Probably a really dumb question..

jonesemary1995
jonesemary1995 Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I have been thinking, and I was told to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you eat. So let's say my calorie intake needs to be 1200. Does that mean I need to burn that much at the gym to lose weight?? That seems a bit excessive to me.

Replies

  • TK6299
    TK6299 Posts: 502 Member
    You probably burn about 1200 cal doing every day stuff. It takes energy to keep your body functioning, along with the walking and movement that you do every day. Typically if you can stick to a 1200 cal diet, and work out, you will drop weight.
  • TK6299
    TK6299 Posts: 502 Member
    Also, it's not a dumb question!! :p
  • MattReeceCPT
    MattReeceCPT Posts: 163 Member
    edited March 2016
    Not a dumb question at all. We burn tons of calories just by living each day working out just supplements that. The key to weight loss is caloric deficit. If you need 1200 calories to maintain your current weight, you'd have to burn less calories over a period of time to drop weight. MFP has a pretty sweet tool to make this calculation easier. I hope this helps.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,993 Member
    jonesemary1995 wrote: »
    So I have been thinking, and I was told to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you eat. So let's say my calorie intake needs to be 1200. Does that mean I need to burn that much at the gym to lose weight?? That seems a bit excessive to me.
    Your calorie intake should be about 500 calories less than your TDEE for sensible weight loss. So if your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is 1700 calories, then 1200 would be right. However based on your age, I'm betting your TDEE is at least 2000 calories, so 1500 calories would be your target. Again, you need to figure out what your TDEE is.

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  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    It's called your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and it's his much you burn just doing normal things- walking around, work, housework, even sleeping! And then you can add exercise to it.

    I've got a Fitbit charge hr which tells me my TDEE. Some days it's 3000! So if I were to eat 1200 calories, I'd have a deficit of 1800.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Go here, and figure out what your BMR is. This is what you would burn everyday in a coma for example, or just lying in bed 24/7. We burn calories just by being alive.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

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