How MyFitness Pal Calculates Potential Weight Loss

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dgcohen
dgcohen Posts: 1
in Introduce Yourself
Very new to MFP but confused how it calculates potential weight loss. After entering my daily caloric intake and exercise, I had about a 1,500 calorie deficit. From everything I know, that would equate to about a 3 pound/week weight loss based strictly on a 3,500 calorie deficit = 1 pound. However, MFP says, "in 5 weeks you would be down to x" with x representing a 25 pound loss. Any thoughts?

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  • Oncebittentwiceshy38
    Oncebittentwiceshy38 Posts: 127 Member
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    Why in the world would you have a 1500 calorie deficit for one day? That can't be healthy at all.
  • Denise8P
    Denise8P Posts: 23
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    My only thought is you are entering something wrong? For example - I weigh 265. My recommended calories to maintain are approximately 2,400. I am supposed to eat 1650 calories per day (750 per day deficit) to lose 1.5 lbs a week. Not sure what your stats are but that is the general idea.
  • Shoppingkay
    Shoppingkay Posts: 15
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    I'm TERRIBLE at math! LOL... Maybe MFP has a " help desk" or someone you can ask???
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
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    Did MFP set your at 1500 calories a day? That included a deficit already, so if you exercised you are adding to that deficit. The way I'm reading your post is you had net calories of -1500?? Maybe actually hopefully I'm reading that wrong.
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
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    Basically, it appears that your goals are set at a 2 pound per week loss rate. MFP calculates your net calorie "goal" based on that number (this is why people say to eat back your exercise calories). By some combination of calories burned by exercise and/or eating less than your daily "goal" for that particular day, it equates to a 5 pound loss per week. Since your profile and diary are private, I can't speak to the specifics but that's the gist of it. Of course, I think it would be near impossible to net 2500 calories a day less than your TDEE each and every day for 5 weeks, you did so that day. In 6 months, I've done it on maybe 3 or 4 days where I was active all day long. Well done but make sure you're still fueling those workouts with a sensible eating plan over the long haul. Best of luck!

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