Your Diet Profile on Goals page?

Have you done a search on this subject? There is tons of information on it. I think MFP even has some posts about it as well.

I'll use mine as an example:

There are 4 pieces of information:

1)Target Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity 2,100 calories/day
This first one is what MFP estimates you burn on a normal day BEFORE EXERCISE. It takes into account your height, weight, gender, age and normal daily activity level - all of which you set when you setup your account.

2) Net Calories Consumed* Your Daily Goal 1,400 calories/ day
The second is how many NET calories you should eat to meet your weight loss goal (or the lowest safe weight loss goal up to what you set). NET calories is total eaten minus total burned in exercise. So my net is 1400, if I eat 1600 and burn 400 in exercise, then I have 200 more to eat to get to my goal.

3) Daily Calorie Deficit 700 calories
This is the deficit you should have every day if you meet your daily calorie consumption goal. So, if I burn 2100/day normally, and then I eat my net of 1400, that gives me a deficit of 700 (2100 - 1400 = 700)

4) Projected Weight Loss 1.4 lbs/ week
This is your projected loss if you stick to your goals and get the deficit given to you in #3.
If you set this to a higher number than what is showing, it means you cannot *safely* lose that much per week. MFP will not recommend net calories lower than 1200, which limits how quickly people who have less to lose (or who are very petite) can lose weight.

No matter how much I try to customize my goals...it always says .6lb weight loss expected weekly!?! Currently I'm
Consuming around 1200 calories daily...three meals two small Snacks. I workout sun through Friday with Saturday off....twice on Tuesdays sometimes twice on thursdays. I've been on this site four weeks now...with four lbs loss. I thought I would be dropping at a rate a bit higher than that

Sometimes I'm burning almost 800 calories in a workout....how on earth could you eat all that back!?!? That's another two full meals!!! I'm full off 1200!! I've completely cut out soda, fast food, junk food, hamburger...poor veggies and fruits. I can't workout any more than I already am.

I don't understand if you put in three workouts a week at thirty minutes vs six at seventy minutes it gives you the same projected weight loss and 1200 calories needed.

No matter how much I try to customize my goals...it always says .6lb weight loss expected weekly!?! Currently I'm
Consuming around 1200 calories daily...three meals two small Snacks. I workout sun through Friday with Saturday off....twice on Tuesdays sometimes twice on thursdays. I've been on this site four weeks now...with four lbs loss. I thought I would be dropping at a rate a bit higher than that

Sometimes I'm burning almost 800 calories in a workout....how on earth could you eat all that back!?!? That's another two full meals!!! I'm full off 1200!! I've completely cut out soda, fast food, junk food, hamburger...poor veggies and fruits. I can't workout any more than I already am.

I don't understand if you put in three workouts a week at thirty minutes vs six at seventy minutes it gives you the same projected weight loss and 1200 calories needed.

Your exercise goals do NOT impact your diet goals - they're simply something to shoot for. That's why MFP adds exercise calories back in, because it assumes you are not going to exercise and gives you a calorie goal that will help you lose weight even with no exercise. Any exercise is essentially bonus calories and should be eaten back to keep your deficit at your target level.

cbabe - I'm guessing you have your goal set to 2 lbs/week? Realistically you don't have much to lose, and should have a goal of about 1/2 a pound per week. The less you have to lose, the slower you should be losing it because the body can't handle a high deficit in a healthy way. Someone with huge stores of fat (someone obese) can, but not someone near a healthy weight (or even just plain 'overweight' vs obese). MFP doesn't allow the net calorie goal to go below 1200, because it's generally considered unsafe except in certain circumstances (someone who is morbidly obese and under doctor supervision). What MFP is telling you is that because you don't have much to lose, you can only safely lose .6 lbs/week. Do yourself a favor and change your goal to something appropriate for your starting point, and follow MFP's recommendations.

If you know you'll be exercising, add a little bit extra to each of your meals/snacks - it's harder to squeeze in 800 cal at the end of the day, but much easier to add 100-200 per snack/meal. Think things like avocados, beans, dark chocolate, peanut butter, etc.