New to MFP - a few questions....

nyr22kloucek

Hi! I am new to my fitness pal and just had my first day yesterday. I am trying to understand what goals I should be hitting. I let the program calculate my calories needed to lose 1 pound a week with zero exercise committed (although I do plan to work out). It is my understanding that if I do that, each time I work out I should be eating those calories to keep my remaining at zero, thus my net at my original calorie goal of 1520. This way, on days I don't work out I will only be eating 1520 to hit my calorie goal. Does this make sense?

Yesterday the app said that I was under my calories. I had a net of 1462 and a remaining of 58. These were my stats:

Goal: 1520
Food: 1884
Exercise: 422
Net: 1462
Remaining: 58

So net should equal goal and remaining should be zero? This is my first time ever trying calorie counting. I have had great success before with Weight Watchers - mostly with the old core plan. I feel that sometimes my portion control gets out of wack and/or I don't "point" my alcohol properly. I plan to do this now - every bit or drop in gets written down - but I want to make sure that I know how the numbers work so I don't hurt myself unintentionally from the beginning.

Thanks!

ArbonneLO

Stay at or under your goal calorie consumption and you will see results. I find it hard to stay under protein and sugar goals. That's me, based on what I like to eat. Other people probably have different challenges.

katz6910

That is exactly how I understand it to be. Personally I dont eat back all my exercise calories (maybe that's where I'm going wrong) because I'm never 100% sure it is an accurate count and therefore will result in me over eating. It's a viscous circle sometimes. I'm currently trying to rework this and find a proper balance so I look forward to other peoples replies :happy:


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Basia_and4345

Hi! I am new to my fitness pal and just had my first day yesterday. I am trying to understand what goals I should be hitting. I let the program calculate my calories needed to lose 1 pound a week with zero exercise committed (although I do plan to work out). It is my understanding that if I do that, each time I work out I should be eating those calories to keep my remaining at zero, thus my net at my original calorie goal of 1520. This way, on days I don't work out I will only be eating 1520 to hit my calorie goal. Does this make sense?

Yesterday the app said that I was under my calories. I had a net of 1462 and a remaining of 58. These were my stats:

Goal: 1520
Food: 1884
Exercise: 422
Net: 1462
Remaining: 58

So net should equal goal and remaining should be zero? This is my first time ever trying calorie counting. I have had great success before with Weight Watchers - mostly with the old core plan. I feel that sometimes my portion control gets out of wack and/or I don't "point" my alcohol properly. I plan to do this now - every bit or drop in gets written down - but I want to make sure that I know how the numbers work so I don't hurt myself unintentionally from the beginning.

Thanks!

I have a difficult time understanding the Net so basically I try to eat as close to my allowed calorie intake as possible and rarely eat back all my exercise calories. I also make sure to work in Cardio, Strength, and Yoga, and Walking throughout the week. This keeps my days from being monotonous and helps me stick to a program.

jujubeanla

That's how I understand it too! If you are working out each day, it allows you to eat more calories. This is great for those of us who find themselves hungry but at the same time, I think it is saying that if you are working out, your body needs those extra calories nutrients for energy and replenishment!

My biggest issues is my sugar too... I am ALWAYS going WAY over on my sugar intake and I don't think I am eating that much sugar. Weird.

ArbonneLO

Glad to know I'm not alone.

rsum77

Say under your calories everyday and the weight will drop. It's been a full month for me and it's working. 11 pounds down. I am also bad with the sugar intake. If a have 2 fruits in one day it's all over for me on my sugar count. I just keep trying everyday. It's hard! I'm over 100 pound over weight and this is my BFF right now. Walking has also helped me too. I figure the more I excersise the better I am. Plus you can eat a little bit more too. In moderation.

AJ_G

Stay at or under your goal calorie consumption and you will see results. I find it hard to stay under protein and sugar goals. That's me, based on what I like to eat. Other people probably have different challenges.

It's actually bad if you are under your protein goal. Protein macro goals are minimums and you should never consume less than the goal. On top of that, the MFP protein goal is absurdly low, especially if you're concerned with preserving muscle mass while losing fat, or if you're attempting to gain muscle. When I started, MFP had my goal set at 50g a day, I'm currently consuming 150g of protein every day and lifting weights. As far as sugar goes, unless you have a medical reason to be concerned about sugar intake like diabetes or you are prediabetic, then don't worry about sugar, all that matters is total carb intake, sugar is inconsequential.

ArbonneLO

11 lbs is great. Keep up the good work! In summer it is especially hard to watch fruit sugars...at least there are a lot of good veggies this time of year too. I am the queen of big salads!

brit__2006

Hi! I am new to my fitness pal and just had my first day yesterday. I am trying to understand what goals I should be hitting. I let the program calculate my calories needed to lose 1 pound a week with zero exercise committed (although I do plan to work out). It is my understanding that if I do that, each time I work out I should be eating those calories to keep my remaining at zero, thus my net at my original calorie goal of 1520. This way, on days I don't work out I will only be eating 1520 to hit my calorie goal. Does this make sense?

Yesterday the app said that I was under my calories. I had a net of 1462 and a remaining of 58. These were my stats:

Goal: 1520
Food: 1884
Exercise: 422
Net: 1462
Remaining: 58

So net should equal goal and remaining should be zero? This is my first time ever trying calorie counting. I have had great success before with Weight Watchers - mostly with the old core plan. I feel that sometimes my portion control gets out of wack and/or I don't "point" my alcohol properly. I plan to do this now - every bit or drop in gets written down - but I want to make sure that I know how the numbers work so I don't hurt myself unintentionally from the beginning.

Thanks!

If you're not going to do macros (counting carbs, protein, fat) then just add up your calories. If you're eating healthy foods you will be fine. Carbs, Fat, and protein are great for you if you're eating the healthier choices. I would suggest reading up on each macro just so you know how beneficial each one is though.

And on the way mfp works you're right. You're calories are set with a 1 lb a week weightloss in mind without exercise, and by exercise you are getting stronger, healthier, and adding muscle (which burns more calories than fat anyway.)

So if you're calories goal is 1520, and you burn 422 calories then you should eat about 1942 calories. (Doesn't have to be exact, under 100 calories is fine.) If you don't eat enough your metabolism could slow down, and cause you to stop losing weight. I know from experience, and it's been nothing fun to try to get it built back up. Also as you lose weight don't forget to adjust the calorie intake because you won't need as much.

If you need any friends and support add me.

crystalflame

Yes, you understand how it works. For anyone else confused in this thread:

MFP calculates a deficit for you based on your goals. If you want to lose 1lb a week, it calculates your Total Daily Energy Expenditure using a standard formula and subtracts 500 calories from that amount. If you do exercise on top of that, you're supposed to eat those calories because the deficit has already been built in for you.

Note about exercise calories: MFP tends to overestimate your burns. Many people find better success eating back half to 3/4s of what MFP allots them. A heart rate monitor can get you a more accurate reading for steady-state cardio assuming you set it up correctly.

Macros (carbs, fat, protein): These can be customized based on your goals and preferences. Many people believe MFP sets the protein goal (15%) way too low on here. 25% or 30% is a more reasonable goal - higher levels of protein keep you full and help you retain muscle mass while losing weight, so more of your weight loss is fat loss. Also, fat does not make you fat, and it helps keep your hormones in balance, so 25% or 30% is a good goal there as well. If you're interested in more detail on what your macro goals should be, look here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Micronutrients (sugar, sodium, iron, fiber, etc) can be tracked if you choose to do so. I'd suggest tracking ones relevant to your goals and medical history - sugar if you're diabetic, calcium if you're at risk for osteoperosis, iron if you're deficient, etc. If you don't have any specific issues, fiber and sodium would be my recommendations - fiber's important to a healthy digestive system, and sodium can explain water retention and why you might not have lost weight on weigh-in day. There's a lot of controversy about the sugar level on here... Most people will say don't worry about it unless you need to. Personally I think getting the vitamins and nutrients from two pieces of fruit is a lot better than staying under a somewhat arbitrary sugar goal, but do your research and decide for yourself.

Hope that helps, good luck!

pholbert

IF You are worried about portion control, get a food scale.They are not exspensive. Then you really know how much your eating.

ArbonneLO

I got started on this because I had a bad weekend and was terribly afraid that my gall bladder was acting up. That's a fat issue so I decided I needed to limit fat intake. Feel like a champ now, even after only a couple of weeks. MFP is a real help with that especially since their fat threshold for me is about twice what I would expect it to be. The weight loss is a bonus. Feeling good is what really matters to me, and tracking is fun.

Thanks for the great info on proteins. I walk but haven't gotten into strength training at this point. Your input is really helpful.

ArbonneLO

Very helpful input. Thanks.