Confused about calories

ltfrombc1
ltfrombc1 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hope someone can explain this to me:

I set up my profile and after filling in my weight, height, exercise, an how much weight I wanted to lose each week it gave me a calorie goal of 1620. I assumed that is what my calorie allowance was based on how much exercise I do each day. Now that I have finished my meals and exercise for the day, my daily summary reads:

Goal 1620
Food 1671
Exercise - 588
Net Calories = 1083
Calories Remaining 537

So my question is - how many calories should I be eating because if I take what I have eaten 1671 and add the calories remaining 537 that is 2208 calories. Am I supposed to be eating that many calories and still be able to lose weight? I am obviously missing something here because this does not make any sense. So if I do not exercise one day then do I only eat 1620? How do they reach that 1620 number?

Any help to un-confuse me would be greatly appreciated. I am sure there is a simple explanation (The help section did not really help me) :blushing:

Replies

  • sugarkane1234
    sugarkane1234 Posts: 51 Member
    I understand your confusion, but there is a simple explanation. MFP asks about your exercise routine/frequency, but it does not factor this information into its calories calculation. Your calorie goal is 1620 if you do no exercise during the day. If you do exercise, you should log it in the Activities section and your calorie allowance for the day will increase. If you burn 300 calories exercising you can eat 300 calories worth of food and your net calories will remain at 1620. You're certainly not the only one that has had this question. Hope my answer helped and good luck!
  • Paganrosemama
    Paganrosemama Posts: 86 Member
    MPF assumes that the activity level you signed up with did not include exercise- but general work activity only. It then figures how many calories you burn based on this and then subtracts 250 cals for 1/2 lb a week weight loss, 500 for 1 lbs/week, or 1000 for 2 lbs/week.

    MPF also assumes that exercise you log is above and beyond your entered activity level. So in order to keep you at your set level of weight loss it has you eat back your exercise calories.


    There are several other ways to calculate your calories and they can be customized under the goals section. Search for In place of a road map or level obstacles. These seem to be a bit more accurate methods for healthy weight loss than MPF goals!
  • S0nsh1ne
    S0nsh1ne Posts: 218 Member
    Yeah what they said; eat the extra calories and good luck
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
    Yep. When you exercise, you bump up the total amount of calories you can consume for that day. But it's confusing, I know. Think of it the other way around. Say your goal is 1500. But you eat 1800 that day. And then you burn 300 through exercise. 1800-300=1500. You'd be at your goal. So if you do the math the other way around (like if you exercise first, then eat) you can see that you need to 'eat back' your calories. 1500-300=1200. Too low, you didn't hit your goal. But 1500-300+300=1500. Right on target.

    If you look at the display box on your main page, it is a bit more clear.
  • ecw3780
    ecw3780 Posts: 608 Member
    The easiest way to explain it is- always keep your Net Calories higher than 1200. You will hear so many different pieces of advice on creating a deficit or needing to eat more to lose more. You can (and I do) always eat back your exercise calories, but whatever you do, keep that net at at least 1200.

    Just figure that you need a net of 1200 calories for organ function. If you go into your settings, you should see an average burn number. For example, mine is around 1950, but I am one of those people who gets 1200 calories a day. This means I need 1200 to function, but the rest is what it takes to maintain this current body. I don't want to maintain this current body, so I create a deficit of 1.5 pounds a week (750 calories per day) which gives me my daily goal of 1200. If I burn more than the 750 calories deficit, that drops my calories below 1200, which as we know I need for normal function, so I eat the exercise calories until I hit 1200 (or whatever your goal is). Now, that being said, if you have a day where you aren't very hungry and you just don't see yourself eating back all those exercise calories, you aren't going to blow your metabolism in one day. However, over time you might start to feel more sluggish, be more prone to cheating, and you might not see the type of results you want. Just try to be within +/- 100 calories of your net goal.
  • ecw3780
    ecw3780 Posts: 608 Member
    Hope someone can explain this to me:

    I set up my profile and after filling in my weight, height, exercise, an how much weight I wanted to lose each week it gave me a calorie goal of 1620. I assumed that is what my calorie allowance was based on how much exercise I do each day. Now that I have finished my meals and exercise for the day, my daily summary reads:

    Goal 1620
    Food 1671
    Exercise - 588
    Net Calories = 1083
    Calories Remaining 537

    So my question is - how many calories should I be eating because if I take what I have eaten 1671 and add the calories remaining 537 that is 2208 calories. Am I supposed to be eating that many calories and still be able to lose weight? I am obviously missing something here because this does not make any sense. So if I do not exercise one day then do I only eat 1620? How do they reach that 1620 number?

    Any help to un-confuse me would be greatly appreciated. I am sure there is a simple explanation (The help section did not really help me) :blushing:

    In a nut shell, you need to eat about 200 calories more (so your net is at 1200) today, although if you wanted the 500 you should feel free to eat them.
  • N8r8r
    N8r8r Posts: 75 Member

    I assumed that is what my calorie allowance was based on how much exercise I do each day.

    Well, yes...and no. When you set up your MFP with your height and age and weight, it calculates your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). The easiest way that BMR was explained to me was that if you were in a coma, your BMR would be the amount of of calories that your doctor would be feeding you through a tube to keep your organs functioning, and nothing more.

    Now this number is WAY too low for someone who's not in a coma, so your body is going to burn calories above and beyond your BMR, so what MFP does (to the best of it's ability...no one's perfect) is it asks you what your activity level is; sedentary, lightly active...etc. I'm not sure of the exact numbers that it uses, but it uses that "activity level" as a multiplier and comes up with the amount of calories that it projects that you burn through daily activity (this doesn't include exercise above your daily activity).

    After that, depending on what you tell it you want to lose a week, it will deduct a certain amount of calories as a "deficit".


    If you go above your daily calorie burn, MFP adds the calories that you LOST doing the activity to the amount of calories that you have left. I would recommend you eat back the amount of calories you exercise with, but as a good rule of thumb, I would make sure you are at LEAST eating the amount of calories that you have allotted for your daily use without exercise. A good place to look at to see what your numbers are is when you go to "My Home" and then look at the "Goals" section. It'll give you a brief rundown of the numbers it uses.

    Hope I helped you out a bit. I'm still trying to figure out my sweet spot as well. Good luck

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