Why is allotted calories the same

Libby283

I am not really losing the weight as fast as I would like so I was playing around with the settings. It allots me 1200 calories regardless if I put I want to lose .5 or 2 lbs a week. Why is that?

Could it be I need less calories to lose? After the initial 2 weeks, I am not even averaging 1/2 lb a week. But mfp gives the minimum of 1200? Where does this 1200 figure come from?

I tried eating 1500 and I gained then maintained for a week, so it is not a need more calories thing. I am not hungry on 1200 calories but I choose healthy foods that are low calorie, such as cup of broccoli. Before I started this change I ate an average of 1800-2000 calorie diet which obviously had me gaining weight.

What am I doing wrong?

I do have a fitbit and I hit 10,000 steps 5 out of 7 days.

SingRunTing

What does your fitbit say you need to eat to lose?

Libby283

I don't enter food into fitbit, just mfp but it looks like 1300 if I add what I have already logged into mfp and how much fitbit says I have left to eat.

Annesoucy1957

MFP is set at a minimum of 1200 calories no matter what are your personal stats. Try calculating your TDEE that will give you the numbers of calories you need to maintain your actual weight and includes your activity level such as sedentary, light activivity, etc. Then you can deduct 500 calories a day for 1 pound a week. You would not if using this formula eat back your calories from activities since they are already calculated in your tdee.

All of these tools are only approximative and the same applies to calories burned throught exercise. The best is to try at a certain amount and adjust from there according to results.

JonathanLepoff

It allots 1200 calories as an absolute minimum to avoid "starvation mode"

MelodyandBarbells

MFP does not allow very low calorie diets. This is their explanation from section 3) of the forum guidelines:

"b) Profiles, groups, messages, posts, or wall comments that encourage anorexia, bulimia, or very low calorie diets of any kind will be removed, and may be grounds for account deletion. This includes positive references to ana/mia, purging, or self-starving. Our goal is to provide users with the tools to achieve their weight management goals at a steady, sustainable rate. Use of the site to promote, glamorize, or achieve dangerously low levels of eating is not permitted."

If you're getting 1200 calories with .5 lbs or 2, you may be quite small. What do you weigh? Also you may have entered your non Exercise activity level as sedentary and should consider if you may be a bit more active in your day to day life. Sedentary: desk job. This is my level since other than exercise I'm not out and about much. Lightly active: spend a lot of the day on your feet: teacher, salesman. Active: a good portion of the day doing physical activity - mailman, waitress. Very active: heavy physical activity : bike messenger, carpenter.

A more active setting will give you more calories. Since a deficit is already calculated WITHOUT exercise, any calories logged from exercise can also be eaten for a higher target.

MelodyandBarbells

Based on the info you've given so far, you have 22 lbs to lose but gain on 1500 calories. You may not have stuck to it for long enough since body weight can fluctuate for any number of reasons. I fluctuate anywhere from 3-5 lbs up or down typically, so I like to allow at least four weeks before judging whether I'm increasing reducing or maintaining.

Another possibility is that you are under estimating your eating. Read this http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101

Or the rate of weight loss you are not okay with may really be best for your current weight and weight loss target . Set up your account like you want to maintain weight. To lose 2 lbs a week you'll need 1000 calories deficit per day. Do you really have that much room available?

Libby283

MFP does not allow very low calorie diets. This is their explanation from section 3) of the forum guidelines:

"b) Profiles, groups, messages, posts, or wall comments that encourage anorexia, bulimia, or very low calorie diets of any kind will be removed, and may be grounds for account deletion. This includes positive references to ana/mia, purging, or self-starving. Our goal is to provide users with the tools to achieve their weight management goals at a steady, sustainable rate. Use of the site to promote, glamorize, or achieve dangerously low levels of eating is not permitted."

If you're getting 1200 calories with .5 lbs or 2, you may be quite small. What do you weigh? Also you may have entered your non Exercise activity level as sedentary and should consider if you may be a bit more active in your day to day life. Sedentary: desk job. This is my level since other than exercise I'm not out and about much. Lightly active: spend a lot of the day on your feet: teacher, salesman. Active: a good portion of the day doing physical activity - mailman, waitress. Very active: heavy physical activity : bike messenger, carpenter.

A more active setting will give you more calories. Since a deficit is already calculated WITHOUT exercise, any calories logged from exercise can also be eaten for a higher target.

I am currently 149 lbs. at 5'3" or 5'4". Not really small. Well not as small as I was 6 years ago. I have a desk job. I walk for about 15 minutes when I get to work, walk 15 mins at lunch and then some in the evening with the kids. I try to do something physical like mow the grass, swim, or ride bikes with kids.

yarwell

I am not really losing the weight as fast as I would like so I was playing around with the settings. It allots me 1200 calories regardless if I put I want to lose .5 or 2 lbs a week. Why is that?

You're putting sedentary and a higher loss rate. Put active and a lower loss rate and you'll float above the 1200 minimum which is a botton-stop and not a fixed amount for everyone

Libby283

Based on the info you've given so far, you have 22 lbs to lose but gain on 1500 calories. You may not have stuck to it for long enough since body weight can fluctuate for any number of reasons. I fluctuate anywhere from 3-5 lbs up or down typically, so I like to allow at least four weeks before judging whether I'm increasing reducing or maintaining.

Another possibility is that you are under estimating your eating. Read this http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101

Or the rate of weight loss you are not okay with may really be best for your current weight and weight loss target . Set up your account like you want to maintain weight. To lose 2 lbs a week you'll need 1000 calories deficit per day. Do you really have that much room available?

If anything I overestimate my calories. If I enter an apple but actually eat only half, I leave the calories for the whole apple. I log my coffee as whole milk and sugar but I use 1% and no sugar. I build in room for error if that makes sense.

Thank you for your insight.

MelodyandBarbells

MFP does not allow very low calorie diets. This is their explanation from section 3) of the forum guidelines:

"b) Profiles, groups, messages, posts, or wall comments that encourage anorexia, bulimia, or very low calorie diets of any kind will be removed, and may be grounds for account deletion. This includes positive references to ana/mia, purging, or self-starving. Our goal is to provide users with the tools to achieve their weight management goals at a steady, sustainable rate. Use of the site to promote, glamorize, or achieve dangerously low levels of eating is not permitted."

If you're getting 1200 calories with .5 lbs or 2, you may be quite small. What do you weigh? Also you may have entered your non Exercise activity level as sedentary and should consider if you may be a bit more active in your day to day life. Sedentary: desk job. This is my level since other than exercise I'm not out and about much. Lightly active: spend a lot of the day on your feet: teacher, salesman. Active: a good portion of the day doing physical activity - mailman, waitress. Very active: heavy physical activity : bike messenger, carpenter.

A more active setting will give you more calories. Since a deficit is already calculated WITHOUT exercise, any calories logged from exercise can also be eaten for a higher target.

I am currently 149 lbs. at 5'3" or 5'4". Not really small. Well not as small as I was 6 years ago. I have a desk job. I walk for about 15 minutes when I get to work, walk 15 mins at lunch and then some in the evening with the kids. I try to do something physical like mow the grass, swim, or ride bikes with kids.

Using your numbers and a sedentary activity level, .5 lbs actually gives me 1440 and then 1 lb drops to 1200. You may not be as little as you want, but since you don't have that much weight to lose, you shouldn't try to generate the kind of deficit a 300 lb person could. Lightly active rather than sedentary is even more. 1650 for .5 lb per week, 1400 for 1 lb, and then 1.5 drops to 1200. If you do the mowing, biking, and walking with the kids everyday and do NOT log it as exercise, you could try a "lightly active" activity level and see if that works. If you also log these exercises separately, you would be double counting them and hindering your weight loss...

Again, with not too much weight to lose, you should try to be as accurate as you reasonably can with your logging. Good luck!

leggup

Based on the info you've given so far, you have 22 lbs to lose but gain on 1500 calories. You may not have stuck to it for long enough since body weight can fluctuate for any number of reasons. I fluctuate anywhere from 3-5 lbs up or down typically, so I like to allow at least four weeks before judging whether I'm increasing reducing or maintaining.

Another possibility is that you are under estimating your eating. Read this http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101

Or the rate of weight loss you are not okay with may really be best for your current weight and weight loss target . Set up your account like you want to maintain weight. To lose 2 lbs a week you'll need 1000 calories deficit per day. Do you really have that much room available?

If anything I overestimate my calories. If I enter an apple but actually eat only half, I leave the calories for the whole apple. I log my coffee as whole milk and sugar but I use 1% and no sugar. I build in room for error if that makes sense.

Thank you for your insight.

Why would you account for whole milk + sugar if you're using 1% and no sugar? Are you weighing your solid food and measuring your liquids? I will sometimes log hand fruit without weighing, but that's an error of +/- 50 calories, tops. Why are you introducing additional error?

Can you open your diary? People may be able to find where the problem is. At your height and weight, you should be losing at 1,200 (unless you've only been doing this for like, 3-4 weeks. Give it 4-6 weeks min),

galprincess

Im 5ft 5 and 153lbs I am active as a SAHM of 3 children im on the go all day I only sit down to eat , as im typing im putting laundry away and I want to lose 0.5lb a week as this is realistic and my calories are 2020 a day so my suggestion is if you want to eat more move more and make sure you have your activity level right

Libby283

The only exercise I log is my fitbit which automatically syncs with my fitness pal.

MelodyandBarbells

The only exercise I log is my fitbit which automatically syncs with my fitness pal.

Uh oh. If your fitbit is automatically adding in all the steps you do, I don't think you should change your activity level from sedentary anymore. It would indeed be a double count as far as I can tell. Except maybe the biking and swimming, unless we're talking hours and hours each day in which case I'd lean towards logging it as exercise

If you've only been doing this for two weeks then you just need to keep it up for about four more and re-evaluate. Or open up your diary for further tips specific to you:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Libby283

Looking at my goals, at 1200 calories, I only have a deficit of 490 calories a day. Don't I need 500 or more a day?

Also, the only time I can't move is while at work. When I am home, I move. I have two kids, three dogs and a cat. I am a single parent that has my kids 100% of the time. The work is never done.

Libby283

The only exercise I log is my fitbit which automatically syncs with my fitness pal.

Uh oh. If your fitbit is automatically adding in all the steps you do, I don't think you should change your activity level from sedentary anymore. It would indeed be a double count as far as I can tell. Except maybe the biking and swimming, unless we're talking hours and hours each day in which case I'd lean towards logging it as exercise

If you've only been doing this for two weeks then you just need to keep it up for about four more and re-evaluate. Or open up your diary for further tips specific to you:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Yeah I don't log the exercise and no it is certainly not hours and hours. Maybe an hour if I am lucky. I started may 8, so almost 6 weeks ago. I lost the 8 lbs all in the first 3 weeks, and then have hovered between 149-151 since. I am not even close to achieving the results that mfp gives when you complete your daily food log.

F00LofaT00K

If your activity level is set at "sedentary," ythe system sees that you need to eat less than 1200 calories to lose 2lbs per week, BUT 1200 is about the minimum you can eat and be healthy so MFP won't give you an amount less than that. From personal experience, eat more-lose slower. You'll make better progress than giving in, binging, feeling terrible about yourself and averaging 1800 calories a day than if you had just eaten 1600 daily to begin with (or whatever your numbers end up being).

Also, if you are not weighing your food, cup measurements and estimates can be WAY off calorie-wise. It's possible you're eating a whole lot more than 1500 calories without realizing it.

jkal1979

I don't enter food into fitbit, just mfp but it looks like 1300 if I add what I have already logged into mfp and how much fitbit says I have left to eat.

Do you have your Fitbit synced with MFP? If you do your calories consumed will show up on the dashboard on the Fitbit site.

WalkingAlong

I started may 8, so almost 6 weeks ago. I lost the 8 lbs all in the first 3 weeks, and then have hovered between 149-151 since. I am not even close to achieving the results that mfp gives when you complete your daily food log.

If you've lost 8 lbs. in 6 weeks, you're at a calorie level that causes you to lose over 1 lb/week. It's all averages.

editorgrrl

I don't enter food into fitbit, just mfp but it looks like 1300 if I add what I have already logged into mfp and how much fitbit says I have left to eat.

Your Fitbit burn is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). If you eat TDEE minus your deficit, you will lose weight.

To understand how MFP works, read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

To learn how to use your Fitbit with MFP, join the Fitbit users group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users