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MyFitnessPal Community

New here. I have a question.

bsmith404

I've been doing WW for over 4 years and have made goal in March. But my weight is going up/down for the last couple of months and by big numbers like 3lbs, 4lbs, etc. so I decided to start counting calories.

Anyway I see that I have a total of 1,380calories per day and that my exercise goal is 1,180cal per week.

I'm a little confused as I did P90X today for one hour and then did a 57minute/5mile speedwork run. Accorind to my HRM I burned a total of 803calories today. And then I go back to my food tracker and it says I have 2138calories to eat today.

My question is: Whatever you are burning in exercise you eat that day? So MFP already takes into account the total calories you need to lose weight. So they did the math for you so there is no you need to eat 2500 calories today and you need to burn 500 today to lose weight.

Sorry just a little confused as I have never counted calories just points.

Replies

BerryH

Yes, unlike other some weight loss plans MFP does not take into account exercise calories in your daily activity until you actually do it. When you log your exercise, MFP is designed so you "eat back" the exercise calories and still remain an a deficit, e.g. 500 calories a day to lose 1lb a week. Hope that helps! :flowerforyou:

Spence_

Well it doesn't take them into account if you have it set to 'sedentary'. If you've told MFP that you're active, and exercise 4-5 times a week, then it factors in some extra calories. Personally, I find it easier to select sedentary and then try and eat back at least 50% of my exercise calories :]

BerryH

Well it doesn't take them into account if you have it set to 'sedentary'. If you've told MFP that you're active, and exercise 4-5 times a week, then it factors in some extra calories. Personally, I find it easier to select sedentary and then try and eat back at least 50% of my exercise calories :]

Sorry, but again unlike other weight loss systems MFP's level of activity only includes lifestyle, not formal exercise sessions, as explained in its activity definitions:

Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. nurse, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

So even if you were a bike messenger pedalling about all day, if you did a Zumba class in the evening you'd still log that and eat back the extra calories :flowerforyou:

Spence_

Oh, I see. Well put - sorry for my error.

bsmith404

Ok thank you. I am a SAHM so I put lightly active as I saw it had nothing to do with exercise. I felt like i've been eating all day with my set calories and then the ones I burned. But you don't have to eat them all correct. LIke WW where you have to eat all your points. It just seems like a lot of calories to be eating all in one day. But maybe thats what I need. Maybe I need to eat more and not less since I work out a lot.

annew1952

Hi I'm annew1952 and I too was. on weight watchers many times. Last time was in 2004. I managed to keep all of it off except
10 pounds. I joined this application march 22 and I have lost 7 pounds so far on this. I am happy.

MeeshKB

Just wanted to add that I too am a WW veteran, and I absolutely love using MFP now that I've switched (the fact that it's free certainly doesn't hurt!).

You don't have to eat all your calories every day the way that WW encourages you to, but do be careful that with your exercise you don't net out too low. That is, if your total calories for the day are 1200, and you do 500 cals of exercise, you would net out at 700 cals unless you eat some of those exercise calories back. Most will tell you it's very unhealthy to net out at less than 1200 calories on a regular basis.

Personally, I usually eat back all of my exercise calories (I did this on WW too), and I am consistently losing. It can be a bit of trial and error until you find what works best for you, but this site and the messageboards here give you all the resources you need to figure it all out.

Best of luck with this leg of your journey!

bsmith404

Thank ou Meesh. You explained it great to me. So I have 1380cal a day and today I burned 803calories so I would have just taken in 577calories. Plus that many calories I was hungry today and it was great being able to eat my exercise calories. This is my 3rd day and it got me thinking that I was eating too little on WW. I had my daily points, hardly used my weekly points and exercised so I wasn't eating much.

MeeshKB

Yeah, I would definitely eat at least some of those calories back. Good job on the activity...you are a calorie burning machine!

Moxie42

Someone tried to simplify it to me by saying "Just make sure your NET calories are at least 1,200" regardless of anything else.

Does anyone else know if that's a good, simple way to think of it?

bsmith404

Moxie today I ate a total of 1,929 calories so if I subract my calories burned of 803 then I had a net calorie of : 1126. But I just couldn't eat anymore. Compared to WW I ate an extra 3oz of chicken, some crackers with laughing cow cheese, 1cup of rice vs 1/2cup, a bigger breafast (which I needed because I ate after my workout) and some icecream and sangria. And I was still under the calories I was supposed to eat.

Mummyadams

Overthinking too much I think? I always thought that if you want to lose weight you need to set your daily calories to 1200. Stay within that and any exercise you do on top of that is a bonus?

Moxie42

Moxie today I ate a total of 1,929 calories so if I subract my calories burned of 803 then I had a net calorie of : 1126. But I just couldn't eat anymore. Compared to WW I ate an extra 3oz of chicken, some crackers with laughing cow cheese, 1cup of rice vs 1/2cup, a bigger breafast (which I needed because I ate after my workout) and some icecream and sangria. And I was still under the calories I was supposed to eat.

Bsmith- Has that been working pretty consistently for you? I'm one of those people afraid to increase my cals but it seems like all the evidence says I should. I used to do WW too so I'm used to the whole "exercise cals aren't mandatory" mind-frame.

Mummyadams- That's what I always thought but everyone here seems to swear eating 1,200 isn't enough and increasing is what will get through plateaus. I haven't totally plateaued yet but I'm hardly losing anything. My instinct is to cut back but on days I exercise, sometimes I only net around 800 so I'm sure cutting back more would be unhealthy. I do think I've been eating way too much sodium though so I'm working on that starting today.

TylerJ76

Overthinking too much I think? I always thought that if you want to lose weight you need to set your daily calories to 1200. Stay within that and any exercise you do on top of that is a bonus?

Not true at all.

JoniBologna

Overthinking too much I think? I always thought that if you want to lose weight you need to set your daily calories to 1200. Stay within that and any exercise you do on top of that is a bonus?

No, not true. It is important to properly fuel your body. 1200 calories is too low for a lot of people. You will create a deficit that is too large. It is important to eat back most if not all of your exercise calories.

JoniBologna

Moxie today I ate a total of 1,929 calories so if I subract my calories burned of 803 then I had a net calorie of : 1126. But I just couldn't eat anymore. Compared to WW I ate an extra 3oz of chicken, some crackers with laughing cow cheese, 1cup of rice vs 1/2cup, a bigger breafast (which I needed because I ate after my workout) and some icecream and sangria. And I was still under the calories I was supposed to eat.

Bsmith- Has that been working pretty consistently for you? I'm one of those people afraid to increase my cals but it seems like all the evidence says I should. I used to do WW too so I'm used to the whole "exercise cals aren't mandatory" mind-frame.

Mummyadams- That's what I always thought but everyone here seems to swear eating 1,200 isn't enough and increasing is what will get through plateaus. I haven't totally plateaued yet but I'm hardly losing anything. My instinct is to cut back but on days I exercise, sometimes I only net around 800 so I'm sure cutting back more would be unhealthy. I do think I've been eating way too much sodium though so I'm working on that starting today.

I eat about close to 2000 cal a day, and I am still losing. Don't be afraid. It is great to feel full and satisfied, yet still lose weight.

Mummyadams

Aaah - I thought I had it sussed but clearly I don't. I want to lose 3kg (7 lbs) so stripping the last of the fat and then get into heavy weights 4 x days a week & cardio 2 x days a week to really tone up (Jillian from the Biggest Loser is my ideal shape). Now I have no idea how many cals I should be eating - help anyone?
I should add that the 1200 cals I eat satisfy me, I still have my cheat foods so i don't feel too deprived.

BerryH

Just go with the calories MFP gives you to love 1lb a week and it does all the hard sums for you based on your height, weight and gender. You shouldn't aim for more than 1lb a week unless you've a lot to lose. The heavier you are the more you can eat and still lose weight.

With just 7lbs to lose, you might want to set to lose just 0.5lb a week, and eat all or at least a good proportion of your exercise calories to fuel those workouts.

helenwilliams78

I agree with you BerryH. I lost 14lbs before MFP changed me to 1200 calories and it all went wrong. I found it really hard to only eat that much, was quite miserable and ended up putting on a few lbs because I lost my focus.

I have now changed my settings to lose 0.5lb a week and am so much happier and feel healthier.

1200 calories a day will work for some people but not everyone. Just not stressing about it has helped me!

bsmith404

Moxie I just started MFP this week so we'll see if it works. But I can not just eat 1200 calories a day and exercise the way I do and not eat extra.

I have 8lbs to try to lose so should I aim for .5lbs a week. But I've also hit a plateu since November where I am losing/gaining the same 5lbs. Driving me crazy which is why I switched to MFP.