Confused to say the least

fordrst

I read an awful lot on all the message boards most of which I find understandable and extremely helpful but today, having read a number of posts I have to admit to being totally and utterly baffled.

Am I doing this all wrong?

My calorie allowance PLUS my exercise gains EQUALS my calorie allowance for the day.

So today for example 1200 daily allowance plus 342 exercise equals 1542 total.

Now I have to ask how many of those 1542 calories should I be eating to lose weight - is it ALL of them or just some of them?

The reason I ask is that I keep seeing that in order to lose weight I need to be in calorie deficit.

So would someone kindly take pity on this poor old soul who quite simply does not understand just how many calories she should be eating.

Thank you.

mycupyourcake

If you set up your myfitnesspal account correctly you probably specified how many pounds a week you wanted to lose. This means that when it gives you your exercise calories you can eat them back and still lose. So eat all of it.

knra_grl

MFP sets your daily calorie goal at a deficit. Adding your exercise increases the amount of calories you can eat - eat about 1/3 to 3/4 of your exercise calories back (whatever works for you if you eat 1/3 back and you are still hungry eat more). Your body and metabolism will respond accordingly if you don't eat enough your metabolism will slow so it will be trial and error for a bit to figure out how many of your exercise calories you should eat back but you will be fine if you eat back 3/4. Most exercise calories are not totally accurate - even with a HRM.

kgeyser

Your 1200 calorie allowance already includes a calorie deficit to lose however many lbs per week you entered when you set up your MFP account. So if I put in that I wanted to lose 1 lb per week and MFP gave me 1450 as a calorie goal, that 1450 already includes the 500 calorie deficit I would need to keep per day to lose that 1 lb per week (500 x 7 days= 3500 calories per week= 1 lb of fat).

If you exercise, you are supposed to eat back those calories on top of you MFP goal. I usually eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories to account for logging errors, incorrect heart rate monitor calculations, etc.

editorgrrl

Your MFP calorie goal includes your deficit. But the calorie counts & burns are just estimates, so it will take trial & error to find what works for you.

Some people reduce the margin of error by eating back half their exercise calories. Start by eating them all. In your above example, that's 1,542 calories. Do that for a minimum of two weeks, then reevaluate.

Log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Weigh your food.

Have you read the Sexypants post yet? It's full of good, clearly explained info: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

SLLRunner

While the previous posters are correct, it depends on where you are getting your calorie estimate burns from.

If you are using calorie burn estimates from an App, MFP, or gym machines, i advise eating about 50% to 75% back, since they can be overestimated.

If you are using a properly calibrated heart rate monitor, your estimates are probably pretty accurate, therefore I would suggest eating most if not all of them back.

glassgallm

While the previous posters are correct, it depends on where you are getting your calorie estimate burns from.

If you are using calorie burn estimates from an App, MFP, or gym machines, i advise eating about 50% to 75% back, since they can be overestimated.

If you are using a properly calibrated heart rate monitor, your estimates are probably pretty accurate, therefore I would suggest eating most if not all of them back.

Using a heart rate monitor for any exercise, I eat all my exercise calories back.