Frustrations of not understanding!

riggins152

Hope You guys can give me the answers I need. I have searched for a while, and I keep getting the same results. First question: Do I have to eat all my daily calories? can I go a little under? I use to try to get one serving of many things for a meal, but now that i joined MFP i have to get more servings to eat all my daily calories. My second question is the damn Net calories. I understand what they are and how they came to be, but what the hell am I supposed to do with them? and what is negative and positive mean? I also heard something about after exercising, to eat back the burned calories? This does not make sense to me? I'm a smart guy, but this is confusing and frustrating.

dlwyatt82

The calorie target MFP sets for you has a deficit already built in (depending on what weight loss goal you selected in your fitness profile) of somewhere between 250 and 1000 calories per day (corresponding to 1/2 pound to 2 pounds per week of estimated loss).

You can certainly eat slightly more or less than your target, but try not to get in the habit of missing it by more than a couple hundred in either direction. While I don't fully understand why, people who eat too few calories can actually slow down their weight loss. Doesn't make sense, but that's been the experience of many people here. Each of us seems to have sort of a "sweet spot" where we get the best results, and you'll need to experiment a bit to figure out what yours is.

Regarding exercise calories and "Net Calories", those two things go together. When you click the "My Home" tab of the MFP website, you're presented with this daily summary equation: Food - Exercise = Net. To the left of that, is your original Goal calories, and above the whole thing is a larger number showing "Calories Remaining". To keep it as simple as possible, just pay attention to the "Calories Remaining" number, and try to get it as close to zero as possible. If it's still a postive number (and colored green), you can eat some more. If it turns red and goes below zero, you've already eaten enough for the day (unless you add some Exercise later, which can bump it back up to positive / green).

Another way to look at it is that you want the "Net Calories" number to be as close to your original Goal number as possible. When they are equal, the "Calories Remaining" value will be zero.

riggins152

Thanks A freaking Bunch! this is the best explanation I have seen and understand a little more. What about about having those big meals? is that normal? I have snacks in between my meals, but my meals are still bigger than I'm use to in order to get my remaining calories to zero. Maybe, I'm just putting way too much thought in this. Thanks for the explanation.

lindsayaerin

Regarding why poeple who eat too few calories actualy slow down the weight loss:

This happens basically because your body goes into "starvation" mode and while I don't know all the science behind it relates to your Metabolism slowing down to save energy etc.

dlwyatt82

Thanks A freaking Bunch! this is the best explanation I have seen and understand a little more. What about about having those big meals? is that normal? I have snacks in between my meals, but my meals are still bigger than I'm use to in order to get my remaining calories to zero. Maybe, I'm just putting way too much thought in this. Thanks for the explanation.

How you spread out your calories is really up to you. From what I've read, scientists haven't found any particular benefit to eating a lot of smaller meals / snacks versus the 3 big meal approach, so long as the nutritional value is the same for the day. I'm using a meal plan recommended to me by a clinic, which is of the "small meals / snacks" approach:

2400 calories target for the day
Breakfast: ~300 calories
Snack: ~150 calories
Protein or Fat 15 minutes before lunch: ~100 calories (I use two Mini Babybel Light cheese wheels for this)
Lunch: ~ 650 calories
Snack: ~150 calories
Protein or Fat 15 minutes before dinner: ~100 calories
Dinner: ~750 calories
Snack: ~150 calories.

The idea is to have each of the meals / snacks come between 2 and 3 hours apart. I usually wind up having both of the later snacks before dinner (breakfast between 7:30 and 8:30, first snack at 10:00, lunch at noon ish, snacks at 2:00 and 4:00, and dinner whenever). My usual snacks are either some baby carrots and hummus, a granola bar, or fruit, though sometimes my sweet tooth kicks in and I have some ice cream or whatever (which is always more than the 150 calories the snack is supposed to be; it's not the end of the world when you go over a bit). The small "15 minutes before Lunch / Dinner" snacks are supposed to help curb your appetite and make it easier not to overeat when the meal is served.

twinmom14ek

I'm blanketing the forums with this link today, but I don't care. It makes sense, and it's worked for me. Check it out!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

nuanwc

I second that, it's is the best explanation I've read! I had the same questions when I started so it took me a while to get the hang of it. Soooo many people on here are not eating enough because they think they are eating back what the exercised off. What you see on your report after adding exercise is MFP's way of making sure you are 1)eating at least 1,200 calories a day and 2) depending on your demographics, are getting what you need to have energy. It's not about exercising to eat at all. They forget to look at their home page to see their net caloric intake which is the point of the it all! It's all about the deficit you create everyday through calorie restriction (which MFP figures out for you based on your weight loss goals/wk, termed "daily goal") and additional exercise to burn what you consume daily and therefore force your body to use stored fat to make up the difference

About your the meal size, maybe try having larger snacks or adding another snack-time to your daily routine to break it up more? The good part is, as you lose the weight you'll have to lower your net calorie goal to continue losing since your BMR is decreasing; so you won't have to work as hard to reach zero.