"If every day was like today..." not accurate at all?
Moxylein
Posts: 52
Hello everybody,
I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right section, but I was wondering if anybody else was experiencing the same thing.
When you finish your diary, MFP always tells you "If every day was like today, you'd weigh XXX in 5 weeks". Even though the numbers are quite similar every day for me, I never lose as much as that, mostly MFP predicts a loss about 10 times higher than my actual loss. Which sometimes is quite dissapointing when you don't meet the expectations the prediction builts up.
I'm not starving myself, my BMR was checked by a physician and is totally okay and I really add every tiny bit that passes my mouth in my diary and for excercising I only log the values I get from my HRM.
Just wanted to know if anybody else is feeling the same or if my body is only "doing something wrong". I'm a little bit confused..
I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right section, but I was wondering if anybody else was experiencing the same thing.
When you finish your diary, MFP always tells you "If every day was like today, you'd weigh XXX in 5 weeks". Even though the numbers are quite similar every day for me, I never lose as much as that, mostly MFP predicts a loss about 10 times higher than my actual loss. Which sometimes is quite dissapointing when you don't meet the expectations the prediction builts up.
I'm not starving myself, my BMR was checked by a physician and is totally okay and I really add every tiny bit that passes my mouth in my diary and for excercising I only log the values I get from my HRM.
Just wanted to know if anybody else is feeling the same or if my body is only "doing something wrong". I'm a little bit confused..
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Replies
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Everyday, I complete my entry, and everyday, it does the "if everyday was like today..." thing. I suppose I haven't really looked at how that number compares to the amount of weight that I've really lost. I think the main purpose for me, is that regardless of what number it tells me, I use it as a constant, daily reminder that if I keep doing the right things, I will weigh less in a few weeks than I do today. For me, its not so much about having an exact measurement, but instead to provide continuing motivation to keep making the right decisions, and to help me connect those decisions to positive progress.0
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yeah, it's just so demotivation if it says you're going to lose this or that and you're actually stuck somewhere
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I never "complete" my diary entry. Then I don't need to worry about the lies it tell me. :laugh:0
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For me, it always seems to say that I will lose less than what I know I will actually lose. It is really strange. Like one day when I weighed 153 it told me that in 5 weeks I'd weigh 149 or something. I'm losing at a rate of 2lbs per week. I don't think it's accurate at all.0
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It's not necessarily inaccurate...
If EVERY day was like today you'd weight.......in 5 weeks.
That means you eat the exact same foods, do the exact same activity, and your body naturally burns the exact same amount of calories.
It's not meant to be a science it's meant to be motivation. Like "Hey keep doing what you're doing and you could be at _______ in 5 weeks". It's not meant to be a serious gauge of what you WILL weigh.0 -
Has not been at all accurate in my case.
Agree: not a motivation.0 -
It's not necessarily inaccurate...
If EVERY day was like today you'd weight.......in 5 weeks.
That means you eat the exact same foods, do the exact same activity, and your body naturally burns the exact same amount of calories.
It's not meant to be a science it's meant to be motivation. Like "Hey keep doing what you're doing and you could be at _______ in 5 weeks". It's not meant to be a serious gauge of what you WILL weigh.
^^ and quite frankly, i am not eating the same thing and burning the same cals every day for 5 weeks to find out if it's true....that's a month and a bit of pure boredom0 -
It's not necessarily inaccurate...
If EVERY day was like today you'd weight.......in 5 weeks.
That means you eat the exact same foods, do the exact same activity, and your body naturally burns the exact same amount of calories.
It's not meant to be a science it's meant to be motivation. Like "Hey keep doing what you're doing and you could be at _______ in 5 weeks". It's not meant to be a serious gauge of what you WILL weigh.
^^^^^ this0 -
It is just a basic math equation that has nothing to do with you personally. For instance, if you are eating only 200 calories per day, the program will run a quick calculation of your current weight minus your caloric deficit over 5 weeks and come up with a number.
Of course, if you only eat 200 calories a day over 5 weeks, you may be dead by that time. :laugh: But the update doesn't indicate death due to starvation.0 -
It's totally off on mine. In fact... I ate the same foods, almost exactly from day to day for a week... didn't lose a pound. By their calculations I should have lost at least 1.5 pounds. I used to hate that number because I knew it was a lie. Now, i just ignore it. I didn't want three red numbers to ruin my day - or week.0
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I find the excercise calories MFP awards is high. I used my GPS tracker with HRM to find out the real ones and to find MFP is high.0
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My food intake and exercise vary a LOT. I tend to ignore the "if every day...you will weigh" because I know I won't ever be that consistent. I take it with a grain of salt, especially on the days I am under my calorie goal.0
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It's totally off on mine. In fact... I ate the same foods, almost exactly from day to day for a week... didn't lose a pound. By their calculations I should have lost at least 1.5 pounds. I used to hate that number because I knew it was a lie. Now, i just ignore it. I didn't want three red numbers to ruin my day - or week.
If you at the same foods for a week and didn't lose a pound then something else is wrong. It's not an issue with MFP's calculation. If you were eating at a deficit then logically there should have been weight loss. Which means either A) you weren't eating at a deficit,
you were retaining water (or other things) when you weighed yourself, or C) there's some other underlying issue. 0 -
It is based on -3500 cals = -1lb. Which regardless of what anyone else thinks, I do not believe that is 100% how things work in the human body. There are other factors that can influence our rate of loss or gain.0
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It's not doing a medical work up on you, it's crunching numbers. If you're not measuring your food carefully or have some medical issues, the numbers will be off.0
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honestly, it has been fairly accurate for me0
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Mine are pretty out there too. I don't pay any mind to it. Those are based on numbers only- our bodies do not respond to numbers. There is no telling what could happen in those 5 weeks... water, muscle gain or loss, etc. Even if you ate the exact same for 5 weeks and did the exact same activity you could be putting on muscle which in turn could increase your weight.
I look at it as, if that number is going down- i'm on the right track!
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I actually love that little number. I find that it's such a great reinforcer that I'm doing the right things and if I continue to do so, it should pay off. It's the carrot in front of my nose. I realize there is no way it can be entirely accurate since its purely based on math though.0
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I only use this as a tracking tool and don't pay much attention to what it I will weigh in 5 weeks.
I use it to log what I eat and exercise. Everybody's body is different and works at different rates etc, so MFP can not possibly tell you what you will weigh in xx amount of weeks.
I'd say ignore it. Keep focused on your goals and aims.
Good luck0 -
Hello everybody,
I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right section, but I was wondering if anybody else was experiencing the same thing.
When you finish your diary, MFP always tells you "If every day was like today, you'd weigh XXX in 5 weeks". Even though the numbers are quite similar every day for me, I never lose as much as that, mostly MFP predicts a loss about 10 times higher than my actual loss. Which sometimes is quite dissapointing when you don't meet the expectations the prediction builts up.
I'm not starving myself, my BMR was checked by a physician and is totally okay and I really add every tiny bit that passes my mouth in my diary and for excercising I only log the values I get from my HRM.
Just wanted to know if anybody else is feeling the same or if my body is only "doing something wrong". I'm a little bit confused..
Someone may have already said this, but I didn't read all the posts for the sake of time. MFP bases this number on whatever your calorie deficit is for the day. 1lb=3,500calories. However, MFP's calculations are based on what you enter in your food and exercise diary. If you are entering foods and exercises from the MFP database (i.e. you do a search for "Medium Apple", and just enter whatever is in the database), those numbers could be inaccurate, therefore causing the MFP calculator to give you a scewed result. I generally just ignore that number. As long as I know I'm eating the right kind of food, I'm at/under my calorie goal, and I'm at/over my exercise goal, I'm good.0 -
Mine are pretty out there too. I don't pay any mind to it. Those are based on numbers only- our bodies do not respond to numbers. There is no telling what could happen in those 5 weeks... water, muscle gain or loss, etc. Even if you ate the exact same for 5 weeks and did the exact same activity you could be putting on muscle which in turn could increase your weight.
I look at it as, if that number is going down- i'm on the right track!
This too. It doesn't take exercising into account. Only the calorie deficit at the end of the day. So if you're exercising there's a good chance you are losing fat but gaining muscle.0 -
It's not doing a medical work up on you, it's crunching numbers. If you're not measuring your food carefully or have some medical issues, the numbers will be off.
Yeah, perhaps it is because of my thyroidism...0 -
It's a nice motivator when I'm stuck, but I usually don't take it to heart.0
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Mine is never right but then I've never had 5 weeks where every single thing I did and ate every day were exactly the same.0
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I never even look at that thing. I just log and keep it moving.. as long as I know i'm still losing i'm cool.0
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It is silly. I can't run 9 miles everyday.0
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I wish MFP included another feature like, "If you go at this trend, you'll weight <this much> in 5 weeks." taking into account the trend through a long period of time.
It would be much more accurate and motivating, I think.0 -
I never "complete" my diary entry. Then I don't need to worry about the lies it tell me. :laugh:
same as above, and one reason I also never complete my entery now - it has NEVER been accurate for me, and is darn depressing, because I eat, and exercise "mostly" the same way everyday, so one would think it would be more accurate - but nope. Would love to be able to turn it off.
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I wish MFP included another feature like, "If you go at this trend, you'll weight <this much> in 5 weeks." taking into account the trend through a long period of time.
It would be much more accurate and motivating, I think.
This! Taking just one day in account doesn't seem to work for many of us0 -
It's not necessarily inaccurate...
If EVERY day was like today you'd weight.......in 5 weeks.
That means you eat the exact same foods, do the exact same activity, and your body naturally burns the exact same amount of calories.
It's not meant to be a science it's meant to be motivation. Like "Hey keep doing what you're doing and you could be at _______ in 5 weeks". It's not meant to be a serious gauge of what you WILL weigh.
Exactly what I was going to say. No one will do the same exact thing, eat the same exact thing or take the same amount of steps every day. It's not possible. For me, I see it and think ok cool. I'm going to go out and run what I just ran today or not more, I use it as a motivation, not as a hey wait it lied to me0
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