What do you have your calories set to?

Agree with @Lillymoo01.
If you are getting such small differences between 1-2lbs a week you have little to lose and aiming for .5lbs a week would be apropriate.

You may like using a TDEE calculator which will even out your cals over the week. And yes you can customize your calorie goal.

Cheers, h.
I find this calculator accurate for lighter people.
http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

MPF set mine at 1200 (1 pound a week) but I changed it to 1300 (before any exercise) Been losing a pound a week no problem- I also eat maintenance calories once every 7-14 days to keep from going insane and this doesn't affect loss either. My CW is 178 lbs.

I eat about 1200/day. I’m short, so every calorie matters. At my goal weight, my maintenance is like 1300...

I'm 4'11 and have my calorie goal set to 1600. I allow myself to eat all that. I don't eat back exercise calories. So it usually puts me at a net of 1200-1400. On days I don't exercise I try to stay under 1500. Its been working so far

So I’m 5’2” and have reached 45 years old and seem to have reached a lowering of my metabolism. I’m having to not eat back my exercise calories and still exercise 5 days a week, twice being body weight exercises for muscle retention/growth. I’ve seemed to stopped the gaining and am hoping it starts coming off. Within one year, my current pace of exercise and about 1500 caps a day average still gave me weight gain. Pisses me off actually!

I calculated calories for maintenance at my goal weight and sed., then set it manually. It allows for a higher deficit now, when I'm heavier, and gradually decreases as I get closer to my goal. Added benefit is that I wont have to change my routine/habits when I reach my goal.

I log and eat back 100% of exercise calories from machine based estimates ( treadmill, eliptical, etc ), and I don't log for other exercise ( strength training, swimming, etc ).

The longer it takes you to lose the weight, the more likely you are to keep it off. I wouldn't rush yourself. Take your time and get yourself into healthier habits, and the weight will come off in time!

Mine are set at 1200 too, with macros at 40/30/30. That's also for a 2lb a week loss. I don't have much to lose though (10lbs) and I'm over age 50 and menopausal, which is a consideration when it comes to how many calories you need. I'm average height (5"5) but small boned. I'm very active but I try not to eat back my exercise calories. It's a challenge sometimes but I find 1200 pretty doable as long as I stick to eating clean and stay away from processed foods.

aliciamariej1 wrote: »

MFP tells me in order to lose 2 pounds a week I need to set my calories to 1,200 a day. I think that is a little aggressive. In order to lose 1 pound a week it sets me to 1,260 which is still seems pretty low to me. I work out 5 days a week and eat back some exercise calories but on rest days it's tough. Just wondering if anyone customized their calories and if it works for you? Thank you

MFP bottoms out at 1200. What that means is it won't ever go below 1200. If you want to lose 2 pounds a week you need to have a deficit of 1000 calories a day. MFP calculates the amount of energy you likely burn in a given day based on what information you entered into it and lets say it calculates that to be 1760 calories a day. Then it sees you want to lose 2 pounds a day so it calculates you need a deficit of 1000 calories a day. It subtracts 1000 from 1760 and gets 760 but it refuses to go below 1200 so it just spits out 1200 as your goal even though that isn't what you asked for.

If you get a "1200" as your goal what that is basically meaning is "error, value too low...here is a 1200".

That is why when you switched to 1 pound a week (which is a deficit of 500 calories a day) it only went up to 1260. A value of 1260 is probably accurate...meaning it calculated your daily burn is 1760, you want to lose one pound a week so thats 500 a day...1760-500 = 1260 so your goal is 1260. It isn't artificially adjusting that value to meet some minimum it has pre-programmed into it.

Now as to how accurate that "1760" number is that is totally dependent on how you represented yourself. If you called yourself sedentary then that number might be artificially low if you don't just sit at a desk literally all day long.

I like the calculators at www.fat2fittools.com. My maintenance at my goal weight will be about 1600-1700 calories, not counting exercise. I set my calories for 1500 and eat anywhere from 1000-1500, whatever I want in a given day. My daily average per week tends to be a little over 1300 according to MFP nutrition tab. I don't eat back exercise calories but I'm more likely to get close to 1500 on exercise days, have gone over just a few times. (I don't do hours of cardio so my exercise stipend is pretty modest anyway.) I pay a lot of attention to the nutrition of what I'm eating, not just calories, and I have various rules that help me. I find giving myself a little freedom this way is pretty stress-free and I'm averaging a little over a pound a week, about 22 lbs lost in 3 months, and I'm down 39 lbs from my highest ever weight. It's all estimates anyway, even with weighing and HR monitors, and I feel prepared to eat similarly for the rest of my life. I'm 17 lbs from my goal weight.

I'm sure I'd have the same results if I set my daily goal for exactly 1300 and stuck to it religiously, but this way I can be a little flexible. I do take it seriously and I do weigh and measure, but I also eat out every week.