Please help me understand this!

Read the forum at the top that says "Newbie read this." it will answer your questions. Relax. You will get the hanhpg of it.

MFP does not take into account exercise calories right off the bat, meaning the entire deficit is already calculated as you eating X calories less. By exercising, you would be increasing the deficit. Although exercise calorie expenditure is sometimes overestimated, it is a good idea to at least eat some of those exercise calories so the deficit remains within the goal you programmed for yourself.

so MFP takes all your stats into consideration and puts you at a deficit in calories to lose weight if you don't exercise. That's why you need to eat back your exercise calories. Hope that helps

I dont think u should be doing anything u good !

You put sedentary, so that means no working out. So that is the number your body needs to work at 100%
You exercise and burn 20%, so if you don't eat them back because you burned them, your body only runs at 80%.
So then by not running on 100% it becomes sluggish and retains weight.

Actually that is referring to every day to day functions...i.e. what you do at work, at home, etc... It doesn't include exercises. For example, I have mine set at sedentary because my job is a desk job. For 4 days a week I sit at a desk for 12 hours and do nothing.

I'm similarly confused by the different numbers. I did read a lot of the "newbie posts" and I do understand about why you should eat back your exercise calories.

What I don't understand is why there is such a difference in calories required calculations from the MFP site and the Fat2Fit site. I really want to get that correct. I used to do Weight Watchers and so I know that it isn't good to eat too little either. I'm especially worried about the number for my dh a because I am encouraging him to join me in keeping track.

For the two calculators I used "no exercise" for MFP and Sedentary for the F2F, so that I could more easily compare. That's pretty accurate for how we are now, both have desk jobs, full-time. I plan on starting to exercise and will then eat back those calories

Here's our numbers:
Me
Age:48
Height: 5'6
CW: 168
GW: 135
MFP says only 1200 calories a day
Fat2Fit calculators say 1592 a day

For DH even bigger of a difference
Age 48
Height: 6' 1
CW: 252
GW: 205
MFP says only 1580 cals per day
Fat2Fit calculators say 2296

Why is there such a difference between the two calculators? I just don't want to get my dh started keeping track of his calorie intake and then have him cranky and hungry, when really his target calorie intake should be much higher! (oh, and I don't want to be cranky either!)

Any insight would be most helpful.

Thanks,
Jo

Oh.. and as a PS... I don't eat my exercise cals. lol

Oh and now that I've read all the way through your post to your stats. You sound very similar to me... I decided to hell with the sites and their confusing numbers... My first goal is 170lbs... will be THRILLED when I reach it. BUT... my main goal is 150lbs.. cause that's what I weighed in school. Then letting the mirror and measurements be what I go by I'll re-evaluate from there... I don't see myself lower than 145 though. lol But maybe...

Doctors take into account your height, weight, age and gender on how much you are expected to weigh for a healthy figure. I say go with what your doctor tells you since he is more knowledgeable with these stuffs.

MFP takes into account your activity level (how much work/activity you do) + your goal ( how much to lose or gain) + the basic stuff (height,age,gender) in calculating the calories you need in a day.

With regards to the calories you burn in a workout, its really up to you whether you want to eat it up or to make it as an added deficit to what MFP has already made in your calorie plan. Remember that the calculated calorie info given by MFP is estimated to what will keep your body up with all those work that you've been doing.