Trouble with Language and Math. Please help.

goldyray1

First, I would like to say that I am enjoying Fitness Pal. It is so easy. I am having a little trouble with the figuring the math. Example....I see that today I consumed 836 calories. (I know that is low, usually it isn't that low) Activity is 2282. Net is -1446. It is the -1446 that I am not understanding the meaning of. I know that it takes so many calories burned vs caloric intake to burn a pound of fat. Using my figures for today, if I did that every day for 7 days, I would have -10,122. If that were true, how many pounds of fat should I lose the first week. This of course is not actual...I am just using these figures to understand the whole situation. Thanks for any help.

WeatherJane

How many calories are you set to eat?

goldyray1

1200

goldyray1

This activity is not exercise. I did housecleaning all day. I think this is just normal calories burned during the day.

WeatherJane

Do you log your daily activity?

goldyray1

Actually this is my first day. I lost weight once using Fitness Pal back in 2017. I did lose the weight. But I gained it back. (Medical reasons). So this is my first day, but yes I will be logging each day, any activity that I do. I usually do Yoga and treadmill. Also walking on my breaks at work.

Lietchi

goldyray1 wrote: »

First, I would like to say that I am enjoying Fitness Pal. It is so easy. I am having a little trouble with the figuring the math. Example....I see that today I consumed 836 calories. (I know that is low, usually it isn't that low) Activity is 2282. Net is -1446. It is the -1446 that I am not understanding the meaning of. I know that it takes so many calories burned vs caloric intake to burn a pound of fat. Using my figures for today, if I did that every day for 7 days, I would have -10,122. If that were true, how many pounds of fat should I lose the first week. This of course is not actual...I am just using these figures to understand the whole situation. Thanks for any help.

Is this the screen you're talking about?


You should aim to keep your net calories at the goal number.

Two conditions for that:
- You've set up your goals correctly (you've chosen a weight loss rate and activity level, etc.) If you have, then your calorie deficit to lose weight is already included.
- Your activity calories are accurate. Do you have an activity tracker linked? The exercise number you're seeing isn't strictly exercise, it's all activity above your selected activity level setting. Some people find these adjustment accurate, some people find their tracker gives them too many calories or too few. The best way to find out is to eat all those extra calories (or a fixed percentage of them, for example half) for a month or more and then compare your actual weight loss to the weight loss rate you chose. If you're losing faster than intended, eat a bit more; if you're losing slower than intended, eat back less of the calorie adjustment. That being said, if your adjustment is 2000+ calories for cleaning, it sounds high, but then again I've never done a full day of house cleaning 😁

PS the math is approximately 3500 calories per lb of bodyfat.

goldyray1

Thank you so much. The 3500 figure .... where does that come from. I am doing 1200 calories a day which is 8400 per week. Where do I have to lose the 3500 calories from? Would that be using more calories a week than you consume? For example, using my scenario...The 8400 calories I consume a week, would that mean that I have to burn 11,900 calories a week in order to burn one pound of fat? Would I get that number from the "net" number?

Lietchi

goldyray1 wrote: »

Thank you so much. The 3500 figure .... where does that come from. I am doing 1200 calories a day which is 8400 per week. Where do I have to lose the 3500 calories from? Would that be using more calories a week than you consume? For example, using my scenario...The 8400 calories I consume a week, would that mean that I have to burn 11,900 calories a week in order to burn one pound of fat? Would I get that number from the "net" number?

3500 calories is the approximate calorie deficit needed to lose a lb.

I think you're needlessly complicating things. If you have selected a weight loss rate on MFP, MFP does the math for you. It calculates how many calories you need to maintain your weight at your chosen activity level setting and subtracts calories to arrive at your chosen weight loss rate (for example: to lose one lb per week, you need a deficit of 500 calories per day, MFP had already subtracted that number to arrive at your calorie goal).
Exercise or activity above your chosen activity level setting will give you extra calories to consume, to arrive at your chosen weight loss rate.

So you just need to aim to meet the calorie goal MFP had given (but take into account my previous post regarding your calorie adjustment from activity/exercise).

goldyray1

Yes I will. You are right, I am probably making this more complicated than it is. Thank you for your help. It did clarify several things for me!

mtaratoot

goldyray1 wrote: »

First, I would like to say that I am enjoying Fitness Pal. It is so easy. I am having a little trouble with the figuring the math. Example....I see that today I consumed 836 calories. (I know that is low, usually it isn't that low) Activity is 2282. Net is -1446. It is the -1446 that I am not understanding the meaning of. I know that it takes so many calories burned vs caloric intake to burn a pound of fat. Using my figures for today, if I did that every day for 7 days, I would have -10,122. If that were true, how many pounds of fat should I lose the first week. This of course is not actual...I am just using these figures to understand the whole situation. Thanks for any help.

What is your activity from? You'd have do do a LOT of hours cleaning to add up to 2282 extra calories. Even if that's total from your base goal of 1200 plus activity, 1082 is a lot of extra calories. How did MFP get THAT number.

Eat at least 1200 calories even on days you do zero exercise. That's the minimum you should eat.

How did you set your goal at 1200? How many pounds are you trying to lose per week? How much do you have total to lose? If you have 100 pounds to lose, two pounds a week might be a good goal, but if you "only" have 20 pounds to lose, a half pound a week is safe and healthy.

The basic math is that 3500 calories is one pound. Eating at a 500 calorie deficit per day will lose one pound (3500 calories) per week.

goldyray1

I filled in the blanks and Fitness Pal came up with 1200 a day. I am wanting to lose as much as I can as soon as I can. I have at least 30 to lose. I weigh 175. 5'3" tall. 67 years old. If I get down to 140 I will be happy. Regarding the housecleaning, I did it for at least 8 hours. Cleaned out closets, mopped. Dusted. Having company today and wanted everything spic and span.

goldyray1

Oh yeah. I only took in about 826 calories that day. When I work, I usually forget to eat. That would not be a normal day.

mtaratoot

Check out https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/.

Enter all your data. It will give you a BMR (basal metabolic rate) and a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). If you set the activity level to slightly active, with your stats, your BMR is just under 1300 calories, and your TDEE is just under 1800.

To lose a half pound per week, your daily calorie target would be about 1500. Setting to lose one pound per week, it generates a warning that you aren't eating enough. I would encourage you to consider taking it slow and steady than "as soon as I can." Think about what you will do when you get to your goal weight because it will have to be a new lifestyle that you keep up forever or it will come back. There's no finish line.