My Guide to how the Goals in MFP Settings work

My Guide to how the Goals in MFP Settings work

*Click on the "My Home" blue tab at the top
**Click on the "Goals" blue tab at the top
***Click on "Change Goals" green tab
****Choose "Guided" then click the green "Continue" button
*****Double check the weights/height/gender/DOB numbers, make sure they are correct

*****Under the "How would you describe your normal daily activities?" Choose your normal level of daily activity EXCLUDING EXERCISE SPECIFIC ACTIVITY.

When in doubt, choose the lower setting.

Also, it is important not to double dip here. Meaning, if you are a waitress and walk back and forth all day long, then choose "Active" but do NOT log the walking around at work as exercise since it is already included in your daily activity settings.

OR, if you are a waitress and walk back and forth all day long, and you have something like the BodyMedia device, you can choose "Sedentary" and then make sure on a daily basis to log your walking around all day long under the "Exercise" tab every day.

The key is, you don't want that walking around all day at work to be counted twice...if it is being automatically included in your daily activities setting of "Active", then don't log it separately every day as a separate exercise.

*****Under "How many times a week do you plan on exercising?" Just leave it blank for now.

*****Under "What is your goal?" Choose what you want. Generally speaking, IMO, the less you have to lose, the less per week you should try to lose. If you have 100lbs to lose, then by all means choose 2lbs/week. However, if you only have 10 pounds to lose, I would suggest no more than 1 pound per week. You can tweak it later, but start off this way for at least 3 or 4 weeks and see what happens.

*****Click the green "Update Profile" button on the bottom of the page

Now, for the more advanced stuff: (WARNING, math ahead)

NOTE: Roughly speaking

7000 calories = 2lbs
3500 calories = 1lb
1750 calories = 0.5lb

So, that means...

1000 calories per day = 2lbs per week (1000*7=3500*2)
500 calories per day = 1lb per week (500*7=3500)
250 calories per day = 0.5lb per week (250*7=1750)

*Click on the "Goals" blue tab at the top

In the right column is the info you just provided in Your Diet Profile. The "Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity" number is how much you would burn (just an estimate of course, we are all different, but it's a good jumping off point) in a day IF YOU DO NOT EXERCISE and only do your normal work and life activities.

Under that you will see, "Net Calories Consumed* Your Daily Goal", this is how many NET calories you need to eat per day in order to lose the goal amount you set earlier. An exception here is if that number would put you under 1200 NET cals per day, then it defaults to 1200 and tells you how much you will lose per week with 1200 instead.

Notice the little * next to "Net Calories Consumed"? Look a little further down and you will see, "* Net Calories Consumed = Total Calories Consumed - Exercise Calories Burned"

So, for example, if you need to eat 1400 NET calories per day to lose 1lb per week, and you burn 250 calories on the Elliptical that day, then you need to eat 1650 TOTAL calories that day in order to lose 1lb per week. 1400 = 1650 - 250

IF you don't eat those 250 exercise calories back, and you do the exact same thing for 7 days...then instead of 1lb per week, it would bring it to 1.5lbs per week. 250 cals times 7 days equals 1750 cals, or 0.5lb added onto the 1lb already automatically included in your NET daily goal.

You are probably thinking to yourself, "GREAT! I get to lose an additional half a pound a week if I don't eat back my exercise calories, ya me!" To a certain extent this is true, the problem lies when you start moving towards the extremes.

Here is a more extreme example: Say your Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity is 2200 cals and your NET daily calorie goal is 1200 calories, that gives you a projected loss of 2 lbs per week since your daily deficit is 1000 cals.
Now say you are working out hard every day and are averaging 500 calories burned per day. So, if you eat back the exercise calories you get:

1200 net cals = 1700 total cals eaten that day - 500 cals burned in workouts to stay at the projected 2lbs per week.

IF you don't eat back the exercise calories, then your NET calories is only 700 cals! Sure, the numbers will say doing this will help you lose an additional 1lb per week, for a grand total of 3 lbs...but for most people, it's not healthy and it is not sustainable to only have 700 net cals every day.

If you still think that this is the way to go for you, see a doctor and a real nutritionist. Who knows, your specific situation may warrant an extreme approach, but it needs to be directed and monitored by qualified people.

Even if you don't agree with my thoughts on eating back calories, I hope at least that the explanations of how it all works is helpful to ya.