About the calories MFP wants you to consume daily...
Altagracia220
Posts: 876 Member
When you first created your account here, did the calories MFP give you to consume daily, work for you in helping achieve weight loss? Or did you find better luck adjusting the calories to something that worked better for you?
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Replies
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There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.0
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My calories were fine, but I chose a goal that was probably too aggressive (two pounds a week). I was losing, but I was too hungry. I adjusted it to 1 pound and things are going well.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
did you put in 2lbs a week?
When I first joined (June 27th 2013) I entered my stats...5 ft 7, 185lbs female and it gave me 1460 calories to eat to lose 1lb a week. It did just that as soon as I started logging accurately ie food scale.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
What did you enter for your goal loss each week?
MFP is also designed to "eat back" your exercise calories. You log your exercise and then you are allotted additional calories each day. Some people eat back just a portion to account for any over-estimate of the burn. I eat 20-80% of my calories (depending on the intensity of the workout) and still lose weight.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
did you put in 2lbs a week?
When I first joined (June 27th 2013) I entered my stats...5 ft 7, 185lbs female and it gave me 1460 calories to eat to lose 1lb a week. It did just that as soon as I started logging accurately ie food scale.
I did put a 2lb loss, weekly.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
What did you enter for your goal loss each week?
MFP is also designed to "eat back" your exercise calories. You log your exercise and then you are allotted additional calories each day. Some people eat back just a portion to account for any over-estimate of the burn. I eat 20-80% of my calories (depending on the intensity of the workout) and still lose weight.
2 lbs a week.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
The MFP calculator is based on "I want to lose XX pounds a week" ....the number it gives you is before exercise.
For a second opinion that includes exercise up front (you need to be consistent).....
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
This uses a percentage.....the higher percentages are for people who are more overweight. Pick something you can live with for awhile.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
What did you enter for your goal loss each week?
MFP is also designed to "eat back" your exercise calories. You log your exercise and then you are allotted additional calories each day. Some people eat back just a portion to account for any over-estimate of the burn. I eat 20-80% of my calories (depending on the intensity of the workout) and still lose weight.
2 lbs a week.
2 pounds a week is a really aggressive goal. MFP gave you a lower number so that you can generate the deficit you need to reach this goal. Since you don't have much to lose, you could experiment with more reasonable goals (1 pound a week or .5 a week) to get more calories each day.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
did you put in 2lbs a week?
When I first joined (June 27th 2013) I entered my stats...5 ft 7, 185lbs female and it gave me 1460 calories to eat to lose 1lb a week. It did just that as soon as I started logging accurately ie food scale.
I did put a 2lb loss, weekly.
hmmm how much weight do you want to lose? If it's under 50 change that to 1lb a week and you will see a big difference plus as mentioned you are expected to eat back at least some of your exercise calories as that number is based on the assumption no exercise.
Hence the reason you log your workouts here too.
I would imho stay away from TDEE and scooby for a bit until you know you will be consistent with exercise. I did my first 5 months here without using TDEE until I knew I would be consistent with my exercise...even then I used a formula provided from the ETP group not a site.0 -
Put your stats in this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
I put your stats in at "desk job" and 20% weight loss and came up with 1560 to lose weight.
Use this calculator to take a look at your numbers. There are also others but this is a start.
Also, MFP is setting you at 1200 and you are to include exercise calories (eat these back). I would double check this and another calculator or two.
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I originally set my profile to lose 2 lbs per week and it gave me 1200 calories (I'm 5'5" and SW was 235). I was able to manage the 1200 and I wasn't really hungry BUT the foods I was eating, although fit my calories and I was satisfied in regards to hunger, I wasn't enjoying them because sometimes I wanted something yummy but it wouldn't fit my calories. After the first 2 weeks as I was looking through the forums I kept seeing people talk about TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) so I looked up a calculator and entered my information and it gave me a number higher than what MFP had given me. I'm still losing weight AND I don't ever feel deprived.
This was the long answer to your question
basically I just adjusted my calories based on numbers of calculators outside of MFP. 0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
did you put in 2lbs a week?
When I first joined (June 27th 2013) I entered my stats...5 ft 7, 185lbs female and it gave me 1460 calories to eat to lose 1lb a week. It did just that as soon as I started logging accurately ie food scale.
I did put a 2lb loss, weekly.
hmmm how much weight do you want to lose? If it's under 50 change that to 1lb a week and you will see a big difference plus as mentioned you are expected to eat back at least some of your exercise calories as that number is based on the assumption no exercise.
Hence the reason you log your workouts here too.
I would imho stay away from TDEE and scooby for a bit until you know you will be consistent with exercise. I did my first 5 months here without using TDEE until I knew I would be consistent with my exercise...even then I used a formula provided from the ETP group not a site.
I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.0 -
Worked great for me. Started at sedentary (which I keep it at) with a 2lb loss as I had about 35 to lose. Made sure to recalculate every couple of lbs. Once I got about halfway to goal I changed to 1lb loss then .5lb and now I'm at maintenance. I keep it at .5lb loss just because I have a tendency to eyeball, but yeah. Totally worked for me. I don't exercise much, but when I do I log that and eat back the calories if I'm hungry.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
did you put in 2lbs a week?
When I first joined (June 27th 2013) I entered my stats...5 ft 7, 185lbs female and it gave me 1460 calories to eat to lose 1lb a week. It did just that as soon as I started logging accurately ie food scale.
I did put a 2lb loss, weekly.
hmmm how much weight do you want to lose? If it's under 50 change that to 1lb a week and you will see a big difference plus as mentioned you are expected to eat back at least some of your exercise calories as that number is based on the assumption no exercise.
Hence the reason you log your workouts here too.
I would imho stay away from TDEE and scooby for a bit until you know you will be consistent with exercise. I did my first 5 months here without using TDEE until I knew I would be consistent with my exercise...even then I used a formula provided from the ETP group not a site.
I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.
Aggressive goals require aggressive calorie deficits. It sounds like MFP is working as designed, you'll just have to decide how to proceed.0 -
I originally set my goals to 2 pounds a week. I did lose, but I had a difficult time on it. I did a lot of reading on these forums and on IIFYM and realized I could be eating more and should go at a slower rate (my loss goal is only 15 lbs for now) so I adjusted it to 1500 to a 1 pound a week and still lost at a good rate without getting hangry.
Now that I have a FitBit, I let it go back to its default for 1 pound a week. It's given me 1270, but my adjustment from the tracker usually gives me back enough to eat around 1500 anyway. That's been working the best for me.
So I think MFP is spot on, but it's just an app to help you along. Finding both 1) what works and 2) what sticks is the most important thing. 0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
did you put in 2lbs a week?
When I first joined (June 27th 2013) I entered my stats...5 ft 7, 185lbs female and it gave me 1460 calories to eat to lose 1lb a week. It did just that as soon as I started logging accurately ie food scale.
I did put a 2lb loss, weekly.
hmmm how much weight do you want to lose? If it's under 50 change that to 1lb a week and you will see a big difference plus as mentioned you are expected to eat back at least some of your exercise calories as that number is based on the assumption no exercise.
Hence the reason you log your workouts here too.
I would imho stay away from TDEE and scooby for a bit until you know you will be consistent with exercise. I did my first 5 months here without using TDEE until I knew I would be consistent with my exercise...even then I used a formula provided from the ETP group not a site.
I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.
Which is more important to you .. reaching your goal weight quickly or doing it in a healthy way?
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I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.
Your body doesn't care about your lack of patience.
It sounds like you were patient during the first 40lbs.... Did something change?
Or has it all been a sprint to the finish because you are really trying to set yourself up for repeat cycles of dieting?
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I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.
Your body doesn't care about your lack of patience.
It sounds like you were patient during the first 40lbs.... Did something change?
Or has it all been a sprint to the finish because you are really trying to set yourself up for repeat cycles of dieting?
I guess I just want to be done eating at a deficit. I want to maintain, so I'm rushing myself.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
It has no opinion on how much you should eat (other than at least 1200), actually.
What it does is solve a math problem--here, your maintenance (without exercise) minus 1000 (the number of calories someone needs to deduct from maintenance to lose 2 lbs).
And note that it's WITHOUT exercise--the way this program works you are expected to add the exercise calories back in if you actually do the exercise, so it's really saying eat 1200 on rest days and probably 1500-1800 on the 4-5 days you exercise, depending on what you do.
The fact is that unless you are really big (and you aren't, obviously) most women don't have maintenance amounts of more than 2200 WITHOUT counting exercise. As a result, if you put in sedentary or even lightly active and 2 lbs/week, your pre exercise goal will be 1200.
As others have said, given how much you have to lose (not much), that's probably not a reasonable goal.0 -
So you are too hungry already? And maybe should be eating at a smaller deficit which is more like maintenance than a larger deficit?
Because like it not like you will magically be able to eat differently when you're at maintenance....
If you are planning to drastically change how you behave once you hit maintenance... all l can do is wish you luck.0 -
I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.
Your body doesn't care about your lack of patience.
It sounds like you were patient during the first 40lbs.... Did something change?
Or has it all been a sprint to the finish because you are really trying to set yourself up for repeat cycles of dieting?
I guess I just want to be done eating at a deficit. I want to maintain, so I'm rushing myself.
I will say from experience that eating at a smaller deficit is much more fun than eating at a larger one.0 -
The only way mfp gives me 1200 is if I set my activity level to sedentary. Thats just ridiculous, I use active since I do work out and chase my kids around and work full time and dont even bother with my exercise calories. Ive been losing well. Even before MFP at 5'6" and 145 i could eat about 1600 and still maintain, with a few body weight exercise sessions a week and normal daily activities.0
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janejellyroll wrote: »I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.
Your body doesn't care about your lack of patience.
It sounds like you were patient during the first 40lbs.... Did something change?
Or has it all been a sprint to the finish because you are really trying to set yourself up for repeat cycles of dieting?
I guess I just want to be done eating at a deficit. I want to maintain, so I'm rushing myself.
I will say from experience that eating at a smaller deficit is much more fun than eating at a larger one.
Haha, you are right.0 -
lindaloo9331 wrote: »The only way mfp gives me 1200 is if I set my activity level to sedentary. Thats just ridiculous, I use active since I do work out and chase my kids around and work full time and dont even bother with my exercise calories. Ive been losing well. Even before MFP at 5'6" and 145 i could eat about 1600 and still maintain, with a few body weight exercise sessions a week and normal daily activities.
If you are using your workouts as part of the justification for your "active" setting, you shouldn't bother with your exercise calories. You would be double-dipping.
Exercise should only be accounted for once.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »lindaloo9331 wrote: »The only way mfp gives me 1200 is if I set my activity level to sedentary. Thats just ridiculous, I use active since I do work out and chase my kids around and work full time and dont even bother with my exercise calories. Ive been losing well. Even before MFP at 5'6" and 145 i could eat about 1600 and still maintain, with a few body weight exercise sessions a week and normal daily activities.
If you are using your workouts as part of the justification for your "active" setting, you shouldn't bother with your exercise calories. You would be double-dipping.
Exercise should only be accounted for once.
Correct. That what I was trying to say:) I eat what it tells me since I already accounted for myself being active.
The only reason I add my exercise is to track my workouts. I ignore any calories that adds to my daily allowance. Plus my fitbit adds even more so I ignore that too. Its JUST for my own activity tracking purposes.
Even on days I dont workout I am still more active than just being alive so I usually eat the same every day no matter what.
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janejellyroll wrote: »I want to lose 10-15 more pounds depending on how I feel when I hit my goal weight. My flaw is that I'm very impatient. I don't want to wait 2 and a half months to be at my goal weight.
Your body doesn't care about your lack of patience.
It sounds like you were patient during the first 40lbs.... Did something change?
Or has it all been a sprint to the finish because you are really trying to set yourself up for repeat cycles of dieting?
I guess I just want to be done eating at a deficit. I want to maintain, so I'm rushing myself.
I will say from experience that eating at a smaller deficit is much more fun than eating at a larger one.
Haha, you are right.
Yup and since it's down to 10-15lbs go for 1/2lb a week and that's an even smaller deficit...almost maintenance.
You need to start reverse dieting soon anyway so this would be a good place to start.
No need to rush tho...a small deficit will however require diligence with logging accuracy.
And remember exercise gives you more calories to eat....
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When you first created your account here, did the calories MFP give you to consume daily, work for you in helping achieve weight loss? Or did you find better luck adjusting the calories to something that worked better for you?
Yes, the calories MFP gave me to consume worked for me ... better than expected as a matter of fact.
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TimothyFish wrote: »There's nothing wrong with MFP's calculations.
I'm concerned because I am 5'9 and weigh 177 lbs, exercise 4-5 times a week, but mfp thinks I should eat 1200 calories a day.
I am a little shorter than you, but was about the same weight. MFP gave me about 1250 calories for days when I am not active. That works.
For days I am active MFP gives me more calories. I may or may not eat some of them back.
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Remember, it will give you a base and you will earn more through exercise. Additionally, there is no reason to put your goal so aggressive. A half a pound to a pound a week is sufficient.0
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