When to Ignore Your Online Weight Loss Calculator

Should you ever ignore your online weight loss calculator?

Some people might be shocked to see a surprisingly low calorie target like 800 calories per day after entering their stats and weight goal into a weight loss calculator like MyFitnessPal.

If you have experienced this, don’t worry!

Here’s what you need to know:

The calculator may technically be correct, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only course of action you can take to achieve your goal.

The calculator is simply taking your desired inputs and backing into a number.

Once you understand the math behind weight loss, you can customize your approach.

A pound is 3,500 calories, so you need to generate a 3,500 calorie deficit per week or a 500 calorie deficit per day, on average, to lose one pound per week.

If your maintenance calories are roughly 1,300 calories per day (which isn’t unreasonable for smaller people), then you’d subtract 500 calories to get to a recommended 800 calories per day.

Personally, I think it would be difficult for anyone to maintain both 800 calories a day and their sanity so let me propose a couple of alternate approaches.

1. You can increase your activity level to raise your maintenance calories.

Burning an extra 200 calories per day would increase your maintenance calories to 1,500.

Then, you’d be able to eat 1,000 calories per day instead of 800 calories to achieve the same 500 calorie deficit and the same rate of weight loss of 3,500 calories or one pound per week.

This will require a little bit of effort on your part, but that’s the price you pay for allowing yourself to eat more.

If you go this route, I suggest incorporating a simple daily walk into your routine.

Depending on your weight, you can burn upwards of 50 calories per mile walking, which means walking 3–4 miles should get you there. This may seem like a lot, but keep in mind a mile is only 2,000 steps on average.

If you want a more accurate estimate on how many calories you’d burn walking, use this online calculator.

I prefer walking to a formal exercise program when I’m trying to increase my daily maintenance calories because walking is easier to commit to.

Rigorous exercise may also increase your appetite, which makes it harder to regulate your food intake.

2. You can lose weight more slowly.

If you lower your rate of weekly weight loss from 1 pound per week to 0.5 pounds per week, then you only need a 250 calorie daily deficit and you can target 1,050 calories per day instead of 800.

When your calories are low to begin with, an extra 250 calories makes a big difference. Sure, it will take you longer to achieve your goal, but your journey will be less stressful.

If your long-term goal is losing 20 pounds, you’ll be on a 40-week timeframe instead of 20 weeks, which isn’t that much more time in the big picture.

But your likelihood of success will be higher on a more manageable calorie intake.

When it comes to weight loss, you always have options, so it’s important to pick an approach that you can stick with long enough to see results.

As you can see, losing even a small amount of weight takes some time.

You should also consider your health and well-being.

If your gut instinct is that 800 calories is too low, then that should also be a red flag that there’s a better way to go about things.

If you enjoyed this post, here are three more things you might like:

Calorie Counting Made Easy: My book on how to set a weight loss goal and use MyFitnessPal to lose weight counting calories in less than five minutes a day

Weekly Weight Loss Spreadsheet: A spreadsheet to help you lose weight on a predetermined schedule

Trying Not to Suck at Life: My weekly newsletter with specific and actionable tips and tools to help you improve your health, wealth, productivity, and happiness