Calculate calories for desired weight or current?

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dottheallison
dottheallison Posts: 42
in Food and Nutrition
Hi guys! New to this whole thing, but loving my fitbit/fitnesspal tracking ability.
I'm sure this has been asked a million times but I couldn't find a definitive answer and thought I'd post what I hope will be a simple question.

If I want to lose weight using the myfitnesspal calorie tracker, should I set my net calories according to my DESIRED weight or my CURRENT weight?

Research so far has only rendered me confused. I've never seen a calorie tracker like this before. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance
- Allison.

Replies

  • 80lbslost
    80lbslost Posts: 93 Member
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    Go to the goals tab under "My Home" and click "change goals" and do "guided" recommendation and it will ask you how much weight you want to lose per week. MFP will adjust your calories for you.
  • moran1917
    moran1917 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    You put in your current weight and how much you want to lose per week. Mfp will set up calorie goals for you based on this. Every 10lbs lost or so you enter your new weight and goals and it adjusts your calories again for your new weight. It will prompt you when you weigh in to change your goals.
  • dottheallison
    dottheallison Posts: 42
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    So, when I am looking at the tracker on my phone that says I have so many calories left for the day- am I shooting for that number? Or do I want a deficit?
  • ambitious01
    ambitious01 Posts: 209 Member
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    shoot for that number. I use fitbit also and the problem is getting the calorie total to line up right. I go with the lowest amount between the two.
  • dottheallison
    dottheallison Posts: 42
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    Thank you! By manually entering my calorie allowance on MFP I am able to get them close, but FitBit seems to adjust much more on a per-day basis so it won't ever be perfect. I'll go with the lower as well and see what happens. :)
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    If you have a fitbit it says on the setup screen under "Adjustments" to set yourself as sedentary and the fitbit will add in what you should be eating according to your daily activity.
  • dottheallison
    dottheallison Posts: 42
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    Thanks for the help before! I have another question too in regards to the fitbit if anyone has one:

    On my dashboard there's the little meter that tabulates the calories I have left for the day. One is the little plate that's a pie chart and it says I "can still eat" so many out of the total. But if I scroll sideways to the meter and hover over it it says a different number! It's very confusing and I'm not sure which number I should be following. Any ideas?

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