How the calories math works

jgzgg89kgs745
jgzgg89kgs745 Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
I don’t understand it. The daily calories goal is to what we suppose to achieve, but why it deduct the food from the function

Answers

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,005 Member
    At the end of the day you're supposed to be at roughly 0, plus/minus a bit.
  • canaukgal2
    canaukgal2 Posts: 1 Member
    Good morning. I am new to the community.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,435 Member
    It's your calorie budget for the day, you're supposed to spend it, and be as close to 0 by the end of the day as is practical.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,783 Member
    Yeah.

    We're trying to come close to zero by day's end. It's kind of like putting fuel in a car: We need enough to get to the destination. Put too much in, and it spills out of the tank (or in the case of food, we add body fat). Put too little in the tank, and we'll break down on the roadside before we reach our goal (or in the case of food, we get tired, cranky, less healthy and other negative possibilities).

    Our bodies burn calories just by being alive, plus added calories from movement (whether daily life or intentional exercise). Our calorie goal in MFP is an estimate of that number of calories, adjusted to aim for our weight goal (gaining, losing, maintaining).

    When we eat food, we put calories (fuel) into our bodies. We're trying to get the right amount of fuel to reach our weight goals. So, MFP subtracts calories from our goal when we log food, because Yay, we ate some of the calories we needed to eat. We eat more later, log the food, and MFP subtracts those calories, too.

    When we get to zero, we've accomplished our calorie goal for the day, eaten enough to keep our body going, while achieving our weight goals. It's OK to be plus or minus a few calories from zero, maybe plus or minus 50 on average. All of this is estimates, and that will tend to be close enough.

    Best wishes!

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