"Your projected weight loss is ..."

gardensneeze wrote: »

How does MFP calculate the weight loss projections? I'm not maths expert but if they project for me to lose 0.5kg a week (forgetting for a minute that I request to lose 1kg per week - any explanations of this also welcome), then how am I expected to lose 1.1kg in FIVE WEEKS as it's currently telling me? I am always just under my target of 1200 and eat my calories back and do 45 minutes of exercise.

Witchcraft, alchemy, old crones reading goat entrails, etc.
Ignore the number you get when you close your diary and you will be happier.

The explanation for why they think you will only lose .5 kg/week is this: It is unlikely that someone with your height and weight will lose that much per week on a 1200 calorie diet. I have it set to 2 lbs/week and it says I should lose 1.3.

It takes what you did that day and gives you an estimate of your weight in 5 weeks if all your days are the same.

It probably should look at the past 7 days etc but it does what it says on the tin

I'm not sure why yours says you will lose 1.1 kg when you have it set to lose .5 a week and are always under.

Merkavar wrote: »

It takes what you did that day and gives you an estimate of your weight in 5 weeks if all your days are the same.

It probably should look at the past 7 days etc but it does what it says on the tin

I'm not sure why yours says you will lose 1.1 kg when you have it set to lose .5 a week and are always under.

Because it only looks at your net calories for the day, figures that net times 5 weeks and subtracts it from your current weight. It doesn't look at what number you have set as your loss goal per week.

Mine always warns me that I'm not eating enough.

atypicalsmith wrote: »

Mine always warns me that I'm not eating enough.

It does that if you are under 1000 calories.

Merkavar wrote: »

Amanda4change wrote: »

Merkavar wrote: »

It takes what you did that day and gives you an estimate of your weight in 5 weeks if all your days are the same.

It probably should look at the past 7 days etc but it does what it says on the tin

I'm not sure why yours says you will lose 1.1 kg when you have it set to lose .5 a week and are always under.

Because it only looks at your net calories for the day, figures that net times 5 weeks and subtracts it from your current weight. It doesn't look at what number you have set as your loss goal per week.

If you have it set to lose 1kg a week then if like I'm sure the op mentioned you don't exceed the cal or kj limit listed then shouldn't mfp 5 week estimate be at minimum 5kg lost?

Sure you might not lose 5kg in reality but shouldn't the estimate be based on you net energy that already includes the 1kg per week lose?

MFP will not give you a daily calorie goal below 1200. If you input an unrealistic goal like losing 1 kg per week (which would require roughly 1100 calorie daily deficit), but the calories it estimates you will burn in a day (based mainly on your current weight and activity level) is not high enough to allow an 1100 calorie deficit and still have you consuming 1200 calories a day, it will give you a goal of 1200 calories. You should be able to see on your profile page what MFP projects you burn each day and figure out the actual deficit and weight loss the 1200 calorie goal equates to.

When you eat less, the first three or four days you might feel hungry, but then your body adjusts. There are times that my breakfast is a boiled egg or a cup of V8 juice and Greek yogurt, my lunch is an avocado sandwich with toasted rye bread, and my dinner is a salad with fat-free dressing, which is well below 1,000 calories. But then again, there are times that I go to potlucks at church or (rarely) eating out with friends, and up the calorie count goes! I think basically I am eating light when I can to make up for the times when I can't, and it's working just fine.

gardensneeze wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Yes it is a mystery. I do acknowledge that MFP would prevent me from losing 1kg per week and instead set me to 0.5kg, but that still doesn't explain the forecast of "if you continue like today, you will lost 1.1kg by 24 March" as it said yesterday when I completed my daily entry (20 cal under 1200 target, having eaten my exercise calories back). Anyhoo, thanks for your comments!

As explained previously, anytime you're at 1200, you have reached the tool minimum and your weight loss is not really going to be consistent with what you've input into the tool. Try an even lower # for weight loss per week. I'll again use my account as an example. To lose 0.5 lb per week I need to eat 1470 cals. To lose 1 lb per week, I need 250 cals per day less or 1220. If I drop even lower and say 1.5 or 2 lbs per week, MFP will not go lower than 1200 and instead just says 1200. If I eat the 1200 set on my account, I won't lose 2 lbs a week but just barely over 1 lb per week. And if you decide on your own to eat very little, MFP simply won't do the weight loss projection

So for projections consistent with your account settings, maybe try 0.25 kg rather than 0.5 kg. It appears you may be too little to realistically create the deficit to lose 0.5 kg per week, according to MFP, anyway

Mine has yet to be accurate.

Its never been accurate and lately due to me maintaining and eating back all my calories it frequently tells me I'll gain - but I haven't and wont - take that MFP! lol

It may not be accurate, but I like it and find it encouraging. When I've had a great day to see that if I could do that every day I would possibly lose 10lbs in 5 weeks....Well, it motivates me to try and repeat those awesome days.