5 week estimate/ if every day were like today

Very inaccurate

HumboldtFred wrote: »

it's crap because there are too many variables. It is particularly bad for me as I only log weight every 90 days because I get discouraged by the scale. On the other hand, it is simple math and the calculations would be spot on in a static environment.

This. What you've eaten for the past several days will affect where you are today. For example, your sodium and carb intake may be causing you to hold onto water weight. Your workouts will be affecting you as well. Did you hit the weights extra hard? Extra water weight. You haven't been working out but are going to start today? You'll probably weight a bit more tomorrow. Bathroom issues? Different points in your monthly cycle? Again, it all affects where you are each day. So if all of those other variables were exactly the same each day for 35 days straight, the prediction *might* be right. But it also might not because the calorie burn that MFP calculates is a best estimate, not an exact science.

Inaccurate

SecretGift wrote: »

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Personally, I've never had it been accurate yet.

Does it over exaggerate weight loss or under exaggerate? I'm trying to lose a specific amount each month.

under

SecretGift wrote: »

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Personally, I've never had it been accurate yet.

Does it over exaggerate weight loss or under exaggerate? I'm trying to lose a specific amount each month.

That's impossible to say. Everybody is different. You might have somebody like @rabbitjb who finds it accurate but most people you talk to are not going to find that it is.

In my experience, trying to lose a specific amount each month is an exercise in futility. You can set things up perfectly for it but it might not happen. How are you going to handle it if you don't make your time goals?

It's not accurate, but my prediction on Libra has been pretty accurate so far.

Define accurate. If you have correctly recorded what you ate and you have correctly recorded calories burned, then it will accurately tell you how much you will lose from the deficit multiplied by five weeks. But no one correctly records what they've eaten and no one has an exact number on calories burned.

The real value of that number is that it gives you a way to comprehend your calorie deficit more easily. You may know that you were 200 calories over your goal, but that doesn't mean much. But if the tool tells you that instead of losing five pounds in five weeks you will only lose three pounds, it puts it in a better perspective and will hopefully encourage you to do better tomorrow.

Never even come close to losing as much as it thinks I should - which made me cry last night when I was under calories and it said I'd lose pretty much nothing in the next 5 weeks.

I've always ignored it, assuming it wasn't accurate. Now I'm curious.