The calorie thing... to eat them or not to

SaraTN

It is as simple as calories in vs calories out. I hope the formula below explains the concept and helps regarding the MFP "1200"

You can figure it out on your own with the help of an online calorie burn calculator - won't be exact because it doesn't account for body mass, hormones, etc. just considers your gender, weight, height and age. There's about 20 different things that factor into your Resting Metabolism (RMR*) and can make 2 people who are the same gender, weight, height and age have extremely different results. *RMR is part of the equation for figuring how many calories you should eat.....

1. How many calories do you burn with your RMR + aerobic + anaerobic activity per day?

Answer: Here's a nice calculator that gives you 4 categories to choose from for your anaerobic activity plus a place to put in what you burn per day in added exercise .... www.nutritiondata.self.com/tools/calories-burned

2. How many lbs. do you want to lose each week? Healthy rate of loss is no more than 2 lbs. a week.

3. What should your calorie deficit per day be to lose your "blank" pounds per week?

Answer: Multiply lbs. you want to lose per week (#2 above) X 3500 = Calorie deficit needed per WEEK to lose that # of lbs. Now divide this number by 7 and that is the calorie deficit you need per DAY to lose those that # of lbs.


4. OK Now we can plug everything into the following formula and figure out what "X" (number of calories to eat) should be.

"X" (number of calories to eat) minus Total # of calories burned per day = Your target daily deficit

Example:
Calories burned per day per the website = 2306
Target lbs. to lose per week = 2
2 X 3500 = 7000 (weekly deficit needed to lose 2 lbs. per week)
7000/7 = 1000 (target daily deficit needed to lose 2 lbs. per week)

Plug it into the formula..
x - 2306 (calories burned per website) = -1000
x = 1306 target calories per day to lose 2 lbs. a week with my current active level (Resting Metabolism + Aerobic activity + Lifestyle/Anaerobic activity)

stormieweather

MFP automatically figures all that for you based on the information you enter under User/Diet Profile under settings.

When you give it your age, weight, height and gender, it calculates your BMR. When you choose your activity level it adds a factor based on that level for your normal living on top of your BMR (this is called your TDEE).

Then, when you tell it your goals (1 pound, 2 pound, 1/2 pound), it deducts X calories from the previously arrived at figure and gives you a calorie goal. For example, 500 calories per day for a 1 pound loss, 1000 calories for a 2 pound loss, 250 calories for a 1/2 pound loss.

Under no circumstances will MFP lower your calorie goal to less than 1200. This is considered by the W.H.O. to be the minimum a women needs to meet nutritional needs.

Now, if you go to the gym and work out and burn 400 calories in an hour, this gets added to the calorie goal. MFP attempts to maintain the deficit calculated above in order to meet your weight loss goals, not create a larger deficit that is not healthy. Your body is a machine and needs fuel. The idea is to create a lifestyle change that you can sustain permanently, not damage yourself by losing the MOST weight possible in the SHORTEST time. Or harm your metabolism attempting to do so.

So yes, eat part of them. I leave a small cushion in case I miscalculated something. AND, 1200 calories is not right for most people, except those with a LOT of weight to lose or very tiny people. EAT! Fuel your body so you live long and feel well.

Debx12345

Wow, you guys seem quite clever on all this stuff,x can I ask a question.

When I set my profile up I put that I wanted to lose one pound per week, and would work out 6 times a week for half an hour, gave it my weight of 130 lbs, height 5' 2". It gave me the magic 1200 calories to eat per day, now can I ask, when a do my half hour exercise and burn say 200 calories, am I able to use these or because I said I would do 6 x 30 mins per week anyway, these are what it worked out I would be doing anyway and calculated into my 1200. So what I really need to be doing is the 6 x 30 mins anyway and then if I want to earn extra calories to use for treats I need to do more than just my 30 mins ? Hope that makes sense. It's just I can't seem to lose weight, and was wondering if this might be the reason.

stormieweather

The exercise goals that you entered on that same page (settings-user/diet profile) are NOT included in your calorie goals. They are simply a benchmark to be used to measure your progress.

So they should be added to your exercise tab, which will then add those calories to your daily goal.

stormieweather

Adding....if you're doing everything right, then several things might be off-kilter. It's possible you overestimated your activity level. If you entered 'active', maybe trying 'lightly active' would be better. It's possible that you are underestimating your food intake. Every single thing you eat or drink should be weighed, measured and logged. If you are guessing at portion sizes, studies have shown that such guesses can be off as much as 30%. Another possibility is that you are overestimating calories burned during exercise. A HRM is best in order to be accurate, or you can leave a cushion uneaten to prevent overeating. Finally, if all of these are in check, you may have an illness or disorder and should check with your doctor.

Keep in mind that the less weight you have to lose the smaller your deficit should be (and the slower it will come off). A 1000 calorie deficit for someone who needs to lose 10 pounds is simply not going to work. Your body is not going to cooperate. Try a 200-300 calorie deficit instead. It will take you a couple months to lose the weight, but that's better than not losing it at all or losing it and then gaining it right back as soon as you start eating again.

Debx12345

Thanks for that, I have recently bought a hrm so going to log better activity calories. When you said I should have a deficit of 200-300, what does than mean, or how many calories do you think I should be eating a day ? Have you ever worn a hrm all day just to see how many calories your body needs each day to maintain ? I wore one the gym the other day and burnt 250 cals, but left it on as I had yo go the shop, when i got home I had burned off another 150 just walking round the shop, so got me thinking maybe for all the stuff I do in a day, ie exercising and dashing around, that maybe I wasn't eating enough !!! Oh how I wish that were true. Lol

stormieweather

I can't answer how much you should be eating, I don't know anything about you nor am I a professional. But I would log the 250 calories from the gym and eat 170-190 of them. Running around to stores, cleaning house, walking to the mailbox, etc. are all part of your 'activity level' that gives you your base calorie goal. If you do think you are more active than sedentary or lightly active, then change the setting and see if that changes anything. Make sure you give 4-6 weeks to any change before deciding it isn't working.

Edit: if you put your goal to 1/2 pound per week loss, MFP will give you a 250 calorie per day deficit.