Changed my goal lbs per week to 1.5 and only 20 cals were added

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healthy_pear15
healthy_pear15 Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, I am 5'6" and I have lost about 33 lbs. My goal weight is 140. I had been loosing about 2 lbs per week, but I decided I should eat a bit more and change my goal to 1.5 lbs per week. I was at 1200 calories but usually ate about 100 less than this and now that I changed my goal, MFP only gave me 20 calories more for a total of 1220?! I thought I would get more calories than this. Does anyone have a possible explanation for this? Thank you.

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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    1200 calories is the least MFP will give as a goal, to ensure you're meeting your nutrient goals and fueling your body
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
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    Yes. You didn't really have your MFP set to 2 lbs/week--if you go back and change your goals to 2 pounds a week, the last screen will probably say you will lose 1.6/lbs week. There is a certain point where the math just doesn't work out for 2 pounds a week. I just checked mine and at 2 lbs/ week, it says I will lose 1 pound.
  • healthy_pear15
    healthy_pear15 Posts: 10 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    1200 calories is the least MFP will give as a goal, to ensure you're meeting your nutrient goals and fueling your body
    Ooh so it means that 1200 was not the calories I'd have to consume to lose 2 lbs per week but it said that because MFP won't give a lower intake number? And now that it says 1220, this is more accurate for the lbs it says ill lose per week?

    When I change it, I only see 2 lbs/ week maybe I'm looking at the wrong place.

  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
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    155body wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    1200 calories is the least MFP will give as a goal, to ensure you're meeting your nutrient goals and fueling your body
    Ooh so it means that 1200 was not the calories I'd have to consume to lose 2 lbs per week but it said that because MFP won't give a lower intake number? And now that it says 1220, this is more accurate for the lbs it says ill lose per week?

    When I change it, I only see 2 lbs/ week maybe I'm looking at the wrong place.

    When you change it to 2 lbs week and then go to the last screen, it will tell you how much you will actually lose on 1200 calories. See:

    td6ei8dhquv0.png

    ewpu1rxsmzn9.png

    If you want to eat more than 1220 calories, adjust your goal to 1 lb/week. Or work out and eat at least half of your exercise calories.

  • futuremanda
    futuremanda Posts: 816 Member
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    Everything above.

    But if you've been losing 2 lbs a week anyway, including recently, on 1100, then add 250 to that. That gets you 1350 calories and should get you 1.5 lbs a week.

    Real world results are going to be more accurate than calculators. Maybe you are more active day to day than your activity setting shows, or your metabolism is quicker than the calculator estimates, or you burn more in exercise than you log, or you weren't eating back exercise calories.

    Wherever the discrepancy is, if 1100 got you 2 lbs, then 1350 would get you 1.5. (250 cals per 1/2 lb.)
  • healthy_pear15
    healthy_pear15 Posts: 10 Member
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    barbecuesauce wrote: »
    155body wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    1200 calories is the least MFP will give as a goal, to ensure you're meeting your nutrient goals and fueling your body
    Ooh so it means that 1200 was not the calories I'd have to consume to lose 2 lbs per week but it said that because MFP won't give a lower intake number? And now that it says 1220, this is more accurate for the lbs it says ill lose per week?

    When I change it, I only see 2 lbs/ week maybe I'm looking at the wrong place.

    When you change it to 2 lbs week and then go to the last screen, it will tell you how much you will actually lose on 1200 calories. See:

    td6ei8dhquv0.png

    ewpu1rxsmzn9.png

    If you want to eat more than 1220 calories, adjust your goal to 1 lb/week. Or work out and eat at least half of your exercise calories.

    I was on my phone app so I didn't see this but I went on the website and I changed it to 2 lbs per week and it said I would loose 1.5 lbs per week so you are correct. Now I know because sometimes I wouldn't lose the 2 lbs and I wondered why if I didn't pass my calories and thus I'd eat less for a few days and I decided to not eat all my calories. Good to know, thanx!
  • healthy_pear15
    healthy_pear15 Posts: 10 Member
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    futuremanda wrote: »
    Everything above.

    But if you've been losing 2 lbs a week anyway, including recently, on 1100, then add 250 to that. That gets you 1350 calories and should get you 1.5 lbs a week.

    Real world results are going to be more accurate than calculators. Maybe you are more active day to day than your activity setting shows, or your metabolism is quicker than the calculator estimates, or you burn more in exercise than you log, or you weren't eating back exercise calories.

    Wherever the discrepancy is, if 1100 got you 2 lbs, then 1350 would get you 1.5. (250 cals per 1/2 lb.)

    Well at first when I started exercising I didn't eat the calories back so that probably helped me and also when I saw I wasn't losing 2 lbs per week I would eat less sometimes even a bit lessthan 1,000 but now I know. I might try to up my cals a bit and see how it goes.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    With only 40 pounds left to lose, both 2lbs/week and 1.5lbs/week are probably too aggressive for you as goals. Try 1lb/week and eat back at least half of those exercise calories, too! You need to keep your body fuelled and your nutrition high in order to lose the weight for the long term.

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