Difference in calorie counters

violasmith85

I used to be on Lose It! and I came over here because I'm able to put in my measurements and keep track of them as well as weight, which I find most important. I do prefer Lose It's food log as it's easier, but like I said, body measurements are important. Anyway I started my goal and the difference between what it says I should lose 2lbs a week is pretty major, at least to me. On Lose It it told me to eat 1750 calories a day. MFP tells me to eat 1370. That's a pretty big difference. So my question is, which do you think is more accurate? On both sites I put sedetary and I don't add exercise. Not sure why the big difference.

jrline

Best bet is probably average the two and go with that for a couple weeks and check your results.

diannethegeek

I'm not very familiar with LoseIt but does it take your exercise into account up front? MFP sets your goal lower than other sites expecting you to log your exercise so that it can add more calories for you. A lot of other websites include your planned exercise from the beginning. I'm not sure if LoseIt is one that does or not.

stacyjh1979

I see what you are saying. For example if I set my goal as 2lbs a week MFP tells me to eat 1200/day and Lose It tells me to eat 1236/day. If I change the loss to be 1.5lbs per week MFP still tells me to eat 1200/day but Lose it tells me to eat 1486/day. So at the 2lb/week rate it's pretty close but at the 1.5lb/week rate it's a pretty significant difference. One thing I like about the Lose It app is that it adjusts what your calorie intake continuously. If I log in and update my weight (say I lost two pounds) it would automatically change my calorie goal. Also on both apps however many calories you burn doing exercise it adds them to the base amount so if it's set at 1236 and I burn 100 calories with exercise then when I log that exercise it will tell me I have 1336 cals to eat.

In my case I changed my goal on MFP to be 1400 and most days I aim to stay closer to the 1200 but am comfortable going up to 1400 since lose it actually says I can have 1486 (prior to exercise). I made that decision based on both the Lose It app and the Scooby calculator which I believe told me I could eat 1452/day.

violasmith85

Thanks for the info guys. Guess I'll alter it to be somewhere between the two and see how that goes.