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Why do beginners change their settings?

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Replies

  • brownb65
    brownb65 Posts: 5 Member
    I'm a beginner and absolutely confused.. I'm going by the MFP default settings but my Dietician said I should be eating 1600 calories a day, I find it hard to eat 1200, I never had a weight problem until 5yrs ago when I was diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome and Hasimoto's and now type 2 diabetes. I want to lose 70lbs.. but at times I feel like I'm forcing myself to eat.. I've cut out Mt. Dew, Alcohol, chips, cookies and eating more fruits, veggies and nuts.. but I'm worried if I'm not eating enough calories, does that mean I won't lose weight?..
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    edited March 2016
    Because common sense dictates that you have to lose weight as quickly as possible.

    Haven't you seen those ads where so and so lost 10lbs in a week?

    I started with the mindset that being "skinny" was the only thing that mattered.

  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    brownb65 wrote: »
    I'm a beginner and absolutely confused.. I'm going by the MFP default settings but my Dietician said I should be eating 1600 calories a day, I find it hard to eat 1200, I never had a weight problem until 5yrs ago when I was diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome and Hasimoto's and now type 2 diabetes. I want to lose 70lbs.. but at times I feel like I'm forcing myself to eat.. I've cut out Mt. Dew, Alcohol, chips, cookies and eating more fruits, veggies and nuts.. but I'm worried if I'm not eating enough calories, does that mean I won't lose weight?..

    Are you weighing all your foods? If you're using prepackaged foods and assuming the servings on it are correct, you might be eating more than you think.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    brownb65 wrote: »
    I'm a beginner and absolutely confused.. I'm going by the MFP default settings but my Dietician said I should be eating 1600 calories a day, I find it hard to eat 1200, I never had a weight problem until 5yrs ago when I was diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome and Hasimoto's and now type 2 diabetes. I want to lose 70lbs.. but at times I feel like I'm forcing myself to eat.. I've cut out Mt. Dew, Alcohol, chips, cookies and eating more fruits, veggies and nuts.. but I'm worried if I'm not eating enough calories, does that mean I won't lose weight?..

    Your diary is closed so we can't see. You can quit worrying about the last sentence, if you don't eat anything you'll lose weight for sure.

    If your new diet is more filling and you take on less calories than all for the good. Don't eat up to a number.
  • only126db
    only126db Posts: 6 Member
    All the articles I have read have this same basic theory...

    Eat less and eat better and you will lose weight, add in exercise and you will lose more.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    edited March 2016
    There is no diet, or set of macros, that is right for everyone.
  • Cuddlefish08
    Cuddlefish08 Posts: 16 Member
    lithezebra wrote: »
    There is no diet, or set of macros, that is right for everyone.

    I agree. Not everyone is the same. Weight loss is a lot of trial and error and seeing what works for you. I personally didn't change the macros or calories unless I had two weeks of no change, then I would just tweak it a little and go from there. I still have a little bit more to lose, but the little tweaks here and there, being macro % or calorie intake/calorie output worked for me. I lost 40 lbs. In roughly 7 months.
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    CollieFit wrote: »
    The standard setting has most people eat 1200 cals. Then they come on the forum and get screamed at that they're not eating enough! :D

    I'm rejoining MFP and this morning I set my account back up, and yep it has me at 1,200 calories. Not sure what I'm going to do with that number yet, since I just need to correct some maintenance creep.
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    I see this all the time: Help, I'm hungry/not losing/eating clean, work out like a champion, I eat 1000 calories per day and my macros are 50P/20F/30C. What am I doing wrong. Help, help.

    The settings are easy to change, but why don't we just follow the default for a while and see how that goes? I know, people are strange, and we are impatient. But why do we trust some random friend/guy at the gym and not a sensible, reasonable program like MFP?

    I've done IT for 30+ years.

    If you give an end user the ability to change something, they will! One hundred percent do it. Doesn't matter if they know or understand they will change it, they did it that way 30 years ago and nothing has changed. IIRC there's not a warning about changing macros so it might be OK.
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