Calorie calculators

HotFrieZ wrote: »

Happy holidays everyone!

Okay so out of curiosity I put my stats into the iifym.com calorie calculator and the results were ridiculous. I am small and lean to begin with, 5'2 115 lbs and am pretty active. I workout 6 days a week, 5 days of cardio and 3 strength training sessions as well as have a fairly active job. Anyway, it gave me a maintenance amount, with taking all of these things into consideration, as 1550! WHAT. Through trial and error, I know I maintain around 2200-2300. I was just thoroughly disgusted with this poor information that would lead someone to basically starve themselves if this was their maintenance amount. Anyone else have a similar experience? These calculators on MFP are much more accurate for me. I just don't know how you can tell someone that active that they need that little to MAINTAIN. Rant over.

Anyone who "starves themselves" because of what a so-called calculator tells them, is doing it wrong.

Those "calculators" don't "calculate". They estimate. Estimates can be wrong (even given accurate inputs).

Most "calorie calculators" are inaccurate for me: I maintain several hundred calories higher than they estimate. When I first started calorie counting based on such an estimate, I realized I was losing weight too fast, and adjusted to eat more, and lose at a reasonable rate.

Over and over, we tell people here to use the MFP estimate for 4-6 weeks, tracking carefully, then adjust their intake to get a healthy, sustainable weight loss rate (no more than about 1% of body weight weekly, less if within about 50 pounds of goal; more only if severely obese and under close medical supervision). That's the right way.

It's very likely that someone adopting a crazy-extreme deficit based solely on what a "calculator" says, is going to find the process unsustainable and stop before they "starve themselves". A few people will undereat based on the estimate, and be thrilled with their crazy-fast weight loss despite feeling fatigued/weak/ill. That makes me sad . . . but it also suggests they may've had a disordered relationship with body weight and eating in the first place.

Happy holidays back to you!