questions about how MFP calculates goals

aikilady

First of all--I have read on here that MFP ALREADY creates a deficit for you when you enter your stats under the goal section. So this is why we need to eat back exercise cals. BUT--I see it asks you how many times a week you plan on exercising. So wouldn't that mean they already factor your exercise in to your final number? And that would mean you would not need to log exercise a second time? It seems the only way this would be accurate is if you entered that you plan on exercising ZERO times in the week. THEN you could manually enter your exercise. Am I making any sense. Just a little confused as to why they factor it in twice?
Also, does anyone else change their macros a litte? Seems like they put protein kinda low.
Thanks everyone!
Feel free to view my diary.

The_Enginerd

Nope, that exercise number is not factored into your calorie goals. It's just there to track how much exercise you are actually doing versus your exercise goal.

You can customize your goals to up your protein amounts. When you change goals, select custom. You can change your fat/carb/protein ratios. Some people manually enter their goals using the TDEE method, which already takes into account your exercise.

3dogsrunning

It is just another goal, independent of the calorie goal. If I say I want to work out 3 times a week for 30 minutes, there is a place on the app (not sure about the website), where it can show me how I am doing this week in relation to the goal.

They really don't factor it into your number. You can choose different goal levels and it doesn't change (you can go to My Home > Goals and go through the setup again, also good to know if you want to re-evaluate your goals)

Yes, I changed mine, it works out to be about 40 C/30 P/ 30 F. The default goals are low. You can change it in the same place, just choose custom goals.

iquiltoo

Yes, they create a deficit for you so that you will lose X lbs/wk - that's if you did nothing more than you normally do. When you exercise, you are creating a greater deficit so you should eat back those calories. It does ask how many times a week you plan on exercising, but that is not factored in. Most people don't do all their exercises on a daily basis, for one. When you do exercise and log your exercises, it will add those calories to that day's food log so you know how many more calories you have available for that day. And yes I think the protien is low and I changed my macros (besides I am type 2 diabetic and can't eat that many carbs.)

Francl27

The plan thing is just to set your exercise goal. It doesn't affect your food goal at all. I don't even bother with it personally.

aikilady

THANK YOU! Didn't realize it was separate! Clears my question right up:)