Huge Question
sashaverlene
Posts: 123 Member
So, MFP says that my BMR is 1600cals and that if I eat 1320cals a day, I will lose 2 pounds a week. The deficit is only 280cals a day or 1960cals a week. There are 7000cals in 2 pounds. How am I supposed to lose 2 pounds a week by burning only 1960cals? :huh:
Also, I do workout and burn 500-700 cals at the gym. If I eat them back, then what was all the exercising for? Which brings me back to question 1. This is so confusing............... Eat 1320cals, burn 500 at the gym, eat those 500 calories back? :noway:
I'd appreciate ALL comments, but I also would like to hear what some of your dieticians, nutritionists, and/or personal trainers told you about eating back calories. Thanks!
Also, I do workout and burn 500-700 cals at the gym. If I eat them back, then what was all the exercising for? Which brings me back to question 1. This is so confusing............... Eat 1320cals, burn 500 at the gym, eat those 500 calories back? :noway:
I'd appreciate ALL comments, but I also would like to hear what some of your dieticians, nutritionists, and/or personal trainers told you about eating back calories. Thanks!
0
Replies
-
Your BMR is calculated based on zero activity in a day. Just sitting in bed and letting your organs work. So if you add your normal daily activity level: sedentary, moderate, high, it adds to your burn rate for the day. That is where your deficit comes from.0
-
You BMR is how much you burn laying in bed all day. Not how much you burn on a normal basis! your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity.
And eat those exercise calories back, I am a dietetics major at my university and we have studied things like this.
so you have a 1000 calorie deficit total at 1320 calories, adding in 500 more would cause you to burn 1500 a day and lose more than 2 lbs a week. but it wont all be fat since you are losing too fast. you will be breaking down muscle as well0 -
I to have asked the same questions! there a is constant battle on wether to eat exercise calories or not. I try to eat them back some days but make it a point to not eat them every day! It depends on how active I am and if I feel hungry if I eat them back. If i feel tired and need the extra energy then I eat them back. I feel that after all my hard work to burn the calories that i don't want to eat them back, 7,000 calories takes a long time to burn offf, just to eat them back!
everyone is different, right now that is working for me!
good luck finding which way works with you!0 -
Hahaha, you're awesome! I'm with you on everything. I don't eat back my exercise calories, to me that whole "Fuel for your body" is kind of silly and math doesn't support it. With a deficit of 280 cals a day you won't lose weight at that rate... are you sure the thing din't change your goal? It changed mine, so from then on I input my own data and choose my deficit (within a healthy range), which includes my exercise calories...0
-
BMR is NOT the number used to calculate your deficit. BMR is what you burn lying in bed doing nothing all day. Assuming you get out of bed you burn more than that. Go to your goals page and find the "Normal Daily Calories Burned" number - THIS is what MFP estimates you burn on a daily basis (it is BMR + daily activity burn) and is what MFP uses to calculate your deficit.0
-
Hahaha, you're awesome! I'm with you on everything. I don't eat back my exercise calories, to me that whole "Fuel for your body" is kind of silly and math doesn't support it. With a deficit of 280 cals a day you won't lose weight at that rate... are you sure the thiing din't change your goal? It changed mine, so frem then on I input my own data and choose my deficit (within a healthy range), which includes my exercise calories...
the math does add up. she doesnt have a deficit of 280 calories, she was looking at her BMR and not total cals burned from activity. She has a deficit of 1000 and can see good results at that rate.0 -
You BMR is how much you burn laying in bed all day. Not how much you burn on a normal basis! your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity.
And eat those exercise calories back, I am a dietetics major at my university and we have studied things like this.
so you have a 1000 calorie deficit total at 1320 calories, adding in 500 more would cause you to burn 1500 a day and lose more than 2 lbs a week. but it wont all be fat since you are losing too fast. you will be breaking down muscle as well
Your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity?... whose daily activity? How much activity? What kind of activity? What does sedentary mean then? and lightly active? and moderately active? and highly active? do they all burn 2320 cals? and if so, why is my plan showing a deficit of only 250 calories when I'm on a 1200 calorie a day plan? Were are my other thousand calories as deficit shown?0 -
Your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity?... whose daily activity? How much activity? What kind of activity? What does sedentary mean then? and lightly active? and moderately active? and highly active? do they all burn 2320 cals? and if so, why is my plan showing a deficit of only 250 calories when I'm on a 1200 calorie a day plan? Were are my other thousand calories as deficit shown?
You're probably a whole lot lighter than the OP.0 -
You BMR is how much you burn laying in bed all day. Not how much you burn on a normal basis! your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity.
And eat those exercise calories back, I am a dietetics major at my university and we have studied things like this.
so you have a 1000 calorie deficit total at 1320 calories, adding in 500 more would cause you to burn 1500 a day and lose more than 2 lbs a week. but it wont all be fat since you are losing too fast. you will be breaking down muscle as well
Your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity?... whose daily activity? How much activity? What kind of activity? What does sedentary mean then? and lightly active? and moderately active? and highly active? do they all burn 2320 cals? and if so, why is my plan showing a deficit of only 250 calories when I'm on a 1200 calorie a day plan? Were are my other thousand calories as deficit shown?
Naomi simply worked backwards to figure that the OP's estimated normal daily burn is 2320, knowing how MFP works. If MFP says the OP will lose 2 lbs/week eating 1320/day, that translates to a 1000 calorie deficit per day, so 1320 + 1000 = 2320.
The OP could confirm this by going to their Goals page and looking up the "Normal Daily Calories Burned"
Regarding your numbers - if MFP says that you have a deficit of only 250 calories on a 1200 calorie/day plan, then that means you're either less active or much smaller than the OP. Each individual's calculations will be different. Your normal daily calories burned, which drives your deficit estimate and your daily calorie goal, is based off of age, sex, weight, height and normal daily activity (sedentary, lightly active, etc.) - all of this is input by each individual user when they setup their goals.0 -
You BMR is how much you burn laying in bed all day. Not how much you burn on a normal basis! your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity.
And eat those exercise calories back, I am a dietetics major at my university and we have studied things like this.
so you have a 1000 calorie deficit total at 1320 calories, adding in 500 more would cause you to burn 1500 a day and lose more than 2 lbs a week. but it wont all be fat since you are losing too fast. you will be breaking down muscle as well
Your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity?... whose daily activity? How much activity? What kind of activity? What does sedentary mean then? and lightly active? and moderately active? and highly active? do they all burn 2320 cals? and if so, why is my plan showing a deficit of only 250 calories when I'm on a 1200 calorie a day plan? Were are my other thousand calories as deficit shown?
Was talking to the original poster. thats what SHE has it set to. How do I know what she does? does she specify? No. I highly doubt yours is showing a 250 cal deficit on a 1200 calorie plan. Unless you lay in bed all day and do not move a muscle. They are shown under the Goals option. From what you put in it calculates your daily activity. Thats where the deficit is from. not your BMR.0 -
Hahaha, you're awesome! I'm with you on everything. I don't eat back my exercise calories, to me that whole "Fuel for your body" is kind of silly and math doesn't support it. With a deficit of 280 cals a day you won't lose weight at that rate... are you sure the thiing din't change your goal? It changed mine, so frem then on I input my own data and choose my deficit (within a healthy range), which includes my exercise calories...
the math does add up. she doesnt have a deficit of 280 calories, she was looking at her BMR and not total cals burned from activity. She has a deficit of 1000 and can see good results at that rate.
I did read wrong that part, if she is looking at her BMR then that's te mistake, she should be looking at her calories burned from daily activity.0 -
Your body burns 2320 calories a day from daily activity?... whose daily activity? How much activity? What kind of activity? What does sedentary mean then? and lightly active? and moderately active? and highly active? do they all burn 2320 cals? and if so, why is my plan showing a deficit of only 250 calories when I'm on a 1200 calorie a day plan? Were are my other thousand calories as deficit shown?
You're probably a whole lot lighter than the OP.
Yes, it is different from person to person. Even at 124 pounds I still burn at least 1700 calories from daily activity around campus and can get a 500 calorie deficit in. Your math is wrong somewhere.0 -
Hahaha, you're awesome! I'm with you on everything. I don't eat back my exercise calories, to me that whole "Fuel for your body" is kind of silly and math doesn't support it. With a deficit of 280 cals a day you won't lose weight at that rate... are you sure the thiing din't change your goal? It changed mine, so frem then on I input my own data and choose my deficit (within a healthy range), which includes my exercise calories...
the math does add up. she doesnt have a deficit of 280 calories, she was looking at her BMR and not total cals burned from activity. She has a deficit of 1000 and can see good results at that rate.
I did read wrong that part, if she is looking at her BMR then that's te mistake, she should be looking at her calories burned from daily activity.
Yup thats what I was saying ^-^ I might have worded it odd xD0 -
Was talking to the original poster. thats what SHE has it set to. How do I know what she does? does she specify? No. I highly doubt yours is showing a 250 cal deficit on a 1200 calorie plan. Unless you lay in bed all day and do not move a muscle. They are shown under the Goals option. From what you put in it calculates your daily activity. Thats where the deficit is from. not your BMR.
Ok! I though you were talking in general.You scared me there for a minute :laugh:
-To EVERYONE that contributed, I forgot that I added 200 cals a day so I'm on a 1400 a day, that's why I have such a low deficit and yeah, I'm on the smaller side and set my level to sedentary just in case. Thanks and sorry about the confusion!! lol!0 -
My BMR is 1406...MFP gives me 1200 cals/day, I burn about 1000 cals/week from exercise. I eat 1200 on days that I don't workout, and I eat 1300 on days that I do. 1406-1200=206 206X7days/week=1442 cals burned from doing zero workouts. If you eat back 700 of the 1000 cals that you burn from working out every week...there is another 300 cals extra. so...1442+300=1742 cals burned per week by doing what I do, so with all of these numbers I should be losing only 0.5lbs per/week, yet my average loss per week is 1.5lbs everyone is right...this only counts your RESTING rate, so unless you just lay in bed all day and do nothing...you will be burning more! 0
-
My BMR is 1406...MFP gives me 1200 cals/day, I burn about 1000 cals/week from exercise. I eat 1200 on days that I don't workout, and I eat 1300 on days that I do. 1406-1200=206 206X7days/week=1442 cals burned from doing zero workouts. If you eat back 700 of the 1000 cals that you burn from working out every week...there is another 300 cals extra. so...1442+300=1742 cals burned per week by doing what I do, so with all of these numbers I should be losing only 0.5lbs per/week, yet my average loss per week is 1.5lbs everyone is right...this only counts your RESTING rate, so unless you just lay in bed all day and do nothing...you will be burning more!
You shouldn't be using BMR to calculate your deficit. Go to your goals page, and look at what MFP estimated as your "Calories Burned - From Normal Daily Activity". THIS Is what you should use to estimate your deficit before exercise.
For example, my BMR may only be about 1500, but I normally burn around 2000/day due to the fact that I don't sleep all day - and that's with my setting on Sedentary.0 -
Was talking to the original poster. thats what SHE has it set to. How do I know what she does? does she specify? No. I highly doubt yours is showing a 250 cal deficit on a 1200 calorie plan. Unless you lay in bed all day and do not move a muscle. They are shown under the Goals option. From what you put in it calculates your daily activity. Thats where the deficit is from. not your BMR.
Ok! I though you were talking in general.You scared me there for a minute :laugh:
Oh hehe nope! I do need to work on my wording :]:flowerforyou:0 -
Oh, right I didn't specify. When I go to the gym (3-5 days a week) I do the elliptical for an hour to burn from 500-625 cals then do treadmill or spinning to burn the extra 100-200. I walk to and from the gym. I walk my puppy for 30-60 minutes, and I dance in my room when I listen to my iPod, so my activity level is set to active. haha0
-
Oh, right I didn't specify. When I go to the gym (3-5 days a week) I do the elliptical for an hour to burn from 500-625 cals then do treadmill or spinning to burn the extra 100-200. I walk to and from the gym. I walk my puppy for 30-60 minutes, and I dance in my room when I listen to my iPod, so my activity level is set to active. haha
Your Normal Daily Activity level isn't supposed to include any exercise. Any exercise that you log on MFP should NOT be counted when deciding that setting. For example, I'm set at sedentary even though I normally workout 4-5 days a week, because other than working out I don't get much activity in other than walking to/from my car, walking around my office building and around my house.
How MFP works is that you set your "normal daily activity" without considering exercise, and then you log all your exercise here separately. This allows for more precise calorie goals.0 -
Hey, there's another issue, you're not supposed to count all that in your activity level!!0
-
Oh hehe nope! I do need to work on my wording :]:flowerforyou:
Actually you said it right, but I'm very used to all of us using "you" to mean in general, when you actually used "you" to refer to her, hehehe...
0 -
Yes, exercise should be included in your activity level.
Person A and Person B are the same height and weight.
Person A goes home and sits at their computer all night.
Person B goes home and does vigorous exercise for an hour at least 3 nights a week.
Person A and Person B sit next to each other at work all day. Person B is burning more calories than Person A while sitting there.
Then Person B goes home and burns even MORE calories, which they then log.0 -
Your Normal Daily Activity level isn't supposed to include any exercise. Any exercise that you log on MFP should NOT be counted when deciding that setting. For example, I'm set at sedentary even though I normally workout 4-5 days a week, because other than working out I don't get much activity in other than walking to/from my car, walking around my office building and around my house.
How MFP works is that you set your "normal daily activity" without considering exercise, and then you log all your exercise here separately. This allows for more precise calorie goals.
Other than working out, I walk my dog and dance a little. Is that still sedentary, or the one after it?0 -
Yes, exercise should be included in your activity level.
Person A and Person B are the same height and weight.
Person A goes home and sits at their computer all night.
Person B goes home and does vigorous exercise for an hour at least 3 nights a week.
Person A and Person B sit next to each other at work all day. Person B is burning more calories than Person A while sitting there.
Then Person B goes home and burns even MORE calories, which they then log.
The way MFP works, you do NOT include exercise in your "normal daily activity level" because you are supposed to log exercise separately. That is why MFP adds in exercise calories to your daily calorie goal when you log them.
Normal Daily Activity Level refers to your non-exercise routine - do you walk/bike to work and/or the store or do you drive everywhere?Do you go up and down the stairs a lot or take elevators? Do you have a physically active job (ex - a landscaper) or a sedentary, desk job?
You have to remember that MFP assumes you aren't going to do any exercise and calculates your standard calorie goal: normal daily calories burned (before exercise) - desired deficit = calorie goal. Then, when you log your exercise, your calories burned goes up, so it adjusts your calorie goal to keep the same deficit.0 -
Your Normal Daily Activity level isn't supposed to include any exercise. Any exercise that you log on MFP should NOT be counted when deciding that setting. For example, I'm set at sedentary even though I normally workout 4-5 days a week, because other than working out I don't get much activity in other than walking to/from my car, walking around my office building and around my house.
How MFP works is that you set your "normal daily activity" without considering exercise, and then you log all your exercise here separately. This allows for more precise calorie goals.
Other than working out, I walk my dog and dance a little. Is that still sedentary, or the one after it?
If you walk your dog at least 30-60 min every day (rarely, if ever, missing any days), I'd pick lighly active, otherwise I'd pick sedentary.0 -
I bought a continuous Heart Rate Monitor which tells me my calories burned. This way I can be confident that my numbers are accurate. This has allowed me to successfully shed 50+ lbs, and now maintain an incredibly ripped physique.
I highly recommend one 0 -
Yes, exercise should be included in your activity level.
Person A and Person B are the same height and weight.
Person A goes home and sits at their computer all night.
Person B goes home and does vigorous exercise for an hour at least 3 nights a week.
Person A and Person B sit next to each other at work all day. Person B is burning more calories than Person A while sitting there.
Then Person B goes home and burns even MORE calories, which they then log.
The way MFP works, you do NOT include exercise in your "normal daily activity level" because you are supposed to log exercise separately. That is why MFP adds in exercise calories to your daily calorie goal when you log them.
Normal Daily Activity Level refers to your non-exercise routine - do you walk/bike to work and/or the store or do you drive everywhere?Do you go up and down the stairs a lot or take elevators? Do you have a physically active job (ex - a landscaper) or a sedentary, desk job?
You have to remember that MFP assumes you aren't going to do any exercise and calculates your standard calorie goal: normal daily calories burned (before exercise) - desired deficit = calorie goal. Then, when you log your exercise, your calories burned goes up, so it adjusts your calorie goal to keep the same deficit.
I know MFP adds exercise calories seperately. That doesn't change the fact that someone who exercises regularly is going to burn more calories while sedentary than the person who doesn't.
The two are not mutually exclusive.0 -
Also, BMR is calculated based on the assumption that you don't move all day long. Its the base number of calories your body needs to survive.0
-
I know MFP adds exercise calories seperately. That doesn't change the fact that someone who exercises regularly is going to burn more calories while sedentary than the person who doesn't.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
All I'm pointing out is how MFP is intended to work. You set your "normal daily activity level" based on your *non-exercise* activity. You log your exercise in the exercise log and *that* is how MFP accounts for your exercise calories - as logged exercise, not as part of your "normal daily activity level". If you are fairly sedentary other than your exercise, but you set your "normal daily activity level" as active because you workout regularly, then MFP will be overestimating your normal daily burn.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions