Frustration with MFP Goals!

jraymond

Hi All- I am trying to use MFP to lose 1 lb per week and want it to tell me how many calories to safely eat and how many calories to burn in exercise to lose this universally recommended amount of weight per week. However, I am very frustrated! I completed the goals both ways--the automatic and custom ways. I completed all the information and selected 1 lb per week of weight loss from the drop-down menu. It tells me to eat 1200 calories per week and reflects the exercise goals I have entered but tells me this will result in .4 lbs per week. No matter how much exercise I put in per week, it still says eat 1200 calories and that my weight loss will be .4 lbs per week! What gives?? There is no way 5,000 calories per week burned in exercise eating 1200 calories will result in .4 lbs of weight loss per week (an extreme I put in)! How can I get it to tell me how to lose 1 lb per week?

amywimp

For a healthy daily calorie count, allow 10 calories per pound of body weight—so a 150-pound woman should shoot for a 1,500-calorie target. That way, you should be able to lose weight no matter how much you exercise

keobooks

It sounds like there is some sort of glitch or error going on. Maybe you should ask in the forums at the bottom labelled site issues or something

Edited to add. It's at the bottom and called technical support

cbhubbybubble

I don't think your exercise goals change the calorie calc at all. When you add in the exercise you do every day, it will increase the calorie goal based on that, though. I'm guessing it won't go above .4 per week for you as you're already set at the min calories of 1200 and for you size (given the results of your calc, I guess you don't have much to lose), that's what you can expect to lose per week....give or take. It's just an estimate and you may lose more or less.

plipsurt

I can only guess you don't have much weight to lose? MFP will not set a goal lower than 1200 cals per day so if you would need to drop below that in order to lose 1lb per week MFP won't play.

momma3sweetgirls

The 1200 calories a week you've been given is what you need to eat to lose 1 lb. a week NOT counting exercise. I know, I know...when you set up your goals, it asks you how often and for how long you plan to exercise a week, but it doesn't actually figure that into you calorie deficit. Your general activity level is what is figured into the equation. So, exercise needs to be added as you do it and your calorie intake will chance. The idea is to have a NET caloric intake of 1200. Example: You exercise and burn 400 calories. You technically need to consume 1600 calories that day to net 1200 (and still lose 1 lb.). I hope that helps.

Hannah_Hopes

give this a read
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

MFP assumes that you will eat back all your calories and NET the calorie goals the below link goes into more detail about exercise calories and eating them back but basically if your goal is 1200 and burned off 1000calories mfp expects you to eat 2200 and NET 1200calories

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

I can only guess you don't have much weight to lose? MFP will not set a goal lower than 1200 cals per day so if you would need to drop below that in order to lose 1lb per week MFP won't play.

^ also this

kroonha

To put it bluntly, MFP calorie goals are bullsh*t. Go on http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ calculate your TDEE (with the amount of exercise you do per week included) and subtract no more than 500 from that. This should be your daily calorie intake. Don't add exercise calories to this because they are already included.

This way you'll lose up to 1lbs a week, depending on how much weight you still need to shed and it's a healthy approach. The MFP 1,200 suggestion is not a universal 'fit all' solution.

You can enter your own goals into MFP manually by going to My Home > Goals > Change Goals > Custom.

Hannah_Hopes

To put it bluntly, MFP calorie goals are bullsh*t. Go on http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ calculate your TDEE (with the amount of exercise you do per week included) and subtract no more than 500 from that. This should be your daily calorie intake. Don't add exercise calories to this because they are already included.

This way you'll lose up to 1lbs a week, depending on how much weight you still need to shed and it's a healthy approach. The MFP 1,200 suggestion is not a universal 'fit all' solution.

You can enter your own goals into MFP manually by going to My Home > Goals > Change Goals > Custom.

QFT,
TDEE is much easier in my opinion and more suitable for most people

Lleldiranne

From your profile, it looks like you're quite short and don't have a lot of weight to lose (20 pounds or so). Both factors can lower the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight, as well as age and other factors. To lose one pound a week, you would need to cut 500 calories off of that number. It looks like that would put you at less than 1200 calories. 1200 is the absolute lowest the MFP will recommend, so it defaults back to that.

Make sure you have your activity level entered entered correctly. A lot of people just go with sedentary, but are you sure that is appropriate for you? (I'm just assuming that's your setting).

With only 20 pounds to lose, you should really be aiming for about 1/2 pound per week. So go ahead and try what MFP gives you, eat back roughly 50% of your exercise calories, and see what happens. You may like the results!

knra_grl

If you are just entering the exercise in your goals section, it won't recalculate anything.

When you are logging your foods and your exercise, your calories will increase due to cals burned through exercise.

When you close your diary for the day, it will show at the bottom an estimate of how much you will weigh in 5 weeks.

Do eat back some of your exercise calories, between 1/3 to 3/4 - it will take time to figure out what works for you.

lemurcat12

I like the MFP approach still, and if you set it up with the same info and goals you should get the same total calories as the TDEE approach. I do. The difference is with TDEE, it averages the exercise you plan to do or regularly do over the whole week, so it doesn't change daily. With MFP, it asks you for your exercise goal, but attributes no calories burnt due to extra exercise until you actually log it each day. So if you exercise 500 calories a day every other day, the TDEE approach would have 250 cals fewer on exercise days and the same amount more on non exercise days. The catch is if people don't get this and don't eat back their exercise calories. I currently like getting extra calories when I exercise--it's motivating and sometimes I end up a lot hungrier on those days, like when I do a long bike ride. (The other difference is the 2 lb goal being substantially more of a cut than 20 percent off TDEE for many, but if you are going for 1 lb not really an issue.)

The other thing to be careful about is activity level on MFP. Lots of people assume they are sedentary and most aren't. Try upping it to lightly active.