Understanding the Basics

MalGC

:flowerforyou: Hey I am trying to figure out what my numbers need to be at the end of the day to lose weight. So right now it says I need to eat 1310 calories a day. So what number do I want my net to say? So for example today so far it says goal:1310 + Food: 1333 - Exercise 305 = Net 1028 and I have a green 282 for calories remaining. So what should I be looking for to lose weight. thanks for your help in advance

KBGirts

Many people say different things. Most agree that you should focus on net.... meaning you can eat extra calories you burn through exercise. Some people say you will lose weigh faster if you don't eat them back, but others will disagree and say that puts you in starvation mode.

Personally I eat them back and focus on my net. You'll have to see what works best for you over time.

soccerella

you definitely dont want it to be red, that means you went over your calories

basically you ate what MFP said you need to eat to lose a pound a week. That is without any exercise. Since you exercised, you earned more calories. It is recommended that you eat your exercise calories back to try to get your net close to the suggested goal.

Try reading this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

rockerbabyy

i answered you in the other thread, but not sure if you saw it or not -

so you should eat those 282 calories in order to bring your net to 1310

Pebble321

I'd suggest that you start out by using MFP as it is designed - that means eating those extra 282 calories so you have (close to) 0 cals remaining. It really doesn't matter if you are over or under by a few calories - everything we enter is an estimate anyway.

Once you've done this for a month or so you can evaluate things and see how it is working for you. If yo' re losing weight faster or slower than you expected, you can tweak the numbers and see how that goes.

MalGC

Ok thanks. My problem I am having is I am not hungry. I ate a bag of 100calorie popcorn while I was waiting for responses so I now have 172 remaining and I am not hungry!!

soccerella

if its one day that you are slightly under, its not going to ruin things. The goal is to try to get close to it, which I say you are. I ate some of my exercise calories back today, but i still have 142 left. I think if you have about 150 or so left then its not going to be that big a deal, but obvisouly you dont want to be like 500 or so under! Just try to get close if you can and if you're not hungry, you're not hungry....maybe tomorrow you will be and end up eating them all back