For some reason I just don't get this

exerfett

I feel stupid but for some reason I just don't understand how the whole tracking system and daily goals work. I'm switching from fitday on my PC because I keep hearing great stuff but I am confused and no matter how much I look it up I get more confused.

Basically this is what I like; all my calories counted up. Then all my exercise calories combined with my metabolic burned clories added together. Then the total that I am in a deficit or exess. I don't like or understand how this works where my goal is x amount of calories but then if I exercise it changes the amount of calories I have left. Is there a way to change this? Is there any report that just shows simply how much of a deficit or exess I am in for the day? This would be so much more simpler for me.

LKArgh

exerfett wrote: »

I feel stupid but for some reason I just don't understand how the whole tracking system and daily goals work. I'm switching from fitday on my PC because I keep hearing great stuff but I am confused and no matter how much I look it up I get more confused.

Basically this is what I like; all my calories counted up. Then all my exercise calories combined with my metabolic burned clories added together. Then the total that I am in a deficit or exess. I don't like or understand how this works where my goal is x amount of calories but then if I exercise it changes the amount of calories I have left. Is there a way to change this? Is there any report that just shows simply how much of a deficit or exess I am in for the day? This would be so much more simpler for me.

The amount of calories you (or have not) left is your deficit.

snowflake954

You're not stupid, it just takes getting used to. Basically just try to stay within your calorie goal everyday for now. As you get used to how this works you can change things around to suit yourself. Best.

yarwell

aggelikik wrote: »

exerfett wrote: »

I feel stupid but for some reason I just don't understand how the whole tracking system and daily goals work. I'm switching from fitday on my PC because I keep hearing great stuff but I am confused and no matter how much I look it up I get more confused.

Basically this is what I like; all my calories counted up. Then all my exercise calories combined with my metabolic burned clories added together. Then the total that I am in a deficit or exess. I don't like or understand how this works where my goal is x amount of calories but then if I exercise it changes the amount of calories I have left. Is there a way to change this? Is there any report that just shows simply how much of a deficit or exess I am in for the day? This would be so much more simpler for me.

The amount of calories you (or have not) left is your deficit.

Is it ? I thought if you got to zero then you had achieved your target deficit, whatever that was set to.

If the OP was to log exercise at 1 calorie, or not log it, then the daily deficit would be the calories remaining at the end of the day plus the pre-set deficit (500 cals per 1 lb/day etc).

I don't think you can easily get what the OP is suggesting ie :-

Estimated TDEE from Activity
Plus logged exercise
Minus food eaten

= Estimated deficit

GsKiki

You can not change the formula. Everytime you exercise it will add calories, but if you don't want to eat all of those calories you don't have to.
I know what you mean, when I got to MFP from another calorie tracking app it took me a bit to get adjusted. But don't give up! You will get used to it

joey4014

Believe me: once you get used to you'll love it.

snowflake954

GsKiki wrote: »

You can not change the formula. Everytime you exercise it will add calories, but if you don't want to eat all of those calories you don't have to.
I know what you mean, when I got to MFP from another calorie tracking app it took me a bit to get adjusted. But don't give up! You will get used to it

It's true that MFP adds excercise calories, but I switched to the TDEE method and don't eat back my exercise cals. I log my exercise but change the value to 1 calorie burned. It's working great, but the OP should get used to and understand the site first.

WendyLaubach

I ignore everything on my "food" page except the total food calories I've consumed. When those get to the limit I've set, I stop eating, no matter what exercise I've done that day, so I never pay any attention to the "net" figure. I understand that if you buy the premium service, it will let you adjust how your exercise calories show up on the food page, but a cheaper approach is what was suggested above: you can change the calorie count of your exercise to anything you want, so choose "1." You can always keep track of the real exercise calories in the "notes" section on in a separate chart or something, but even then, be aware that most exercise calorie counts are probably kind of bogus. At least, they may help you keep track of your exercise progress over time, but it's dangerous to count your exercise calories directly against your food calories, because the chances are good that they're apples to oranges. You just need to find a combination of eating and exercising that results in the rate of loss you're looking for, then use the counting technique to stick to that.