Are calorie goals often "off"

misty589
misty589 Posts: 319 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been going by the calorie goal that mfp has set for me (1390) logging food that is weighed with a good digital scale. I believe my logging to be quite accurate. I also log exercise, but honestly that habit hasn't really kicked in yet, so at most I'm exercising 1-2x per week. On the weekend I tend to be a little over on calories, not generally enough to erace the deficit altogether (200-300 over once a week) all that being said, I would expect for weight to be coming off slowly. Friday will be 6 weeks and officially weigh in day, so I haven't tracked my most recent weight, but I peeked today and I'm down about 14 lbs .
I have my settings set to 1 lb/ week. I started out at 182, I'm down to about 168 now. I've never been this heavy before, am I losing more than I've set out to because I am quite large to begin with? I am set to sedentary, and I am. I am a sahm, and we tend to drive everywhere due to our location.
Are my settings wrong or will it slow down?

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    You might be closer to lightly active as a SAHM. I know I am (fitbit tracker). That's before workouts and things like walking to the park in the warmer months. I currently have almost 2k steps and I've only been up 2.5 hrs (haven't left the apartment yet either).
  • misty589
    misty589 Posts: 319 Member
    I did switch it to lightly active this morning to see difference. That puts me at a little over 1600, so I think I'll go with that awhile and see what happens
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    They're all best guess estimates.

    Always monitor and track everything over a sustained period (like you've done) and adjust goals as necessary.
  • lisa9805
    lisa9805 Posts: 303 Member
    wow congrats on the weight loss :smiley:
  • Chaagy
    Chaagy Posts: 109 Member
    I also find that in the first week or two, you can lose a lot more than the 1-2lbs you input. My very first week, I lost like 5lbs. I think a lot of water weight at the beginning. But recently it has started to average out in the past couple of weeks at about 2lbs per week (but still very non-linear, some weeks can be less than a lb, and some a big jump for no apparent reason)
  • kirstenb13
    kirstenb13 Posts: 181 Member
    I also lost much faster than mfp estimated for me over the whole time of my weight loss and I'm already using a fitbit and eating back those calories too. I just enjoy the fact that I can eat more, it's not really a problem in my opinion :)
    But I never lost in a linear fashion at all, always in big whooshes, so don't be alarmed if you don't lose at all next week.

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