP instituted when I didn't know any better. She asks in the blog post when you (women) first heard of the 1200 limit for weight loss. I can tell you! HERE! I'd NEVER heard this number before MFP. I'm frustrated that MFP set me on this course that I blindly trusted and thought would lead me to a healthy weight loss, and now I find that it's probably doing me way more harm than good and likely contributed to an ambulance bill. :-S

Yes, perhaps I shouldn't have been putting my health into the hands of a free website.

Anyways, on a final note, can someone please with much detail, explain this 'eating back your calories' concept? Call me dense (I'll admit it) but I'm not understanding what this means at all. A few people tried explaining in one of my previous posts, but it still didn't get through. I would be appreciative....

Dont know what you are moaning about. You sort of answered your question yourself. Instead of writing this post you could be changing your weight loss goal to half lb/week. It isnt MFP's fault that in order to reach a sometimes unrealistic weight loss rate, you have to adhere to a hard calorie target.

snowflake954

You've gotten some great advice already, and hope you understand it and don't give up. If you've got a little to lose you have to be very patient----it will probably take longer than you think, however, you should not suffer--that's the important thing here. You have to eat an amount that is closely sycnronized to lose weight and not suffer. This is not easy when you have only 10-15 lbs to lose. There are alot of threads on here argueing how much etc etc. I advise you to watch the posts and you'll learn alot about dieting. Remember that if you post a question you risk brutal advice--you need a thick skin, but there's alot of fun on here too. Take it easy and you'll get where you want to be.