calories

2015fitnessmode

It says i should eat 1320 calories to lose 2lbs per week and lose the 70lbs i wanna lose, so, how many calories should i try to burn per day? Im confused....

NikkyT30

Fitness pal already includes your calorie deficit in your calories per day. Burn as much or as little as you want in my opinion. I only eat back 1/2 to 2/3's of the calories I burn. Your body will tell you what to do. You might find that 2lbs a week might be a bit much to start and your always hungry. If that's the case change your goal to 1lb a week till your body gets used to the change in calories. And hydrate! Hope this helps.
Stay fit my friend:)

Nikki31104

When you add your exercises your calories will go up. If you go for an hour walk you will get back those calories. So what it is telling you that if you did nothing all day long except sit in a chair you can have 1320 calories. If you exercise and burn 100 calories you will then get 1420 calories that day.

CattOfTheGarage

Yup. Just log everything you eat, and everything you burn. When you do exercise, it will increase your calorie allowance accordingly, as you need more energy to make up for the exercise.

The exercise is optional. You can lose weight without doing any exercise, but you'll find that you don't get that much to eat.

I personally don't use exercise to lose weight faster - I use it to earn more calories, so I can eat more.

Orphia

Your MFP "Activity level" should be set according to this:

http://walking.about.com/cs/measure/a/locke122004.htm

1) Under 5000 steps/day may be used as a "sedentary lifestyle index"
2) 5,000-7,499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered "low active." The average American walks 5900 to 6900 steps per day, so the majority are "low active."
3) 7,500-9,999 steps/day likely includes some exercise or walking (and/or a job that requires more walking) and might be considered "somewhat active."
4) 10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as "active".
5) 12,500+ steps/day Individuals who take more than 12,500 steps/day are likely to be classified as "highly active".

If you're using a step counter that is synced to MFP, they affect your calories too. Let us know if/what you are using.

Protranser

Orphia wrote: »

Your MFP "Activity level" should be set according to this:

http://walking.about.com/cs/measure/a/locke122004.htm

1) Under 5000 steps/day may be used as a "sedentary lifestyle index"
2) 5,000-7,499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered "low active." The average American walks 5900 to 6900 steps per day, so the majority are "low active."
3) 7,500-9,999 steps/day likely includes some exercise or walking (and/or a job that requires more walking) and might be considered "somewhat active."
4) 10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as "active".
5) 12,500+ steps/day Individuals who take more than 12,500 steps/day are likely to be classified as "highly active".

If you're using a step counter that is synced to MFP, they affect your calories too. Let us know if/what you are using.

oh cute, i guess I'm highly active then lol. Since getting my fitbit, I average more than 12.5k steps a day even when you include my rest days. That's reassuring, since the rest of my day I spend sitting in a chair or laying in a bed

I feel like I unlocked an achievement. What should I spend my upgrade points on...

CattOfTheGarage

But if you are counting your steps within your activity level - so you set yourself as "highly active" because you are averaging more than 12.5k of steps regularly - then you can't log those steps as exercise, or they will be counted twice.

My understanding is the activity level is based on you NOT logging your regular heavy exercise - so for example, if you set your activity level as "high" because you work in construction, mfp will then make an allowance for your work-related exercise in your baseline calorie consumption, so you would not log it. You would only log additional exercise, such as workouts or going for a run.

If you want to log every bit of exercise you do, you need to set your activity level as "sedentary" - then mfp will assume zero exercise as a baseline.

CattOfTheGarage

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

But if you are counting your steps within your activity level - so you set yourself as "highly active" because you are averaging more than 12.5k of steps regularly - then you can't log those steps as exercise, or they will be counted twice.

My understanding is the activity level is based on you NOT logging your routine exercise - so for example, if you set your activity level as "high" because you work in construction, mfp will then make an allowance for your work-related exercise in your baseline calorie consumption, so you would not log it. You would only log additional exercise, such as workouts or going for a run.

If you want to log every bit of exercise you do, you need to set your activity level as "sedentary" - then mfp will assume zero exercise as a baseline.

allenpriest

I didn't start with a large weekly loss goal. I started just planning to log everything and stop gaining. The after a couple of months I set it to lose .5 pounds per week. After a few more months I increased that to one pound per week. Then six more months later increased it to 1.5 pounds per week. I needed to have early success. And I didn't think I could handle a radical change in lifestyle in a short time. It took me years to get this fat and I am not going to lose it quickly. There's no magic rainbow unicorn fairy kitten to spread pixie dust and make it go away. So for me I decided it takes as long as it takes. As long as I'm going down I'm fine. Now I'm 110 pounds down after 21 months and only that same amount left to go. I figure at least 2-3 more years until maintenance.

2015fitnessmode

Thank you everyone, that really cleared it up for me:)