Can someone please explain this to me?

pensierobello

This is in my goals:

Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity 2,130 cal/day
Your Daily Goal 1,400 cal/day
Daily Calorie Deficit 730 calories
Projected Weight Loss 1.5 lbs/week

And this is in my diary for today:

1400 GOAL
1227 FOOD - 966 EXERCISE =
261 NET

So what does that mean against the daily deficit? Is that 261 the deficit?

SezxyStef

NO...

your current deficit is just over 1900...you need to eat exercise calories back...plus hit the 1400 goal MFP gave you.

pensierobello

Sorry, I'm having a thick moment, I need to eat exercise calories back?

BigT555

Sorry, I'm having a thick moment, I need to eat exercise calories back?

yea youre eating way too little
but what did you do to burn 966 calories? thats quite a bit

Chezzie84

Yes. You are already in deficit before you start so any calories burned by exercise have to be eaten back.
How did you work out your exercise burned calories. That's a lot.

_KitKat_

Your goal is suppose to be your NET calories. So your goal is 1400, this already has the 730 calorie deficient. If you eat 1400 but exercise 350, your net is 1050, you need to meet goal so you eat 350 more calories. You have a burn set to 900 some calories burned, if you are using a gym machines estimate or MFP they always over estimate. Many here eat 1/2 of the calories from exercise back, to keep track you can hit the calories spot on exercises and adjust it to 50% of what MFP says.

Other people prefer the TDEE- ??% method and then they don't eat their exercise back because it is already figured in. Many threads here about this.

pensierobello

Why do they have to be eaten back? Sorry, I really don't understand this!

I did a vigorous swim and cycle this morning. I know that MFP overestimates the amount burned, but I input it anyway and try not to go crazy far above the 1400.

TheVirgoddess

261 is your net - meaning what you gave your body - which obviously isn't a lot.

If you're going to burn that many calories in a day (which - what exercise are you even doing?), you need to eat some of those back IMO - at the VERY least meet your initial goal of 1400.

Via exercise I earn about 300 calories a day, but I rarely eat those back because it's not a whole lot. People have differing opinions on eating back calories so you'll hear lots of different advice in that area. I just think if you're going to burn that much while not eating your goal, you need to eat more food.

All of this is, of course, my opinion.

_KitKat_

Why do they have to be eaten back? Sorry, I really don't understand this!

I did a vigorous swim and cycle this morning. I know that MFP overestimates the amount burned, but I input it anyway and try not to go crazy far above the 1400.

NET equal calories consumed - calories burned. NET = GOAL.

Net being too low is not healthy and creates too large of a deficient. If you do not like the MFP method, look into TDEE.

cwolfman13

Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity 2,130 cal/day
Your Daily Goal 1,400 cal/day
Daily Calorie Deficit 730 calories

The 2,130 is your estimated NON EXERCISE maintenance number...meaning if you just lived your day to day life without exercise you would maintain with that number. 1,400 calories per day gives you a deficit of 730 calories from you NON EXERCISE maintenance number...so you would lose weight just hitting that calorie goal WITHOUT exercise.

Exercise is additional activity provided that you did not include it in your activity level (you're not supposed to with MFP) which is why when you log it, your calorie goal is increased. You still maintain the same deficit though because your maintenance number moves up with exercise...let's say you burn 300 calories with exercise...now your maintenance number becomes 2430 and your calorie goal to lose weight becomes 1800...but that's still a 730 calorie deficit.

You have to be very careful that you aren't overestimating calorie burn though and that you are also setting your profile up correctly to not include exercise in your activity level setting...if it is included then you would be double counting that activity. If you want to include your exercise in your activity level I would strongly suggest using a TDEE calculator and customizing your goals here...MFP is a NEAT method calculator.

BigT555

Why do they have to be eaten back? Sorry, I really don't understand this!

I did a vigorous swim and cycle this morning. I know that MFP overestimates the amount burned, but I input it anyway and try not to go crazy far above the 1400.

the value MFP gives you for calories is based on days that you do not exercise. when you exercise, you burn calories, creating a greater deficit. you need to eat some (or all) of these back so you are not eating at too much of a deficit and therefore putting your health at risk

i would eat half to 3/4 of the amount burned, but that still leaves you netting around 1000 so someone else will have to chime in to give advice for this one

youdontknowwhatyousaw

No, your deficit is 1139 (calorie goal - calories consumed + calories burned through exercise) 1400-1227+966=1139
MFP should say you have 1139 calories remaining.

Net calories are your calories consumed minus calories burned through exercise or how many of your goal calories have been consumed. 1227-966=261

Your deficit is the number of calories you have remaining to eat.

MFP already has your 730 calorie deficit built in to your 1400 calories daily goal. You're suppose to eat your exercise calories back to maintain your 730 calorie deficit. With your exercise you can eat another 966 calories for a total of 2366 and still have a 730 calorie deficit. MFP tends to overestimate calories burned, many people choose to only eat half those calories back.

spinedocmfp

To maintain you would eat 2130 calories. If you eat the 1400 calories you are eating at a 730 calorie deficit already. You would lose 1.5 lbs per week, without exercise. If you burn 966 at exercise, that would make your deficit 1699 calories at 3.4 lbs per week. You are supposed to eat back your exercise calories to keep the constant 730 calorie deficit. There are many reasons why you should not try to lose 3.4 lbs per week, stick with the set goals and you will get there.

Aaron_K123

What MFP is saying is that if you EAT 1400 calories and do no exercise you will have a 700 calorie deficit and will lose 1.5 pounds per week. A 700 calorie deficit is okay but it is pretty aggressive in terms of weight loss.

If you exercise on top of that and your burn estimate is correct and do not eat your calories back you will have an enormous deficit of 1900 which is ridiculous and way to aggressive. At that deficit you will lose weight alarmingly fast for as long as you can sustain it (which won't be long you will quickly become lethargic tired and depressed eating that little). That weight loss though will be from not only lost fat but also lost muscle.

You are asking your body to perform all these activities but not giving it the fuel necessary to do them which is just going to tear your body down and not let it recover.

Either don't exercise or eat your exercise calories back to NET 1400 per day.

Personally I estimate my average burn from exercise to be about 300 a day so I eat about 2100 calories per day to net 1800.

Marlena0708

OK, look at it this way. Your goal and your net should be the same number by the end of the day. In your first post, your net was 261. That is too few calories for your body to function properly. Your net at the end of the day should = 1400 (same as goal). When people say to "eat back your exercise" they mean you need to eat an additional 1139 calories per day if you are exercising that much.

Eating a net of 261 calories per day is not nearly enough. Eat a net of 1400.

pensierobello

Thanks everyone, I think I get it now How confusing! For me exercise is really important in order to ensure that I'm not dropping too fast and that when I do drop, my body adjusts with it. I'm not deliberately not eating or anything, don't worry! Just trying to make sensible choices.

I don't want to lose 3.4lbs per week and I definitely can't exercise that much every day (only on weekends and bank holidays!) I will adjust to half, I do know I worked hard but I don't think almost 1000 calories is realistically correct.

mymodernbabylon

When I was eating back my calories, I went with 50% of them and that seemed to work out well.

AbsolutelyAnnie

Think of it in terms of money. You want to END the day with $1400 in the bank. You START the day at zero. Each calorie you eat is a dollar added to the bank. Each calorie you burn with exercise is a dollar spent.

When you burn 200 calories, you are spending $200 dollars. To get that money back you need to eat 200 calories, that's why MFP adds that amount to your daily goals to make sure you get that money back. Otherwise you end up with less than $1400 in the bank.

These articles are WELL worth the time it takes to read them. Best of luck.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide?hl=Logging+accurately