1200 cals on 1200 exercise?

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spaghetti285
spaghetti285 Posts: 38 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm confused.. I read that in order to lose weight we ideally need to burn more cals than we eat? Is that right or a myth? I eat 1200 a day so should I be trying to aim for 1200 cals burned or more a day?

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  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Sort of. You don't reach that 1200 calories through exercise. You burn calories all day, everyday, just by breathing. The 1200 calories includes your daily deficit (based on the information you entered). If you exercise, you should be adding in those calories and eating more.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    You misunderstand. If you need, for example, 1900 calories to maintain a size, then eating only 1800 calories each day would eventually lead to weight loss, at least until you reached a size you could maintain on 1800 calories. If you then still wanted to lose more weight, you'd have to regularly eat less than you need.

    A lot of people seem to do well with a 20% rate of reduction in their calories.

    To keep the math simple, someone needing 2000 calories to maintain would choose to eat only 1600 calories.

    When you tell mfp your current weight and your goal weight, you also need to choose a weight loss per week goal. MFP then gives you a calorie total for you to eat every day. Eat that much.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
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    This post has a good explanation of how MFP figures your calorie allowance and how exercise factors in:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1
  • spaghetti285
    spaghetti285 Posts: 38 Member
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    OK. So as long as I eat what mfp tells me according to my info I should be OK. Exercise is a bonus right?
  • EvgenyP
    EvgenyP Posts: 19 Member
    edited February 2019
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    spaghetti285 wrote: »
    OK. So as long as I eat what mfp tells me according to my info I should be OK. Exercise is a bonus right?

    yes, set MFP goal and it will tell you how many calories you have left. Make sure to measure liquids by ml. and foods by gram. Don't use any spoon measurements or handfuls or a pinch etc.... For foods such as avocado, fruits etc... use USDA database, alot of errors in MFP database with wrong calories.

    edit: or just look for avocado usda in mfp database it would have all of usda foods that people entered.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited February 2019
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    spaghetti285 wrote: »
    I'm confused.. I read that in order to lose weight we ideally need to burn more cals than we eat? Is that right or a myth?

    Correct. It’s not a myth. However, they mean less than your Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is more than just exercise.


    spaghetti285 wrote: »
    I eat 1200 a day so should I be trying to aim for 1200 cals burned or more a day?

    You don’t need to worry about burning more than 1200 calories. Your body uses calories 24/7. You burn calories even at rest to keep you breathing, your heart beating and so on (BMR). The majority of your calorie burn is not going to come from exercise, but from your BMR & Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT includes calories your body uses to fidget, walk to the kitchen, and well any activity that isn’t exercise.

    MyFitnessPal estimates your NEAT based on the information you input and sets your calorie goal to be at a deficit from that number. You will get extra calories to eat when you workout, but that is so you keep a safe sustainable deficit. Workouts after all are an extra calorie expenditure on top of what you already burn in your NEAT.

    1200 is the bare minimum MFP will go and can suggest that you selected a rate of loss that was too aggressive for your activity level & current weight.

    NIH recommends losing no more than 10% body weight over 6 months for sustainable loss.

    Sustainable weight loss recommendations are:
    0.5lb per week if less than 25lbs to lose
    1lb per week if 25-50lbs to lose
    1.5lb per week if 50-75lbs to lose
    2lbs per week if 75+lbs to lose

    You don’t need to exercise to lose weight. However I highly recommend it for the health benefits.
  • spaghetti285
    spaghetti285 Posts: 38 Member
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    Yeah I have a scale. I measured an avocado the other day but I took out the stone to grams. So I think I'm all good there.. Thanks so much. 👍😁
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    spaghetti285 wrote: »
    OK. So as long as I eat what mfp tells me according to my info I should be OK. Exercise is a bonus right?

    Bonus as in more calories to eat, yes. Don't look at it as a way to increase your deficit. You need to eat enough to fuel your activity. It's important for several reasons to not undereat.

    ^This. And those reasons are discussed in that thread I linked.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    try2again wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    spaghetti285 wrote: »
    OK. So as long as I eat what mfp tells me according to my info I should be OK. Exercise is a bonus right?

    Bonus as in more calories to eat, yes. Don't look at it as a way to increase your deficit. You need to eat enough to fuel your activity. It's important for several reasons to not undereat.

    ^This. And those reasons are discussed in that thread I linked.

    It's a beautiful link! :smile:

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