Confused please help!

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kaylarosas21
kaylarosas21 Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I weigh 165 lbs. and am 5"5 I workout for 6 days a week for an hour. Myfitnesspal but my goal at 1680 to lose 2 pounds a week. If I eat that but then burn 700 in a workout how will I eat at my deficit to lose fat? I'm so confused, they have your goal, food, exercise, and if my net supposed to be in the negative? Please help!!

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    The number MFP gives you has a deficit built-in, even if you don't exercise.

    Your net should not be in the negative. Assuming that your calorie burns are accurate, your net should be the goal that MFP gave you. However, since many exercise equipment and MFP database counts for exercise are over-estimates, many people eat back only 25-75% of the exercise calories given.
  • Nicshtik
    Nicshtik Posts: 36 Member
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    I count my calories - those calories are your total goal for the day. Any calories burned after that, I consider a bonus and don't count at all. (Actually I don't usually log exercise in MFP for that reason, I just want to track what I am consuming so that I don't eat the calories back as a reward for a good workout).
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
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    If MFP says you need to eat 1680 to lose 2lbs/week, that means you need to NET 1680. So, you workout, burning 700 calories (and you'd really need to be sure you were burning that, MFP overestimates exercise calorie burns), you'd eat 2380/day. But that seems WAY high to me.

    Do you have your activity level set high? What kind of a job do you have? Are you working in exercise into your activity level, if so, you shouldn't. It should be how busy you are WITHOUT exercise.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited April 2015
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    MFP as designed gives you a daily deficit BEFORE exercise. That way people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight. So ideally eating back 100% of your exercise calories...just gets you back to square 1.

    However, calorie burns are estimates. MFP is generous. Many people using MFP numbers start by eating back a percentage, say 50-75%....not all.

    Why would you eat calories back? A large deficit day in and day out makes it hard for your body to support lean muscle. If you want to lose a larger percentage of fat....your workouts need fuel.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Useful link: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • kaylarosas21
    kaylarosas21 Posts: 7 Member
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    kristen6350 wrote: »
    If MFP says you need to eat 1680 to lose 2lbs/week, that means you need to NET 1680. So, you workout, burning 700 calories (and you'd really need to be sure you were burning that, MFP overestimates exercise calorie burns), you'd eat 2380/day. But that seems WAY high to me.

    Do you have your activity level set high? What kind of a job do you have? Are you working in exercise into your activity level, if so, you shouldn't. It should be how busy you are WITHOUT exercise.

    I thought my activity level should be active since I workout 6 days a week. I have a job as a waitress so I guess I could set it to 2 lbs to lose at lightly active. The activity level setting is before exercise right?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    kaylarosas21 wrote: »
    kristen6350 wrote: »
    If MFP says you need to eat 1680 to lose 2lbs/week, that means you need to NET 1680. So, you workout, burning 700 calories (and you'd really need to be sure you were burning that, MFP overestimates exercise calorie burns), you'd eat 2380/day. But that seems WAY high to me.

    Do you have your activity level set high? What kind of a job do you have? Are you working in exercise into your activity level, if so, you shouldn't. It should be how busy you are WITHOUT exercise.

    I thought my activity level should be active since I workout 6 days a week. I have a job as a waitress so I guess I could set it to 2 lbs to lose at lightly active. The activity level setting is before exercise right?

    If you are doing MFP *as designed*, your activity level is before any exercise. You would then log your exercise and eat some of those calories back (accounting for any over-estimation in calorie burn, of course).

    You could also set an activity level based on your exercise. In this case, you wouldn't eat any of your exercise calories back because you wouldn't want to double dip.

    Both are fine. You just need to be consistent.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    kaylarosas21 wrote: »
    kristen6350 wrote: »
    If MFP says you need to eat 1680 to lose 2lbs/week, that means you need to NET 1680. So, you workout, burning 700 calories (and you'd really need to be sure you were burning that, MFP overestimates exercise calorie burns), you'd eat 2380/day. But that seems WAY high to me.

    Do you have your activity level set high? What kind of a job do you have? Are you working in exercise into your activity level, if so, you shouldn't. It should be how busy you are WITHOUT exercise.

    I thought my activity level should be active since I workout 6 days a week. I have a job as a waitress so I guess I could set it to 2 lbs to lose at lightly active. The activity level setting is before exercise right?

    Yes - because if your activity level includes exercise and then you log it besides....it's double counted a bit.
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
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    If you are including exercise into your activity and set at active, just don't eat back exercise calories. Eat 1680/daily. Period. Consistently.
  • tabi26
    tabi26 Posts: 535 Member
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    I am the same height and weight as you are and I can lose weight setting my diary to 2000 and eating back my exercise calories. So I eat 2000 on off days and on days I exercise I eat up to 3000. Lol.
  • lirr10185
    lirr10185 Posts: 37 Member
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    I have always been confused about how mfp calculated things. However, I do know that if you want to lose 2 lbs a week, you have to burn 1,000 calories (500 for 1 lb) below your total daily energy expenditure. TDEE is the amount of calories you burn in a 24 hr period. They have calculators online, but I don't know how accurate they are. I just did my calculations and it said I only burn 1800 in a day. I have a Fitbit and according to my device, I burn on average 2,500 calories a day. With that said, I shoot for 1,500 calories eaten to get a 1,000 caloric deficit each day. Since I have been calculating my diet this way, I have seen much better results. I also feel like I can eat more and don't feel so miserable. Mfp had me at a pretty low calorie range and I was always hungry. Doing the 1,000 caloric deficit makes me feel like I have more control because I can eat according to my day. If it's possible, I would suggest getting a fitbit. Although, it is possible to do it without.
  • tephanies1234
    tephanies1234 Posts: 299 Member
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    Don't log exercise separately if you already count it in your allotted calories for the day. Your calories for losing 2lbs a week seems high though for your stats. I have the same stats. I'm 5'5" and started at 159lbs and lost 1lb per week on 1300-1400 netted each day. 1500-1600 netted each day gets me 1/2 lb now per week. You could try the 1680 netted calories and see where that gets you in a couple weeks and adjust as needed.
  • kaylarosas21
    kaylarosas21 Posts: 7 Member
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    I put in I'm active because I am a waitress and I want to lose 2 lbs. per week. It has me at 1480 calories per day so I guess I eat that amount and workout and adjust it as I get smaller!!??
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    kaylarosas21 wrote: »
    So I weigh 165 lbs. and am 5"5 I workout for 6 days a week for an hour. Myfitnesspal but my goal at 1680 to lose 2 pounds a week. If I eat that but then burn 700 in a workout how will I eat at my deficit to lose fat? I'm so confused, they have your goal, food, exercise, and if my net supposed to be in the negative? Please help!!

    Those numbers don't sound right to me. I created a test account and input 165lbs, 5'5" and 20 years old female, and a goal of 2lbs/week, and it gave me the 1200 minimum for "sedentary" and "lightly active", 1430 calories for "active", or 1730 for "very active".

    Remember, OP, that activity level does NOT include your 6-days-a-week workouts. You would add those back separately and eat back some of your exercise calories. (I say *some*, because no way are you actually burning 700 calories in an hour at your size, no matter how intense your workout, no matter what some gym machine says. Probably 150-250 is more realistic a burn. But I digress.)

    Also, since your goal is only to lose 25lbs, 2lbs/week is far too aggressive at your size and stats. Aim for 0.5lbs or 1lb per week, MAX. You don't want to be creating a calorie deficit that's higher than about 20% of your TDEE, which gets a bit technical but basically means that 1lb/week is the maximum you should set this to, and you probably want to reduce that to 0.5lbs/week once you are 10-15lbs away from your goal weight.

    At your stats, assuming lightly active for activity level, to lose 1lb/week, you'd be looking at netting 1630 calories. That's not including exercise, so when you work out, eat back some of your workout calories on top of the 1630.

    Good luck!
  • kaylarosas21
    kaylarosas21 Posts: 7 Member
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    Thanks for your help guys :)
  • uvi5
    uvi5 Posts: 710 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Waitressing can burn plenty of calories depending on a shift. When I waitressed (off and on for 20 some odd years), I was always fit and did not need to focus on calories. I was much younger then. I did not eat or snack at work, because I was constantly moving, carrying trays, prebussing, refilling, stocking, sidework... etc. I mostly worked mornings and turnover was high. The times when I worked late afternoon or evenings (filling in for no shows) I would not move as much. So I guess it would depend on how much activity you get on a given shift as what calories you should be eating to keep at a deficit. Good Luck to you :smiley:
  • uvi5
    uvi5 Posts: 710 Member
    edited April 2015
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    segacs wrote: »
    kaylarosas21 wrote: »
    So I weigh 165 lbs. and am 5"5 I workout for 6 days a week for an hour. Myfitnesspal but my goal at 1680 to lose 2 pounds a week. If I eat that but then burn 700 in a workout how will I eat at my deficit to lose fat? I'm so confused, they have your goal, food, exercise, and if my net supposed to be in the negative? Please help!!

    Those numbers don't sound right to me. I created a test account and input 165lbs, 5'5" and 20 years old female, and a goal of 2lbs/week, and it gave me the 1200 minimum for "sedentary" and "lightly active", 1430 calories for "active", or 1730 for "very active".

    Remember, OP, that activity level does NOT include your 6-days-a-week workouts. You would add those back separately and eat back some of your exercise calories. (I say *some*, because no way are you actually burning 700 calories in an hour at your size, no matter how intense your workout, no matter what some gym machine says. Probably 150-250 is more realistic a burn. But I digress.)

    Also, since your goal is only to lose 25lbs, 2lbs/week is far too aggressive at your size and stats. Aim for 0.5lbs or 1lb per week, MAX. You don't want to be creating a calorie deficit that's higher than about 20% of your TDEE, which gets a bit technical but basically means that 1lb/week is the maximum you should set this to, and you probably want to reduce that to 0.5lbs/week once you are 10-15lbs away from your goal weight.

    At your stats, assuming lightly active for activity level, to lose 1lb/week, you'd be looking at netting 1630 calories. That's not including exercise, so when you work out, eat back some of your workout calories on top of the 1630.

    Good luck!

    I'm 154 cw (starting 163 two months ago) I'm 5.5" 47 y/o. I'm learning this as well. Although i'd been still shedding size over the past 2 months and per the advice of other members here, I stuck to only eating back 1/2 or less of my exercise calories. I picked a few days ago for an example of MFP calories burned for over 2 hours of exercise i did. I pushed myself, felt the burn and the lovely endorphins, but even still don't trust the burns given for it.

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    Edit to add. I'm set to sedentary and add my workouts. MFP gives me 1420/day Gross calories. I do not work, but stay somewhat active most days. Not sure if this helps, but it's what I'm doing and so far, so good until I learn more.

    Edit again... I don't work a job, but workout almost daily (missed 1 day in the last 28 days), but I'm somewhat active on most days (cleaning, cooking, playing with kitty, working my fingers on this keyboard, waddling about :lol:)

  • tephanies1234
    tephanies1234 Posts: 299 Member
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    I only record about 100-150 calories for 20-30 minutes high intensity cardio (like running, sprints, skipping rope). I do tend to eat back 100% of my exercise calories (it's a mental thing), so I will never record more than that unless I did cardio for a full hour, which rarely happens. I don't trust the burns on MFP at all. My weight loss seems to be on track so the amount I record for burns is fine for me.

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