If every day were like today you'd weigh...

Yesterday it said id weigh 240 in 5 weeks today it said 252. I really dont pay attention to it.

It depends on how you eat/exercise for the rest of the 5 weeks. If you were to do exactly the same thing for 5 weeks, that's what you should weigh. It's strictly a calculation on calories in/calories out (3500 calories burned = 1lb lost). So if you reduce your calorie intake by 500 every day over your BMR and exercise 500 a day every day of a week, you should lose 2 pounds a week.

This is exactly right on target. If you will follow if plan you will lose what you want to. God Bless, Brenda

It depends on how you eat/exercise for the rest of the 5 weeks. If you were to do exactly the same thing for 5 weeks, that's what you should weigh. It's strictly a calculation on calories in/calories out (3500 calories burned = 1lb lost). So if you reduce your calorie intake by 500 every day over your BMR and exercise 500 a day every day of a week, you should lose 2 pounds a week.

So my BMR is 1307 cals. Does that mean I should be eating only 800 cals per day?

The # MFP gives you already has a deficit built into it based on what you told it you want to lose.

And good gracious, I cannot imagine any scenario where ANYONE should only be eating 800 calories a day!

800 calories per day is too low. That would most likely throw you into starvation mode.

Not accurate at all. At least in my experience.

It depends on how you eat/exercise for the rest of the 5 weeks. If you were to do exactly the same thing for 5 weeks, that's what you should weigh. It's strictly a calculation on calories in/calories out (3500 calories burned = 1lb lost). So if you reduce your calorie intake by 500 every day over your BMR and exercise 500 a day every day of a week, you should lose 2 pounds a week.

This is exactly right on target. If you will follow if plan you will lose what you want to. God Bless, Brenda

Ok so does that mean in order to lose the desired 2lbs you need to come under the calories list in MFP, and have an additional deficit from exercise? Or is the calorie goal set by MFP just based on the desired weight loss?
In other words if I am under the calorie goal each day, but sometimes that is with the addition of the calories burned from exercise in order to get there, does that mean I ate too much?

Just to clarify, you don't subtract those calories from your BMR, you subtract them from your TDEE (total daily expenditure rate).

Ok so does that mean in order to lose the desired 2lbs you need to come under the calories list in MFP, and have an additional deficit from exercise? Or is the calorie goal set by MFP just based on the desired weight loss?
In other words if I am under the calorie goal each day, but sometimes that is with the addition of the calories burned from exercise in order to get there, does that mean I ate too much?

No when you set your goals, you set a basic number for your calories burned from exercise (by telling them how long and how often). That was factored in. So if you don't do the exercise stated you won't see the goals you wanted. If you are doing more than what was set with your goals, and you eat those calories, you will stay on your goal.

So if you are under the calorie goal each day (even with the addition of your exercise calories) you are eating less than what you should to meet your target weekly loss. You will lose slightly faster than that. If you don't exercise OR go over your calorie goal by a little, you should still see a weight loss, but it will be slightly slower than what you wanted. If you don't exercise and go over your calorie goal by a little OR go over your calorie goal by a lot, you will either maintain or gain.

This is all really general and doesn't take into account any of the body's chemistry or how your body processes certain nutrients. There are other factors that come into play, like water retention, hormones, etc. But from a calorie in/calorie out model, that's the idea.

Every day will give you a different answer because you eat differently every day. Some days are better than others (and so the tracker will show you a better number on your better days). 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat lost.

all that it is telling you is that if you ate the same ammout everydY for five weeks this is whT you would way

in A you eat 500 cal less thAn required, you would be assumed to be eating re same deficit for all 35 days
in B you eat the exact amount of your bmr, thus you would be assumed to eat the same everyday


it is not a matter of one day ba and the rest normal, but an extrapolation of that day BECOMING your normL

Wondering how accurate the statement at the close of daily food tracking is. Some days per the statement I'll weigh 8 lbs less in 5 weeks other times I'll weigh 0.5 lbs less.

What has your experience been? A bit frustrating for me to think that I'm working hard for only a .5 lb loss in 5 weeks.

I absolutely adore that little statement when I stick my final food tally in! Ironically, I didn't notice it for two whole weeks when I first joined this site!

Personally, I have found that it has been quite accurate for me, actually I remember a few weeks back, it said something along the lines of "If every day were like today you'd weigh 165lbs in five weeks" - come five weeks later, I was actually at 161lbs! At the moment I am at 153lbs and if I exercise and stick my final food tally in it says "If every day were like today you'd weigh 142lbs in five weeks"! If I do NOT exercise, it will say I will be something around the 148lbs mark.

It all depends on if it is an exercise day or not and if you have eaten your exercise calories or not, or if you have eaten a few etc.

I think it is fascinating!

Wondering how accurate the statement at the close of daily food tracking is. Some days per the statement I'll weigh 8 lbs less in 5 weeks other times I'll weigh 0.5 lbs less.

What has your experience been? A bit frustrating for me to think that I'm working hard for only a .5 lb loss in 5 weeks.

It would be frustrating because if it's only a .5 lb loss in 5 weeks it means that you're eating too much for a loss. It says it just like you put in the Topic line: If every day were like today. If you have a crappy day of eating, doing that for 5 weeks would be a crappy amount of weight loss.

The only way to see if it were accurate is to actually eat every day the same (or close). What I was curious about is if it takes anything other than calories into account. I mean, if I'm within on calories but waaaay over on sodium, I have a feeling that it doesn't account for water weight gain. I don't really pay attention to the number anyway since every day is different. I don't eat the same stuff I ate 5 weeks ago, lol.

Now this makes sense. I think you hit the nail on the head! I completely agree with everything here. I have days when I'm not on my best behavior and it gives me a five week weight that seems disappointing. But I'm not going to eat like that everyday for five weeks. Then on good days it is much closer to what I think I could achieve. The day before yesterday it said I would weigh 208. Right now I'm 216. So that's about right. That's almost 2 pounds a week.

Also, I don't believe it takes anything into account other than calories. The rest is just for your reference. I have a hard time not going over on sodium and I know I should drink more water to off-set that. But I hardly ever fill up my cup. I'm sure I would lose more if I did. It keeps me aware of what I'm eating. That works for me.

It seems to do it's calculation based only on that one days Calories. If you have a bad day and eat a lot of junk, it'll say that you'll weight 10 lbs more in 5 weeks. The next day result can be 10 lbs less.
It's a toy just for amusement but if you rigidly adhere to your plan and eat the same amount of Calories every day, it's predictions should be right. Many people seem to have tested it (me included..). In my case it was about 2 pounds off but I'm not so regular..