New at this and VERY Confused!! LoL

I just started using MyFitnessPal this past week. I am VERY confused at how it works!! I weigh 160 and would love to be anywhere between 130-140 LBS. It said that I need 1200 calories a day. Is that before all the exercise or after? Do I eat back the calories that I lose? What do I need to do to lose weight and not just maintain!?!? LoL so very confused!!!!!!!!!!!!

1200 is a default minimum. It could be correct, or you could have an aggressive weekly goal.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.


MFP gives you a deficit BEFORE exercise. That way people who can't/won't exercise....still lose weight. However, calorie burn estimates are fuzzy numbers. It's best to be conservative. Many people eat back just 50-75%

Here are some really useful threads.....

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide