Why is it that people on the Biggest loser etc

you wont,...... the calories that you burned off from working out is just that....old calories....I do not eat my calories I burn off...defeats the purpose....that why they lose so much weight.....they actually aim for negative calories!! I eat my 1200 a day and workout as much as possbile. the more you workout, the more you will lose...just make sure you are getting lots of water, 90 grams of protein to keep your muscles and build more, and not too much sugar. High fat and sugars make you crave more of them, to get rid of cravings, keep these low! You can look at my goals and compare to yours....I'm actually signed u with jillian michaels.com to get good advice on diet excersise and since i'm incorporated what she says, I'm seeing the scale move more! Good luck

Do u realize that MFP already puts u in a 500 calorie deficit to start with? You are in the negatives already if u didn't work out at all and ate all 1200 calories a day? That is how people gain weight back when ending a program. That is definitely putting ur body in starvation mode bc u start in a deficit.

you wont,...... the calories that you burned off from working out is just that....old calories....I do not eat my calories I burn off...defeats the purpose....that why they lose so much weight.....they actually aim for negative calories!! I eat my 1200 a day and workout as much as possbile. the more you workout, the more you will lose...just make sure you are getting lots of water, 90 grams of protein to keep your muscles and build more, and not too much sugar. High fat and sugars make you crave more of them, to get rid of cravings, keep these low! You can look at my goals and compare to yours....I'm actually signed u with jillian michaels.com to get good advice on diet excersise and since i'm incorporated what she says, I'm seeing the scale move more! Good luck

Do u realize that MFP already puts u in a 500 calorie deficit to start with? You are in the negatives already if u didn't work out at all and ate all 1200 calories a day? That is how people gain weight back when ending a program. That is definitely putting ur body in starvation mode bc u start in a deficit.

Nope, I have never heard that MFP already puts a person in a 500 calorie deficit to start with. Where did you find that info? I'm surpirsed I haven't heard about it until now.

All my info come from jillianmichael.com...i also have a nutritionist that told me what to do.....BOTH JILLIAN MICHAEL AND MY "PERSONAL TRAINER" said DO NOT eat more just beause of the calories you burned. Nothing to be confused about. Jillian put it this way which makes it so simple...i think we get confused because of all the different opinions. She says "If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Tip the equation the other way by eating more than you burn, you will gain weight. Balance the equation, and you will maintain your weight. It's not magic, it's just math. If you want to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit. If you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit.
First, you need to figure out how many calories your body burns on a daily basis. That number also happens to be the number of calories you can eat each day if you want to maintain your present weight. If you want to lose weight, you must subtract calories from that daily total. One pound of fat is the equivalent of 3,500 calories, so if you want to lose 1 pound a week, you'd cut 500 calories each day (7 x 500 = 3,500). If you want to lose 2 pounds a week, you'd cut 1,000 calories a day. Once you make this subtraction, you have your "magic" number — the number of calories you should aim for each day to lose weight.

That's word for word Jillian Michaels. Hope that helps.

All my info come from jillianmichael.com...i also have a nutritionist that told me what to do.....BOTH JILLIAN MICHAEL AND MY "PERSONAL TRAINER" said DO NOT eat more just beause of the calories you burned. Nothing to be confused about. Jillian put it this way which makes it so simple...i think we get confused because of all the different opinions. She says "If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Tip the equation the other way by eating more than you burn, you will gain weight. Balance the equation, and you will maintain your weight. It's not magic, it's just math. If you want to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit. If you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit.
First, you need to figure out how many calories your body burns on a daily basis. That number also happens to be the number of calories you can eat each day if you want to maintain your present weight. If you want to lose weight, you must subtract calories from that daily total. One pound of fat is the equivalent of 3,500 calories, so if you want to lose 1 pound a week, you'd cut 500 calories each day (7 x 500 = 3,500). If you want to lose 2 pounds a week, you'd cut 1,000 calories a day. Once you make this subtraction, you have your "magic" number — the number of calories you should aim for each day to lose weight.

That's word for word Jillian Michaels. Hope that helps.

All of this is true - however, it does not take into account that MFP already creates a calorie deficit for you, regardless of whether you exercise. If you chose a 1 lb per week loss goal - you have 500 cals subtracted from your cal goal every day - no matter whether you sit on your butt, log 20 minutes of exercise, or log 5 hours of exercise. Period. If you don't eat those exercise calories you burned, that MFP adds cals back in for, you are creating a LARGER deficit - ie more than 1 lb per week loss.

MFP does NOT work like most other calculators, which include whatever exercise you input in their cal recommendation at the start of the day. MFP ADDS those calories once you actually LOG the individual workouts, and maintains the built-in deficit no matter what.

Actually every calculator I have seen, not that I have looked at a lot, does what MFP does without the net calories. By that I mean they figure out a calorie restricted amount you eat to lose weight, and that is what you eat whether you exercise or not. MFP's way is fine to, but I have not seen any definitive research papers cited by those saying it is the only way to go. It is sort of like the 5-6 meals a day thing. There is no peer reviewed research to support that view. If you want to eat 5-6 meal a day go for it. If you want to eat 1 meal a day and get all your calories that way, go for it. I will stick to 3 meals. It works for me and I don't have to obsess over how to fit meals in during work hours. If there is hard research to show differently from say the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, then I will consider it in light of the other papers already published on that topic. The same goes for eating exercise calories. Do what works for you. I have not been eating my exercise calories for the year I have been working on losing weight, and I am doing just fine overall.

Forgive me for being lazy, but I didn't read all the other posts before I typed this.

I consider their weight loss healthy, and their knowledge (nutrition) equally as healthy. What you have to understand is that they are surrounded 24hrs a day, by a lot more people than we are allowed to see. There are doctors, nutritionist, chefs, and trainers. Anytime you have a team of professionals like that your every move is dictated to you, and failing has to be a choice.

Secondly the massive numbers we see lost weekly are, in the beginning, from simple movement. These are usually sedentary people who have been thrown into all out balls to the wall training for hours a day. Thay is enough shock to the system to cause the body to begin dumping weight to cope. Several of the contestants gain some/all of the wieght back, but that's simply a choice. It has nothing to do with the model, the individual does not have the power to deny themselves. This site for instance is a wonderful thing. We can get all the encouragement possible, but at the end of the day we have to be honest with ourselves.....

All my info come from jillianmichael.com...i also have a nutritionist that told me what to do.....BOTH JILLIAN MICHAEL AND MY "PERSONAL TRAINER" said DO NOT eat more just beause of the calories you burned. Nothing to be confused about. Jillian put it this way which makes it so simple...i think we get confused because of all the different opinions. She says "If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Tip the equation the other way by eating more than you burn, you will gain weight. Balance the equation, and you will maintain your weight. It's not magic, it's just math. If you want to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit. If you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit.
First, you need to figure out how many calories your body burns on a daily basis. That number also happens to be the number of calories you can eat each day if you want to maintain your present weight. If you want to lose weight, you must subtract calories from that daily total. One pound of fat is the equivalent of 3,500 calories, so if you want to lose 1 pound a week, you'd cut 500 calories each day (7 x 500 = 3,500). If you want to lose 2 pounds a week, you'd cut 1,000 calories a day. Once you make this subtraction, you have your "magic" number — the number of calories you should aim for each day to lose weight.

That's word for word Jillian Michaels. Hope that helps.

All of this is true - however, it does not take into account that MFP already creates a calorie deficit for you, regardless of whether you exercise. If you chose a 1 lb per week loss goal - you have 500 cals subtracted from your cal goal every day - no matter whether you sit on your butt, log 20 minutes of exercise, or log 5 hours of exercise. Period. If you don't eat those exercise calories you burned, that MFP adds cals back in for, you are creating a LARGER deficit - ie more than 1 lb per week loss.

MFP does NOT work like most other calculators, which include whatever exercise you input in their cal recommendation at the start of the day. MFP ADDS those calories once you actually LOG the individual workouts, and maintains the built-in deficit no matter what.

Actually every calculator I have seen, not that I have looked at a lot, does what MFP does without the net calories. By that I mean they figure out a calorie restricted amount you eat to lose weight, and that is what you eat whether you exercise or not. MFP's way is fine to, but I have not seen any definitive research papers cited by those saying it is the only way to go. It is sort of like the 5-6 meals a day thing. There is no peer reviewed research to support that view. If you want to eat 5-6 meal a day go for it. If you want to eat 1 meal a day and get all your calories that way, go for it. I will stick to 3 meals. It works for me and I don't have to obsess over how to fit meals in during work hours. If there is hard research to show differently from say the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, then I will consider it in light of the other papers already published on that topic. The same goes for eating exercise calories. Do what works for you. I have not been eating my exercise calories for the year I have been working on losing weight, and I am doing just fine overall.

Most calculators I've seen ask for your "intended" exercise - and include that in the daily goal from the start. MFP leaves out exercise, until you actually log it.

Yes, some people underestimate cals. Yes, some people overestimate burns. But not by 500 or more. And if they DO have that much off in their estimations, they're using the system incorrectly to begin with. Counting calories requires COUNTING them - not half-assed guessing. I agree that a small buffer can be appropriate - but that doesn't mean not eating them at all.

They're all reaching the same conclusion. You eat this amount = you lose this amount of weight. What people don't understand, somehow, is that if you do NOT eat exercise cals, you have just moved yourself to a purposeful attempt to lose faster than you signed up for, and likely faster than is HEALTHY for you. There is a REASON MFP only goes as high as 2 lb per week loss - because for all but the most obese people (with 100+ lbs to lose), anything faster than that is unhealthy and very hard to sustain - and leads to failure and bad nutrition - particularly if you are not under the care of a dietician.

ok one thing im a little confused on im on 1200 calories and day now if i dont eat all those calories i get the starvation mode warning,lets say i eat 1200 or 1300 hundred one day then exercise away 500 leaving my net at like 800 or 700 how come i dont get the warning then.

I'm not getting involved in the eating your exercise cals debate.... but if you haven't read the interview with former BL contestant Kai, it's rather eye opening to what they go through.

This is part 1... part 2 and 3 are linked within the text of the article...

http://www.bodylovewellness.com/2010/06/09/kai-hibbard-biggest-loser-finalist-part-1-of-3/

ok one thing im a little confused on im on 1200 calories and day now if i dont eat all those calories i get the starvation mode warning,lets say i eat 1200 or 1300 hundred one day then exercise away 500 leaving my net at like 800 or 700 how come i dont get the warning then.

I'd say that that is a Q for Mike re: programming. Sounds like the S/M message is reacting ONLY to "intake" and not "net".

:laugh: Get outta my head, Neo!

Remember the pictures of holocaust death camp survivors? Well they weren't that skinny cause they were eating 6 meals a day, I'll tell you that! "Starvation mode" is really a misnomer: yes, your metabolism will slow down in your body's effort to preserve itself, but if you keep pushing it, it doesn't have a choice but to use that fat supply just to live.

The harm in entering starvation mode isn't that you stop loosing weight, its that when you return to a normal diet, you gain exponentially.

Yes, so let your body enter starvation mode, because if the people in a Holocaust death camp can "push it" and keep loosing weight, so can you! And it's totally legitimate and healthy for your body!