A Little Disappointed

It's just a gimmick and it's just doing very rudimentary math to come up with a projection based on every day being exactly like this day which will never happen.

Yeah...you're focusing way to much on the most gimmicky part of this app...don't even pay attention to it.

swjones19083 wrote: »

Don't get me wrong...I love myfitnesspal. So far I've been happily successful while losing 12 pounds in two weeks. What I just realized however, has left me a little disappointed. When I first registered my daily food tally, a message told me if I ate like this every day, I would weigh 267 pounds in five weeks. I couldn't believe that. That would've been a dream for me. What I've come to realize, is that even as I continued to shed some pounds, it was still telling me that I would weigh roughly 267-270 pounds in five week. Well I am two weeks into this since that first message, and I doubt that I will lose 23 more pounds in the next three weeks, so the five week message seems like bull. Am I overlooking something here? Am I focusing too much on the message? I mean, I am eating healthier, and I am losing weight slowly. It';s just that that message is like a carrot, dangling in front of a donkey to get him to move, but every day, it's the same thing...5 weeks. Makes it seem like I'll never get there.

It is a carrot - the problem is that the number it displays would only be true if EVERY day from the date that the value was posted was EXACTLY alike for the 5 week period. Since every day will not be exactly like the first, the number is just a rough estimate (that likely won't be reached).

Congrats on your progress so far! Just don't let the numbers get you down - as long as you are losing weight the process is working and you are winning the game!

MostlyWater wrote: »

Individual results do indeed vary.

The best thing is just to keep moving and eat clean.

I would disagree with this - eat in a way that satisfies your nutritional needs, keeps you under your calorie goal and is sustainable for you in the long run.

Don't complete your diary. Then you won't get the message.

You surely do not eat and move EXACTLY the same every day, so that saying on one especially low day is not reality. You won't get that message if you were to overeat over maintenance one day.

Reject all time related weighloss planning. Don’t let it into your head. I’m maintaining. So I don’t get MFP messages like that. If I did, I’d try to disable them. Seems like you have a significant amount to lose. I can tell you this about the time involved, it will take exactly as long as it takes.
Weighloss timetables are an invitation to turn success, losses, into failure, not fast enough. Don’t do it.

All the gadgets and calculators give us the impression that we can manage weight loss like our bodies are machines. We can’t. All the calculations are derived from averages. But no one individual is average in every way. Thinking about how long it should take you to get to X lbs will wreck your brain.

What’s the alternative? Embrace the process. Want a time oriented goal? Track your intake every day without fail for 6 weeks. There’s a goal you can actually control. Do regular controlled weigh ins and see where you are in 6 weeks. Then do 6 more weeks. By the end of that you will likely be driving your own train.

Yeah it is a guess that I doubt works often.

Take pictures every month and even if your dropping slow on the scale you might be losing inches and building muscle.