Deficit

Going by MFP's calculations, 1200 is what you should eat if you don't exercise. They've already accounted for the 500 deficit.

Right, because that is about what your body burns by just keeping you alive

it is saying if you eat 1700 calories usually in order to lose 1 pound a week you will need to eat 1200 calories a day. That way you are burning 500 calories a day. You need to burn 3500 calories to loss one pound.

Using your figures...

You need 1700 a day to stay the same as you are now.

You need to have a deficit of 3500 to lose 1lb of fat.

Therefore, if you have a deficit of 500 a day, thats a total of 3500 a week, therefore meaning 1lb fat loss a week, on average.

How you get that 500 deficit is up to you. You could eat 1700, and exercise off 500 a day. Or you could simply not execise at all, but eat only 1200, therefore getting a 500 deficit.

If MFP gave you 1200 then that's what you eat a day, because they based that on the info you gave them.
So when you exercise, eat back those calories, so that you are always at 1200 or as close as possible,
because you have to eat to lose, you don't want your body going into starvation mode and slowing
your matabolism down!

I hope this helped you

BMR does NOT equal TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)


BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate
TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure (also called Maintenance calories)
Calorie = (unit of measurement), a unit of energy or heat variously defined. In nutrition terms, the word calorie is commonly used to refer to a unit of food energy. (The word calorie is used instead of the more precise scientific term kilocalorie.)

BMR and TDEE are two different things..

BMR is the amount of energy (calories) your body needs to function in a coma.

TDEE is the amount of energy (calories) that your body actually uses (burns) each day by living your life.

Eating less than your TDEE will give you a calorie deficit and you will lose weight.

Eat less than your BMR and you risk slowing your metabolism down; making it that much harder to continue to lose weight and that much more likely that you will regain that weight when you get to maintenance.

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You can determine a rough estimate of your BMR on any web based BMR calculator. For a better estimate (without resorting to expensive tests), use your body fat percentage to determine your lean body mass (Google "Lean Body Mass Calculator") then use that number to determine your BMR. BMR = 370 + (21.6 X lean body mass in kg).

To determine your TDEE multiply your BMR by the appropriate number below:

If you are sedentary (Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)) : 1.2

If you are lightly active (Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. nurse, salesman)) : 1.375

If you are moderatetely active (Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman): 1.55

If you are very active (Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)): 1.725

Subtract your calorie deficit from this number, your TDEE; remembering that if you exercise, those exercise calories need to be recovered to maintain your calculated deficit.

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Your NET calories (on your home page) should be as close to the daily goal MFP set for you as possible.

Your REMAINING calories (on your homepage and food diary page) should be as close to zero as possible.

MFP builds in a deficit for you based on the information you gave it: height, weight, lifestyle, goal weight loss, etc.. All you need to do is follow the calorie goals it gives you.

That part about BRM and TDEE made perfect sense to me, and probably explains why ive stopped losing weight, when my BMR is around 2.2k, and ive been eating around 1.7k. Im 500 below my comatosed level.

But then, why is MFP saying my daily goal is 1720, if my BMR is 2.2k?

Male, 6ft, 241 lbs.

MFP is a "dumb" tool, in that, if you tell it you want to lose 2 lbs per week, it will let you (down to 1200 cal per day) even if that is unhealthy. It doesn't even have a different minimum for males (1500 btw).

Also, i didnt really help myself. I just checked my original settings, and for some reason i was down at "Sedentary". I hardly think circuit training, bowling, as well as league badminton three times a week is "Sedentary". Now ive set it to moderately active, its up to 2000 a day, which is still lower than my BMR. So i really should be aiming for a bare minimum of 2200?

MFP will add back the calories of any exercise you enter, but it is generally considered "safer" to keep your minimum calories above your BMR.