Confused about weight loss/calorie amount given to eat

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lynniehhhhh
lynniehhhhh Posts: 4 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
OKAY so I'm probably just missing something and this is likely a dumb question.
I weigh 150lbs and have set my goal to lose 10 pounds. Honestly I have been logging what I eat more to see what nutrients and types of food I'm eating too much of/could be eating more of. MFP gives me 2050 calories to eat a day and I usually do short work outs and walks so I gain back a few of them.
My question is, when I do the "projected weight in 5 weeks time" thing, it always suggests I'm going to weigh more, even when I'm 500 calories short for the day. Is this because of what i'm eating? Or should I just be eating less? I'm confused because if I am going to gain weight with the amount that they give me, shouldn't they give me a smaller number of calories?

Thank you!

Replies

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    The 5 week projection is a gimmick, feel free to ignore it.

    Make sure your height and weight are correct in your profile, and with only 10 lbs to lose, set your goal to lose 0.5lbs per week. I'll admit, 2000 cals sounds a little high, but if you set yourself to "active" that would explain that.
  • wearefab
    wearefab Posts: 69 Member
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    Unless you are a man or pregnant or very tall or put in that you are highly active, it sounds like your calorie goal is incorrect. The how many lbs you want to lose per week is the place to adjust , assuming your height weight are correct. With 2050 you may feel that is fine and lose slowly .
  • lynniehhhhh
    lynniehhhhh Posts: 4 Member
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    Thank you! I'm not highly active and I've been so confused. I'll try to see if I've input something wrong
  • mk2fit
    mk2fit Posts: 730 Member
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    @lynniehhhhh While I was losing, I thought the 5 week projection was pretty cool...until I realized it was basically bs. When I got to maintenance and changed my calories to something other than what MFP "suggested", the 5 week projection got really mean and told me I would gain! LOL, silly thing. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
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    yep - every time I am in maintenance the 5 week projection tells me I will become super fat if I continue to eat that way.

    But also, I don't use MFP the way it was designed - as in - I work out my TDEE using another calculator and don't log exercise calories to "eat back"
  • lynniehhhhh
    lynniehhhhh Posts: 4 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I started cutting back 500 calories and am FREEZING today so I might rethink that, but it's also winter in Canada lol

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