Need help understanding how this works

brittanyclements35
brittanyclements35 Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
I am kinda new to all this and I am hoping some of you can help me better understand how this works. I have been logging everything I eat and all the exercise I do, I know for my personal height I am only supposed to take in 1200 calories and it is my understanding that the more exercise I do the more calories I can take in. But how do you know if your doing good, like today I did pretty good in the exercise area and my calorie counter says I have eaten 1200 calories but I still have 263 more. I don't understand????:smile:

Replies

  • hamminit
    hamminit Posts: 184 Member
    it gives you more calories to eat as you log your exercise :)
  • mjrkearney
    mjrkearney Posts: 408 Member
    The goal the site gives you is net calories calculated according to the weight loss plan you requested. It basically takes your expected total calories burned for the day (TDEE) and subtracts a certain number of calories per day to set your goal. Your caloric goal will increase if you input exercise because these are calories you are burning beyond your normal exertion. You want to eat these calories as well, and try not to eat less than your calculated BMR (there's an app for that) which is approximately what your body needs to survive.

    This doesn't always make sense, but the basic idea is try to get as close to your caloric/ macro goals as possible to achieve the weight loss rate you requested of the site.
  • itsscottwilder
    itsscottwilder Posts: 317
    I think MFP does a poor job of giving recommendations.

    Can I ask your stats? Age, height, and weight
  • dianamatienzo
    dianamatienzo Posts: 127
    I think MFP does a poor job of giving recommendations.

    Can I ask your stats? Age, height, and weight

    ^ I completely agree!

    Anyway, MFP is designed so that people eat at a deficit, so any exercise you do "earns" you more calories to consume. That's just how this site works, but you can choose to eat at maintenance calories and not eat back calories from your exercise :) Hope this helps!

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