Help a newbie out please?

For your sanity, I recommend you eat back at least SOME of your exercise calories. Mfp creates a deficit for you that is adequate to lose 1 lb per week. You want to NET 1700 or whatever your goal is. It seems counterintuitive but exercise is for fitness, diet is for weight loss. Fuel your body and you'll be a lot more likely to stick with this for the long haul.

Okay I think I understand. My NET should match my calorie goal as close as possible. Correct?

Yes.

If you're going to ZUMBA 4 nights a week ... you're not in a "sedentary" lifestyle.

So that would affect what your calorie goal really is.

Yes and no depending on how you figure it.

You are basically sedentary so start with the sedentary figure.
If you exercise, you MAY "eat back" the calories burned from exercise.
Since you base number of 1730 is set for losing one pound a week and is plenty to assure a base level of nutrition AND since your exercise is minimal, you may choose NOT to eat your exercise calories back to speed up your weight loss a little.

If, however, you eat too little to stay satisfied or healthy for how much you are exercising, you can run into problems. That's why some folks say you MUST eat your calories back.

If you choose some other base level of activity, e.g. lightly active, then you've already figured a lightly active level of exercise into your bottom line and should not eat additional calories unless you do more than a lightly active level of exercise. Let's say you are lightly active on a day-to-day basis but this weekend you run a 10K. You could "eat back" the calories of the 10K because it was above and beyond the level of activity you had already figured into you calculations.

If you're going to ZUMBA 4 nights a week ... you're not in a "sedentary" lifestyle.

So that would affect what your calorie goal really is.

If you set it at sedentary, then record exercise, then it's the same thing, and more accurate, because you record exact calorie burns.

Here are a few tips that might help out. I've picked up some stuff along the way and keep it readily available for these posts.

Here ya go:


1. don't trust the initial setup that MFP provides. If you put in the wrong/inaccurate information, it'll tell you to eat an amount that may not be applicable.
2. Make sure you eat enough.
3. Figure out what works for you and is sustainable/healthy/long term.
4. avoid fads. don't buy in to any "Hey, try the twinkie and vodka diet"
5. Don't cut out anything now that you don't plan on literally giving up forever.
6. GET A FOOD SCALE. Weigh everything. No, seriously.
7. Get an HRM with a chest strap. You'll at least have a better idea of what you're burning. It'll be more accurate than the generic info in the exercise database.. and even more than the cardio machines. This is great for steady state cardio (run/walk/etc)
8. Don't go balls out. You'll burn out. I see 300 lb people show up here, instantly start working out and cutting their intake SEVERELY... trying to cut out all of their carbs at once.. whatever. Take it slow. Figure out how much you need to eat FIRST in order to lose.. then incorporate exercise.
9. Don't cardio yourself to death.
10. Take the information on the forums with a grain of salt. A lot of people that have been here for a while.. and have been successful, may seem jaded. They give out GREAT advice day after day, only to be met with people that refuse to listen.
11. Eat real food. Not diet food. Not "low fat, sugar free, now without X." It's easier to get/find/count.
12. don't set time restrictions.
13. measure yourself weekly. Don't just weigh. Measure and take pictures.
14 BE PATIENT.
15. Avoid forum topics that have "1200" in the title. It's just full of butthurt. Lots of it.
16. This isn't a game, it's about changing your lifestyle. Do that.

pretty much that.

...and don't fall into the "1200 calorie" vertigo of suck because of:

the typical MFP users does this:
1. I wanna lose weight, let's try MFP.
2. OH! Wow, it tells me I can lose 2 lbs a WEEK? AWESOME!
3. I just sit at a desk when I'm not working out, I guess I'm sedentary.
4. MFP tells them 1200 calories, and they don't even eat that.. then they work out on top of it.. creating an even bigger deficit.
5. Lose a lot, fast, brag about 1200 calorie success.
6. Come back in a few months trying to figure out why they're dizzy, tired, not losing weight.
7. Get on the forums, ask why they aren't losing.
8. Get two responses (I eat 1200 and lose) (I eat 2200 and lose)
9. Argument ensues about who is right.

Now. That being said. These threads happen hundreds of times per day. Most times, and I mean really.. seriously.. 95% of the time.. people get the 1200 number because they don't put the right information in when they set up the account. There are a great number of people that are trying to help. I'm one of 'em.

I'm a hardcore advocate of actually finding out what works for the individual.. by means of other calculators, averages, time, practice, and patience.

Blanket prescriptions of 1200 calories "because it worked for me" is more harmful to the generic new user than the "figure out what you need to eat." Unfortunately, one is a LOT easier to type.

Find out what you need: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
Take the tips, links, and info above and make the cart more manageable to stay on.