My Fitness Pal vs Lose It App Question

Ctmikey1980
Ctmikey1980 Posts: 8 Member
edited December 2018 in Getting Started
I signed up for both apps. On MFP, 2lbs a week, my goal is 2,700 calories. On Lose It App, it has 3,300 calories for the same 2 lbs a week. Anybody know why there is a difference between the two apps, and which App do you all
Recommend, and why? Thanks!

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Not sure why. Input error? I would double check your entries.

    MFP, of course. I thought Lose It was harder to use.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    Does loseit factor in workout calories unlike MFP that expects you to eat a portion back?
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
    edited December 2018
    I just put my stats in to MFP Loseit and Scooby 190 5'6 62yr Female sedentary

    MFP gives me 1290 to lose 1 lb per week (deficit built in)

    Lose it gives me 1592 to lose 1lb per week (deficit built in according to forums)

    Scooby gives me 1073 for 0.7lb per week (plus warning it is too low) deficit built in

    So I can understand your confusion. I would say with loseit don't eat exercise cals back as I know MFP works.
  • Ctmikey1980
    Ctmikey1980 Posts: 8 Member
    manderson27 wrote: »
    I just put my stats in to MFP Loseit and Scooby 190 5'6 62yr Female sedentary

    MFP gives me 1290 to lose 1 lb per week (deficit built in)

    Lose it gives me 1592 to lose 1lb per week (deficit built in according to forums)

    Scooby gives me 1073 for 0.7lb per week (plus warning it is too low) deficit built in

    So I can understand your confusion. I would say with loseit don't eat exercise cals back as I know MFP works.

    I think I will stick with MFP to be safe. Thank you for sharing. Appreciate it!!!
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
    Yes we know MFP works and we are all so lovely on this site. o:)<3:)
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    edited December 2018
    Lose it seems confused or it’s already including exercise (where mfp doesn’t?). It told me 1132 to lose a pound a week on my profile (which is the correct number via calculation), but gave me a daily goal of 1307. So...idk?

    I tried Lose It a few years ago when mfp was having some ... issues. I lasted about a week before I couldn’t handle being constantly harassed about upgrading to premium (popups, couldn’t log in without dismissing-it was obnoxious). I just went to see what my settings were over there and had to dismiss 3 requests to upgrade to premium.

    I’ll stick with mfp.
  • whatalazyidiot
    whatalazyidiot Posts: 343 Member
    The Lose It app doesn't factor in exercise calories as far as I know.

    On MFP at 2 lbs a week, I get 1,310 calories.
    On Lose It at 2 lbs a week, I get 1,647 calories.

    With MFP, I eat more than half my exercise calories, so my days are in the 1,600s as far as calories go, which makes them both about the same for me personally. But it would be too few calories for someone who burns a lot more calories than me.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    edited December 2018
    From what I can tell from the Lost it info online, the app only takes into consideration one activity setting for everyone:

    (from the site)
    Lose It! automatically assumes that you'll be burning a certain number of calories each day just by living your normal life (as seen below). This equates to an activity level of 1.45 for Mifflin-St Jeor equation.

    Here are the activities we automatically assume you'll burn:

    Sleeping - 8 hours
    Personal care (dressing, showering) - 1 hour
    Eating - 1 hour
    Cooking - 1 hour
    Sitting (office work, selling produce, tending shop) - 8 hours
    Driving car to/from work - 1 hour
    General household work - 1 hour
    Light leisure activities (watching TV, chatting) - 3 hours

    So, the numbers will end up lower for a lot of folks than what MFP gives. And it does expect you to net those calories by adding in exercise as you go.

    https://help.loseit.com/hc/en-us/articles/115007245847-How-the-Calorie-Budget-is-Calculated

  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    kami3006 wrote: »
    From what I can tell from the Lost it info online, the app only takes into consideration one activity setting for everyone:

    (from the site)
    Lose It! automatically assumes that you'll be burning a certain number of calories each day just by living your normal life (as seen below). This equates to an activity level of 1.45 for Mifflin-St Jeor equation.

    Here are the activities we automatically assume you'll burn:

    Sleeping - 8 hours
    Personal care (dressing, showering) - 1 hour
    Eating - 1 hour
    Cooking - 1 hour
    Sitting (office work, selling produce, tending shop) - 8 hours
    Driving car to/from work - 1 hour
    General household work - 1 hour
    Light leisure activities (watching TV, chatting) - 3 hours

    So, the numbers will end up lower for a lot of folks than what MFP gives. And it does expect you to net those calories by adding in exercise as you go.

    https://help.loseit.com/hc/en-us/articles/115007245847-How-the-Calorie-Budget-is-Calculated

    So the Loseit calculation, by the info given above, is equal to MFP lightly active. MFP sedentary is 1.2 (maybe 1.25?)

    Cheers, h.
  • swatson99
    swatson99 Posts: 53 Member
    I've tested it out and MFP is very accurate. I've always lost at least what they say and sometimes more following their recommendations.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Ctmikey1980 wrote: »
    I signed up for both apps. On MFP, 2lbs a week, my goal is 2,700 calories. On Lose It App, it has 3,300 calories for the same 2 lbs a week. Anybody know why there is a difference between the two apps, and which App do you all
    Recommend, and why? Thanks!

    Lose it assumes everyone is at least Lightly Active and uses 1.45.

    MFP is
    Sedentary = 1.25
    Lightly Active = 1.4
    Active = 1.6
    Very Active = 1.8

    So if you set MFP to Lightly Active your calorie goal should be only slightly lower than Lose It’s.

    For example:
    I get 1390 on MFP when set to Lightly Active and 1 lb per week loss.
    On Lose it I get 1470 when set to 1lb per week loss.
    Lose it gives me slightly more since they are using a slightly higher multiplier than MFP.

  • geniebear5
    geniebear5 Posts: 1 Member
    MFP is under the calorie count for food and Loseit is higher in calorie count but closer to the right amount. I like MFP because you can use fitbit with it without paying for premium but I don't like the fact that it under counts calories and also I don't like going through so many foods in the database to get to the right one. Why don't people LOOK before they add their own food for the same thing that is in there? I can use googlefit with Loseit but then I have to make sure I carry my phone with me all the time to count steps. Wish there was something that had the best of BOTH of these two.

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