Gotta say, MFP is disappointing more each day

Sunitagt

It's not just people who want to lose weight fast, though. Like many people, if I put in a goal of 1lb a week, then I'll still get 1200. It IS misleading. Of course, MFP allows me to put in 2lb a week, but I'd lose weight at actually the same rate as if I'd chosen 1lb a week. That might just make me feel like I was failing. In fact, even 1lb a week doesn't give me a 500 calorie deficit, so the system isn't doing what it lets us think it's doing! I do wish MFP would talk us through it.

The OP here did adjust her weight loss goal to 1lb a week, and was given a target of 1270 calories. It's hardly any different to her 2lb target of 1200 calories. It's misleading for beginners.

As for eating back exercise calories being obvious - I don't think it is. MFP asks us to enter our exercise goals when setting up our profile. I believe that often people think that if they put in their three gym trips a week, then MFP is giving them a calorie allowance based on that. There would be no need for them to add in exercise again, unless they were planning to use MFP to track exercise.

It would be simpler if MFP simply left that information out of the profile. MFP doesn't need to know how often you plan to exercise, or even what your goal weight is (it doesn't seem to use that information). But because MFP asks for the information, some people are going to think that their calorie goal is based on that information.

Don't get me wrong, I think MFP is great and have been using it in my own way for a long time. But I think there's room for change in how it's set up for new users.

Yeah, but you can't blame the tool for not doing all the research for you. I've spent countless hours reading through studies, articles, various topics created here to get the information I have about how to best go about my weight loss and reach my health goals. They're incredibly important to me, why wouldn't I put the time and energy into understanding exactly what I'm doing? That's on you, not on MFP. You don't understand something, why aren't you researching to figure out what it means?

And the exercise you put in is simply to give you a goal for the week for logging exercise. I don't see why that's an issue, where it clearly gives you the calories back to eat when you log it. It's telling you inherently to eat them back, I think it's pretty clear when you log it that that's what you're supposed to do.

BinaryPulsar

The exercise calorie thing never worked for me personally because I exercised at night (when I first started mfp), so then I would under eat all day, exercise and then have to eat, but I just wanted to go to bed. And the thing is that I just need to eat more everyday regardless of exercise. I tried pre-logging exercise, but my predictions didn't always happen as planned at that time. I need to eat before exercise for energy, not after.

So, doing TDEE is an option for some people. I can eat the same amount every day and vary it based on my own signals of hunger or fullness.

Even at the highest activity level, mfp sets me too low. Mfp does not know my exact activity and lifestyle, my metabolism, or how much muscle I have (they don't have a bf% factor).

I got all the calorie formulas and calculated them myself.

raegrove

Sadly she deactivated her account.

EvenThatNameIsTaken

I'm glad for all that folks share, harsh or not, because when I need to ask a question in the future and need some solid answers, I want you all to be honest with me. With all that I have been reading on MFP, there have been extremely sharp people on this site to explain every detail to people that need assistance. They have given up their time for others as well as their pictures, diet and exercises. Its been amazing!!!!!!!! I love MFP and friends!

yepyepyep

MarKayDee

I love that this is still going.

Angold83

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.

^^^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^^

Vailara

It's not just people who want to lose weight fast, though. Like many people, if I put in a goal of 1lb a week, then I'll still get 1200. It IS misleading. Of course, MFP allows me to put in 2lb a week, but I'd lose weight at actually the same rate as if I'd chosen 1lb a week. That might just make me feel like I was failing. In fact, even 1lb a week doesn't give me a 500 calorie deficit, so the system isn't doing what it lets us think it's doing! I do wish MFP would talk us through it.

The OP here did adjust her weight loss goal to 1lb a week, and was given a target of 1270 calories. It's hardly any different to her 2lb target of 1200 calories. It's misleading for beginners.

As for eating back exercise calories being obvious - I don't think it is. MFP asks us to enter our exercise goals when setting up our profile. I believe that often people think that if they put in their three gym trips a week, then MFP is giving them a calorie allowance based on that. There would be no need for them to add in exercise again, unless they were planning to use MFP to track exercise.

It would be simpler if MFP simply left that information out of the profile. MFP doesn't need to know how often you plan to exercise, or even what your goal weight is (it doesn't seem to use that information). But because MFP asks for the information, some people are going to think that their calorie goal is based on that information.

Don't get me wrong, I think MFP is great and have been using it in my own way for a long time. But I think there's room for change in how it's set up for new users.

Yeah, but you can't blame the tool for not doing all the research for you. I've spent countless hours reading through studies, articles, various topics created here to get the information I have about how to best go about my weight loss and reach my health goals. They're incredibly important to me, why wouldn't I put the time and energy into understanding exactly what I'm doing? That's on you, not on MFP. You don't understand something, why aren't you researching to figure out what it means?

And the exercise you put in is simply to give you a goal for the week for logging exercise. I don't see why that's an issue, where it clearly gives you the calories back to eat when you log it. It's telling you inherently to eat them back, I think it's pretty clear when you log it that that's what you're supposed to do.

I think it's great that you did so much research, but for some of us, it's not our field of study or expertise. I did loads and loads of reading before I even started dieting, and there is a huge amount of sometimes conflicting information (and misinformation!). And a lot of the studies you read have quite low calorie allowances. To be honest, I think the most useful thing has been trying things out and seeing what works for me, personally.

I think MFP should just be more open about how it works. I found out the information bit by bit. For instance, MFP doesn't tell you your BMR when you're setting it up: you have to look under "Apps" to find out what MFP has calculated and what calculator it uses (Mifflin St Jeor). It's not the most intuitive! Then it tells you to enter your exercise in your profile, but doesn't factor that into your calorie allowance, which puzzles some people.

It asks you to choose how much you want to lose a week, assuming a 500 calorie deficit per pound, but then has the cut off of 1200, so it may well be impossible for you to lose at the rate you've selected. Why ask us to choose between 1lb and 2lb if we're going to have exactly the same deficit whichever one we choose?

Goal weight - like exercise goals, it's irrelevant. MFP doesn't use that information in its calculations, as far as I can see. MFP will do the same calculations and give you the same options whether you have 200 lb to lose or 10lb. But users don't necessarily know that when they're setting it up - because MFP is ASKING for the information, people are likely to think they're getting more tailored options than they actually are.

I do think that MFP is a great calorie counting tool, which is why I've been here so long. But I think there is room for improvement, and in particular, the set-up could be clearer.

silken555

I know OP deactivated but for people in the same boat she is I'd recommend reading and then implementing this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

The TDEE method incorporates exercise so one doesn't need to think about eating exercise calories back.

I actually think MFP should put a little bullet point when one starts inputing their info.

Something simple like:
Recommended lbs/week based on number of lbs to lose:
5-20lbs - 0.5lbs/week
20-50lbs - 1lbs/week
50+lbs - 2lbs/week

It would help those who are just starting out and really aren't aware that there's a lot to know about weight loss to do it right.

I didn't even know there was a website when I installed the app. It took a few months before I started adding friends and then I saw them posting on a forum. That's when my real education began and I completely changed the way im going about this.

That said...personal responsibility IS important and I would never blame the app for a lack of success. Good or bad it's all up to me!

RaggedyPond