I don't know

Ok so my daily calorie intake is 1200 and I just burned 460 calories at the gym. I thought in order to lose weight you had to burn more than you eat.. I don't know how it all works and every time I ask someone goes right of topic and confuses the hell out of me. Can someone give me the straight simple answer as to how I'm meant to work the calories burning thing haha I'm like...... I don't know what to do. Thanks in advance :)

Replies

  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    Following MFP the way it's set up, you would eat 1200+460

    Your body burns calories all the time. To lose you have to consume less than your body burns throughout the day.

    Now not sure what you are doing to burn the 460 at the gym and how you came up with that number, but you can eat back half of that number so about 1430 calories or so.

    Next question why are you at 1200? Did you select to lose 2 lbs per week?
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    You do have to burn more than you eat to lose weight. The trick is that exercise isn't the only way your body is burning calories. Brushing your teeth, going to work, sleeping, your body burns a certain number of calories all day just keepinh you alive. If you're curious to know how much you're burning through the day then you can Google TDEE calculator and get a quick estimate.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Start here:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

    read that. And make sure you're eating enough. 1200 MINUS 460 probably isn't enough.
    Good luck
  • sodakat
    sodakat Posts: 1,126 Member
    edited November 2014
    MFP sets your calorie goal based on your normal activity level, which means how active you are in your daily life. This means you can lose weight just living life, without making an effort to exercise. If you do things that burn lots of calories like stand on your feet most of the day, or work as a carpenter or mailman, you will burn more calories than if you sit at a computer all day or play video games on your couch. It just makes sense, you know? In other words, this is why there are different activity levels for you to choose. Generalizing, I think you get about 300 more calories from each activity level increase.

    When you make a concentrated effort to exercise and burn "x" amount of calories doing something you burn MORE calories than you normally do, so you can eat more, if you wish. If you burn an extreme amount of calories more than you do just living your life, you'll want to eat some of those calories back in order to fuel your body. It is entirely up to you to decide if you want to eat the number of calories back that the machine claims you burned, but most people here on MFP say eat about half back.

    When you enter an exercise in MFP you have the option of overwriting the number of calories assigned to that exercise/activity. Then once you submit the exercise, MFP will adjust your remaining calorie count up by that amount.

    The basic settings on MFP expect you to eat back extra calories "earned" through deliberate exercise.

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  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    You have to burn more than you need, not more than you eat.

    You need a certain amount of calories just to be alive, not counting exercise.

    MFP tries to estimate how many you use up in daily life (breathing, heart beating, getting the mail, etc.) and tells you eat that many. If you do more than normal (like going to the gym or for a run), it gives you more calories to eat, since you need more for that.

    A lot of people think MFP overestimates the amount burned at the gym and they don't eat all those extra calories. They generally eat half of the extra calories.

    You don't need to exercise off more than you eat. You just need to use more than what you eat...and you use calories constantly, just being alive. :)
  • TaraJerard
    TaraJerard Posts: 8 Member
    Following MFP the way it's set up, you would eat 1200+460

    Your body burns calories all the time. To lose you have to consume less than your body burns throughout the day.

    Now not sure what you are doing to burn the 460 at the gym and how you came up with that number, but you can eat back half of that number so about 1430 calories or so.

    Next question why are you at 1200? Did you select to lose 2 lbs per week?

    So does that mean I can eat 1430 calories today?

    I do caridiovascular and strength training and all the machine have a calorie counter on it and before you start you have to put you weight and age ect..

    MyfitNess pal put me at 1200

    I'm 22 at 70kg wanting to lose 10kg by Feburary. I'm only 5foot1 so yeah I'm a little stumpy.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    edited November 2014
    TaraJerard wrote: »
    Following MFP the way it's set up, you would eat 1200+460

    Your body burns calories all the time. To lose you have to consume less than your body burns throughout the day.

    Now not sure what you are doing to burn the 460 at the gym and how you came up with that number, but you can eat back half of that number so about 1430 calories or so.

    Next question why are you at 1200? Did you select to lose 2 lbs per week?

    So does that mean I can eat 1430 calories today?

    I do caridiovascular and strength training and all the machine have a calorie counter on it and before you start you have to put you weight and age ect..

    MyfitNess pal put me at 1200

    I'm 22 at 70kg wanting to lose 10kg by Feburary. I'm only 5foot1 so yeah I'm a little stumpy.

    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
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    So you are looking to lose around 22 lbs which would put in the .5 - 1 lb per week, set MFP for that not 2 lbs per week. Eat back at least half of your exercise calories, monitor it for a few weeks, and you can adjust slightly from there.

    Read these links they will help:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    Are you weighing your food and logging it accurately. The amount of burnback calories you eat is up to you because you have to be sure that value is accurate. People have doubts about certain machines and MFP estimates. If it was accurate then you could eat them all back, but many people only eat a % because they dont trust the accuracy. The ultimate test is whether the tape measure and scales show or say you ahve lost weight over a period. Adjust accordingly.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    TaraJerard wrote: »
    Following MFP the way it's set up, you would eat 1200+460

    Your body burns calories all the time. To lose you have to consume less than your body burns throughout the day.

    Now not sure what you are doing to burn the 460 at the gym and how you came up with that number, but you can eat back half of that number so about 1430 calories or so.

    Next question why are you at 1200? Did you select to lose 2 lbs per week?

    So does that mean I can eat 1430 calories today?

    I do caridiovascular and strength training and all the machine have a calorie counter on it and before you start you have to put you weight and age ect..

    MyfitNess pal put me at 1200

    I'm 22 at 70kg wanting to lose 10kg by Feburary. I'm only 5foot1 so yeah I'm a little stumpy.

    Yes