Do You Follow MFP’s Calorie Limit?
Replies
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Also to add, I think for the people saying MFP gives them a calorie goal that is too low, the activity level settings are (in my experience) lower than you'd think. For example, based on the description it gives, I would select sedentary but I'm actually more like active or lightly active without any exercise.2
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »I think people who view MFP as just a tool to keep track of the information they are tracking will have a better view of it than people who expect MFP to someohow know exactly how many calories they need to eat to lose X amount of weight in X number of days.
I think that's a good point. I see people saying that MFP advised them to eat a certain way without realizing that MFP's targets aren't personal -- it's not saying you need no more than 1200 cal to lose, or 600 cal of that to come from fat -- it's plugging in what you tell it to simple formulas used for everyone, and if you claim to be sedentary and to want to lose 2 lb/week, it will give 1200 if you are the size/age of a huge percentage of women, but that doesn't mean it's prescribed 1200.
That aside, I think that if you are reasonable and accurate in what you tell MFP, log accurately, and realize that you are expected to eat exercise back, MFP's goal is a decent starting point, especially for someone who hasn't really looked into how to calculate a goal. Everyone should be prepared to adjust based on results.4 -
0somuchbetter0 wrote: »I use it as a guide but I'm not strict about it. MFP way overestimates how much I'm burning with exercise, so I try not to eat my exercise calories back, but sometimes I do a little. I'm averaging a loss of 5-6 lbs a month, so whatever I'm doing it's working for me.
And this is the key point to the whole process. Whether you use MFP as set up or do you own thing and use MFP to track, it'e the end result that actually matters. So if what you do is working, then stick with it. If what you are doing isn't giving you the results you need, then change it up.
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Larkspur94 wrote: »I'm recommended 1200, which is pretty much my bmr. I struggle to get to 1000 each day. Just under it and I get scolded by the site. I pretty much have to either have a meal full of cream and cheese, or have 2 servings. An 8oz rump steak covers 800 but I can't afford nor want that each day. Veggies and a chicken portion just don't have that many cals.
Even when I was eating unhealthy and 17lb heavier, I didn't eat all that much. Didn't track the calories but pretty sure 2 bowls of chocolate cereal and a few biscuits led to the recommended amount here. No wonder I never gained or lost.
As said, I'm aiming for that 1000 each day and losing a pound a week. However, before I started tracking the cals to be that here, I was losing 2 pound a week. Believe my daily total was around 700. Wonder if I should go back to that or stick to the 1000.
If you struggle to eat 1000 calories a day then how did you end up needing to lose weight? There is more in the world of food than pure cream cheese and dry chicken and broccoli you know....it isn't that black and white. How about you eat some peanuts as a snack for example....they cost, well, peanuts....and they are high calorie with a good mix of fats and protein.8 -
Larkspur94 wrote: »I'm recommended 1200, which is pretty much my bmr. I struggle to get to 1000 each day. Just under it and I get scolded by the site. I pretty much have to either have a meal full of cream and cheese, or have 2 servings. An 8oz rump steak covers 800 but I can't afford nor want that each day. Veggies and a chicken portion just don't have that many cals.
Even when I was eating unhealthy and 17lb heavier, I didn't eat all that much. Didn't track the calories but pretty sure 2 bowls of chocolate cereal and a few biscuits led to the recommended amount here. No wonder I never gained or lost.
As said, I'm aiming for that 1000 each day and losing a pound a week. However, before I started tracking the cals to be that here, I was losing 2 pound a week. Believe my daily total was around 700. Wonder if I should go back to that or stick to the 1000.
I think the answer to this conundrum is a food scale and accurate logging.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p110 -
For those of you saying the MFP calorie goal was too low, do you mean the MFP calorie goal + exercise calories was too low?
I should clarify. I wanted consistency in my daily target, rather than the variability that came with adding in exercise calories. The 1200 calories on non-activity days was too little. I used a TDEE calculator to determine a daily target. I also had to get real with my logging habits, my daily activity, and my exercise habits.5 -
MFPs calorie goal is a math formula. If it gave you the "wrong answer" it is because it was given incomplete information or the wrong numbers.
If you tell it you want to lose 2 pounds a week (which is a deficit of 7000 calories a week or 1000 calories per day) and you tell it you are a 150 pound 5'4'' woman who is sedentary then it is most certainly going to tell you to eat 1200 calories a day (it bottoms out at 1200 won't go below that number) whether that is a good idea or not or whether or not you accurately represented your activity level because that is the math.
Here is what MFP does. It takes your gender height and weight you provide it and it uses it with the currently accepted formula to calculate your basal metabolic rate (which is an estimate). You then tell it your activity level and it then uses that as a modifier to your BMR. I don't know the exact numbers but it will do something like if you say sedentary multiply your BMR by 1.1, if you say moderatly active multiply by 1.2, if you say active multiply by 1.3 etc.
That means even if you say you are active it is probably going to calculate a BMR of 1500 and tack on like 450 for your activity level to 1950 and then subtract 1000 calories from that which is 950 and then bump that up to 1200 because that is its minimum reportable value that it considers "safe". That isn't MFP telling you something, that is you putting numbers into a calculator and getting an answer from it. Not only that but if you get a reported value of 1200 that isn't the actual value, that is the lowest MFP will go so that means your value is below 1200 and you don't know how much below.
That doens't mean its a good idea or accurate or anything of that nature, it is a calculator and nothing more. If you set an unreasonable goal MFP won't tell you that you have set an unreasonable goal, it will just spit out the calculated value for your unreasonable goal. You set the goal, MFP does some math based on some broad generalizations of population averages and what you happened to tell it.5 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »For those of you saying the MFP calorie goal was too low, do you mean the MFP calorie goal + exercise calories was too low?
I should clarify. I wanted consistency in my daily target, rather than the variability that came with adding in exercise calories. The 1200 calories on non-activity days was too little. I used a TDEE calculator to determine a daily target. I also had to get real with my logging habits, my daily activity, and my exercise habits.
That's essentially what I've done. I don't like the moving target of NEAT + activity.1 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »For those of you saying the MFP calorie goal was too low, do you mean the MFP calorie goal + exercise calories was too low?
I should clarify. I wanted consistency in my daily target, rather than the variability that came with adding in exercise calories. The 1200 calories on non-activity days was too little. I used a TDEE calculator to determine a daily target. I also had to get real with my logging habits, my daily activity, and my exercise habits.
That's essentially what I've done. I don't like the moving target of NEAT + activity.
Exactly. And then after a few months of logging data, I moved away from using the calculators, and I go off my own numbers to set my targets.2 -
Sort of...not really. I calculated a BMR of 1336 and TDEE of 2000. This seems pretty accurate based on my logging. mfp gave me a daily goal of 1440, and it goes up to about 2440 on workout days. I can't vary my meals that much, so I try to eat 1900 every day. Some days I do eat up to 2400 and I get worried because I can't seem to ever eat less than 1800. I'm maintaining with a little bit of fluctuation, which I am OK with.1
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@RAinWA
I haven't actually heard of TDEE before. Went through the calculator and It's about 1600 for me. So I guess 1100 makes a good deficit then, right? I have plenty of energy and only get a bit hungry around my meal time, so not exactly weak and starving here. I also make sure to get plenty of nutrition in my meals so no deficiencies.
@WinoGelato
Yeah I do OMAD with IF. If it's a meal going to the 1000 cal mark the that would be it, otherwise It could be double portion, a dessert, or snacks few hours after meal. I'm on the keto diet so don't have more than 20g net carb each day. I was 11 stone (154p) when I started, now at 9 11 (137p), I'm 5 foot 5. I'm not sure how much to lose in total as I'm going more on look (Belly fat needs to go). I figure 8 1/2 (119) should be around the weight that's good but could be several pounds heavier, we'll see. Haven't got into weights yet.
@Aaron_K123
I make lots of tasty dishes, It was just easier to give that as example. I've never been slim. Poor eating habits through childhood and teen years led to reaching a max of 14 stone (196p). I've lost weight over the years with smaller portion, less often junk and that, not really following a strict diet (some diet here and there). I stayed 11 stone for the past year after losing a stone from stress and depression. Both of which didn't really end until recently, I just stopped losing weight.2 -
People always neglect the most critical step. MFP or any other calculators is only truly relevant for about the first four weeks of logging.
The final step is monitor progress and adjust as neccessary. After that point you are moving away from the calculator to your true energy needs.7 -
Larkspur94 wrote: »@RAinWA
I haven't actually heard of TDEE before. Went through the calculator and It's about 1600 for me. So I guess 1100 makes a good deficit then, right? I have plenty of energy and only get a bit hungry around my meal time, so not exactly weak and starving here. I also make sure to get plenty of nutrition in my meals so no deficiencies.
@WinoGelato
Yeah I do OMAD with IF. If it's a meal going to the 1000 cal mark the that would be it, otherwise It could be double portion, a dessert, or snacks few hours after meal. I'm on the keto diet so don't have more than 20g net carb each day. I was 11 stone (154p) when I started, now at 9 11 (137p), I'm 5 foot 5. I'm not sure how much to lose in total as I'm going more on look (Belly fat needs to go). I figure 8 1/2 (119) should be around the weight that's good but could be several pounds heavier, we'll see. Haven't got into weights yet.
@Aaron_K123
I make lots of tasty dishes, It was just easier to give that as example. I've never been slim. Poor eating habits through childhood and teen years led to reaching a max of 14 stone (196p). I've lost weight over the years with smaller portion, less often junk and that, not really following a strict diet (some diet here and there). I stayed 11 stone for the past year after losing a stone from stress and depression. Both of which didn't really end until recently, I just stopped losing weight.
Which calculator, using what for inputs? If you're talking about MFP's guided setup, and you put in that you wanted to lose X per week, your deficit is already built into the goal number it gives you. You wouldn't subtract more from it to get a goal.
If you're talking about other TDEE calculators, they often will give you a target somewhere in their output that includes a deficit already, too. (MFP is a NEAT calculator, not a TDEE calculator - TDEE includes intentional exercise, NEAT doesn't. If you use MFP's NEAT calculator, you're supposed to log and eat back exercise calories, on top of the base calories.
It would be conservative (best odds of good health) to avoid losing more than about 1% of your current body weight per week, and perhaps less than that within about 50 pounds of goal weight.4 -
I do. I follow it pretty strictly since I have started seriously trying to loose weight. Because it works for me. It’s taken a long time to find something to actually work for me, and this keeps me on track. I’m a big believer in listening to your body and finding something that works for you and your needs.2
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I try and stick to 1500 calorie intake a day. I also use a Fitbit so make sure my calorie burn is more than 1500. If I want to eat more I need to move more.1
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So we've got 3 pages of personal experiences, with a few concepts and recommendations thrown in. But what's the take-away from this thread?
IMO, these are the key points...- MFP is a very good starting point for people new to calorie management and weight loss. Is it guaranteed to be right all the time? No, certainly not. But it's a very reasonable starting point for those just starting out.
- Some will be able to set it and forget it... and follow MFP's numbers long term for steady results. Others will need to make adjustments along the way (once they have enough data to draw meaningful conclusions from) until they find their sweet spot. Most people will probably fall into the second group.
- Ultimately, MFP is just a bunch of calculations and estimates. It's up to the user to give it good, reliable, reasonable, and consistent numbers.
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I set my own calorie goal and I go with that. MFP and I weren't too far off. MFP recommended 1490 and I set it to 1400.0
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I’m eating under what MFP recommends (1600) intentionally. Initially I set it to lose only 1/2 pound a week, but then I wanted more weight loss. I’m eating 1200 now (don’t eat back exercise calories - which is 600+ calories when I go to the gym, 3-4 times a week). For a while I was losing 2.5 pounds a week. I’m worried my weight loss is stalling out though and I don’t know what to do. I’m so frustrated
You need to go back and read the replies to your other threads, and get in touch with your doctor and/or treatment team. You are headed down a dangerous road, please get some help.12
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