Why is my calorie allotments over 2000 when I want to lose weight not maintain my current weight?

Answers

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,937 Member

    Here is how the site calculates:

    How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 38,348 Community Helper

    It's a myth that absolutely everyone needs to eat tiny numbers of calories in order to lose weight at a sensible pace. People who are tall, or still relatively heavy, or have active jobs (even without added exercise) may lose weight at 2000 or more calories. That's especially true for men, and your profile here says you're male.

    Since you've told us zero about yourself, we have no idea whether 2000-something sounds realistic for you or not. It's far from impossible, statistically speaking.

    I'm an average height lightweight retired li'l ol' lady, and I'd lose weight - admittedly ultra slowly in my case - at a flat, consistent 2000 calories of eating, with my current activity routine. Odds are that you're taller, younger, more active in daily life (dunno about exercise) and you're apparently 100% more male.

    Fast weight loss is a trap, more likely to fail (gets too hard really fast), bad for health (increased risks of many health conditions), and can even hurt appearance (hair loss, muscle loss). Very fast loss . . . really bad idea.

    If you put your accurate info into your MFP profile, told it you want to lose something around 0.5% of your current weight per week (a little faster might be OK if you're severely obese), and it told you to eat 2000-something calories . . . do that. Stick pretty close to that for 4-6 weeks, and see what happens to your weight as your average weekly loss trend over that whole time period.

    If you lost close to the expected pace, you're all set. If you lost faster or slower, you've collected enough personal experience data to adjust your calorie goal and dial in a predictable weight loss rate going forward. IME, it's worth investing the 4-6 weeks to do that experiment. (I used to be obese. I counted calories with MFP. I did what I suggested you do. I haven't been obese for 10+ years since.)

    Best wishes!

  • neilcaporaso526
    neilcaporaso526 Posts: 1 Member

    I have similar issue. I am 5 11 male, average build, 75y, and I am allowed well over 2300 cal per day. I don’t approach this total most days and in spite of 10000 steps per day- no weight loss help!!!

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 2,181 Member

    2,000 calories might mean weight gain for some, maintenance for others, or a weekly loss of 2+ pounds for others.

  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 1,060 Member

    An important point to make is that you need to be accurately tracking your intake. Weigh everything solid and measure everything liquid that you ingest. Also check the nutritional info on the packaging vs what your selected MFP Diary entry says - as much of the database is user entered, a lot of entries are wrong / out of date.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,563 Member
    edited October 7

    these numbers are only a starting point and your counting accuracy is also a big factor.

    After 4-6 weeks adjust calories if necessary.

    foods you regularly consume really need to be accurate as far as how many calories you assign to them. The data base on this app can be way off as far as accuracy goes on some of the entries. Best to cross check on something like chat gpt.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,459 Member

    Anecdotal, but I’m a 63 year old woman who maintains at about 2500 per day.

    It all depends on height, weight, activity level. How much muscle weight you carry also affects how much, but isn’t considered in the calculation.

    I’m crazy active, and you may be as well. Another woman my height and weight but sedentary might maintain at 1500’ish.

    Don’t get wedded to “low calorie” and “weight loss is punishment”. People see the calculations and can be really confused. Trust the process for a few weeks and if you lose, you’re golden. If not, adjust a little downwards.

    You’ll get a handle on the numbers pretty quickly.

  • jasmine9007
    jasmine9007 Posts: 2 Member

    hi guys, I’m a 25 year old female, 6 ft and office job with gym once or twice a week.
    I started my weight lost journey 3 months ago starting at 96kg and now I’m 89kg I have now plateaued. I have done this by eating 1,500 calories and to be honest I didn’t know anything so just plucked this number out of thin air.

    For the past 3 weeks I have weighed 89kg and it’s stayed like this even though I have changed my eating to 1400 cals. What do you think I should do, I’m new to this so be nice to me please ❤️

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,459 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48797216#Comment_48797216

    hi Jasmine. Welcome to MFP.
    You’ve piggybacked on an existing thread and your post will most likely be ignored as a result.

    Suggest you copy, create a new thread using the “+” sign and paste it in. You’ll get great advice, but you need to be seen.


    First of all, I did the same thing when I started I pulled a number out of my bum 1470 I have no idea where I even got that


    go to “goals” and enter your current weight, height and activity level, plus desired rate of loss I strongly recommend not going two pounds per week unless you have over a hundred yet to lose Otherwise you’ll wind up in the hungry/binge/cut cycle.

    I started at 1470 at age 56, and within three months my dietician encouraged me to increase because I was no longer sedentary, and was losing too fast I got a trainee about three months after that, and increased two more times at her insistence.

    To maintain health and muscle, we can need a lot more calories than “diet wisdom” would have us think.

    Stalls are very very common. You’re lost 7 kilos or over 15 pounds in three months. That’s three pounds a month which is a pretty good clip (although I’m sure it doesn’t feel like it!)


    strongly recommmend you visit the NSv (non scale victories) thread over on Success Stories. When I hit short plateaus, that thread kept me optimistic and on track many many times


    it’s also common to have “whooshes” That’s where nothing happens for several weeks awhile your body sort of resets, and you may suddenly wake up to a 3pound or more loss


    also don’t forget to re-set your goals every so often You need less when you weigh less, and MFP doesn’t automatically recalculate 99% of the time

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,459 Member

    and I’m so sorry for the messy English. For some reason the new version of the boards leaves out punctuation even when I type it in.

    It’s driving me nuts. I feel like an uneducated git.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 38,348 Community Helper
    edited October 14
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48797371#Comment_48797371

    @springlering62 - I'm not seeing that on either Android MFP or browser MFP (Windows/Chrome). Maybe an Apple issue with the Community upgrade, or a bug?

    OP, apologies for the digression.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,459 Member
    edited October 14
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48797455#Comment_48797455

    I don’t get the default periods if I space twice, nor even if I select a period. I have to do it several times.

    Also don’t get the automatic capital letter to begin a sentence or new paragraph.

    it’s been like this since they changed the boards several months ago


    see? No automatic caps garrrrrrrrrrrr

    Enough to drive a perfectionist batty.

  • jasmine9007
    jasmine9007 Posts: 2 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48797368#Comment_48797368

    oh wow thank you so much for your encouragement and wisdom. This has been very very helpful. I will have a look into what you have mentioned and might speak to professionals like you did. Thanks so much again 💞💞

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,459 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48797634#Comment_48797634

    Jasmine, speaking to a dietician helped me tremendously. I had already lost about 25 or so when I had my first visit.

    Visits are expensive, so go armed with a list of questions. Mine recommended me to use MFP. When I’ve visited her or her successor in the past, it’s been awesome because they are super familiar with the app and simply pages back through it.

    But regardless, let them know you are using an app and have easy access to detailed numbers.

    My gym is affiliated with a metro trauma center, and has staff dieticians at a discount for gym members. But my old chain gym (small one with about ten locations) also offered discounted dietician visits.

    My health insurance also offers free phone visits with a dietician. I’ve tried it once or twice, but by that point was locked down on my weight loss, and felt like they were asking me questions on how to succeed, lol.

    Also, if you’re in the USA, “dieticians” are degreed, licensed professionals in the medical field.

    Anyone can call themselves a “Nutritionist”- the clerk at the gym selling supplements, your neighbor who got involved in multi-level marketing and is trying to push bars or shakes on you, the woman at the local weight loss clinic who’s trying to sign you up for weekly food deliveries.

    And finally, if your friends and family find out you’re trying to lose weight, they’re going to start slamming you with sketchy advice.

    It’s always the biggest and loudest woman spouting the latest weight loss gimmick as the gospel truth, and they have yet to lose an ounce. Truth. You’ll see!

    That’s life during weight loss. 😂

Categories