Re-Evaulating Goals

rachelblank427

Good morning everyone! Today was my weekly weigh in and I lost 2 pounds this week! (yay) Well because I have lost more than 10 pounds MyFitnessPal asked if I wanted to re evaluate my exercise and food goals. Can someone please explain why this is important. Or if it is important at all. Thanks!!!

Kate_UK

Well done on your loss so far! Re evaluating you goals will reduce your daily calories slightly. This is so that you keep loosing at the same rate i.e 1lb a week or what ever you set up when you first joined. If you don't you'll still loose, but at a slighlty slower rate because as your weight decreases you need less calories to sustain yourself.

kerrilucko

It is important. SInce you have lost a significant amount now, your body will burn less doing the same things. FOr example, 10 lbs ago maybe you burned 300 calories with 30 mins of exercise while now you may only burn 275 calories doing the same task. Myfitnesspal will make adjustments for this. If applicable, it will also lower your caloric intake to maintain your losses (so you can continue to lose the same amount). As a side note, if you are already set at 1200 calories, your intake will not decrease, but your projected losses will. ALso do be aware that as you lose more weight, you will see that the weight losses slow. So don't be discouraged and keep up the good work!

alantin

I'm not sure it's for lowering your calories as the calculations are dependent on your weight and people usually update that pretty regularily. I think it's rather other way around and for increasing your daily calories. As fat becomes more scarce you need to adjust this so that you can minimize the muscle loss. Heavier people can easily lose 2 lbs a week but lighter people need to be content with 1 if they wan't to keep their muscle tissue.
For comparison, The Finnish Olympic Comittee's recommentation for a safe rate for athletes is about 0.5 lbs a week.

kerrilucko

I'm not sure it's for lowering your calories as the calculations are dependent on your weight and people usually update that pretty regularily. I think it's rather other way around and for increasing your daily calories. As fat becomes more scarce you need to adjust this so that you can minimize the muscle loss. Heavier people can easily lose 2 lbs a week but lighter people need to be content with 1 if they wan't to keep their muscle tissue.
For comparison, The Finnish Olympic Comittee's recommentation for a safe rate for athletes is about 0.5 lbs a week.

That's a good point but unfortunately, MFP doesn't work that way. The smaller you get, you really SHOULD be eating more... because you don't have the fat reserves to work off of. However, MFP LOWERS your intake, the smaller you get (down to 1200 cals). It is worth noting that 1200 calories is not enough food for someone who is at or near a healthy weight category.

alantin

Okay.
Too bad.. :frown:
I haven't really seen that notification but I guess that's because I'm tweaking my goals atleast once a month.. :laugh: