True or not?!

kaylaboysell

Is it true that in order to lose weight you must burn off all of the calories eaten that entire day? For example: if I eat 1200 calories and only burn 800 that entire day, then I will not lose any weight ?

richardgavel

You're likely thinking of 800 as what you are burning via direct exercise (running, etc) but most calorie burn simply from being alive. Your BMR or basal metabolic rate is the burn that will occur if you literally do nothing all day (just lie in bed and breathe). For me as a 6' guy at 185 lbs that's about 2000 calories.

sunfastrose

You burn calories just by living. So if you eat 1200 calories (which may not be the best calorie amount for you, but that's a different post) those calories will be burned by just living without doing extraneous exercise. If you exercise and add an extra 800 calories, those would be added to the base calories that you are supposed to eat.

3dogsrunning

Not true.

Assuming 1200 is the number MFP gave you -
When you put in your age/sex/activity level, MFP figures how many calories a day you need for your body to survive and support day to day activities (including your job). Then you select a weigh loss goal. For 1 lb a week, that's about 500 less per day, 1000 less per day for 2lbs a week.

So let's say you selected a goal of 2lbs a week, that means that you need about 2200 calories a day to maintain your weight. They take 1000 off to make a 2 lb a week weight loss goal.


If you burn 800 calories in exercise, that is on top of all those figures.

Keep in mind, be wary of calorie burned estimates.

jennifer_417

Nonononono.
Also, no.
You need calories to survive!
All you need to do is eat fewer calories than you burn.
So say, for instance, your maintenance calories are 2300. If you eat less that, you'll lose weight.
Whatever number MFP gives you is how many calories you want to NET in a day. In other words, you wanna eat back the calories you burn through working out, because the number MFP gives you already has your deficit built in.

erinc5

It is true but not in the way you are thinking, as others have explained. In order to lose weight you have to burn off all the calories you have eaten plus a bit more than that. However, we all burn calories keeping our heart, stomach, liver, etc... working.

A 5 ft tall 100 lb woman will burn approx. 1200 calories each day even if all she does is lay in bed all day and only get up to just go to the bathroom.

If you are taller or weigh more than that, then you will burn even more without having to do anything other than exist.

So yes, you have to burn off all the calories you eat, but you have a great head start on burning them off just by simply being alive!

kaylaboysell

All comments appreciated thank you guys for the information!