"You should be this weight in 5 weeks" ticker at bottom

I've looked at posts similar a lot, and a lot of people say it's not always realistic. Just keep doing what you're doing. If you notice a loss, keep going! keep at it!

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I love the ticker, I use it as a motivation piece. When it shows me a weight I like (on my phone) I take a pic of the screen to keep myself motivated.

I ignore it... NO one eats the same stuff for 5 weeks straight!!!!! Its only if you ate the same food for 5 weeks that you MIGHT get to that point but I think its not accurate at all so I wouldn't worry about it!!!

That ticker is annoying. I don't have that much to lose, and five weeks ago it told me I would be 122 by this time. I follow pretty much the same regimine since then ( a few off days a few really great days but the rest were average) And I am 126. I know its just four pounds. But four pounds over five weeks is a pretty big difference to me. I just ignore it now. If every day was the same, it still wouldn't be right I don't think. You can use it as a gauge as to how well your doing I guess. Thats about it.

It is simple math based on the information that you have provided.

I have never ever paid attention to it because there is no possible way that every day will "be like today."

The ticker is full of lies.

I am very confused by the little ticker at the bottom. I have alotted 1490 (basically 1500) calories a day and have followed it religiously about 95% of the week. I have worked out doing Turbo Jam 4x this week. I am currently 273 pounds and started my journey at 285 6 weeks ago doing Weight Watchers. I recently converted to just doing MFP last week. The little ticker at the bottom is totally freaking me out. For instance today I ate only 100 extra calories and it said I would only lose 7 pounds in the next 5 weeks. Obviously this changes every day. When I do my Turbo Jam workouts that day it says I will be 255 in 5 weeks, however, it is very confusing to me. Most charts say for my weight BMR is like 2500 so if i eat 1500 a day and do no exercise I should lose 2 pounds a week right? If I exercise and continue to eat 1500 I will lose more. Isn't that how it works?? The reason I don't go lower than 1500 right now is because I have never stuck to dieting for longer than a month or so and so far I have made it like 7 weeks so I want to continue and not give up and binge eat from wanting to eat more and feel like a failure if I do....

That ticker gives me *hope*... its my goal, to work towards!
Good luck to you!

I actually tracked it for 4 weeks... Next week is the first week of the tracked numbers... I'm at 240.8 right now and next week my highest number is 235.6 and my lowest was 226.4... As nice as it would be to be that small, I'm pretty sure losing 5lbs in a week is a little extreme!! :-P I just use it as motivation now! :-)

Don't get stressed by it, its just doing a simple maths equation which looks at how much you ate today plus the goal you have set.

If your goal is to lose 1 pound a week and your net calories are exactly the same as your goal calories today - then it will show a 5 pound loss in 5 weeks. If you ate exactly the same number of calories every day it will continue to show the same loss each day.

The reason it varies so much is that it only looks at today's net calories, so if you have under way under or over your goal calories for they, then you will get a bigger or smaller prediction.

I tracked it for a while and found that it was usually reasonably accurate, but then I tend to be a fairly consistent eater, usually coming close to my net calorie goal. Now I'm eating maintenance calories I don't pay much attention to it as I'm not aiming to lose at the moment, I really want to just NOT gain!

Edited to add: good idea to not go too low with calories - at 1500 cals/day you already have a 1000 cal/day defecit so dropping lower probably isn't necessary for healthy and sustainable weight loss. And don't forget that that deficit is there before exercise, so you should be eating a bit more if you are exercising.

It's poo. :laugh:

There are so many other factors involved, it's silly. Just keep doing your thing.

I agree.

Also what EVERYONE misses in this is the first bit "IF EVERYDAY LOOKED LIKE THIS..."
It's assuming everyday was as good or bad as the day you hit complete. Of course it's going to be off because it's crazy to say I'll eat the same thing everyday for five weeks.

So just ignore it, it's a nice little push to see that number though in my opinion =]

Keep up the great work regardless!!! =]

Agreed. I shoul have been 121 by now, but I did get off at least once a week and go over, but that is what keeps me going and obviously losing weight. I'm at 125 and still losing. I think that if I had been super strict I would have binged horribly so going over every once in a while for me is okay. Keeps me balanced!

I look at it and think 'ya I'll be there soon' but I don't agree with it. I am set to lose 2 pounds per week and its been weeks since I have seen a 2 pound loss - even sticking to things, so I figure that my body will do as it wills and I will just keep at it. I'll get there!