Am I confused?

ttfnweight
ttfnweight Posts: 202 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i just want to ask this to May sure I understand. I eat the Cals that MFP allots because there is a deficit built into those Cals. If I eat only those Cals I will lose weight?? Is that how it works?? I don't have to have anymore deficit only eat those Cals??

Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    MFP gives you a calorie goal based on your BMR plus activity level (eg what you do each day without purposeful exercise)

    That calorie goal has a built in defecit determined by how much you said you wanted to lose each week

    You eat that

    If you then do purposeful exercise (workout) you get to eat those calories too (most eat 50% of MFP / machine calorie estimates). You will still be at defecit as it's worked into the first figure
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
    Eat the cals mfp tells you to and you will lose roughly the weight you have chosen to lose a week (weight loss is not linear so some weeks you may lose more or less but if properly weighed and counted the cals given to you should average out to that weight loss)
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,598 Member
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    i just want to ask this to May sure I understand. I eat the Cals that MFP allots because there is a deficit built into those Cals. If I eat only those Cals I will lose weight?? Is that how it works?? I don't have to have anymore deficit only eat those Cals??

    Right.

    Go to My Home and then select the Goals link. You should see how much of a deficit you've got there.

    And I will emphasize the comment above ... weight loss is not linear so some weeks you may lose more or less, but if you are really accurate in your logging, the average will work out.

  • ttfnweight
    ttfnweight Posts: 202 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    i just want to ask this to May sure I understand. I eat the Cals that MFP allots because there is a deficit built into those Cals. If I eat only those Cals I will lose weight?? Is that how it works?? I don't have to have anymore deficit only eat those Cals??

    Right.

    Go to My Home and then select the Goals link. You should see how much of a deficit you've got there.

    And I will emphasize the comment above ... weight loss is not linear so some weeks you may lose more or less, but if you are really accurate in your logging, the average will work out.

    I do not have MFP premium. Just the regular and nowhere do I see anything about a deficit. I went to goals. It shows Cals and net Cals. That it.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,598 Member
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    i just want to ask this to May sure I understand. I eat the Cals that MFP allots because there is a deficit built into those Cals. If I eat only those Cals I will lose weight?? Is that how it works?? I don't have to have anymore deficit only eat those Cals??

    Right.

    Go to My Home and then select the Goals link. You should see how much of a deficit you've got there.

    And I will emphasize the comment above ... weight loss is not linear so some weeks you may lose more or less, but if you are really accurate in your logging, the average will work out.

    I do not have MFP premium. Just the regular and nowhere do I see anything about a deficit. I went to goals. It shows Cals and net Cals. That it.

    I don't have MFP premium either.

    Maybe it only shows the deficit and a whole bunch of other info if you manually enter your max calories ... which is what I've done.

    I've manually entered 1350 as my max calories, and I get a screen with lots of info.

  • ttfnweight
    ttfnweight Posts: 202 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    i just want to ask this to May sure I understand. I eat the Cals that MFP allots because there is a deficit built into those Cals. If I eat only those Cals I will lose weight?? Is that how it works?? I don't have to have anymore deficit only eat those Cals??

    Right.

    Go to My Home and then select the Goals link. You should see how much of a deficit you've got there.

    And I will emphasize the comment above ... weight loss is not linear so some weeks you may lose more or less, but if you are really accurate in your logging, the average will work out.

    I do not have MFP premium. Just the regular and nowhere do I see anything about a deficit. I went to goals. It shows Cals and net Cals. That it.

    I don't have MFP premium either.

    Maybe it only shows the deficit and a whole bunch of other info if you manually enter your max calories ... which is what I've done.

    I've manually entered 1350 as my max calories, and I get a screen with lots of info.

    I'll try that.
  • ttfnweight
    ttfnweight Posts: 202 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    i just want to ask this to May sure I understand. I eat the Cals that MFP allots because there is a deficit built into those Cals. If I eat only those Cals I will lose weight?? Is that how it works?? I don't have to have anymore deficit only eat those Cals??

    Right.

    Go to My Home and then select the Goals link. You should see how much of a deficit you've got there.

    And I will emphasize the comment above ... weight loss is not linear so some weeks you may lose more or less, but if you are really accurate in your logging, the average will work out.

    I do not have MFP premium. Just the regular and nowhere do I see anything about a deficit. I went to goals. It shows Cals and net Cals. That it.

    I don't have MFP premium either.

    Maybe it only shows the deficit and a whole bunch of other info if you manually enter your max calories ... which is what I've done.

    I've manually entered 1350 as my max calories, and I get a screen with lots of info.

    I tried it but no other info showed up. It says cal goal then protein goal fats and carbs. Nothing else. Bummer.
  • ttfnweight
    ttfnweight Posts: 202 Member
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  • ttfnweight
    ttfnweight Posts: 202 Member
    ttfnweight wrote: »
    jvvgv7t77e21.jpg

    This is it. Nothing else shows up. :-/
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    If you run the standard goal setting, put in sedentary and a weight loss rate then your goal has a deficit built in. It doesn't show you this on the routine stuff but if you go to the BMR tool at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator and multiply the answer by 1.2 the difference between the answer to that and your goal is your deficit.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    Ttfn.
    Spend some time exploring your profile/home.
    In goals there is definitely a place where you can specify how much weight you want to lose each week.
    Sometimes how it is displayed depends on the platform you are working from. I am on my iPhone and it is quite straight forward.
    Spend time learning how you can get the best out of the programme.

    Yes, once you have got it set for the deficit you wish, you just eat to that calorie goal. Weigh everything, eat back 75-50% of exercise calories.

    Cheers, h.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited August 2015
    The MFP system can be confusing, it's not your fault.

    Before you decided to diet, you ate a certain amount of calories. That's your "maintenance" level - the amount required to keep you at your current weight. MFP guesses at this number, based on your current weight and the amount of activity you tell MFP you do at work.

    That's what MFP counted when you answered this question:

    How would you describe your normal daily activities?

    Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)

    Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)

    Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)

    Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

    This number doesn't include any exercise.

    A "deficit" is just the difference between your estimated amount of calories for "maintenance" of your current weight given your activity at work, and the amount of calories that your body would need to lose 0.5 or 1 or 2 lbs a week.

    So if MFP guesses that your maintenance number is 2000 (because you weigh X lbs, and you say you are "active", for example), and you tell MFP you want to lose 0.5 lb a week, MFP is going to say your body needs 350 calories less than 2000. That 350 would be the deficit.

    The 350 "less than" (deficit) can come out of your estimated 2000 maintenance number in two ways:

    1) You only eat 1650 calories worth of food, and you don't do any exercise. Your body gets (nets) 1650 calories.

    2) You eat more than 1650 (like maybe 1900). You can still burn some of those calories off through exercise to create that 350 deficit (your body gets 350 "less than" 2000). So if you eat 1900, and you go on a bike for 40 minutes and burn 250 calories, you'd log that exercise in MFP. MFP would then subtract the 250 you burned from the 1900 you ate. You would still "net" 1650. (Your body is still getting 350 less than 2000.)

    I hope that's not confusing :/
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Go on your computer and click on "goals". All the info should be in there. It's not the same page going in from your phone.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member









    Your Fitness Goals





    Nutritional goals Goals

    Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,420 cal/day
    Carbs / Day 142.0 g
    Fat / Day 47.0 g
    Protein / Day 107.0 g




    Fitness Goals Goals

    Calories Burned / Week 0 cal/week
    Workouts / Week 7 Workouts
    Minutes / Workout 0 mins





    Your diet Profile Target

    Calories Burned
    From Normal Daily Activity 1,950 cal/day
    Net Calories Consumed*
    Your Daily Goal 1,420 cal/day
    Daily Calorie Deficit 530 calories
    Projected Weight Loss 0.5 kg/week

    * Net Calories Consumed = Total Calories Consumed - Exercise Calories Burned

    Change Goals

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