Can anyone answer this for me?

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amandagetrich
amandagetrich Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Alright so I'm just starting on my weight loss journey, and i'v heard that the best way to lose weight is to burn more calories than I eat. Well, if im eating 1300-1400calories a day, wouldnt I have to run like 5hours to burn that off? I just dont understand how i'm supposed to burn off all my calories. Just by eating a banana and oatmeal for breakfast, i had to work my *kitten* off to excersize how many calories I ate, and still.. its not enough. How am I supposed to do this all day? Excersize every minute of the day? Im confused.

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  • daniellevility
    daniellevility Posts: 9
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    you burn calories by living (aka breathing, sitting, blinking, moving normally, etc). check your metabolic resting rate, its how many calories you ned to stay alive and function. add excersive, number goes up! then eat less than that amount and you will create a deficit. you DO NOT function off of 0 calories a day.
  • pawprint061
    pawprint061 Posts: 640
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo


    Please read... it's very informative.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    Hi, Amanda - Welcome!

    This is excellent reading as well.!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions?page=1





    Also, read the posts in this sticky thread:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

    And scroll thru the pages on it, there are new things added on all the time.

    Good luck. It takes a while to understand it all! Keep asking questions.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    you burn calories by living (aka breathing, sitting, blinking, moving normally, etc). check your metabolic resting rate, its how many calories you ned to stay alive and function. add excersive, number goes up! then eat less than that amount and you will create a deficit. you DO NOT function off of 0 calories a day.

    To find your Basic Metabolic Rate, there are many calculators on the internet. Google BMR. You should get many hits. There is a set "formula" that is suggested, but we are all different.

    Do this. Eat the calories that myfitnesspal tells you to eat. Then if you exercise, eat the calories burned by doing that exercise in ADDITION to the calories you were given as a starting point.

    For instance, my daily calories are 1550. If I exercise and burn 350 calories exercising then I have to eat 1900 calories that day. The 1550 is just what I need to eat to be able to function during the day. I always eat all my calories "earned" by exercise.

    When you exercise, enter that into myfitness pal in the exercise area. If you burn 350 calories exercising, myfitnesspal ADDS that to your food diary so you can see how much you still need to eat that day.

    Hope that helps.
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
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    Okay, so I didn't understand the whole math thing until the other day, so let me explain it to you very simply because I don't understand words like "deficit" (no one explained them to me - they just all use the word like everyone knows what it means). So, let's not use the word.

    MFP calculates how many calories your body burns just living... sitting, laying down, whatever. JUST SURVIVING, that's your basic metabolic rate. Then, since this is a weight loss website, they figure out how many calories your body would need to function, so that's the 1200 or 1400 or whatever MFP gave you. Then, you say, okay, I want to lose 1 pound per week. Okay, so to lose 1 pound per week... you need to let go of 500 calories per day and let me explain why. 3500 calories equals 1 pound. 500 x 7 is 3,500. So if MFP gave you 1200 and your extra calories are 500 per day, then you have 3,500 left over...which is what your body is supposed to get rid of at the end of the week - or during the week, but we're assuming you're weighing once the week is over.

    To lose 2 pounds, you would have to have a higher number of calories "left over". So, let me break it down a little more:

    I am aiming to lose 1 pound per week. I eat 1400 calories per day, and my basic metabolic rate is 1,850. So, that leaves 450 calories left that I can put toward the weight I want to lose... my 3500. So, my 450 x 7 equals less than 3500 because I adjusted my calories instead of going with the guided and now I'm really supposed to lose 0.9 lb per week.

    Hope that makes sense!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    To find YOUR Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR) go to http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    MY Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR) 55 yr old Female, 160 lbs, Height 5'7", lightly active. This includes all my basic activity like housework, a short walk a couple times a week, grocery shopping etc. Normal LIFE)
    ( BMR is the calories you burn in a normal day
    without counting exercise)________________________1900

    Calories to gain/lose 1 pound in a week_____________ 3500

    Days in a week___________________________________7

    To lose one pound
    per week -- 3500 divided by 7 equals
    3500 / 7 = 500__________________________________500


    The number of calories I would eat to MAINTAIN MY current weight = 1900 (Above- Basic Metabolic Rate BMR)

    The number of calorie "deficit" to lose 1/2 pound per week
    3500 calories divided by 2 (for 1/2 pound) = 1750
    (meaning I need to subtract this many calories per week to lose 1/2 pound)

    Calorie "deficit" to lose 1/2 pound per week broken down to daily intake - 1750 divided by 7 (days in a week) = 250

    I need to subtract 250 calories a day to lose 1/2 pound in a week.
    so
    1900 minus 250 = 1650 calories I need to eat a day


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    When I exercise for 45 minutes and my heart rate monitor tells me I've burned 400 extra calories doing ZUMBA, I need to eat those 400 extra calories because I need that fuel for my body to be able to do that exercise.

    I go to "Exercise" in myfinesspal. I add my 400 calories activity.

    Then when I go back to my "Food Diary" I see that my bottom line calorie goal or "Your Daily Goal" now says 2050 calories!

    So I eat 2050 calories that day and still be on track to lose 1/2 pound a week.

    Make sense?? I can only realistically expect to lose 1/2 pound per week at this point since I am at my goal. I would of course love to lose a couple more pounds, but I'm pretty sure this is where I'm going to be for a long time. I'm at a healthy weight and my body is happy. And 2000 calories is tons of food, and that's not much exercise.

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