Do I have to burn 3500 every week?

Okay MFP says to eat 1200 but the fat2fitradio website said I should be eating 1667. Why are the two different?

I'm not familiar with that site, but I think it's because with the number that site gives you, you don't eat any calories back from exercise.

It's math. I'll break it down for you.

You have your BMR - basal metabolic rate. This is what you burn if you were laying in bed all day, not moving. Let's say yours is 1500.

Next, we add your activity level. Let's say you're sedentary, and generally burn about 300 calories a day with your standard walking and talking.

That means you need 1800 calories a day just to meet your body's needs.

Now, you are trying to lose weight, so you're going to be eating a deficit (less than your body needs). So we'll say you eat 1300 calories a day. You have a deficit of 500 calories a day. In a week, you'll lose about a pound (3500 calories burned).

If you workout and say you burn 200 calories a day. If you don't eat them back, your deficit is now 700 calories a day. If you do eat them back, your deficit doesn't change. It's a wash because you burned them and then ate them.

This is all, of course, assuming you're a healthy person with no underlying medical issues.

If you go to your home, and click on goals - what numbers does it give you under Calories Burned "from normal daily activity"?

Okay MFP says to eat 1200 but the fat2fitradio website said I should be eating 1667. Why are the two different?

I'm not familiar with that site, but I think it's because with the number that site gives you, you don't eat any calories back from exercise.

It's math. I'll break it down for you.

You have your BMR - basal metabolic rate. This is what you burn if you were laying in bed all day, not moving. Let's say yours is 1500.

Next, we add your activity level. Let's say you're sedentary, and generally burn about 300 calories a day with your standard walking and talking.

That means you need 1800 calories a day just to meet your body's needs.

Now, you are trying to lose weight, so you're going to be eating a deficit (less than your body needs). So we'll say you eat 1300 calories a day. You have a deficit of 500 calories a day. In a week, you'll lose about a pound (3500 calories burned).

If you workout and say you burn 200 calories a day. If you don't eat them back, your deficit is now 700 calories a day. If you do eat them back, your deficit doesn't change. It's a wash because you burned them and then ate them.

This is all, of course, assuming you're a healthy person with no underlying medical issues.

If you go to your home, and click on goals - what numbers does it give you under Calories Burned "from normal daily activity"?

1740 cals are my cals burned from normal daily activity according to MFP. And it says to eat 1200, so I have a deficit of 540 cals. It says my projected weight loss will be 1.1 lbs per week. Is there any way I can make that 1.5? I've already been told countless times on MFP that it'd be pretty much impossible for me to lose 2 lbs per week, but some have said 1.5 might be doable. But I can't think of any way to do that except to lower my cals even more, which I would think would not give me enough cals to healthily function.

It's not at all impossible for you to lose 2 pounds a week - it's just not necessarily a healthy way to lose.

In order to lose 1.5 pounds, your deficit needs to be 5250 - 750 a day and that's cutting about 200 more calories for you a day. That puts in you in 1000 net a week, which I would advise against. I'm no expert, just another girl trying to lose some weight.

My advice is to stick with 1 pound a week. And take care of your body. I'm sure you'll look fabulous for your event!

OP--if MFP is at 1667 and you enter 'lose a pound a week' you are below 1200. Remember, MFP has a minimum of 1,200. I think you understand this(1667-500=1167). Good luck with your goal and read and learn as you go. Do your math, and use other sites to compare and contrast your numbers so you have a better understanding of this site and the tools.

I'm going to ditto what a pp said--if you want the body in your avatar picture, you need to hit the heavy weights, not the treadmill. Even if you don't lose the amount of weight you want, things will "tighten up" from weight lifting and you'll look smaller.