MFP - trust the calories amounts on it?

[radiobedhead]

Going to start using MFP PROPERLY.

It's worked out an amount of calories I should eat based on my weight etc, to lose two pounds a week. It seems a lot though, more than 1,500 a day. But I am huuuge.

Have you all used their calculations and it's worked? Or should I just start on 1,200?

Thanks!

[gaggiagirl]

How tall are you and how much do you weigh? I'm a very small person and I'm allowed 1200 to lose a pound a week so yes trust it!

[isitsnowingyet]

A work colleague has been using MFP since the end of November and has lost 12 lbs so far. She scans lots of foods with her phone and finds it pretty accurate. Not sure how accurate home-made things are though - unless you weigh everything carefully?

[radiobedhead]

Think of a number gaggi and double it!

I think mfp is a great tool. If cooking from scratch then I will weigh everything, if I'm actually sticking to the diet! Also eat a lot of shop bought soups and salads etc and the bar code scanner is fantastic. Briefly tried weight watchers online and their app is unbelievably crap in comparison.

[mrsnec]

Hi,

I lost 4 stone using mfp and I managed to keep it off without having to use it again. I didn't want to be too regimental with the no of cals so ended up with an average of somewhere between maintenance cals and 1200.

I didn't worry if some days I ate under because I knew I could go up to 1600 on other days. It's best to think of it on a weekly basis not day to day and not counting excercise cals either just seeing them as a bonus helped too.

[radiobedhead]

Well done mrs!

Thanks for the tips

[lucylou1977]

Over 1500 a day sounds fine to me. I lost 20 pounds using mfp last year on 1700 calories a day (I'm 5 ft 4 and was 10 st 10 when I started out). I didn't eat my exercise calories on too if that though and I was generally running twice a week for half an hour each time.

[hissingcat]

anything I've checked has been pretty accurate with calories but I'm not sure about fats/sugars etc.
I did notice earlier that a particular brand of bread had 2 different calorie values. I picked the higher one to be safe
If I'm adding a food I try to be as accurate as possible weighing and measuring.

[Artistic]

Mfp is really great. You know you've truly fallen in love with it when you see a dish...and you see the calorie numbers floating above it like steam!!
??

I started with 1200 cals per day, as I allowed for a bit of slippage every few days - so it eventually averaged to 1300 or so.

[SoonToBeMrsB]

Please don't go down to 1200kcal if you have a lot to lose, very few people need to be on so few! I'm 5' 4" and 14st 8lbs, eating 1500-1900kcal a day (running twice a week and doing bootcamp 3-4 times) and losing weight steadily.

Try the higher calorie limit, I promise you'll lose weight!