Changed my MFP goals but can this be correct????

Hi

I would recommend you work out you BMR at your current weight, which will then tell you what deficit MFP has given you which should put your mind at rest.

B

Bump - i wold be interested in the answers to this as i am very similar to you (5'6" tall, 202lb currently would like to get to 150lb)

I am going to change my goal this weekend from 2lb a week to 1lb a week as i have stopped losing weight for the last week or so

Diane

i started at 200 and am 5'7....my calorie goal has always been 1200 and i don't eat back my exercise calories. i lose 2 lbs a week. ihave had those weeks where it slowed and so i would eat my calories back for a few days and boom right back to dropping. i would never eat 1780...never!

yes, it does make sense. mathematically, a pound = 3500 calories. so if you went from losing 2 lbs a week to 1 lb a week, MFP just gave you an extra 500 to eat per day, 500*7 days = 3500 calories.

The deficit should be 250 cals per half lb loss per week, so if you went from 2lb per week to 1.5lb per week your cals should have increased by 250. So, either you have mistakenly changed it to 1lb per week, giving you the extra 500 cals, or you had previously manually adjusted it to only allow 1200 cals, or you have/had an incorrect weight in there. If you are sure that your current weight is entered correctly, and your goal is set to 1.5lb loss per week, then the calories it is giving you will be correct.

Actually.... it's 250 cals per day ( x 7 days) for a half pound loss

I am 5'3 and 122 pounds...trying to lose that last 7 pounds. I had my goal set the same as you did...2 lbs per week and lost nothing. I kept reading, like you, the posts about eating more and losing. I raised my calories to 1400...still nothing. I would put my exercise in, but I always left a deficit....sometimes as much as 500-800 calories, thinking that would work better. So, really, I was having a deficit of more than 1000 calories on most days, which is way too much. My body was just holding on to everything.

I read a post about setting it up differently. It''s really the same thing though. I set mine up for maintenance a91750). Now, I put in my exercise calories and then I eat and leave my net calories in the green by about 300-500 calories. That way I can see my actual deficit, as opposed to just knowing that it's there and that they have done it for me. I know, it's the same thing. It makes a difference though. Because I can actually see the number of calories uneaten (I would probably never leave a 1200 calorie deficit if I can see that it's there), I am eating more. It just changes how I see it. So, now at 5'3 with just 7 pounds to lose...this week I burned between 600-900 calories almost everyday with exercise and at about 200-2300 calories and lost a pound! The scale hasn't moved in weeks until I stopped starving my body.

Some people lose while eating less, but why would you want to? There are some really good tips here...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

I think if you really look at the numbers and what your BMR is and how many net calories you are eating after exercise, you'll find a huge deficit...much more than necessary with the way your are eating. I wouldn't do a huge deficit if I were you...well I did that and I hope that I have learned my lesson!