Calculations of MyFitnessPal

MaxineMarieM · February 2019

I wanted to know how accurate you have found MyFitnessPal in calculating the amount of calories you are supposed to eat according to the information you enter. Mine says eat 1670 per day but I can not imagine losing on that many calories. What had been your experience?

ShayCarver89 · February 2019

Extremely accurate. If you don't want to eat that much you can set your own limit. But MFP has never done me wrong. I'm in maintenance and my calorie allowance is 2250 - I freaked OUT when I saw it. But..I haven't gained anything which is the goal. I actually have lost half a pound. Its never done me wrong.

MaxineMarieM · February 2019

Thank you for your reply and I am happy you reached your goal!

TavistockToad · February 2019

Pretty much spot on for me

AnnPT77 · February 2019

Very inaccurate, for me. I followed my MFP goal at first, lost weight way too fast, got weak and fatigued, and - even though I corrected quickly - it took weeks to recover normal-feeling strength and energy. MFP estimates 20-30% low for me, even when I give it accurate input values, log food meticulously, and estimate exercise calories as carefully as I can.

Undereating, and losing too fast, is dangerous, a health risk. Overeating, and losing too slowly, is frustrating. I'd rather be frustrated than risk my health, personally.

Look: MFP is giving you a statistical estimate. The very nature of statistical estimates is that they'll be pretty close to accurate for many people (the people close to the average of the underlying statistical research). They'll be a bit off for some, potentially in either direction, high or low. And they'll be quite far off for a very, very few.

You won't know which you are, until you follow the recommendation consistently for 4-6 weeks, long enough to get past normal initial misleading scale fluctuations from water weight changes and changes in average digestive system contents in transit, and long enough for premenopausal women to get through a full menstrual cycle.

As a 5'5", 135 pound, 63 year old woman in year 3 of maintenance, MFP thinks I would maintain on 1500 or so net calories. Based on my experiential data, the actual maintenance number is in the 2000s. Even now, I'd lose weight pretty handily on your 1670 calories.

This kind of thing - MFP being that far off - won't happen for many people, but it can happen . . . in either direction.

A lot of women think they need to eat 1200 (or less). I'd suggest reading this: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/

Running2Fit · February 2019

Very accurate.

When I started I set my goal to lose 2 lbs a week. I followed what MFP said (including eating back my exercise calories) and averaged a loss of 2 lbs a week. Averaged being the key word there. Sometimes it was less, sometimes it was more but if you looked at my weight loss over a period of 4 - 6 weeks it averaged out to about 2 lbs per week. Now I'm closer to my goal and set my MFP settings to lose 1 lb a week. And I lose on average 1 lb a week.

Just trust the numbers for 4 - 6 weeks and see what happens.

Opalescent_Topaz · February 2019

Accurate, once I realized I couldn't handle the whole 1200 calorie thing. I got on the forums and read a lot of posts and realized I needed to slow down my weight loss now that I'm in a healthy weight range. Now I'm rocking 1360 calories a day (plus half my exercise calories when I feel like it) and losing about a half a pound a week. It's slow going, but it's more manageable.

Duck_Puddle · February 2019

I eat my mfp calorie goal PLUS my exercise calories and I lose (or gain/maintain) as expected.

apullum · February 2019

MFP weight loss calorie estimates are accurate or even low for most people. In general, when people think their calorie goal seems high, it’s usually because they haven’t tracked their food before and don’t know what that number of calories really looks like.

Lillymoo01 · February 2019

I found it to be as accurate as any online calculator can predict loss because we are all different and everything is based on averages. Not perfect which only became obvious when I was finding maintenance but close enough to lose weight at around the predicted rate without any problems.

cmriverside · February 2019

I lost nearly all my weight at 1700 plus exercise calories. I mean, it really depends on your current weight, height, gender, age, and your daily routine.

Try it for a while. Track accurately and track everything you eat. That's really the only way to find out, and it's what we all had to do.

Here's a good guide to learn how to use this site and track food:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

Calculations of MyFitnessPal

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