Understanding if and how Will MyFitnessPal adjust calories as I lose weight?

October 9, 2025 •

4 min read

As you lose weight, your body requires fewer calories to maintain its new, lighter mass, meaning your caloric needs decrease over time. A common question among users is, 'Will MyFitnessPal adjust calories as I lose weight?' The short answer is yes, but it often requires you to take a specific action to trigger the change, rather than happening completely automatically.

Quick Summary

MyFitnessPal will recalculate your calorie goal as you lose weight, but this update isn't always instant. It prompts recalculation after significant weight loss or can be manually triggered by the user to ensure the target remains effective for continued progress.

Key Points

Semi-Automatic Adjustments: MyFitnessPal offers to recalculate your calorie goal after you lose 10 pounds, but it is not a fully automated process.
The Need for Adjustment: As you lose weight, your body requires fewer calories for maintenance, meaning your daily calorie target must decrease to maintain a deficit.
Manually Force Updates: You can force a calorie recalculation at any time by updating your current weight in the 'Goals' section of the app or website.
Avoid Plateaus: Regularly updating your calorie goal based on your current weight is essential to prevent your weight loss from stalling.
Use a Sedentary Setting: For more accurate tracking, set your activity level to 'Sedentary' and log exercise separately to avoid overestimating your baseline calorie burn.
Distinguish Adjustments: Calories earned from exercise are an addition to your daily budget, separate from the base calorie goal adjusted for weight loss.
Proactive Monitoring is Key: While the app helps, the user is ultimately responsible for ensuring goals remain accurate throughout their weight loss journey.

The Science of Weight Loss and Calorie Needs

When you begin a weight loss journey, you create a calorie deficit—consuming fewer calories than your body burns. This forces your body to use stored energy (fat) for fuel. As you successfully lose weight, your body size and total mass decrease. A smaller body requires less energy to function and move, which means your daily calorie needs also decrease. If you continue to eat the same number of calories you did at the beginning of your journey, your deficit will shrink. This is a primary reason for hitting a weight loss plateau.

How MyFitnessPal Recalculates Your Calories

MyFitnessPal offers two primary ways to trigger an adjustment to your calorie goals as you lose weight:

The 10-Pound Prompt: The application is designed to check if you have lost 10 pounds since your goals were last set or recalculated. When you log a weight that is 10 pounds less than your previous checkpoint, the app will offer to reset your goals based on your new, lower weight. This is a semi-automated reminder to update your settings.
Forcing a Recalculation: You can trigger a recalculation at any time, which is especially useful if your progress slows down before you hit the 10-pound mark. This manual process ensures your calorie target remains aligned with your current body weight and progress. The steps to do this are simple and can be found in the app or on the website's goals section.

The Importance of Updating Your Goals

Consistently adjusting your calorie target is crucial for several reasons:

Preventing Plateaus: As mentioned, a static calorie goal while losing weight will eventually lead to a plateau. Regularly updating your goal shrinks your calorie intake just enough to maintain the necessary deficit for continued weight loss.
Maintaining Motivation: Seeing your progress reflected in your new goals can be a powerful motivator. It provides a fresh, achievable target and confirms that your hard work is paying off.
Accuracy and Effectiveness: Your MyFitnessPal calorie goal is an estimate based on your body statistics. For that estimate to remain accurate and effective, it must be regularly updated with your current weight.

Adjusting Goals: Manual vs. Automatic Process

Here is a comparison of the different ways MyFitnessPal can adjust your calorie goals:


Feature	Recalculation via 10-Pound Prompt	Manual Goal Recalculation	Syncing with Fitness Trackers	Manual Exercise Logging
Trigger	Logging a weight 10+ lbs lower than the last baseline.	Initiated by the user in the 'Goals' section.	Calories burned from synced exercise devices.	User enters exercise into the diary.
Frequency	Infrequent (approx. every 10 lbs)	As often as the user wishes	Continuous, throughout the day	On an as-needed, daily basis
Adjustment Type	Changes the base daily calorie target.	Changes the base daily calorie target.	Adds calories back to your daily budget.	Adds calories back to your daily budget.
Benefit	Great reminder to update goals for continued progress.	Allows for proactive adjustments to avoid a plateau.	Provides a more dynamic, real-time calorie budget.	Accounts for un-synced or specific activity.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Recalculating Your Goals

Since the app's prompt can be easy to miss, here are the steps to proactively adjust your calorie goals based on your current weight, for both the app and website versions:

On the Mobile App (iOS and Android):

Navigate to the 'Goals' section of the app. This is typically found by tapping the 'More' button (three dots) in the bottom-right corner.
Locate your 'Current Weight' and edit the value, or confirm it is already correct.
A quick way to force a recalculation is to temporarily enter a new weight slightly different than your current weight, then change it back to the correct value.
Follow the prompts to confirm the update. The app will then recalculate your daily calorie goal based on your new weight and weekly goal settings.

On the MyFitnessPal Website:

Log in and click on 'My Home' in the main menu, then 'Goals'.
Select 'View Guided Setup' or simply edit your current weight and weekly goal settings.
Confirm your new weight and click 'Update Profile'. The new net calorie goal will be calculated and applied to your diary.

Beyond Basic Adjustments

For an even more accurate approach to calorie tracking, consider these advanced tips:

Set Activity Level to Sedentary: Many experienced users suggest setting your base activity level to 'Sedentary' and logging all exercise separately. This prevents the app from overestimating your daily baseline burn and allows you to 'eat back' the calories you earn from dedicated exercise.
Monitor Exercise Calories: MyFitnessPal can add calories to your daily budget to account for exercise. You can see how these 'exercise calories' change over time, as a lighter body burns fewer calories for the same activity. For premium users, options exist to control how exercise calories are factored in.
Enable Negative Adjustments: If you sync a fitness tracker, you can enable negative calorie adjustments on the website. This is for more precise tracking, where MFP can deduct calories if your tracker reports a lower-than-estimated burn for the day.

Conclusion

Yes, MyFitnessPal is designed to adjust your calorie goals as you lose weight, but it's not a fully autonomous process. The app offers a useful prompt after every 10 pounds of loss, but staying ahead of plateaus and ensuring accuracy requires you, the user, to take proactive steps. By understanding the 'why' behind these adjustments and learning the simple manual steps, you can keep your nutrition plan optimized for continuous progress and achieve your long-term weight loss goals.

For more information on how MyFitnessPal functions, you can visit their official support page.

Frequently Asked Questions

You should consider adjusting your calorie goals whenever you experience a significant weight change or notice your weight loss slowing down. The app suggests an update after every 10 pounds lost, but you can manually force a recalculation more frequently if you choose.

Your calorie goal may have changed for a few reasons, including logging a new current weight that triggered an adjustment, updating your activity level, or changes to the app's calculation methods. Exercise calories from a connected device can also cause daily variations.

If you don't adjust your calorie goals, your calorie deficit will shrink over time. This will likely cause your weight loss to slow down and could lead to a plateau, as your body needs fewer calories to maintain its lighter weight.

Yes, MyFitnessPal can automatically add calories to your daily budget based on synced exercise from a connected fitness tracker. It compares the calories burned reported by your device to its own estimate and provides an adjustment.

To force a manual update in the app, go to the 'Goals' section from the main menu. Temporarily change your current weight to a different number, save it, then change it back to your actual weight. This will trigger a recalculation.

A negative calorie adjustment can occur when a synced fitness tracker reports a lower calorie burn for the day than MyFitnessPal's baseline estimate. By default, negative adjustments are disabled, but you can enable them in your diary settings on the website.

Many users recommend setting your base activity level to 'Sedentary' and logging all exercise manually or via a synced device. This approach often leads to a more accurate calorie target because it doesn't overestimate your daily baseline burn.