confused

I read this some where on here but can't remember who posted it (sorry!).

But the body doesnt work in black in white with definite lines of calories. It works in shades of gray. I wouldn't worry too much about getting EXACTLY 1200 calories. Just try to get close (by 100-200 calories or so). There's so many factors that can throw off the calorie counts of food and exercise anyway and all of it is just an educated estimate... so, try not to stress and try to just eat about 1200 cals.

Oh and definitely eat your exercise calories. At 1200 calories, if you exercise and don't eat those calories then you're techinically feeding your body less than 1200 cals which could put your body in "starvation mode" and it will start to get much much harder to lose weight (believe me, I've been there several times). Plus, exercise calories have been a great incentive for me... the more I exercise the more I can eat LOL.

You don't have a lot to lose, so it is going to be a slllooooww process.

Also, you might be eating too little. 1200 calories is a large daily deficit for most people--and one that is also too low for most people. You are probably already close if not in you healthy BMI and might want to aim for a higher daily amount of calories with a smaller deficit.

It is possible that your body is not wanting to lose because it is not getting enough to eat! Try upping your calories a couple hundred a day and see what happens.

But keep in mind that it takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose 1 pound--for someone with a small amount of weight to lose, like you, you should be aiming for no more than 1/2 pound to 1 pound a week. That means it will take time!

How much of a daily deficit are you getting right now?

Deficit is what it will take to maintain your current weight minus what you are eating now. You need to figure out your Basal Metabolic Rate in order to set your deficit. MFP will do that for you--it's in the Tools section.

ONce you know that, then you can figure out what your daily calorie intake should be.

Given the small amount you wish to lose, you probably don't want to have more then 500 calories a day deficit.

Oh, and make sure you're eating your exercise calories!

Today, you only gave your body a total of about 800 calories to subsist on and that isn't enough! You run the risk of starving your body at that rate, putting it into starvation mode.

Please read these posts for more information as well---they will be very helpful!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9433-expectations

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

Oh, and by the way--there is no way you should be trying to lose 5 pounds a week!!!!!!

I am losing an average of 3-4 pounds a week but I have, still, over 100 pounds to lose--no one at your weight should be trying to lose that much per week. Like I said, you should be aiming for 1/2 a pound a week, maximum of 1 pound a week.

I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear but to be healthy, successful, and lasting, weight loss must be healthy and slower than we would like.

Hello I find it easiest not to go over 1200 calories if you mark down everything you eat. and if you exercise you can eat more calories,(I believe) I am new at this but am enjoying it very much. Hope that helps

here is todays report so you could maybe clarify for me. not sure what you mean by my deficit..

net calories goal 1200
calories burned 233
-calories consumed 1,115
calories remaining 318.

I am not sure you ever got your answer. If so, then skip this. If not, here is what I am reading.
Your goal is to get the minimum of 1200 calories a day. You only ate 1115. You must CONSUME at least 1200... so you need at least 85 more (1200-1115=85). But you exercised off 233 calories. So you COULD eat another 233+85 for the total remaining calories of 318. You can eat all those 318 calories and still keep on track to lose, or you can eat 85 and have a bigger deficit than you planned on, which would give you a greater weight loss IF you don't go into starvation mode. If you don't consume 1200 calories, you'll get a warning when you hit the button on your home page that says you are done entering your calories for the day. But if you consume at least 1200 calories, then you won't get a warning, but instead you will get a new estimate of what you would weigh in five weeks if every day was like today. (At least that is the time period I get on mine... I don't know if it varies if you have a longer range goal or more weight to lose than I do). If you don't eat your exercise calories, and after a few weeks you reach a point where you are not losing, then your body may be in starvation mode, and you should try eating your exercise calories ... at least one day out of three. I have to eat about 1450 calories a day and I aim to burn an average of 214 a day with exercise. If I only eat 1200 calories, I plateau and the scale does not budge. Somedays I burn 500 calories, but I don't try to eat all those calories.
Don't let the ticker fool you... I've lost 19 pounds since December. The ticker just shows my progress since finding this sight.

Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

Does that help at all?

And another take on deficit.... Deficit usually refers to the law of losing weight. In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. If your body burns 1123 calories just laying around doing nothing (I think that is called BMR or Basal Metabolic rate... see the tools page), and another 600 in normal daily activity, then you need 1723 calories to maintain your current weight. To lose weight, you need to create a "deficit." A 500 calorie deficit every day will add up to 3500 calories in a week, or one pound. In this case 1723-500=1223. You can create the deficit by eating 500 calories less, or by burning 500 calories more each day with exercise, or you can use a combination.