MFP calorie goals dont seem right

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RDPearson
RDPearson Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
The calorie numbers MFP are showing me dont seem to add up.

If I use the MFP BMR calculator it comes up with 2032 calories per day.

If I tell the app that I want to lose 1lb a week it shows me I should eat 2040 calories a day but this is higher than the BMR figure. I also use a Jawbone device to count steps and feed that into MFP. Currently averaging around 10,0000 - 12,000 steps daily. Some of the exercise calories I eat and some I dont. Depends on the day and how I feel I guess, but I very rarely go over the calories remaining in the app.

I have plateaued at my current weight now for around 6 weeks and am really battling to get it started again. So far I am 2 stone down.

Getting very frustrated and confused about whether I can believe the calorie figures I am being shown.

Any ideas or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
Richard

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,564 Member
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    BMR is the amount of calories you burn just by living. From there, MFP calculates your NEAT, which in your case would be about 2540 calories.

    If you've plateaued, then you need to take a look into your logging to see where you can tighten things up.
  • calith
    calith Posts: 4 Member
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    It could have to do with how you set your daily activites under your diet profile (sedentry, lightly active, active, very active) I use a fitbit to count steps so i have set myself as sedentry and the fitbit adds any exercise onto calories.
  • ridge4mfp
    ridge4mfp Posts: 301 Member
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    It looks like you have lost 25 lbs. Congrats! Have you reset your calorie goal since you lost weight? As you lose, you will begin to burn less calories.
  • RDPearson
    RDPearson Posts: 13 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    BMR is the amount of calories you burn just by living. From there, MFP calculates your NEAT, which in your case would be about 2540 calories.

    If you've plateaued, then you need to take a look into your logging to see where you can tighten things up.

    Thanks. I have not heard of neat before. Doing some reading now on that.

    The last 7 days I have eaten somewhere around 11000 calories. Thats averaging around 1600 a day. I am also burning around 300-400 a day on walking 5-6 miles a day. Using neat thats around a 9000 deficit over the week. Not sure how much more I can cut out. I feel permanently hungry as it is :(

    calith wrote: »
    It could have to do with how you set your daily activites under your diet profile (sedentry, lightly active, active, very active) I use a fitbit to count steps so i have set myself as sedentry and the fitbit adds any exercise onto calories.

    Yes, thats exactly what I have set as well.
    ridge4mfp wrote: »
    It looks like you have lost 25 lbs. Congrats! Have you reset your calorie goal since you lost weight? As you lose, you will begin to burn less calories.

    Thanks :) Yes I have been resetting the goals every 6lbs to make sure its up to date.
  • FrankieandSpots
    FrankieandSpots Posts: 446 Member
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    Might be a matter of just waiting it out. Check that you're logging accurately and if you are reduce your calories by 100/day.
    Some people say adjusting their macros hhelps them get over a plateau (eg. More protein less carbs). Might be worth a shot
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,564 Member
    Options
    RDPearson wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    BMR is the amount of calories you burn just by living. From there, MFP calculates your NEAT, which in your case would be about 2540 calories.

    If you've plateaued, then you need to take a look into your logging to see where you can tighten things up.

    Thanks. I have not heard of neat before. Doing some reading now on that.

    The last 7 days I have eaten somewhere around 11000 calories. Thats averaging around 1600 a day. I am also burning around 300-400 a day on walking 5-6 miles a day. Using neat thats around a 9000 deficit over the week. Not sure how much more I can cut out. I feel permanently hungry as it is :(

    calith wrote: »
    It could have to do with how you set your daily activites under your diet profile (sedentry, lightly active, active, very active) I use a fitbit to count steps so i have set myself as sedentry and the fitbit adds any exercise onto calories.

    Yes, thats exactly what I have set as well.
    ridge4mfp wrote: »
    It looks like you have lost 25 lbs. Congrats! Have you reset your calorie goal since you lost weight? As you lose, you will begin to burn less calories.

    Thanks :) Yes I have been resetting the goals every 6lbs to make sure its up to date.

    How are you measuring your intake? You should be eating a net of at least 1500 calories (after exercise), if not your goal. But if you aren't losing on 1600 gross, then you're eating more than you think.
  • RDPearson
    RDPearson Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    FrankieandSpots wrote: »
    Might be a matter of just waiting it out. Check that you're logging accurately and if you are reduce your calories by 100/day.
    Some people say adjusting their macros hhelps them get over a plateau (eg. More protein less carbs). Might be worth a shot

    Might need to look into this. I havent been eating specifically carbs, protein etc, just counting total calories.
    malibu927 wrote: »
    RDPearson wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    BMR is the amount of calories you burn just by living. From there, MFP calculates your NEAT, which in your case would be about 2540 calories.

    If you've plateaued, then you need to take a look into your logging to see where you can tighten things up.

    Thanks. I have not heard of neat before. Doing some reading now on that.

    The last 7 days I have eaten somewhere around 11000 calories. Thats averaging around 1600 a day. I am also burning around 300-400 a day on walking 5-6 miles a day. Using neat thats around a 9000 deficit over the week. Not sure how much more I can cut out. I feel permanently hungry as it is :(

    calith wrote: »
    It could have to do with how you set your daily activites under your diet profile (sedentry, lightly active, active, very active) I use a fitbit to count steps so i have set myself as sedentry and the fitbit adds any exercise onto calories.

    Yes, thats exactly what I have set as well.
    ridge4mfp wrote: »
    It looks like you have lost 25 lbs. Congrats! Have you reset your calorie goal since you lost weight? As you lose, you will begin to burn less calories.

    Thanks :) Yes I have been resetting the goals every 6lbs to make sure its up to date.

    How are you measuring your intake? You should be eating a net of at least 1500 calories (after exercise), if not your goal. But if you aren't losing on 1600 gross, then you're eating more than you think.

    If what I am eating has a barcode I scan that and weigh out how much of it I am eating. If no barcode I weigh and search on the item to add it. To make things easier for dinner I have mostly been eating pre-prepared supermarket meals where it is all worked out already. Scan it in and done. Easier than trying to work out all the ingredients in a meal.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    RDPearson wrote: »
    FrankieandSpots wrote: »
    Might be a matter of just waiting it out. Check that you're logging accurately and if you are reduce your calories by 100/day.
    Some people say adjusting their macros hhelps them get over a plateau (eg. More protein less carbs). Might be worth a shot

    Might need to look into this. I havent been eating specifically carbs, protein etc, just counting total calories.
    malibu927 wrote: »
    RDPearson wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    BMR is the amount of calories you burn just by living. From there, MFP calculates your NEAT, which in your case would be about 2540 calories.

    If you've plateaued, then you need to take a look into your logging to see where you can tighten things up.

    Thanks. I have not heard of neat before. Doing some reading now on that.

    The last 7 days I have eaten somewhere around 11000 calories. Thats averaging around 1600 a day. I am also burning around 300-400 a day on walking 5-6 miles a day. Using neat thats around a 9000 deficit over the week. Not sure how much more I can cut out. I feel permanently hungry as it is :(

    calith wrote: »
    It could have to do with how you set your daily activites under your diet profile (sedentry, lightly active, active, very active) I use a fitbit to count steps so i have set myself as sedentry and the fitbit adds any exercise onto calories.

    Yes, thats exactly what I have set as well.
    ridge4mfp wrote: »
    It looks like you have lost 25 lbs. Congrats! Have you reset your calorie goal since you lost weight? As you lose, you will begin to burn less calories.

    Thanks :) Yes I have been resetting the goals every 6lbs to make sure its up to date.

    How are you measuring your intake? You should be eating a net of at least 1500 calories (after exercise), if not your goal. But if you aren't losing on 1600 gross, then you're eating more than you think.

    If what I am eating has a barcode I scan that and weigh out how much of it I am eating. If no barcode I weigh and search on the item to add it. To make things easier for dinner I have mostly been eating pre-prepared supermarket meals where it is all worked out already. Scan it in and done. Easier than trying to work out all the ingredients in a meal.

    Lots of prepackaged things are actually heavier than what the package says PLUS they are allowed a 30% margin of errors for calories. For accuracy, you're better off cooking from scratch.
  • chrislee1628
    chrislee1628 Posts: 305 Member
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    I've looked at various sites and apps, and they all give different figures, most are similar though

    For me, I am sticking with MFP because I am using MFP to log my calorie intake and Fitbit which is logged to MFP for the calorie out

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