How is the daily calorie intake calculated on myfitnesspal?

jjjube

Hello everyone, I've been using this excellent website for about a week now and I only want to lose a few kilos but when I typed in my current weight and my desired goal weight it came up with the amount of calories I needed to consume each day. I am certain I am eating enough food because I'm eating everything I would usually eat but I've just substituted the junk for healthy alternatives however my fitness pal keeps telling me I am not eating enough. This seems to happen when I log in my exercise. I also want to know if it takes into consideration your job/employment. I am a nurse on a very busy ward so I do alot of walking each shift which I guess would add up to about 700+ calories burned each shift... Am I meant to include this in exercise or is to be ignored? I really hope someone can help me here cos I am a bit worried that I am suposively eating too few calories and possibly putting myself into starvation mode. I rarely feel hungry so I think that would be a good indicator. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks heaps in advance. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

T0M0

When you first set up you profile what selection did you make for your daily activity ie sendatory etc. If your on the move all day (nursing) you should have selected a more active profile for MFP to alter your calories.

heidipalmquist

If you feel hungry, you probably aren't eating enough. I plateaued for a month, so changed my goal to 1/2 pound per week, which raised my calories a bit and I started losing again right away. I have an active job, too, working with disabled children in a school. I wear a pedometer and don't count the first 2000 steps (1 mile), but then, add exercise minutes after that, 10 minutes for every 1000 steps.

arosegeo

it takes your BMR which is how many calories it takes you to lay in bed and breath, then it takes your daily activity level and estimates calories burned there and adds it to your total. and then adds logged exercise, you need an intake of 1200 positive calories a day or it will tell you you arent eating enough. so if you eat the bare minimum of 1200 and burn off 200 you have to eat those back.

jjjube

Thanks everyone I guess I could go in and change my initial settings to suit my occupation however I don't work every day of the week so it would be inaccurate. In fact I pretty much work every second day so I can't really say I'm very active for half of the week (when at work) and not quite so active for the other half cos the system won't allow it. Like I said, it is rare that I get hungry and when I do, I go and eat so I can't understand how my calorie intake could be too low. Not real sure what to do with this.