So I have averaged out all my calorie deficits from my fitness pal over the past 39 weeks. Now I've broken it down cause I've obviously changed needed calories. 16 weeks, 10 weeks, and just now 13 weeks. So I averaged them all out and it says I should have lost 74 lbs by now. Well I've lost 62... 12 lb difference... Now don't get me wrong I'm not sneering at my wonderful loss, just annoyed its not 74 lbs cause that would be great, I blame it on the 2 months thru my journey that I've plateud. This is a vent grrrrr. But it also will help me stay on track for the next 40 lbs I need to lose.

Darn calorie counters! It would be so nice if they could be super-accurate, but I guess since they are working generically for all people, they can only do so much. 62 pounds is awesome! Glad you're not ignoring that fact!

You should blame it on the fact that no fitness pal like calculator does anything more than guesstimate.

Hmmm yeah I guess it could have been off from it be exercise or food. I use "the Olivia method" which shows my deficit per day.

If your intake has been accurately recorded you should modify the calculator to bring it in line.

Unless of course you've been exercising which means fat loss could be masked by some muscle gain and increased glycogen stores. On the other hand than you should take into account that you've been dieting and so your metabolism has slowed down not to mention that you need to recalculate every time you lose a lb because your BMR goes down as your body weight goes down and you're burning fewer calories every step you take.

Keep in mind, your own calculations should have some minor deviations over time based on how long you've cooked something, or misweighed it. The FDA allows food labels to be off by 10% so 200 calories could be 180, or 220.

Now, if you want to be really accurate you should consider the maconutrient component of your diet because as we all know protein has a much higher TEF than carbs or fats. Of course this is a minor difference but you want to be accurate right?

Or you could just (rightfully so) be very proud of your work so far and not be concerned in the slightest that when it comes to counting calories it's always going to be an estimate.

Lol johnp, yes kinda proud, but you are right, I have been exercising. Around half of my deficit total has been from exercising. Weight lifting included in that, it's been a very very long time (since I started my journey in march) since ive ha my body fat % measured.

Every single time MFP tells me it's estimate, I sorta take it with a grain of salt.

I mean..I could weigh that, or pink elephants could fly and I would look awesome with black hair. It just won't happen

So I ignore it and giggle and call it a silly goose.

Oooo no I mean i went in and took my actual deficit number per week and averaged it out between the weeks I've been working out and eating right...


Seee. Brown paper is my first 16 weeks, little note is 2nd 17-26 weeks in, and the white towel is 27-39 weeks in... Apparently i dont own any sort of paper aside from a papertowel


l

oh I get you now!! I misunderstood!

I can totally get why that would peeve you off a little bit, or even a lot! But the numbers don't change the facts that you've done an amazing job!

Btw, can I mail you all my paper in exchange for a few pens? I have forests of trees stored in paper form, but not a pen or pencil to be found.

Hugs!!!

Ahhh yes I completely failed to mention that calculating calories burned during exercise is highly problematic for a number of reasons. But if you're not using a hear rate monitor than you can pretty much just assume you're wrong by at least 20%

@owlsteazombies (amazing name, some of my favorite things I actually have a tattoo of a owl being a teapot) anyways lol I probably couldn't even help you out with pens, I lose them


@johnp yeah I lack a hrm, I am waiting to invest in a good one, maybe after the holidays, I'd love to know what I'm actuay burning

I really hate those BMR calculators. As soon as someone's body isn't responding how someone expects it to respond - according to some BMR calculator, something must be wrong.

If anything I wish people would use them once maybe to get their initial idea of what to eat, and then throw them away.

I realize that there are people who are very numbers oriented and analyze everything. It's just that weight loss really isn't about simple numbers that can be predicted to the exact amount over time.

It is annoying, but that just drives home the fact that those calories are estimates, right along with our consumption also being based on estimates! Accuracy can be seen in long term trends up or down, but the burn rates on programs like that are inaccurate for most folks, and the more weight you lose the less accurate they generally become, unless you are putting a concerted effort into building lean mass to offset the metabolic slowdown in your energy usage.