Mfp is telling me to eat more!

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ysossi
ysossi Posts: 22 Member
in Getting Started
Help please, I'm a bit confused. I thought MFP was supposed to help me eat less so I can lose weight, but it's telling me off... Basically, it set my daily target at 1200 which sounds ok. But some days I'd be slightly under that target and I'd lose some 350 calories at the gym. When I try to complete my entry, it gives me a warning that I'm not eating enough etc. I'm definitely not going to eat more because MFP says so. Also I don't want to change my target. So what should I do?
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Replies

  • savarnabanana
    savarnabanana Posts: 21 Member
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    This happens to me too!! Idk what the problem is and when I put it on one of these forums everyone told me to seek professional help and eat more!
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
    edited August 2015
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    If you go under 1000 MFP will give you a warning notice. Eat the amount it tells you. 1200 is okay if you are really tiny. How tall are you?
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    Because you are not eating enough. MFP is set up so that you eat most or all your exercise calories, MFP has you already in a deficit.

  • msalamun
    msalamun Posts: 116 Member
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    You should eat more! If you're under 1200 calories (let's generously say you eat 1100) and you burn 350 at the gym, your body is only working on 850 calories. That is NOT healthy and it is NOT sustainable. You may lose weight at first, but you will soon plateau resulting in a damaged metabolism that thinks it's in starvation mode. Remember, health is a journey, not a destination. You didn't gain all that weight in a week, so don't try losing that quickly either.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    1200 is your goal with the deficit built in without exercise. If you exercise you should eat more to get back up to the goal of 1200. It's how the program works. You'll still be in deficit.
  • ysossi
    ysossi Posts: 22 Member
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    Sometimes I'm not under 1000 but if I burn calories at the gym, they get added and I'd have something like 600 outstanding at the end of the day. MFP doesn't want to let me off.
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
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    Also op you only have 9 lbs to lose. You should set your goal at .5 lbs. a week as you are close to maintenance.
  • ysossi
    ysossi Posts: 22 Member
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    savarnabanana wrote: »
    This happens to me too!! Idk what the problem is and when I put it on one of these forums everyone told me to seek professional help and eat more!

    Eat more = gain weight
  • Azexas
    Azexas Posts: 4,334 Member
    edited August 2015
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    ysossi wrote: »
    savarnabanana wrote: »
    This happens to me too!! Idk what the problem is and when I put it on one of these forums everyone told me to seek professional help and eat more!

    Eat more = gain weight

    Only if you eat more calories than you burn. You can still add in calories and stay in a deficit.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    edited August 2015
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    ysossi wrote: »
    savarnabanana wrote: »
    This happens to me too!! Idk what the problem is and when I put it on one of these forums everyone told me to seek professional help and eat more!

    Eat more = gain weight

    No it doesn't. ETA: Just as long as your in a deficit.

    I am 46 years old and 5'2 and right now I am doing a cut (losing weight) and eating between 1600-1900 calories depending on exercises.

    I did this very thing and lost 121 pounds doing so.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    ysossi wrote: »
    savarnabanana wrote: »
    This happens to me too!! Idk what the problem is and when I put it on one of these forums everyone told me to seek professional help and eat more!

    Eat more = gain weight

    Wrong. I eat back all my exercise calories and hit my goal easily.
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
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    ysossi wrote: »
    savarnabanana wrote: »
    This happens to me too!! Idk what the problem is and when I put it on one of these forums everyone told me to seek professional help and eat more!

    Eat more = gain weight

    No. Eating at a surplus = gain. Eating at a deficit = loss. MFP will give you your deficit for weight loss.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    MFP doesn't support unhealthy eating. If you want to eat too few calories just don't click the complete entry button and you won't get the message. Or you could consider being healthy about the way you lose weight and eat enough to properly nourish your body.
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
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    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    MFP doesn't support unhealthy eating. If you want to eat too few calories just don't click the complete entry button and you won't get the message. Or you could consider being healthy about the way you lose weight and eat enough to properly nourish your body.

    Exactly.
  • ysossi
    ysossi Posts: 22 Member
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    My plan is to lose some weight quickly then maintain that.
    Thanks for your replies btw :-)
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    ysossi wrote: »
    My plan is to lose some weight quickly then maintain that.
    Thanks for your replies btw :-)
    The problem is you will have a tough time maintaining. You have been restricting yourself that once you start eating more your more likely to binge and gained the weight you lost. Why not just do it the slow and healthy way??
  • MarziPanda95
    MarziPanda95 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    msalamun wrote: »
    You should eat more! If you're under 1200 calories (let's generously say you eat 1100) and you burn 350 at the gym, your body is only working on 850 calories. That is NOT healthy and it is NOT sustainable. You may lose weight at first, but you will soon plateau resulting in a damaged metabolism that thinks it's in starvation mode. Remember, health is a journey, not a destination. You didn't gain all that weight in a week, so don't try losing that quickly either.

    Starvation mode is a myth. Everything else you said was good advice, though :)
  • ysossi
    ysossi Posts: 22 Member
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    msalamun wrote: »
    You should eat more! If you're under 1200 calories (let's generously say you eat 1100) and you burn 350 at the gym, your body is only working on 850 calories. That is NOT healthy and it is NOT sustainable. You may lose weight at first, but you will soon plateau resulting in a damaged metabolism that thinks it's in starvation mode. Remember, health is a journey, not a destination. You didn't gain all that weight in a week, so don't try losing that quickly either.

    Apparently "starvation mode" is a myth. Check out the thread under 'general diet help' (or something)
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    Eating that low causes fat and muscle loss. Your body doesn't care where it comes from so this means heart muscle too.
  • anneeett
    anneeett Posts: 75 Member
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    This is actually one of my favorite things about MFP.. imagine you only ate 600 calories for a day, and the app would give you your indication for 5-week progress, which will display you having lost a LOT of weight. That would only encourage people to eat 600kcal a day which is NOT healthy and in the long run, will either lead to you gaining everything back and then some, or to permanent damage to your body. I like that MFP is ' responsible' enough to not encourage such behavior.

    And as mentioned above: as long as you have a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight. Maintenance level for women is around 2000kcal on average, so if you eat about 1500kcal a day, you'll still end up losing weight, just at a different rate than you would with 1200kcal/day :)

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