My Fitness Pal incorrect?

tmaths
tmaths Posts: 58 Member
edited November 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,

Got a weird situation here. In Dec I was around 280+, and the scale today says I'm 262.
I've done this with nothing but watching waht I eat, proper portions, minimal exercise and such

So I went to update MFP and it says my new Daily Food intake should be 1750 ( I was previously doing 1800, while starting at 2000)

But when I double checked that on other calculators ( Since I know 1750 seems a little low ) they say1900-2000

So is there a chance MFP could be wrong?

For the record; here are my stats

M - 31( Turning 32 Middle of March )
H- 6'2
CW- 262 lb
GW- 200 lb

Exercise level- Desk job and 10-20 min walking a day ( depends entirely on ankle as my ankle is a mess and I go to physio for it )

Eating level- Well.. I went from eating 3200 cal worth of junk a day to 2000 and had no drawbacks after the first few days ( Energy levels are fine, I don't eat extra when I shouldn't, I track and 90% of the time I barely hit 1800 and yet I'm not hungry )

Water- I drink 10 cups a day ( Minimum) and it's my go to drink over everything else.

I don't smoke, I drink on special occasions

Cooking- I've cooked last 10+ years, I have an instapot and I don't mind waking up at 4/5 am, cranking out a 12 hour work day ( counting travel ) and coming home and cooking


I honestly don't mind if I don't hit 200 by end of this year, I'm perfectly happy with hitting 210-220 by december, and I can spend next year dropping to 190-200, so that's a rough ball park figure.


Thanks for reading this somewhat long and convoluted post, appreciate the help

Cheers

Replies

  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    280-262, that is an 18 lb loss and awesome. Don't forget that everyone is slightly different and MFP calculates for the average human.

    I've recently done an analysis of my estimated calorie burn vs my calorie intake and determined that the numbers that MFP and Fitbit give me are approximately good. If you are losing 2lbs a week that is equivalent to running a 7000 calorie deficit per week.

    If you are losing more, the deficit is higher, less the deficit is lower.

    Personally, I am very confident in my food logging, and it seems like you are too, that takes out one of the variables. Just adjust your daily calorie intake / exercise burn until you achieve the desired weekly/monthly loss. Do not get discouraged when changes don't happen immediately, they can sometimes take 2-3 weeks to appear.

    Patience is a virtue and the fact that you are setting a goal 10 months out is perfect and the right attitude to take when tackling this journey.

    PM or add me if you would like to chat more.
  • tmaths
    tmaths Posts: 58 Member
    TeacupsAndToning wrote: »
    What do you have your activity level set to and what did you put as how much weight you want to lose per week?

    My activity is pretty much the lowest one at the moment

    I try to walk at least 10-20 min but on an Ankle where there are micro tears and ligament sprains, drs have advised me to not try anything past that until I can drop the weight.

    For that reason I have it set to 2LB a week ( because the sooner I can drop the weight, the faster I can get through physio and potential tendon surgery, then I can focus on my rotators )

    If it wasn't for the surgery, I'd be fine with 1-1.5 lb a week, but if I don't drop the weight and get the surgery done, the recovery time is going to just escalate to upwards of 6 months.
  • tmaths
    tmaths Posts: 58 Member
    deimosphoebos wrote: »
    280-262, that is an 18 lb loss and awesome. Don't forget that everyone is slightly different and MFP calculates for the average human.

    I've recently done an analysis of my estimated calorie burn vs my calorie intake and determined that the numbers that MFP and Fitbit give me are approximately good. If you are losing 2lbs a week that is equivalent to running a 7000 calorie deficit per week.

    If you are losing more, the deficit is higher, less the deficit is lower.

    Personally, I am very confident in my food logging, and it seems like you are too, that takes out one of the variables. Just adjust your daily calorie intake / exercise burn until you achieve the desired weekly/monthly loss. Do not get discouraged when changes don't happen immediately, they can sometimes take 2-3 weeks to appear.

    Patience is a virtue and the fact that you are setting a goal 10 months out is perfect and the right attitude to take when tackling this journey.

    PM or add me if you would like to chat more.

    Thanks man

    It's been interesting cutting out pizza, junk food etc, since I would grab those on way home. But it saves me years of my life, my waistline and my wallet; all good reasons to stop, lol.

    So should I stick to the 1750 intake each day then? Or should I go more for a 1800-1900 intake?

    Thanks again for the help

  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    From the information you provided, MFP estimates your BMR at 2200 Cals/Day

    Sedentary Activity Level = 1.25xBMR = 2750 Cals/Day for Maintenance

    Getting 1750 Cals/day as goal means you selected a 1000 Cal/day deficit (2 pounds per week), which is the most aggressive rate of loss. You would still lose weight at a 750 Cal/day deficit (1.5 pounds per week), or even a 500 Cal/day deficit (1.0 pound per week).

    MFP does not count any purposeful exercise in its Activity Level. When you do purposeful exercise/activity, even a purposeful walk, you are expected to log the activity and eat back at least a portion of the earned exercise Calories.

    Other online calculators that gave you a higher daily Calorie goal probably already included your walking exercise you listed. Or, the other calculators may have bottomed out at 1.5 pounds per week loss.
  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    tmaths wrote: »
    deimosphoebos wrote: »
    It's been interesting cutting out pizza, junk food etc, since I would grab those on way home. But it saves me years of my life, my waistline and my wallet; all good reasons to stop, lol.

    So should I stick to the 1750 intake each day then? Or should I go more for a 1800-1900 intake?

    Thanks again for the help

    Yea the wallet is happy. What were your actual dates when you weighed in? On what date were you 280 and on what day were you 262?
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    MyFitnessPal uses NonExerciseActivityThermogenesis, and all other online calculators use TotalDailyEnergyExpenditure. MFP asks certain questions to give an answer, TDEE calculators ask a different set of questions to give an answer. Both are correct if your answers are true. But they are different questions with different answers.
  • tmaths
    tmaths Posts: 58 Member
    CyberTone wrote: »
    From the information you provided, MFP estimates your BMR at 2200 Cals/Day

    Sedentary Activity Level = 1.25xBMR = 2750 Cals/Day for Maintenance

    Getting 1750 Cals/day as goal means you selected a 1000 Cal/day deficit (2 pounds per week), which is the most aggressive rate of loss. You would still lose weight at a 750 Cal/day deficit (1.5 pounds per week), or even a 500 Cal/day deficit (1.0 pound per week).

    MFP does not count any purposeful exercise in its Activity Level. When you do purposeful exercise/activity, even a purposeful walk, you are expected to log the activity and eat back at least a portion of the earned exercise Calories.

    Other online calculators that gave you a higher daily Calorie goal probably already included your walking exercise you listed. Or, the other calculators may have bottomed out at 1.5 pounds per week loss.

    Awesome, that explains a lot, Thank you.

    Ill have to the aggressive one then ( sooner I can get weight dropped and physio, sooner I can get surgery and rehab done ) Then I can actually start jogging, running playing sports again.

    Thank you for the help, appreciated.
  • tmaths
    tmaths Posts: 58 Member
    deimosphoebos wrote: »
    tmaths wrote: »
    deimosphoebos wrote: »
    It's been interesting cutting out pizza, junk food etc, since I would grab those on way home. But it saves me years of my life, my waistline and my wallet; all good reasons to stop, lol.

    So should I stick to the 1750 intake each day then? Or should I go more for a 1800-1900 intake?

    Thanks again for the help

    Yea the wallet is happy. What were your actual dates when you weighed in? On what date were you 280 and on what day were you 262?

    I was 277 when I had to get a 3rd MRI done on Ankle back in November. Went up to 280 because of Christmas. So when I weighed myself, it was a few days before new years, That's when I was 280

    I checked a scale today and it says I'm 262

    Attributing 10 lb of that to water loss over a month, and the other 8 from actual eating better ( Before I would grab fast food, Schwarma, Subs, etc on way home from work because I found it more convenient )

    I have no problems at all about starting something and sticking to it. It's worth it in the long run and that to me means it's also worth the extra effort, dedication and lifestyle changes.

    There's a "slim" ( pun intended ) chance that if I drop to 200, I can avoid surgery and just go straight to rehab. That's what my physio, chiro and orthopedist are hoping for, and that's what I'd vastly prefer, since Canadian weather means walking/commuting to work on crutches in Winter.. would be flat out hell ( and this is coming from someone who takes perverse pleasure in Winter and loves the cold )

    I don't want to do a fad diet, because that means if I do it in a lose 50 lbs in 3 months deal, ( little to no eating etc ) then the weight's just going to come back twice as worse afterwards.
  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    I'm not doing a fad diet, but have lost about 40 lbs in 3 months. The first 10 can also be attributed to water weight, but the rest was being stubborn with logging, cooking myself, and overall being more active.

    So from New Year's to now that is approximately 7 weeks. 18lbs over 7 weeks is about 2.5 lbs a week, so if you feel like adding an extra 150 calories a day, that should be fine.

    When I started in November, I began at 1900 calories a day, then December 1750 calories a day, then January down to 1500 calories a day for 2 weeks.

    Now I'm at 2350 ish calories a day, but that takes into account the much higher level of activities that I am doing every week, while still maintaining an approximate 1000 calorie deficit per day.

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