Newbie Confusion

avnikapuri · August 2016

Hey!

I joined MFP (and a gym) last week and I've been trying to religiously log everything I eat and the amount of exercise I do.

This is what I signed up with:
Current wight: 61 kg
Goal weight: 50 kg
Height: 5'3"
Age:24
Gender: Female

Ideally, I want to reach my goal weight (or somewhat close) in 3 months from now, but MFP suggested a weight loss goal of 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs) per week. My goal is set as 1200 calories.

Here comes the problem. In an attempt to educate myself about the system of net calories, deficit, nutrition etc. etc., I've been reading up quite a bit and have ended up confusing myself thoroughly as to what I should be aiming for in my MFP daily diary.

So how it says on the top -
Goal - food + exercise = remaining

My diary for the last few days reads:
1200-1024+86 = 262
1200-1507+299 = -8
1200-1600+199 = -201
1200-955+379 = 624
1200-1138+32 = 94

Should the figure in the end (remaining calories) be negative or positive or zero (at the end of the day after logging in all food and exercise)? I am really confused about this, is it good to have lot of remaining calories in the end? Does negative mean I have eaten more that day than I should have to lose weight?

I'd really appreciate if someone could explain what I'm doing wrong and what's the correct way to maintain the equation to achieve my goal of losing close to 10kgs in 3 months?

Thaaaaaanks

mollysams82 · August 2016

Hi! Looks like you are off to a good start. Yes, negative means you've eaten more than recommended. A positive number means you can eat more. My understanding is that you want it to be close to zero. Under-eating can cause your body to think you are starving and slow down your metabolism.
You have a lot of restraint! How do you go all day on around 1000 calories and still exercise. If I eat that little, I don't have the energy to make it through a workout.

SamuraiJake1985 · August 2016

Positive means you can eat more and negative means u overate. For your age and size around 1500 calories a day would be fine. If your wanting to burn more body fat so you can see more muscle it's all in what you eat and how active you are. High protein low carb diet is good, eat clean, (fish, chicken, lean meat etc) if your active your allowed to have extra protein as well, work out (weight train along with at least 30 minutes cardio) I usually do not eat back what I lose in calories. To burn more fat is to burn more calories than u eat and alot of water. I bet u can drop those pounds in less than 3 months with the right nutrition and workout plan. Remember it's not always what shows on the scale, your body shows the improvement being made. Wouldn't worry much on losing pounds and focus more on losing body fat. I've seen woman 145 pounds and look like they weigh 120 because of how lean they are. Keep it healthy and prepare for hard work and you'll get there. Never give up, it's amazing what people can do to their bodies. You got this! Hope this helps a little more

avnikapuri · August 2016

Comicartist27 wrote: »

Positive means you can eat more and negative means u overate. For your age and size around 1500 calories a day would be fine. If your wanting to burn more body fat so you can see more muscle it's all in what you eat and how active you are. High protein low carb diet is good, eat clean, (fish, chicken, lean meat etc) if your active your allowed to have extra protein as well, work out (weight train along with at least 30 minutes cardio) I usually do not eat back what I lose in calories. To burn more fat is to burn more calories than u eat and alot of water. I bet u can drop those pounds in less than 3 months with the right nutrition and workout plan. Remember it's not always what shows on the scale, your body shows the improvement being made. Wouldn't worry much on losing pounds and focus more on losing body fat. I've seen woman 145 pounds and look like they weigh 120 because of how lean they are. Keep it healthy and prepare for hard work and you'll get there. Never give up, it's amazing what people can do to their bodies. You got this! Hope this helps a little more

Thanks a lot for your message! I totally understand what you mean by feeling and looking fit

I was relatively in better shape last year when i was a student, more active, I've got a desk job now and I've just gained 6-7 kgs in the past few months, just trying to shed it off now..

Currently, I spend about one hour in the gym everyday, do about 20 mins of cardio, treadmill mostly.. Split it in parts with 3 sets of squats and lunges, coupled with some biceps/triceps/thigh exercises... Think im burning not more than 200 - 300 calories per gym session. Guess I need to burn more per day?

battyfitch · August 2016

You should be eating as close to your calorie recommendation as possible. It doesn't matter if you're a few calories under or a few over, just aim to eat as close to the recommended number as possible.

So if your MFP recommendation is 1200 and you burn off 350 at the gym, you should eat 1550 so that your net amount is still 1200.

1lb a week might be too aggressive for someone your size. It should probably be set to 1/2lb a week.

Newbie Confusion

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