MFP vs Lose It

felix1967
felix1967 Posts: 2
in Getting Started
What is/are the differences between these two apps? Here to maintain my weight I am allowed 2660 calories per day while there, Lose It, I am allowed about 150 calories less. I know one major difference is the food data base and that is why I am coming back here, but why the calorie difference? Any help to this newbie would be appreciated. Thank you.

Replies

  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    they're just different calculators... that's all.
  • BattleTaxi
    BattleTaxi Posts: 752 Member
    I drink the MFP Kool-Aid. Plus Trog is here.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    I'm here for entertainment purposes. Losing the weight was a side effect.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    I drink the MFP Kool-Aid. Plus Trog is here.
    kool-aid-man-missed-his-chance-o.gif
  • emacb123
    emacb123 Posts: 254 Member
    I'm here for entertainment purposes. Losing the weight was a side effect.

    Correct!

    vdY0v5a.gif
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    TDEE (maintenance) calculator is based on BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculations. There are a few different formulas used to calculate BMR. MFP uses the Mifflin St. Jeor equation. The other app most likely uses a different one. Remember these calculators are estimates based on the average person of the same age/size/weight. You may or may not be "average".
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Oh, and.....

    trog_01.png
  • GLH2576
    GLH2576 Posts: 83 Member
    There was a recent post on one of the boards where the OP asked about 15 different programs for how many calories he/she should have. The numbers that came back were all over the place. so depending on where you look you can find about any "right" answer. It may, or may not, be right for you so trial and error is in your future.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    TDEE (maintenance) calculator is based on BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculations. There are a few different formulas used to calculate BMR. MFP uses the Mifflin St. Jeor equation. The other app most likely uses a different one. Remember these calculators are estimates based on the average person of the same age/size/weight. You may or may not be "average".

    Pretty much this...nobody has an exact TDEE of whatever one of these calculators spits out. 150 calories difference here and there isn't a whole lot and well within any kind of reasonable margin for error. You just have to pick something, try it out, and make adjustments as per your actual results.

    Frankly, I was maintaining for around 9 months before going into this most recent smallish cut and I pretty much had a range of calories, not some particular number that I was hitting. Some days I was overeating and some days I was under-eating I'm sure, but it all netted out to me maintaining in the end. I pretty much ate anywhere from around 2600 - 2800 calories per day while maintaining. I really just let my energy levels and hunger cues do their thing and monitored the scale and my progress in the gym and called it a day.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    I used LoseIt to lose weight and still use it to track. I joined MFP after a long time lurking because the forums are more active and interesting.

    I've logged using MFP a few times and get very similar numbers to what LoseIt gives me. I think MFP is a bit better on macro tracking. The food database is better here too but less well-controlled.

    I considered moving to MFP for logging but I've got 2+ years of data, recipes, and food at LI so it's not worth the effort.

    ETA: MFP has more options to vary your "activity level" than LI. I find that LI is pretty much spot on for me, although it seems that's not the case for everyone.

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