PLS explain the fitness pal calories intake & burn numbers.

Hi,
So I am new to this whole calories counting thing. I have been workout for about a month.

I am a wee bit confused about how fitness pal's food intake calorie numbers and the burnout from exercise mean.

My BMR is 1500 - 1600 to maintain the weight I am at. Fitness pal has me on a 1200 calories diet in order to lose weight.
When I first started, I ate at the most, and this is rare, 1100 calories. At that time I burned about 200 a day. I thought that I had to eat under the 1200 range.

About a month back, I started the turbo fire and the hip hop abs workouts. In the first 30 days, I would burn an average of 800- 1000 calories. My diet stayed somewhat the same.

After a lot of pain, sleepless nights, and other problems, I realized I had been over training. I was also told that I eat less. Here is where my confusion comes in.

For a week now, I have increased my calorie intake to about 1500 and burn about 500-700 a day. when logging those numbers in, it gives me a net amount.

I am guessing I need to eat at least 1200 a day without exercise to lose the weight????
If I burn out more, then I eat more? How does that work? How does that help me lose weight?
What does the net numbers after eating and exercising mean? What should be my goal? Apart from the actual workout, I am a pretty active person. 13 stairs in my home.... I climb them at least 30 times a day just doing my regular activities.

Replies

  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    Yes, when you exercise you need to eat back some of those calories (MFP may overestimate your calories burned, so don't eat back all of them. Alternately, invest in a heart rate monitor for a more accurate estimate and eat back most of them).

    If your daily needs (basic metabolic rate, sort of) before exercise are 1600 and you eat 1200 calories, you will lose about 3/4 pound a week (MFP won't put you below 1200, by the way, so even if you entered a bigger goal, thats what it gives you). If you exercise, you use more calories, increasing your deficit, and potentially your weight gain. However, as you already experienced, your body can get exhausted very quickly if you aren't eating enough. When you eat back the calories you used for exercise, you nourish your body and give it what it needs to function (both energy and micronutrients like vitamins), and your deficit remains at ~400 calories, so you still lose weight at about the same weight.

    Exercising allows you to eat more and still lose weight. It also helps you to look better when you're at your goal, and to improve your overall health.

    Eat all (or almost all) of the calories MFP gives you. In most cases, it's better to be over by 50 calories than under by 300, especially when you're starting with something as low as 1200 calories.
  • everyone is obviously different but mfp gives the standard 1200 calorie a day, this is basically the amount you eat a day if you are inactive and this puts you in a safe deficit which will equal weight loss

    you do some exercise and that deficit gets bigger, and if it gets too big you will start to feel unwell and weight loss will be much harder, so you need to refuel your body after exercise but you will still be in the same deficit + having all the perks of exercise.

    weight loss is intended to be slow, steady and gradual :)
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    MFP didn't give you 1200, you put in what you wanted to lose and it did some math, spit out a number. MFP won't go lower than 1200 regardless of what you ask it. If your BMR is 1500 you should be eating at least that amount. BMR is the number of calories you need to survive in a coma. Sounds like you are more active than someone who is comatose.

    Exercise is for fitness, not weight loss. As you found out, all you get from doing a lot of exercise and not eating enough to sustain your body is sick and tired.