Questions

SarahBear9708

Hi!

1. How do I know what my net intake of cals should be? I feel like what this site is telling me is a bit high.

2. Should I be worried if gain a little weight sometimes too even while I'm dieting and exercising?

Thanks!

cabul3

1. trust what the site tells you )

2. limit your weigh-ins to once a week and you'll usually see the scale go down. but it might go up the odd time. try to not get disappointed! usually the gain will be gone the next week, provided you're following the system )

SarahBear9708

1. trust what the site tells you )

2. limit your weigh-ins to once a week and you'll usually see the scale go down. but it might go up the odd time. try to not get disappointed! usually the gain will be gone the next week, provided you're following the system )

Thank you for the answers! It seems like I actually keep going under what they tell me. Surprising for me, but true.

Artemis_Acorn

If you click on the "Goals" menu, it will break it out for you. Basically, MFP works with the following formula:

Your BMR (based on height/weight/age) times a multiplier based on the lifestyle you designated = Calories burned from normal Daily Activity.

Minus the Calorie Deficit (250 calories for each 1/2 pound targeted weight loss per week. If you pick the recommended 1 pound per week, this will be a 500 calorie deficit per day.)

Equals

Your Net Calories Consumed target. If you don't exercise, this is your TOTAL calories consumed target. If you do exercise, you eat the exercise calories back to hit your Net Calories target.

Note that your BMR goes down as you lose weight, so as you lose weight - it doesn't take as many calories to sustain the lower body weight - so you will be adjusting your calorie target downward as you go along. You will be prompted about every 10 pounds or so to re-run the wizard, or you can go to the Goals page and manually edit it to keep your calorie deficit in line with your desired rate of weight loss.

SarahBear9708

If you click on the "Goals" menu, it will break it out for you. Basically, MFP works with the following formula:

Your BMR (based on height/weight/age) times a multiplier based on the lifestyle you designated = Calories burned from normal Daily Activity.

Minus the Calorie Deficit (250 calories for each 1/2 pound targeted weight loss per week. If you pick the recommended 1 pound per week, this will be a 500 calorie deficit per day.)

Equals

Your Net Calories Consumed target. If you don't exercise, this is your TOTAL calories consumed target. If you do exercise, you eat the exercise calories back to hit your Net Calories target.

Note that your BMR goes down as you lose weight, so as you lose weight - it doesn't take as many calories to sustain the lower body weight - so you will be adjusting your calorie target downward as you go along. You will be prompted about every 10 pounds or so to re-run the wizard, or you can go to the Goals page and manually edit it to keep your calorie deficit in line with your desired rate of weight loss.

That makes sense....sorta. Hahaha leave it to my brain to not comprehend anything lol. So if it says today that I have 393 calories remaining after eating and exercising....is that ok? Or is that actually too low?

OnMyWay2STay

That makes sense....sorta. Hahaha leave it to my brain to not comprehend anything lol. So if it says today that I have 393 calories remaining after eating and exercising....is that ok? Or is that actually too low?

It depends. Two things: always eat at least 1200 net calories. So, if you worked out and your net is showing only 900 or 1000 calories then you should definitely eat more.
Secondly, you want to aim for a deficit of 500 to 1000 calories. Depending on what you have MFP calculate, your goal will include that deficit automatically. If you chose the default of 1 lb loss per week, then your goal is a 500 calorie deficit, so being under by 400 would put you at 900 calories under maintenance. That is totally fine and you will lose weight a bit quicker if you do that daily.
However, if you already have MFP set for a loss of 2 lbs per week, then a deficit of 1000 calories is calculated for you. And going under that by almost 400 calories is not a good idea. At least not day after day.
Does that help?

SarahBear9708

That makes sense....sorta. Hahaha leave it to my brain to not comprehend anything lol. So if it says today that I have 393 calories remaining after eating and exercising....is that ok? Or is that actually too low?

It depends. Two things: always eat at least 1200 net calories. So, if you worked out and your net is showing only 900 or 1000 calories then you should definitely eat more.
Secondly, you want to aim for a deficit of 500 to 1000 calories. Depending on what you have MFP calculate, your goal will include that deficit automatically. If you chose the default of 1 lb loss per week, then your goal is a 500 calorie deficit, so being under by 400 would put you at 900 calories under maintenance. That is totally fine and you will lose weight a bit quicker if you do that daily.
However, if you already have MFP set for a loss of 2 lbs per week, then a deficit of 1000 calories is calculated for you. And going under that by almost 400 calories is not a good idea. At least not day after day.
Does that help?

Ahhh that makes sense! Thank you! I just assumed if I had less calories I would lose more weight. Silly me, I guess I didn't take everything into account.