The Ultimate Guide to MFP.

CattOfTheGarage

This is good. One issue where people persistently talk at cross purposes is in the matter of net vs. total calories. Some examples:

"1200 calories is far too low!" - if that's 1200 total, it probably is too low (unless the person is very short). But if it's 1200 net and the person is eating exercise calories, it's not too low in many cases. People have enormous ding-dongs on this topic without ever clarifying if they mean total or net.

"Don't eat exercise calories!" - like the above, people will have big debates on this topic without ever clarifying if they are recommending NEAT+exercise calories (correct), TDEE with no exercise calories (correct), TDEE+exercise calories (overeating!) or NEAT with no exercise calories (undereating!). Usually these convos are a crazy mixture of people recommending sensible approaches without being clear what they mean, and people recommending (usually) NEAT with no exercise calories - which, if exercise is significant, can amount to recommending a crash diet.

"I lose weight on 1800 calories and so can you" - means "I lose weight on 1800 calories TDEE and I'm assuming your 1200 is TDEE as well" when in fact, especially with beginners, it is almost certainly NEAT (as that's the mfp default).

frannyupnorth

Nice post. A little nit-pick; I think you mean "manner" not "manor"

You should have a balanced diet
A balanced diet refers to eating in a manor that will address your nutritional requirements; this would mean eating a variety of foods to maximize micronutrient uptake (vitamins and minerals) and eating macronutrients (carbs/fats/protein) in the manor that will satiate you and support your goals (muscle development, cholesterol issues, controlling diabetes).

Although that did make me imagine only ever dining with Penelope Keith, a British actress from early 80's TV series "To the Manor Born" to meet my nutritional requirements - possibly showing my age a bit there

psuLemon

Updated.