a dummy way of explaining...

Balishdear

I viewed some of the links provided for "newbies" and still don't understand the idea of mastering the whole calories taken in, excersize/deficit, this that.... Does anyone have a "dummies" way of explaining this all?

uubulldawg06

you need to eat back your exercise calories ( or at least most of them.) mfp had already built the deficit into your daily goal based on your weight loss goals and daily activity level. if you dont give your body the fuel it needs you will not lose

sunshine79

How ever many calories you 'burn' doing exercise you need to eat those back as extra calories. e.g your daily calorie allowance is 1200 BUT if you exercise and burn 350 calories you need to eat 1550 (1200 + 350) calories that day

dengarrett

Think of it as a bucket that you want to keep at a certain level. Eating puts calories in the bucket and exercise takes the calories out. Your goal is to keep the bucket at your designated level by eating and exercising.

christina_michelle

you need to eat back your exercise calories ( or at least most of them.) mfp had already built the deficit into your daily goal based on your weight loss goals and daily activity level. if you dont give your body the fuel it needs you will not lose

couldn't have said it better.

Balishdear

Hah, I love all of you, I understand now! Thanks!!

ShellyMacchi

here's a great explanation *S*

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ladyhawk00/view/mfp-basics-78491

jessicafreake

here is a post from earlier today that I believe has explained this really well, and this information comes from a trainer with nutrition back ground. Please read below

Hey everyone,
I know i have read over and over on here to eat back the calories you burn exercising and yes i have been. (most time) Even though i realy felt like it defeated the purpose of exercising.

Anyways my boot camp instructor is also a personal trainer and right into nutrition so i emailed her and asked her opinon on the eating back calories.
I copied her reply to anyone that is interested (it is a long reply) - if not interested in what she had to say please dont continue reading as i know there are a few on here who do not agree with eating back the calories not matter what is explained.

Here is my question and her reply.

Question:
I am on a program online (www.myfitnesspal.com) I put in everything I eat and also mark down my calories burned each day through exercise.

It is telling me to eat back my exercise calories I burned so my net does not fall below 1200 - which is my goal if I want to lose 2 lbs a week.
They said if I only eat 1200 a day and burn off say 600 that is only giving me a calorie intake of 600 for the day.
What do you suggest? I just hate to eat back all the calories I worked so hard to burn off – kinda defeats the purpose in my opinion?

Answer:
Great question! To start, I would like to clarify that eating 1200 calories to lose weight is fine for some people, and not others. It may be too low. So for those of you that are interested in calorie counting, you must check a program first like the one listed above, as the amount can be influenced with your activity level, your height, and your age.
When you're eating 1200 calories per day you would likely lose weight without exercise. So when you add exercise in there, and burn another 600 calories, you leave your body only 600 calories to use for energy throughout your day. This is not good. Not only will this make you tired and quite possibly *****y, but your body will start going into starvation mode. This is a fact my friends! Our bodies are absolutely brilliant, and we are made to survive. This is what our bodies want, and will do anything to obtain. Therefore, when you eat too little, your body will hang onto everything you eat...just in case it doesn't get enough calories today, and/or the next day. When you eat just enough calories for your body, your body will be satisfied, and will burn the calories for energy. This is what you want because this will also make you feel energized, and it will feed the muscles we are working so hard to get Therefore, when you workout, yes you want to replace the calories lost, and you want to replace it with healthy food choices and not look at it as an excuse to hit the Toonie Tuesday fast food restaurant on your way home. Working out is awesome for losing weight because there is a calorie deficit, but more importantly, it helps you relieve stress so you don't stress eat, and it also helps you build lean muscle so your body is strong and burning calories at rest all day long. Remember, every pound of muscle you have on your body, you burn and extra 50-100 calories doing nothing per day! If you want to get this lean muscle, you must eat back a proper amount of calories after our workouts. So no, you are not defeating the purpose by eating back some of the calories lost during a workout.

Another point I would like to make is that when people create a calorie deficit of course they're going to lose weight initially. You just need to be mindful how much of a deficit you've created. If it is too much of a deficit, you'll lose for a couple weeks, and you'll lose fast. The only thing is that it is not maintainable. You're body will start craving food like crazy, and when you start to feed yourself a proper amount of calories, your body will pack on pounds because it is scared that it will soon run into another famine, trying to survive on low calories. It will want to preserve the calories it is getting as a "safety net". Therefore, you want to lose weight by taking calories out in a smart way. This can simply be through healthy eating and exercise. Our workouts can burn anywhere from 300-800 calories per hour. This depends on how hard you work, your current weight, and the type of workout we do for that day. Another deficit you can create in a healthy way is through your food. Counting calories is a great way to show you portion control, so you start to learn what your body needs. I do believe that counting calories at the beginning of a weight loss journey is good as it teaches you about types of food and the calories they contain, along with the amount necessary for you. Portion control is great thing to learn in this day and age with "supersize this, and 2 for 1 that", because we have portion distortion when it comes to food. Nonetheless, if this is something that you can't find the time to do, or something you don't want to do forever, listening to your body is very important as well. If you're cutting back on your calories, working out, and are well hydrated but notice you're always tired, one of the reasons could be because you've cut out too many calories. Adding in an apple a day, or some cottage cheese could make the world of difference. Cookies don't usually fit the bill.

Overall, being mindful of the types of foods you eat while working out, is likely going to work for some as well. Kicking the late night snacking can slash a couple hundred calories a week - or more! Switching from double double coffee to black can cut back calories, opting for an actual piece of fruit compared to a glass of juice can make a difference. Make small changes that cut back calories in a smart way....don't overdo it and put your body into starvation mode. It will be the start of habitual yo-yo dieting. Yikes! Balance it out so it is a lifestyle you can maintain

Love the questions ladies - Let me know if you have any questions in regrads to the answer

PJilly

From http://www.myfitnesspal.com/faq

Q. How does MyFitnessPal work?

A. Using MyFitnessPal is very simple. Here's how our basic process works:

1. Based on your fitness profile, we'll recommend a daily net calorie target for you to achieve your weight loss (or gain) goals.

2. As you eat and exercise throughout the day, you need to log your meals and exercise in our Food and Exercise diaries. MyFitnessPal will calculate the number of calories you've consumed and burned from exercise and let you know how many calories you have left to eat for the day. If you stick within your calorie limits, you should achieve the weight loss you're looking for.

3. The best part of our system is that logging gets easier the more you do it. MyFitnessPal remembers the foods and exercises you like most and makes it easy for you to add those items to your diary. In just a few days, logging can be as fast as 30 seconds — it's literally that easy.

4. Periodically (we recommend once a week), you should weigh yourself and check-in your new weight with the site using our Check-In feature. Checking in your weight allows us to track your progress over time and also adjust your calorie goals to reflect your new weight.

That's it! Just a few minutes a day can show you so much about what you're eating and how that impacts your health.