Question

Chris04626
Chris04626 Posts: 34
edited September 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I am new here

I filled out my info and it give me a calorie intake of 2,030

It tells me this

Nutritional goals Target
Net Calories Consumed* / Day 2,030 Calories / Day
Carbs / Day 279 g
Fat / Day 68 g
Protein / Day 76 g

*Net calories consumed = total calories consumed - exercise calories burned. So the more you exercise, the more you can eat!
Fitness goals Target
Calories Burned / Week 0 Calories / Week
Workouts / Weekends 0 workouts
Minutes / Workout 0 minutes

If you follow this plan...

Your projected weigh loss is: 2.0 lbs/week

You should lose 10.0 lbs. by April 19

I looked up my BMR which is Your estimated BMR is: 2,428 calories/day

What i dont understand is if i eat 2030 calories per day how the heck is it figuring i will lose 2 lbs per week. That isnt even a 1lb deficit. As its not calculating in any exercise at all. When i do put in exercise it adds to how many calories i could eat.

Anyone have any idea how this works???

Replies

  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    What did you set your "lifestyle" to? Sedentary? Lightly active? Even for a sedentary person, the BMR is multiplied by 1.2 to give you what your maintenance calorie level would be. If you set your level higher than that, the multiplier would be even higher, giving you the deficit you are talking seeing.
  • haileyco
    haileyco Posts: 68
    you should put your exercise goal in when you put in your height, weight, gender, etc. try that and see what it gives you, it will be a different number.
  • youngs
    youngs Posts: 250 Member
    go to this site and try the Healthy Body Calculator and see what it tells you..it is a more indepth profile set up..then if it tells you diffrent than this site you can come back and change your goals..hope this helps .

    http://www.dietitian.com/index.html
  • thedman
    thedman Posts: 18
    What your BMR indicates is the amount of calories your body would burn if you did absolutely nothing for 24 hours.

    "It represents the minimum amount of energy needed to keep your body functioning, including breathing and keeping your heart beating. Your BMR does not include the calories you burn from normal daily activities or exercise."

    You will obviously burn more than that just by walking around the house, not too mention any kind of exercise.

    Good luck on your new journey!!
  • Chris04626
    Chris04626 Posts: 34
    I put in Sedentary I thought the system was set up to give me a 2 pound loss per week by eating the calories it calculated me to eat

    Ok so i take my BMR which this site tells me is 2,428 and multiply it by 1.2 for sedetary? that gives me 2913.6

    2913.6 - my calorie allowance of 2030 is = 883.6 x that by 7 days/week = 6185.2
    2 lbs equals 7000 calories

    So by that figure there is no way i will lose 2 lbs per week as those figures are off by 814.8 calories

    On my Fitness Goals page it tells me this

    Calories Burned
    From Normal Daily Activity 3,030 calories/day

    Your Daily Goal 2,030 calories/ day
    Daily Calorie Deficit 1,000 calories
    Projected Weight Loss 2.0 lbs/ week

    Where the heck are they coming up with 3030? The difference between that and my bmr multiplied by 1.2 is 116.4 calories
    So there is an error somewhere in the sites calculations

    After i completed the tracking for today i clicked the button and it tells me this
    If every day were like today... You'd weigh 263.9 lbs in 5 weeks But the goal thing tells me i should lose 10 lbs in 5 weeks

    Am i missing something or is their a miscalculation going on on the site
  • muth3rluvx2
    muth3rluvx2 Posts: 1,156 Member
    Alot of people end up losing signficantly more than the numbers indicate initially. I would recommend trying what it gives you for at least 3 weeks. Trust me on this... I've been here for about a month and I've played with my numbers far more than I should have and its cost me. Play with the numbers AFTER your outcomes are determined. I've seen people who put in for 1 lb a week and they're losing 3.

    I haven't lost a thing... why? Probably because I wanted something more concrete and definitive - I wanted to understand how the system works - I had to play with everything... instead of just trusting the information I put in and going with it. I may have lost a couple of pounds by now if I hadn't. Trust the program until you have reason not to.
  • mromnek
    mromnek Posts: 325
    I have looked at your numbers and looked at mine. It looks to me like MFP is subtracting 0.25 lbs from your target weight loss goal. For instance your calorie count is 1.75 lbs per week. My target weight loss is 1.5 lbs per week, however, my calorie count is what it would be for a 1.25 lbs per week goal. I haven't noticed this before, but suspect it is a (secret) safety margin, since most people over reach their weight loss goals (from what I have observed).

    What I mean by over reach the weight loss goals is simple. From the reading I have done, it is suggested that your caloric intake not drop below 80% of your BMR. Your weight loss goal of 2 lbs per week actually puts you at 78% of your BMR. However, I have reason to suspect there is a mistake in your BMR.

    I lowered my goal from 2 lbs per week to 1.5 lbs per week for this very reason (less than 80% of my BMR).
  • mromnek
    mromnek Posts: 325
    OK... I looked some more at the numbers. It appears that instead of 1.2, MFP is using 1.25 for sedentary lifestyle. That is raising your TDEE by a little bit.


    Also, there is an error in the calculation of calorie deficit. I have a goal of 1.5 lbs per week. Simple math, 1.5 lbs per week * 500 calories per day (per lb per week) = 750 calories per day deficit. However, MFP is somehow showing me at 730 calorie per day deficit. Instead of 1.5 lbs per week, that is 1.46 lbs per week.

    Like myself, MFP is not perfect. I suspect I damage my weight loss efforts much more than the imperfect calculations. Long story short, if you lose 1.75 lbs per week instead of 2 lbs per week, are you going to consider this a success or a failure.
  • Chris04626
    Chris04626 Posts: 34
    No i wouldnt consider it a failure. I just see the calculations and new something is off.

    Would be nice if a tech here could give this some attention and let us know what's behind it
  • Mike
    Mike Posts: 823 Member
    It's not an error. Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is an estimate of how many calories you'd burn if you were to do nothing but rest for 24 hours and does not take into account normal daily activity. Based on the activity level that you select in your profile, we adjust your BMR to estimate how many calories you are burning a day. In your case, we're estimating roughly 3030 calories per day, so we set your goal at 2030 per day to generate the 1000 calorie/day deficit you need to lose 2 lbs per week.

    Hope that helps clarify things.
  • Chris04626
    Chris04626 Posts: 34
    Thank you, how does the site calculate to get the 3030? So if i stuck to my calorie allowance every day i should lose 2lbs per week without exercise? So if i exercise i can either eat more calories or use it to create a bigger deficit?

    Also i sent you a message, i look forward to hearing from you. Great site you have here and a very handy tool.
  • Chris04626
    Chris04626 Posts: 34
    Alo if you put in fitness goals of say 5 days a week 30 minutes. It gives me a goal of 1500 calories burn per week

    Why doesn't this effect my calories or my weight goal at all?

    Basically the fitness goal on the goal page doesn't mean anything. IF your following your calorie allowance you should lose your projected goal weight so if your exercising your fitness goal you are creating a bigger calorie deficit so you should reach your goal sooner.
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