Confused about how to use the site

sbebd

Hello.
I have just started using this site and am so confused about just what to look at or search etc.

I just want to type in various foods/meals somewhere to see how many calories each food is in relationship to food quantity/weight.
Also how to calculate calories burnt for various exercise, like walking etc!
Also the total calorie per day figure is incorrect for me and I want to know how to lower that.

Appreciate any help please!

Neil

richjones1968

If you go to the exercise page and add an exercise that you plan to do, eg walking, it brings up a list of options to add based on speed/effort etc. Select what you plan and it will add it and allocate calories to your daily plan - then just click the red delete button next to it if you don't do it (or delete it and then add it back in once you've done it as this is a small thing but gives me a better sense of achievement)
Again for foods if you add a food it lists the calories and then delete it until you've had it - not practical if you`re trying to decide what to eat/looking for inspiration but if that's the case try the recipes page.
Good luck

CyberTone

Please visit the MFP Help pages. The answers to most of your questions are most likely already provided there.

Patttience

It takes a little while to get used to the logging thing but its generally pretty good and you'll work it out. Just bear with it while you are figuring it out.

many people seem to have problems with the calculators. I recommend using one on another site.

Also i don't credit any calculator with much accuraacy for counting exercise calories burned. That's why i prefer those that use the broad factors used in other calculators.

Phrick

What makes you think the total calories per day is wrong? Chances are you've got a head full of incorrect ideas about calorie intake (like you should only have 1200 a day, or some other nonsense). Trust the system, it really actually does work for most people. Really!

Liftng4Lis

Using the food database will show you the calories, prior to logging.
MFP calories burned are usually high, so people generally eat 50-75% back (gives room for miscalculations).
Go to goals, custom to change your calories.
Welcome to MFP

RoxieDawn

Start here to understand the basics:

copy and pasted from another thread;;

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): The number of calories you burn at complete rest.
EAT (Exercise Associated Thermogenesis): Caloric requirements of training, or training expenditure.
NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): Caloric requirements of activity that is not planned exercise. Vacuuming, driving, brushing your teeth, for example.
TEF/DIT (Thermic Effect of Feeding or Diet Induced Thermogenesis): Caloric expense of eating/digestion.
TDEE: (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) = Sum of the above. BMR+EAT+NEAT+TEF


Exercise calories, as they are typically used in MFP specifically, is represented by EAT in the above definition. Whether or not you should eat your EAT (giggity) depends on what system or method you are using to calculate your intake needs.

If you are using most other online calculation tools to determine an intake estimate, that estimate is going to already include EAT as part of the suggested intake. For example, it will ask you an activity factor that includes an average of your exercise, and with this it increases your TDEE to account for the fact that you are exercising.

If you are using MFP to tell you how much to eat, that estimate is NOT going to include EAT as part of the intake estimate.

Myfitnesspal uses a caloric estimation tool that expects you to eat back calories burned during exercise.

Consequently, MFP will essentially give you a LOWER intake estimate than an external TDEE calculator would give you.


In other words:

You tell MFP: I'd like to lose 1lb/week.

MFP says: Hey, you should eat X calories every day to lose 1lb/week.

You then decide to exercise and you burn 400 calories.

MFP says: Hey you pecker, you said you wanted to lose 1lb/week. Now you need to eat X+400 because you told me you wanted to lose 1lb/week.


So based on this:

If you are using MFP to tell you how many calories to eat, you should probably be eating back some portion of your exercise calories.

If you are using an external calculator and then customizing your intake to match that, you should not be eating back your exercise calories.

Lastly: Exercise expenditure is often over-stated.

My general opinion is that it's much simpler and uses less guess-work to use a custom intake and just forget about the exercise calorie model entirely, but that's a different topic of sorts, more discussion of which can be found here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

RoxieDawn

I will add this: As far as actual logging you can play around in MFP and generally delete entries back out as you get used to the website or app.

Food tab is where you enter all your food and of course lookup food. The database is almost 100% and there are a few times when I have to enter a new food item from time to time. You can also create your own recipes. I use this a lot.

Exercise Tab is where you can log ALL exercise. As stated in my previous post and this is how you calculate/estimate your burn, etc...

Goals can be adjusted. Like If MFP has the nutition too high or too low you can custom your goals and do not have to use MFP defaults.

Do not be afraid to play around with the entries.