MFP failure

[kiwidreamer]

Ive been logging my exercise and food on MyFitnessPal for about 3 weeks, first week put on weight, second week lost 2lbs and this week put on about 1lb. I have exercised 4x@ 35mins and 1x@45mins on cross trainer, eaten the 1400 calories allowed daily plus at least half my exercise calories, drunk a good but not exceptional amount of water. Quite honestly I was quite upset at this mornings gain, I'm trying really hard and it's not fucking working!!! I've been 'dieting' for 15yrs on and off so ~know~ the process (but obviously not really as I'm overweight again/still).

Anyone else find MFP not worked for them when followed properly? I know there were some not very good choices last week but all were allocated and accounted for, isn't that how calorie counting works????? Tempted to try 5:2 this week as I need to get the ball rolling on the stone (plus) I want to loose, sick of putting in effort and being gutted at scales going up. I get too hungry on WW, didn't seem to really click with easyloss gastric band hypnosis thingy but I did lose a stone last year just trying to follow their guidelines, never got as far as the surgery.

If I won lotto I'd get real gastric surgery just to never fucking ever have to worry about being overweight again, does anyone else want to SCREAM at the thought of another 10, 15, 20 years of thinking about loosing weight etc

I think you need to either lower the 1400 cals (personally I aim for 1200 on MFP) or stop eating the extra cals earned by exercising. Are you definitely counting everything accurately? I wasn't including drinks when I first used it, and I was just accepting the portion sizes on there but then realised I clearly eat bigger portions and was getting through a lot more cals than I'd realised in drinks!

I thought the calories allowed seemed really high, never in a million years would be hungry on the allowance + exercise extra's but I thought that was how you were supposed to do it.

I'm 79kgs or 12st6oz, do you think just sticking to the 1400 and not eating any exercise calories would be more accurate?

I'm confused then, what is the point of MFP if the allowance aren't right????

I only drink water and green tea, I have a coffee once or twice a week but haven't counted those and yes there have definitely been tidbits from the kids plates but I thought keeping a few hundred under my daily allowance would give some flexibility.

Wondering if 5:2 is the answer as I get extremely frustrated having to document every morsel and it still not bloody work!

You can set the allowance yourself. I imagine that if you have never dieted before and generally eaten 2000 cals per day, dropping to 1400 would be a good way to lose weight, however I know that for me personally I've yoyo dieted too much in the past, and generally 1500 cals per day will maintain my current weight so I need to go a fair bit lower than this to lose weight. Also, if you're going to do it, write down everything even leftovers off the kid's plates. Doing that actually helped me to stop picking, as I couldn't be bothered writing it down

I'm experiencing the same thing OP. I need to lose a stone and for the first 2 weeks I lost 4lbs in total. Since then, even on 1330 calories I'm not losing a thing.

I feel very dispirited especially as I've stuck to it religiously. Think I'm
Going to have to dip to 1200 cals and see if that works.

I tried the 5:2 last year but it just didn't work for me although I'm now contemplating trying again but restricting the cals on the 5 days instead of eating what I like.

What kind of food are you eating?
I know its all calorie counting but I never lose weight if most of my cals are coming from carbs, bread, sugar.
I think you still need to eat mostly healthy food with treats coming in at around or less than 200 cals.

I set my own calorie goal on MFP - I allow myself 1200 cals per day and although I usually get an additional 400 cals a day through exercise I don't use them.

MFP does not know your body how you know it, therefore set your own goals.

Track EVERYTHING you eat - when I went on there and started logging everything I ate I realised that I was consuming probably about 400 cals per day than I thought I was.

You need to think about what you are eating as well, not just the calorie content. Up the protein and lower the carbs, that may help.

Hi ya... I am so sorry that you feel mfp hasn't worked for!!! Tbh it's generic and it can't honestly tell you how much to eat... It's just a guide, it has worked for me luckily!! But one think that is deffo out on is the exercise calorie as it doesn't take in to account your heart rate, age, height and weight! The best thing I could advise is to get yourself is a heart rate/calorie counter such as a Polar FT 7 which will tell you want you have actually burnt rather than an estimate!!

I personally don't eat my exercise calories but have recently found that my weight has stopped shifting so am trying something a little different while still using mfp!!

Also have you measured yourself as muscle weighs more than fat and you may find that with exercising you might of starting gaining that rather than extra fat!!!! There are so many variables to consider.... Feel free to add on mfp my name is the same on here!!! Good luck and don't be too despondent as sometimes your body can be a couple of weeks behind what your eating!!!