'if every day were like today' confusion

If you don't have a lot of weight to lose, it takes longer to lose weight healthily. 2 pounds a week may be too drastic for your size and maybe only 1/2 - 1 pound is a better deficit. You should never eat below 1200 calories daily. That should be your minimum amount and to be honest, depending on your height, weight, age, etc, you probably should be eating more.

MFP is just estimating on average how much weight you would lose based on your calories consumed that day and if you followed that plan every day for 5 weeks. That does not necessarily mean that will be true for you since weight loss is not always black and white.

Weight loss is not a race.

Just because you want to lose 2 lbs a week doesn't mean it is possible or even healthy to do so.

This.

Just because you want to lose 2 lbs a week doesn't mean it is possible or even healthy to do so.

This.

ditto :flowerforyou:

I didn't think 2lbs a week was that much. I dieted last year and lost about 2lbs a week just from not eating the total amount of rubbish that I usually would, I was just confused as to why myfitnesspal would estimate it would take me 5 weeks to lose 4lbs... But I know that if I eat around 1200 calories daily like I did last year I easily lose about 2lbs a week? I am 5ft2

The lowest amount of calories MFP is EVER going to tell you to consume, because of health concerns, is 1200 calories.

So what happens is this:

You tell MFP, "I want to lose 2 pounds a week!"
MFP says, "Okay…" takes your stats, your activity level, figures out your likely BMR/TDEE/whatever, and does the math for what it would take you to be in a 7000 calorie deficit for the week.
Let's say your BMR is, I dunno, 1300 and your TDEE is 1800. (Just picking numbers out of the air.)
In order for you to lose two pounds a week, you'd have to be eating 800 calories a day.
But MFP is NEVER going to tell you to eat less than 1200 because it's a cool guy who cares about you and your long term health and, I dunno, your organs and stuff.

So when MFP tells you to eat 1200 calories a day, it's basically the math formula saying, "Eat 1200 calories a day because we'd really rather you don't come back and sue us when you're ultimately malnourished."

At least, that's always been my interpretation of the situation.

I didn't think 2lbs a week was that much. I dieted last year and lost about 2lbs a week just from not eating the total amount of rubbish that I usually would, I was just confused as to why myfitnesspal would estimate it would take me 5 weeks to lose 4lbs... But I know that if I eat around 1200 calories daily like I did last year I easily lose about 2lbs a week? I am 5ft2

That's borderline underweight, I'd reconsider your health goals for now rather than getting to a potentially dangerous weight.

I just put in my food diary for the day and it came to about 1100 calories. It said that if I did this every day I'd be 8st3 in 5 weeks. I'm 8st7 now. That's only 4lbs in 5 weeks. So less than 1lbs a week. On the goal page I've put that I want to lose 2lbs per week. So is it saying that to lose 2lbs in a week I would have to be eating about half the amount of calories I'm eating now? I'm so confused! I can't believe that I would have to eat about 600 calories a day for 5 weeks to lose 8lbs??

The reason is because when you said you wanted to lose 2lb a week to do so you would have to eat less than 1200 calories a day and MFP refuses to suggest less than 1200 calories a day because it is dangerous. As a result MFP set your goal at 1200 because it bottomed out and 1200 isn't 2lb a week loss. That said do NOT go below 1200.

In otherwords the reason is you set a dangerous and unreasonable loss-rate for someone of your weight.