Trust the Process?

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    gooz71 wrote: »
    Why can't I just trust the process? Now that I am using MFP of course I am reading about health coaches, fitness trainers, etc. who disagree with MFP and say the calorie amount (calculation) they give to a person is way too low. They don't agree with MFP calculations for people.

    Can someone who has lost a good amount of weight on here please tell me they have always followed the calories given to them on MFP and they continue to lose and they trust the numbers?
    I need reassurance. :|

    Thank you so much.

    If the MFP goal seems too low, then either you don't realize you get to eat more when you enter your exercise, and/or you set your weekly weight loss goal too aggressively. (e.g. set to lose 2 lbs per week but should have set it at 1)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,387 Member
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    AliceDark wrote: »
    I'm going to approach this from a slightly different angle...

    MFP gives you an estimate. It's a good estimate; it's going to be relatively accurate for the majority of people IF they use it in the way that it's intended to be used (relatively accurate logging, eating back exercise calories, etc.)

    What a coach is going to give you is an estimate. It may or may not be a good estimate; that's going to depend on that person's level of knowledge and understanding, and of course that varies from person to person.

    Either way, whether you start from MFP's estimate or a coach's estimate, you have to try it out and see how your body responds. There's no getting around that part of the process -- you must give it 4-8 weeks, and then evaluate to see whether it's working as expected. If you're not losing fast enough, you'll have to adjust; if you're losing too fast, you'll have to adjust.

    MFP is going to give you all the data necessary to make those decisions, for free. At the end of those 8 weeks, if you've used MFP, you can look back at your own personalized information and adjust as necessary. If I'm going to have to do that anyway, I'd personally rather save the money and learn how to do that on my own.

    +1 and then some to this. Real humans vary. Estimates (for any given specific combination of settings) don't vary.

    Most people's calorie needs are close to average (that's the definition of average, right? ;) ). If your needs are close to average, MFP's estimate will work for you.

    If your calorie needs are further from average, you figure that out by eating what MFP says for 4-6 weeks, then adjusting eating based on your personal, actual average weekly loss rate (which could be higher or lower than average).

    Obviously, if you find yourself feeling weak, fatigued, or have other negative health symptoms along the way, and seem to be losing too fast along with one or more of those, eat a little more. Otherwise, stick to the estimate for the 4-6 weeks.

    I was the rare (truly rare) person who lost faster than MFP estimated. I figured that out in the first month, adjusted eating, and went on to use MFP to lose 50+ pounds, and continue to use it as I'm heading into year 3 of maintaining a healthy weight.

    You can, too. Best wishes!
  • SolotoCEO
    SolotoCEO Posts: 293 Member
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    MFP is a great tool. You need to use it as such. It is not a cure all. But I've lost almost 100 pounds by using the MFP calorie guideline, using common sense so I get the biggest nutritional bang for my calories, and moving more. As a tool it works great!
  • Gotrek1
    Gotrek1 Posts: 64 Member
    edited January 2018
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    I went from 325 to 247 doing nothing but calorie counting with MFP over last year... I didn't exercise more then usual, I didn't diet, I still ate junk....

    Then october I stopped logging and went back to 277.... so.... I'm back :)

    So to say MFP doesn't work is crap it works well. It makes me conscious of what I'm doing because I have to think about it before doing it.. My key will be to switch the profile to maintain weight once I get there instead of stopping to log :)
  • Rickster1967
    Rickster1967 Posts: 485 Member
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    Good luck, trust the process, be accurate with weighing and logging

    make sure the entry is for the foods you are eating, don't guess / use other peoples

    cook from whole ingredients as often as possible so you can count them into the app
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    I have been using this site for 102 weeks. I initially set my weight loss goal to lose 0.5 lb per week. I have never adjusted my macro ratios. When I manage to stay within my calorie budget, I lose weight. For several months I tracked my logged calories and my weight. Over a period of about a month, the weight changed to about 98% of that predicted by the calorie deficit when using 1 lb = 3500 calories. It is not realistic for a woman to expect to see weight declining steadily even if she stays at her calorie budget every day for a month. A woman will experience waves of hormone changes which will cause water retention and release. However, both men and women will see weight declining steadily if they are in a month-long calorie deficit. A weekly cheat day ruins the program because cheating counts for real.

    I do trust the program because it works when I work it right.
  • RA60172
    RA60172 Posts: 137 Member
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    5'5" 31F, went from 230 to low-mid 160s in two years using only MFP. TRUST THE PROCESS!!!!

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