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MyFitnessPal Community

Just a couple questions...

kwrecks

I'm still kinda new to this, so I have a couple of questions...

First, I don't know what to track when I go to a restaurant, and it's a local restaurant, and they aren't in the food list. For instance tonight, I had vegetarian fajitas, with no tortillas, about a 1/4 cup of rice. I don't know how to enter it in, because any vegetarian fajitas I look up are from other restaurants, and they include the tortillas. So I'm not sure how to enter my food in when I am in those situations.

Also, I'm confused about my BMR vs. Calorie intake. The BMR calculator says that my BMR is 1940, and MFP has given me a calorie intake of 1640. That's only a 300 calorie deficit. Everyone else I talk to has a 500 calorie deficit. My mom, who is about the same size as me, has a calorie intake of 1400, which gives her a 500 calorie deficit, because her BMR is 1900. She doesn't account for any exercise, but I do. Is that a reason why it's only giving me a 300 calorie deficit?

Replies

baisleac

For the restaurant, I usually just try to do my best guess at what the ingredients were and enter those.

For the deficit: Your BMR, Basal Metabolic Rate (or Base Metabolic Rate), is the amount of calories your body would use if you never got out of bed... it's an absolute base. The minute you get up and get dressed you're burning more than your BMR.

Maintenance calories are the number of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. The MFP deficit is based off your expected needs for maintenance, calculated using your BMR plus the activity level you specified when you signed up (Sedentary, Lightly Active, etc). If you asked for a 500 calorie deficit, your maintenance calories are 2140.

Personally, I wouldn't go below your BMR... but your mileage may vary.

jhardenbergh

n the fajita's I would create an item and look up the calories of the tortilla's and subtract it from the total they give you. BMR is basically how many calories you burn while at rest without getting out of bed. Just getting out of bed burns calories and would be added to your BMR.

kwrecks

I'm still confused. haha. I know that the BMR is how many calories that I burn without doing anything. I never told MFP how much of a deficit I wanted, I just let them figure it all out for me. I'm just wondering why they gave me such a high calorie intake, when everyone I know that is my size is told to eat less calories.

Clovergirl17

The way I would do it is like I counted for my tacos for dinner. I'm weird and don't like taco seasoning, so I don't eat taco meat. My taco salad includes lettuce, tomatoes, corn, shredded mild cheddar cheese, and two bananas (more weirdness :P). I added each item in the meal separately to make sure everything got counted right. Hope that helps!

ll31tCH

goto your goals and reset them according to how much weight youd like to loose. to lose one pound per week you need to be 500 calories under your BMR. so 2 pounds a week would be 1000 calories a day. hope this helps

jrt9999

Go to goals...In there shows how much weight loss per week you selected...Sounds like you selected 1/2 pounds per week. mabey a pound depending on your selected activity level.

baisleac

I'm still confused. haha. I know that the BMR is how many calories that I burn without doing anything. I never told MFP how much of a deficit I wanted, I just let them figure it all out for me. I'm just wondering why they gave me such a high calorie intake, when everyone I know that is my size is told to eat less calories.

You told them you wanted to lose a half a pound, one pound, a pound and a half, or two pounds (per week)... they did the numbers for you.

kwrecks

I told them 2lbs a week. And I said that Im slightly active, because neither one of my jobs is a sitting job.