Feature Request - making the deficit the goal rather than a date Topic

Kata404 12/07/20
The most recent additions to this app have been fantastic and I recommended it above any other for years. I lost a significant amount of weight (145lbs) thanks to the database accuracy and intuitive interface of this app.

However, I’ve ignored the goal date pretty much for the beginning of my journey and tweaked the deficit to make sure it stayed constantly 1/2lb per week. Now I’m back to using it and would like to lose 5-8 lbs. I’ve grown tired of micromanaging the Goal for every water weight fluctuation. (I’m peri menopause so I have a lot of them! ??) If I make my goal far in the future it makes the deficit unachievably small. I’d like to request to have a goal where the deficit is the primary objective and have no due date? Basically “however long it takes”.

Thank you

Lizzy 12/08/20
I would like to see this as well

Omandia 12/12/20
Hi there. I guess the system needs both a target weight and date to calculate the recommended calorie intake. However, I have found that if you set your target weight, and then use the calorie spreader to set the daily calorie intake to the amounts you intend to stick to, it recalculates the end date to suit. You can then just ignore that date to concentrate on the weight target. It may need resetting if you reach that date before your goal weight, but so far, by doing this, I’ve always reached the goal weight first.

Omandia 12/12/20
* calorie cycling *

Lizzy 12/13/20
You don’t need a target to calculate the recommend intake all you need is your current weight, goal weight, and a weekly weight loss target, that’s how many other apps do this. they don’t have a target date and they focus on the goal weight and weekly rate this is also a much more healthy approach because some people with obsessive behaviour develop an eating disorder trying to reach a target date which they may be failing to reach.

Omandia 12/14/20
Surely having a current weight, a goal weight and a weekly weight loss target automatically means you have an expected end date? And to me, concentrating on meeting a weekly target sounds less healthy and more obsessive than looking towards a single realistic future date.

Personally I would find concentrating on weekly target for weight loss difficult and probably demotivating because, as Kata404 mentioned, my actual weight fluctuates with my monthly cycles and water weight.

However, we are all different and are motivated differently. If you do want a weekly loss to aim for this app does give this too. Just enter your current and goal weights and change the end date until it gives you the weekly loss you’re aiming for.

Lizzy 12/14/20
How would meeting the weekly weight loss target be unhealthy when it’s a healthy weekly rate of 1bls per week? and yes when you enter current weight and a goal weight and weekly weight loss it will give you an expected target date however what we are saying is that when a new weight is entered the weekly rate should remain at 1bls weekly and it should also change the target date to reflect that.

App like lose it, MyFitnessPal pal and carb manager do not ask for a target date they just calculate what your calorie budget should be according to current weight, goal weight and weekly rate and every time you weight in it adjusts the calorie budget and the calorie budget and deficit is always the same, so if have it at a losing 1bls per week then it the calorie budget will always reflect that.

Omandia 12/14/20
Less healthy because it doesn’t allow for the monthly cycle of your body. The week before a period my body retains water. I often don’t lose weight at all then, regardless of how well I stick to my eating plan. To lose weight that week I guess I would have to cut my food intake down to semi-starvation, exercise to exhaustion or fight my body’s natural rhythm by taking Aqua-ban. None of these options seem healthy to me - and in any case the following week I usually catch up again with a higher than average loss.

So, I choose to set the goals according to start weight and end date to generate an average loss I think is healthy and then largely ignore it, as long as it still says I’m on target and the chart shows I’m on track.

You have obviously done a lot of research into the various fitness apps, which I admit I have not done, simply because I found this one which does exactly what I want it to.

Dietician 12/17/20 replied to Omandia
Hi OzyMandia,

That sounds like a smart way to go about tracking your weight. Instead of going to extreme measures during that week, you expect that the following week should show results. You are tuning into your body and being realistic. Thanks for sharing. Brenda (MyNetDiary Dietitian)

Feature Request - making the deficit the goal rather than a date