Big difference between myfitnesspal calorie goal
kirayng2
Posts: 36 Member
hi all, I am confused by the fact that I burn 3400 calories a day (as calculated based on BMR + activity/hour) and myfitnesspal recommends I eat 1750 calories a day. I'm 5'5", 206 lbs and work in a warehouse walking about 15,000 steps a day and lifting up to 10lbs mostly continously. I am not losing weight right now- am I not eating enough?
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Replies
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Eating more will make you gain weight if you're not losing now.8
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When you are not losing weight its never that you aren't eating enough.
How are you determining your calories in? Do you use a food scale? do you choose verified items in the database?
Have you lost any weight at all? And when did you start trying to lose weight?7 -
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When I've seen that flow chart before I get stuck on the hypothyroidism part. I have Hashimoto's. I've read so many stories of people losing weight having the condition, many of them eat different diets, Paleo, keto, etc. the only diet restriction I have is no gluten.0
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So no one actually answered my question.... why am I supposed to eat 1750 calories a day when I burn over 3000? I meant to ask it in my original post.0
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When I've seen that flow chart before I get stuck on the hypothyroidism part. I have Hashimoto's. I've read so many stories of people losing weight having the condition, many of them eat different diets, Paleo, keto, etc. the only diet restriction I have is no gluten.
If your hormone levels are normalized through your medication, there’s no reason for it to effect your weight loss. More often than not when a person isn’t losing they’re eating more than they think.1 -
So no one actually answered my question.... why am I supposed to eat 1750 calories a day when I burn over 3000? I meant to ask it in my original post.
What is your activity level set at? If it's set at sedentary, then MFP is going to give you minimum amount of calories. If you are hitting 15,000 steps a day, you should be set at active....could that be the reason the calorie goal is low?3 -
When I've seen that flow chart before I get stuck on the hypothyroidism part. I have Hashimoto's. I've read so many stories of people losing weight having the condition, many of them eat different diets, Paleo, keto, etc. the only diet restriction I have is no gluten.
If your hormone levels are normalized through your medication, there’s no reason for it to effect your weight loss. More often than not when a person isn’t losing they’re eating more than they think.
Even if I'm eating more than I think, how come I'm supposed to eat 1750 calories by myfitnesspal and I burn over 3000 (fitbit/calculations)? That's a 1250 deficit per day not including any exercise!
I do have it set to 1 lb a week loss.1 -
Because if you want to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. That means eating fewer calories than you burn. Although, 1250 calorie a day deficit is over the 2lb/week maximum so I'm wondering if you accurately input your numbers.
ETA: MFP gives you additional calories for exercise if you enter it. And if you have a fitness tracker you can sync it with MFP for it to adjust your calories accordingly.2 -
So no one actually answered my question.... why am I supposed to eat 1750 calories a day when I burn over 3000? I meant to ask it in my original post.
Where are you getting 3400 calories you burn each day? You are considered active in MFP. And how many pounds did you set MFP to lose a week?1 -
So no one actually answered my question.... why am I supposed to eat 1750 calories a day when I burn over 3000? I meant to ask it in my original post.
What is your activity level set at? If it's set at sedentary, then MFP is going to give you minimum amount of calories. If you are hitting 15,000 steps a day, you should be set at active....could that be the reason the calorie goal is low?
^^This AND, if you chose "lose 2 pounds a week," you'll be given the absolute minumum.
It's a dumb tool. It will spit out what you ask for.
Set it to "lose 1 pound" (like it suggested when you signed up) and "Active" (because you are...) and you might get more calories.
Tighten up your logging too - you've likely got a combination of things going wrong.1 -
You do know that the MFP goal is plus exercise calories I assume?
Where did you get the 3400 number from? How was it calculated?
What activity setting did you choose?
What rate of loss did you select?1 -
So no one actually answered my question.... why am I supposed to eat 1750 calories a day when I burn over 3000? I meant to ask it in my original post.
You set your weight loss goal to 2lbs per week, thats -1000 calories per day from your intake. Which would put you back up around 2750 calories for maintenance according to the activity level and stats you put into MFP.
the 3400 calories burned is coming from another source which might be overstating your exercise calories or activity level.
You can either start logging your exercise into MFP or up your activity level. Either way you need to pay attention to what is happening on the scale over time, That will help you narrow down your TRUE maintenance calories which allows you to be more precise with your eating habits.3 -
3100-3400 calories from fitbit tracker, activity setting was light and rate of loss was 1 lb.0
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Your Suggested Fitness and Nutrition Goals
Congratulations! Your personalized diet and fitness profile is now complete. Based on your answers, here are your suggested nutrition and fitness goals.
Nutritional goals Target
Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,820 Calories / Day
Carbs / Day 228.0 g
Fat / Day 61.0 g
Protein / Day 91.0 g
*Net calories consumed = total calories consumed - exercise calories burned. So the more you exercise, the more you can eat!
Fitness Goals Target
Calories Burned / Week 0 Calories / Week
Workouts / Week 0 workouts
Minutes / Workout 30 minutes
If you follow this plan...
Your projected weight loss is 1.5 lbs/week
You should lose 7.5 lbs by November 230 -
I put in Active, as suggested, and 1.5 lbs expected. I'm not using MFP to track exercise as I have my fitbit. Looks a bit more accurate now I think... thank you everyone, just trying to get used to this... Still has me losing over 2.5 lbs a week, Now I'm wondering how many calories it says you burn at "Active"... this is so frustrating. I think someone mentioned syncing my fitbit with MFP, I'll try that next.1
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When I've seen that flow chart before I get stuck on the hypothyroidism part. I have Hashimoto's. I've read so many stories of people losing weight having the condition, many of them eat different diets, Paleo, keto, etc. the only diet restriction I have is no gluten.
If your hormone levels are normalized through your medication, there’s no reason for it to effect your weight loss. More often than not when a person isn’t losing they’re eating more than they think.
Even if I'm eating more than I think, how come I'm supposed to eat 1750 calories by myfitnesspal and I burn over 3000 (fitbit/calculations)? That's a 1250 deficit per day not including any exercise!
I do have it set to 1 lb a week loss.
You are to include your exercise calories on top of 1750.
I am little leary of fitbits calculations.. so I would stick with the MFP recommendation + your exercise cals, tighten your logging efforts (weigh and log all foods/drinks that contains calories), and monitor your weight loss over the next 4 weeks or so.
You can gauge over time if fitbit is giving you correct assessment of your calorie burn using your real world data from calories consumed, rate of loss etc.
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I put in Active, as suggested, and 1.5 lbs expected. I'm not using MFP to track exercise as I have my fitbit. Looks a bit more accurate now I think... thank you everyone, just trying to get used to this...
Yes and the 1820 is your baseline. If your fitbit syncs with MFP it will adjust and give you more calories to eat if you log extra steps, exercise, etc.0 -
I put in Active, as suggested, and 1.5 lbs expected. I'm not using MFP to track exercise as I have my fitbit. Looks a bit more accurate now I think... thank you everyone, just trying to get used to this...
Careful, doing exercise above your activity level while not eating some of them back might have you feeling very weak and tired over time. You really should track the exercise at the same time above the activity level and eat at least a portion (50-75%) of the estimated calories back.
Not eating them back, while it will give you a faster weight loss at the start, like i said will leave you feeling weak, tired and eventually possibly sick.0 -
If you are burning that many calories in a day, and eating that few calories, you *should* be losing weight.
However... your fitbit may be overestimating your daily burn or you may be underestimating your intake, or some combination of the two...1 -
I put in Active, as suggested, and 1.5 lbs expected. I'm not using MFP to track exercise as I have my fitbit. Looks a bit more accurate now I think... thank you everyone, just trying to get used to this... Still has me losing over 2.5 lbs a week, Now I'm wondering how many calories it says you burn at "Active"... this is so frustrating. I think someone mentioned syncing my fitbit with MFP, I'll try that next.
Hang in there! This is a learning process. When I started, it took me about 8 weeks to see any consistent progress, mostly because I was unknowingly making a lot of mistakes. I had to learn to use a digital scale...and how to use it properly! I also synchronized my Fitbit and had to figure out the which calculations resulted in the best results. For that last part, if you sync your tracker, be sure to enable negative adjustments..that really helped me stay on track when my activity level wildly varied. But after all that, I am 27 lbs down and still going. Good luck on your journey!1 -
I put in Active, as suggested, and 1.5 lbs expected. I'm not using MFP to track exercise as I have my fitbit. Looks a bit more accurate now I think... thank you everyone, just trying to get used to this... Still has me losing over 2.5 lbs a week, Now I'm wondering how many calories it says you burn at "Active"... this is so frustrating. I think someone mentioned syncing my fitbit with MFP, I'll try that next.
Here is the FitBit user's group - lots of info and FAQs (you may have to join the group...)
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users2 -
If you are really only eating 1750 and burning 3000 (!), you should be losing, and probably more than is safe. Please keep in mind the calories burned on MFP for exercise are not accurate. Fitbit will tell you one thing on your wrist, but it translates differently to MFP. Not sure how it works for you; for me it seems to deduct about 950 calories at the end of the day.
Try Sedentary for a while. It may lower the numbers, but you can get a better feel for things. I am very active but keep my setting at sedentary. I think it is because I got used to it that way. Keep tweaking your numbers and you will find your "happy place." Keep us posted!1 -
Because if you want to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. That means eating fewer calories than you burn. Although, 1250 calorie a day deficit is over the 2lb/week maximum so I'm wondering if you accurately input your numbers.
ETA: MFP gives you additional calories for exercise if you enter it. And if you have a fitness tracker you can sync it with MFP for it to adjust your calories accordingly.
Totally agree with this!!
I use an Apple Watch to track my activity and MFP (I've kind of slacked on my entries lately, just hit a wall). I'm fortunate that my job provides me the majority of my daily calorie burn. At the end of the day, my Apple Watch typically indicates I've burned about 1500 active calories and a total (active and at rest combined) calorie burn of about 3000 +/-. I've lost roughly 50 pounds since 7/1/15 when I started this journey and have maintained that, +/- a few water lbs here or there or some muscle gains (I workout at the gym at least 5x a week for an hour per visit, strength training and cardio).
That calorie deficit you're (the OP) likely seeing is between the two is active and at rest burn. I base my food intake on the active burn only, if I ate what it said I burned total (at rest and active combined), I'd be right back at square one and over 175lbs. No way am I going to eat 3000 + calories just cause it says that is what I've burned, even with the HR monitor and it being far more accurate than they used to, nope, not doin' it, lol. I don't do cheat days either, I'd never recover (a cheat meal on the other hand, every now and then). I adjust my foods/macros/calories based on my activity level and try to stick to not more than 1300 (unless my cardio burn is off the charts that day, lmao).. I've entered all my variations/age/factors and most calculations come up with an intake of 1200. I've had age factors creep up during this journey of mine, so it's added minor hiccups along the way (grrrrr!)...
IIRC, to lose 1lb a week, you have to burn 500 more calories than you eat. It's quite possible your food caloric intake is higher than you realize it is.
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hi all, I am confused by the fact that I burn 3400 calories a day (as calculated based on BMR + activity/hour) and myfitnesspal recommends I eat 1750 calories a day. I'm 5'5", 206 lbs and work in a warehouse walking about 15,000 steps a day and lifting up to 10lbs mostly continously. I am not losing weight right now- am I not eating enough?
Hi there, it might help to know what type of diet your doing as well. Im 5'9" at 205 and it tells me to do 1500 calories a day but Im trying to lose 2 pounds a week. I do keto diet and combined with intermitten fasting struggle to make the 1500 calories a day. That said give it a try 1750 calories is more than it sounds and if you lose weight too quickly add some calories but if its on track use it.0
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