so confused.

how many calories should i burn doing exercise if i want to lose weight ? i know it's supposed to be more than im eating ( 1200 cal), so does that mean 1500 ? if i wanted to lose 2lb a week, how many calories do i need to burn a day ? thanks to anyone for their help.

When you talk about burning more calories than you eat, you need to take into account all of the calories your body burns just keeping you alive (your BMR) as well as the calories you burn doing day-to-day activities like brushing your teeth, going to work, etc (your NEAT). There are some calculators online that will help you to get a feel of how many calories you're already burning every day, just google "TDEE calculator."

MFP gives you a calorie goal that will allow you to lose weight assuming you will do no exercise. It takes your stats and daily activity level into account and gives you a calorie level that will allow you to lose weight in a safe manner. That's why it adds more calories to your goal after you log your workouts, to keep you at that safe level.

How many calories you burn and how many workouts you do weekly should be about your fitness and body composition goals.

how many calories should i burn doing exercise if i want to lose weight ?

It doesn't matter, as long as you are in a calorie deficit. As you say you're eating 1200 calories per day... you're already in a deficit.

For weight loss, any exercise is good. The exact calorie burn is not important - being able to be consistent is important. You have to sustain this.

You're going to have a difficult time finding the energy to exercise at 1200 calories per day. I can tell you that much.

First thing first, figure out what your maintenance calories really are. Here's a calculator:

http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

Put "Sedentary" in the activity level, enter all your other stats, and see what it says. That gives you a baseline to work with. Now you know how many calories you need to eat just to "stay the same."

Now, to be the most effective at losing weight, simply eat slightly fewer calories than your maintenance, and exercise. Doesn't matter what exercise you do, for how long, whatever - just move regularly and record the minutes. Input into MFP and get a calorie count.

The reason I say this is because of this: the formula to lose weight is calories in < calories out. You can manipulate this formula one of three ways: 1) Eat fewer calories, 2) exercise more, 3) both.

But the issue you're going to run into when you attempt to do both is one of energy. It is harder to exercise when you have no fuel to do it with. This is why I advocate eating only slightly below maintenance, so you have calories to work with, and then exercise.

Example: Let's say your maintenance calories are 1700 per day. Now, if you're eating 1200 calories per day, that's -500 calories per day deficit. 3500 calories per week, you should lose, on average, a pound per week.

However, let's say you eat 1500 calories per day instead (so only 200 below maintenance), and you exercise for a total burn of 400 calories per day (a 4-mile walk every day should do the trick). Now you would have a 600 calorie deficit every day, instead of a 500 calorie deficit each day. You'd be consuming an additional 300 calories every day, so you'd have more energy, feel less deprived, and likely have a better attitude/mood due to adequate nutrition. This is the sort of calorie deficit you can actually sustain over the long haul.

1200 calories per day... not very sustainable, especially if you want to exercise.

And I am a strong advocate for exercise. Lots of people can and do lose weight with diet alone, but they do not gain any of the benefits of exercise. And as you lose weight, you will lose muscle mass as well. To stave that off, do some strength training 3x per week.

Sustainable weight loss is the goal. Not 2 lbs. per week.

No. You don't burn more than you eat, daily. You need to think about this weekly. So a burn or deficit of 500 calories a day is 3500 for a week which is a pound.

Many of the replies make it sound much more confusing than it is.

Find out your BMR. How many calories your body needs to maintain your weight. (A simple internet search will provide you with a calculator that will do that) (Generally it's your weight times 10 for women, 11 for men --- then multiplied by a factor to account for lifestyle... Sedentary, active, etc.)

3500 calories equals a pound of fat.

SO. Take your maintenance calorie amount and subtract 500 per day.
500 x 7 days in a week = 3500 cal by end of week. You will lose approximately 1 pound for each 500 calories you reduce your caloric intake by.

Then go workout and burn 500 calories per day. 500 x 7 = 3500 again. You will lose approximtely 1 pound per week for each 500 calories you burn.

THAT is the simplest and safest way. 1 pound through food reduction, 1 pound through activity.

Happy dieting.

If you provide your height, weight, age, and activity level we can give you a rough estimate.


Here is an example using my numbers. I am 5'3" 159 lbs. (I am also pregnant but we will ignore that for this example)

-My BMR is roughly 1500 calories. I have a desk job so I consider my life sedentary.

-In theory if I reduce that # by 500 and eat 1000 calories per day I would lose 1 lb per week.

However, as a general rule most women should not eat less than 1200 calories per day without consulting a doctor.

So I can eat 1300 calories per day resulting in a daily deficit of 200 calories then work out and burn another 300 calories a day for a total deficit of 500 calories a day which should result in losing 1 lb per week.

That was the basic math explanation of it. Weight loss is not always that simple but usually will follow closely to that. Some other factors you make encounter are things like water weight and plateau. When you start you may lose more than expected due to your body releasing water weight. During your journey you may also lose less than expected due to your body holding on to water. This can usually be fixed by drinking more water and watching your sodium intake. Some weeks your body may not cooperate but patience is important and you will likely to continue to lose if you keep working at it. Also overtime some exercises may get easier and you will burn less calories doing them than when you started.

Good luck.

If you need further info there's a section called getting started.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/50200-getting-started

Many of the replies make it sound much more confusing than it is.

Find out your BMR. How many calories your body needs to maintain your weight. (A simple internet search will provide you with a calculator that will do that) (Generally it's your weight times 10 for women, 11 for men --- then multiplied by a factor to account for lifestyle... Sedentary, active, etc.)

3500 calories equals a pound of fat.

SO. Take your maintenance calorie amount and subtract 500 per day.
500 x 7 days in a week = 3500 cal by end of week. You will lose approximately 1 pound for each 500 calories you reduce your caloric intake by.

Then go workout and burn 500 calories per day. 500 x 7 = 3500 again. You will lose approximtely 1 pound per week for each 500 calories you burn.

THAT is the simplest and safest way. 1 pound through food reduction, 1 pound through activity.

Happy dieting.

I think that you might have BMR and TDEE confused? BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories your body uses keeping everything alive. It's roughly what you'd burn in a coma. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the number of calories your body uses throughout the day, including your BMR but also things like brushing your teeth and going to work and exercising. Your TDEE is the number of calories you could eat to maintain your current weight, not your BMR.

True, that's just what I meant. And I actually know the difference, dunno why I said BMR lol.

But --- the rest applies, ha.

Good catch--sorry