help me understand

erinl84

how does the site know how much i burn with just normal daily activity??? where do they take the 500 calorie deficit from??? just trying to understand. i guess i just want to make sure i eat enough calories but dont go over if im not burning the calories the site says i am. am i making any sense???

ladyraven68

how does the site know how much i burn with just normal daily activity??? where do they take the 500 calorie deficit from??? just trying to understand. i guess i just want to make sure i eat enough calories but dont go over if im not burning the calories the site says i am. am i making any sense???

Recommended reading for any new comer.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

alodell89

How much you burn daily is called your basal metabolic rate which can be calculated based on your height, weight, age and gender then I believe they take the deficit from there. Hope this helps!

Kamalalue

Your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) is calculated using the information that you plugged into MFP. It determines what your body burns every day doing absolutely nothing but bodily functions. It then takes the calories that your body needs, and determines what you need to eat each day to create the deficit weekly that will cause the loss you are looking for.

Then as you add in exercise, it shows the extra calories that you should be eating to compensate.

I hope this helps!

erinl84

guess im confused because my bmr is apparently 1447, so if i minus 500 calories from that, its like 947 .....so where does the 1200 calories a day come in?

Shweedog

guess im confused because my bmr is apparently 1447, so if i minus 500 calories from that, its like 947 .....so where does the 1200 calories a day come in?

BMR is what you burn laying down not moving all day. You burn about 500 cals on top of that just living your life. Your daily ependiture is your BMR plus your daily activity. This is what the 500 is deducted from.

Shweedog

guess im confused because my bmr is apparently 1447, so if i minus 500 calories from that, its like 947 .....so where does the 1200 calories a day come in?

Also, regardless of the pounds you choose to lose per week MFP will not have you eat less than 1200 calories even though the math seems as though you should. Eating below this withour dr supervision is not recommended. And the less you have to lose the less you should choose to lose per week. Have a lot to lose? Two lbs per week (1000 cals per day deficit) should be selected. Hardly any to lose? A half pound per week (250 cals per day deficit) should be selected.

ladyraven68

guess im confused because my bmr is apparently 1447, so if i minus 500 calories from that, its like 947 .....so where does the 1200 calories a day come in?

You are confusing BMR with TDEE, BMR is what you'd need if you were in a coma, whereas TDEE includes your daily activity.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/512956-tdee-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-not-eat-below-your-bmr?

cherriewilliams

the 1447 is what you burn just to keep you alive. Like sleeping/breathing/coma state ect. once you get up and even sit and walk around your house you burn more calories on top of that. When you set up your goals it will tell you your BMR and the amount you actually burn in a day. They subtract 500 from that number.

erinl84

ok thanks everyone. yeah, i wouldnt want to only eat 900 calories a day but just wanted to make sure i was understanding this