"under her calorie goal"

Can I jump in? I am new to this and am going backwards. I too have a 1200 calorie allowance and exercise almost every day. I had a deficit in calories for the total week of just over 4,000. I teach spin classes and this has contributed. Sad thing is, I have gained a pound a week by doing this. Calorie wise this is not possible. Can you help clear my confusion? I am going backwards. Basically I need to know this. Do I eat the calories as MFP says, or do I personally cut back by 500 calories a day to lose one pound in a week? Also, does MFP accurately calculate workout calories?

MFP can only 'guess' your calories based on how hard you claim to work and for how long. Get a heart rate monitor that calculates calories for more accuracy. Ask an experienced personal trainer to measure your bodyfat with calipers at one of the gyms you teach at, forget the scales given you have an athletic lifestyle.

good info here

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

To lose weight in a sustainable way that will not rebound back with a few more friends you should be eating less than you burn each day. Your body burns calories just to stay alive this is your BMR or basic metabolic rate - this is the number of calories you would be feed if you were in a coma. Your total daily energy expenditure TDEE is you BMR + what you burn for daily life activities + what you burn when you exercise. You should not eat below your BMR. You should not go above your TDEE. The link shows you have to calculate you TDEE so you will know what your maintenance calories are.

Take the time to do your measurement and calculate your body fat% it is very important to getting and accurate TDEE.

http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html

If your BMI is in the obese range you can safely take a 30% cut from your TDEE, If you are over weight then a 20%cut is doable, when you are within 10 pounds of your goal you need to drop down to a 5-10% cut from TDEE.

Look at the activity descriptors and choose the one that fits your activity - do not assume that you are sedentary - this applies to persons that are bedridden. If you are up and about and are doing a work out a few days a week you are at least lightly active. If you get in 10000 steps a day in addition to your workouts you are active.

If you follow the roadmap settings then you deficit and your exercise burn is built into a single daily calorie goal. You do not ned to chase back after your exercise calorie if you do it this way. You will need to redo you TDEE calculations for every 10lbs down.

If you follow MFP plan and have set yourself up with a realistic weekly weight loss goal then only the deficit is included in your calorie target. As you exercise you will need to add back in the calories you burn to maintain a daily calorie deficit that is not too large. If your deficit gets too big it will slow and even stop your loss. You would need to eat to your NET calorie goal.

MFP does this because not every one can exercise due to personal issues but they can still lose weight by having a calorie deficit.

I don't get it either. If you are eating back all the calories you burn then why are you exercising? Not to create a larger calorie defecit to lose weight?

You are exercising to improve health - everyone needs exercise, even when not on a diet, for heart health, muscular endurance for everyday activities, posture, and longevity. If you diet and don't exercise you will weigh less, but possibly lose muscle tone and not improve your overall health very much - your body fat percentage will be lower at the end if you also do strength training and your heart will be the better for it if you do cardio. You will be heathier and look better at a later age than if you only dieted. Plus you won't feel or look good if you are undernourishing yourself to lose weight, and you will slow your metabolism. Better to exercise!

My understanding of it is that MFP sets your calorie goal based on your profile answers and no additional exercise. You said you wanted to lose 2 pounds a week so it said for you to lose that, eat 1200 calories assuming you aren't doing any additional exercise. However, if you do workout, then MFP says, "OK, you earned extra calories. You can eat more if you like." So as long as you have set a realistic goal weight for your body type (which only your doctor can really tell you) and don't have any other medical issues that could impede weight loss, you should do fine following the suggest calorie count and eating a little extra when you work out. If you want to be below your calorie goal, that's up to you.

Also be aware that MFP won't suggest anything lower than 1200 calories because in general anything less than 1200 calories isn't seen to be medically adequate for a person's basic regulatory, bodily functions (and they probably don't want to be open to any lawsuits by suggesting too low of a calorie count). But there are people who get by on just a 1000 calories a day - me NOT being one of them.

Also remember that the 2 pounds a week is an average. Our bodies are quirky and I can tell you from my own experience losing 80+ pounds that I'd have a week where I'd lose 4 or 5 pounds and then two or three weeks of no weight loss (but definitely inches lost). So don't expect your body to burn exactly 2 pounds every week. 80 pounds is a lot to lose and I was where you are now. Just stick with it, change up your food and fitness routine ever so often to give your body a new challenge, and be forgiving of yourself.

Thanks, I think I get it. The two pound gain is getting me confused. I teach spin classes and a water aerobic class so I know I am getting the cardio exercise. I am adding in the weights. I feel very healthy for my age, but I don't want the scale to climb.

When you change up your exercise program your muscles respond to the extra work by holding water as they repair/rebuild. This is temporary and will pass. Focus not on the number on the scale but on your measurements and you body fat%. They are a better measure of how you are doing. There are plenty of threads that show how pounds do not reflect how your body looks. Muscle takes u less space than fat so you can look smaller, wear a smaller size and weight the same or more than you started out at.

So I did the road map and was shocked and disgusted that my BF is 53.2%!!! If I go by entering my goal weight as my current weight it gives me the following

BMR - 1313
TDEE Lightly Active - 2300 ; Moderately Active - 2593

Since I am Obese - I take 30% deficit off the numbers - Lightly Active - 1610 ; Moderately Active - 1818
I do Cardio 6 days a week (includes C25K program or Aerobic DVD or Biggest Loser Boot Camp DVD - which includes weights)

I have changed MFP to 1685 with Carbs at 40%, Protein and Fat at 30%

Sadly the fat2fit site may help measure your BF%, may ask for it, may display the Katch BMR based on it - but the eating levels is based on the least accurate and inflated when overweight Harris BMR.

Change the BF% stat - nothing in the table changes.

What is the difference between the Harris and Katch BMR's? I've seen 200-400 inflated on Harris.

Was that BF% based on the gymgoal calc, or fat2fit simple 1 measurement method? If fat2fit, it gets very inaccurate as you go up in %. So while you may be higher, it's inflating it even more.

Double whammy.

Now that you understand the principle, use a spreadsheet to start with best estimates, and a better activity calc. Because with 6 days of exercise, you are no where near lightly active.

Spreadsheet in this topic in a group for this method. I wouldn't be surprised if you find the eating goal you mentioned is actually at or above your best estimated TDEE. Meaning you would have actually been eating at maintenance.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

So I did the road map and was shocked and disgusted that my BF is 53.2%!!! If I go by entering my goal weight as my current weight it gives me the following

BMR - 1313
TDEE Lightly Active - 2300 ; Moderately Active - 2593

Since I am Obese - I take 30% deficit off the numbers - Lightly Active - 1610 ; Moderately Active - 1818
I do Cardio 6 days a week (includes C25K program or Aerobic DVD or Biggest Loser Boot Camp DVD - which includes weights)

I have changed MFP to 1685 with Carbs at 40%, Protein and Fat at 30%

soooo.....I am hoping I will see a 2 pound HEALTHY weight loss per week. Last week lost 4. This week....none - yet

I think this is a smart plan. You can get a ton of conflicting opinions here, but I support the whole "road map" idea.

A couple things to think about --

Since you have a good amount of weight you'd like to lose, you can afford to be a little more aggressive in the early parts of your weight loss. Your body has more fat to work with, so you can afford to eat less (for now). As your body has less fat, you need to have a smaller deficit. So while you can try to lose 2 lbs/week right now, you have to keep in mind that eventually it'll be less than that

Another thing, losing 2 lbs/week is a deficit of 1000 calories per day. Keep in mind, that means if you exceed your goal for the day... well, even if you overeat by 1000 calories, you're still (at worst) maintaining your weight. I see people who've gone over by 200 and think they've ruined the whole thing... That also means that if you find yourself hungry (especially as you up your exercise routine!) you can definitely eat a little more. For me, 200-300 calories is the difference between being grumpy and low energy and being much happier. Of course you want to lose weight as quickly as possible (who doesn't?!), but don't do it at the expense of your happiness right now. And a routine that keeps you happy is a routine you can maintain in the long run

Mainly, just take care of yourself! If you don't do it right you'll be much more tempted to quit. Good luck!