Can someone help me with this

somaja

Quick question. I just noticed that my BMI says that I burn 1214 cals at rest. If I eat 1200 cals a day and don't exercise, then I am only burning 14 cals? How can I lose weight at that momentum? Shouldn't I be eating less then 1200 cals? And if I exercise and eat my execise cal then I still don't have a big deficit. Am I correct?

ashlee954

No. Your BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you were in a coma-like state. If you did not move at all. It is the amount required to keep you and your body's organs alive. You burn cals from regular daily activity too. Even chewing gum burns cals. Look at your goal page and it will show you on the right under your diet profile your calories burned from "normal daily activities" (BMR + normal activity). It will also show you your deficit.

islandnutshel

If you have entered your weight loss goal then MFP has calculated what you need to eat to reach that goal. The lowest it will go is 1200, but if you add to this with exercise you should eat back some of your calories. Hope this help, everyone asks when starting.

somaja

Thanks so much!

legalbyday

You aren't at rest all day every day though, so you will be burning more calories than that. And you can always opt to NOT eat your workout calories most days, and then indulge a day or two a week to keep your body knowing that you aren't in starvation mode and it'll keep your metabolism going.