Calories burned and calories eaten

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Kimmy4058
Kimmy4058 Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok I'm at a loss, if you look at my food diary for today you can see what I've eaten drank etc. Now I've put everything in and I mean everything and now I'm being told I'm not eating enough what am I supposed to do I can't be eating. All ties burned surely. I just don't know what to do. Also this is day 3 and with me drinking more and being active I don't have the hunger that I did.

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Well, 991 calories isn't really enough to ensure you meet your nutritional needs and maintain energy. Once in a while it's okay to undereat if you aren't hungry, but what is your long-term plan to ensure you meet your calorie goal?
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    It looks like maybe you're trying to keep your calories below the amount you burn through exercise? How are you calculating your burn and are you counting the tons of calories your body burns just being alive, keeping your organs alive, and doing every day activities?

    The amount of calories MFP gives you as a goal should have a deficit built into it already. Barring any medical conditions or special circumstances, you should be able to eat that amount to reach your goals.
  • Kimmy4058
    Kimmy4058 Posts: 23 Member
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    I don't really know I guess I will have to retrain how I think I always ate when I was hungry or thought I was and ate a lot of crap food and large portions. Counting calories is a new thing anyway as I used to do slimming world but I can't see me eating my daily calories plus what I burn off that will be a nightmare
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Your diary isn't open?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Your diary isn't open?

    I can see it.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    What does mean "All ties burned surely"? A 24-hour fast is not ever going to harm anyone. A 3 to 5-day extremely low calorie intake plan should only be done under a doctor's close supervision. Your ~900 is sort of between those two. Looking at your diary I see that your milk has logged as having zero sodium. Really? I suspect that you have chosen bad database entries. "09083, Currants, european black, raw" have 63 calories per 100g. The juice of those same currants would yield less weight and most of the same calories. Why does your logged product say it has 6 calories?
  • Kimmy4058
    Kimmy4058 Posts: 23 Member
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    The black currant juice isn't pure juice it's cordial you add water to it so the calories you are talking about aren't the same and the milk does have sodium but that's not what I'm questioning its my calories. Now I understand what you are saying but I have double checked my foods and they are as in the diary
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
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    Kimmy4058 wrote: »
    The black currant juice isn't pure juice it's cordial you add water to it so the calories you are talking about aren't the same and the milk does have sodium but that's not what I'm questioning its my calories. Now I understand what you are saying but I have double checked my foods and they are as in the diary

    Did you weigh all your foods? Just going by your diary it doesn't look like you weigh everything on scales, like bread, mayo, tinned foods etc.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,020 Member
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    Is there a reason that you didn't eat lunch? You could easily add 250 - 300 calories there to get your 1200. 900 calories is not enough on an every day basis. I understand that you don't want to eat if you aren't hungry, but you still need to get a minimum amount of nutrients each day.
  • Kimmy4058
    Kimmy4058 Posts: 23 Member
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    I have weighed everything I'm not the best at explaining things I will try again
  • Kimmy4058
    Kimmy4058 Posts: 23 Member
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    If you were wanting to have 2000 calories a day and hit the target but burned 700 would you have to then consume 700 calories more
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Kimmy4058 wrote: »
    If you were wanting to have 2000 calories a day and hit the target but burned 700 would you have to then consume 700 calories more

    I'm burning calories 24/7. Heart, lungs, kidneys, etc. That's called my BMR (basal metabolic rate). But I am (at least) sedentary so I burn more than my BMR. Then there is additional calorie burn from exercise (if I choose).

    The way MFP works. They take your height, weight, activity level (before exercise)......then you tell them "I want to lose xx pounds per week."

    MFP gives you BMR + activity level - calorie level to lose xx pounds. If/when you log exercise, MFP gives you more calories. No one HAS TO exercise, but it's a great choice for health and fitness.

    So it looks like this: 1500 (BMR) + 300 (sedentary) - 500 (1 pound a week) = 1,300 calories to eat

    OR with exercise

    1500 (BMR) + 300 (sedentary) - 500 (1 pound a week) + 250 (exercise) = 1,550 calories to eat

    Exercise calorie burns can be hard to pin down. Most people eat back a % and then test that % against actual weight loss results.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    Kimmy4058 wrote: »
    If you were wanting to have 2000 calories a day and hit the target but burned 700 would you have to then consume 700 calories more

    That's right. If I spend $20 to fill my gas tank (in my car) and then I drive around for a while, I don't have a full tank anymore, so I have to buy more gas. Maybe $7 more, it depends how much I drove.

    Your body is like your car except that it uses food instead of gas as fuel.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,020 Member
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    Kimmy4058 wrote: »
    If you were wanting to have 2000 calories a day and hit the target but burned 700 would you have to then consume 700 calories more

    Yes. But since it is harder to estimate your calories burned a lot of people will start by eating back 50%. After a few weeks if you are losing slower than expected eat less and if losing faster than expected eat back more.
  • Kimmy4058
    Kimmy4058 Posts: 23 Member
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    Teabea.... Northcascades....
    Thankyou!!! Now I know I sound the thickest person ever but it just wasn't sinking in lol. I get it I've got it and I'm ok now haha
  • Kimmy4058
    Kimmy4058 Posts: 23 Member
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    And yes I agree it's gonna be trial and error kgirlhart I was just so confused lol
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Yes it is correct in principle that they way the system works you set a goal that is an amount of weight lost per week and an activity level and your height/weight/age/gender and from that it calculates your likely TDEE and subtracts the amount of calories from that to hit your goal. If you exercise on top of that you would need to eat back those calories to stay on your target loss.

    So for example if it calculates your TDEE to be 1900 and you want to lose one pound per week it would set a goal for you of 1400 calories a day. If you then do exercise that burns an additional 400 calories you would eat 1800 calories that day.

    The complication comes from the fact it is very difficult to accurately calculate the amount you burn from exercise or your TDEE in general for that matter. So you have to estimate, then track your weight over a long period of time and if you haven't lost the amount you would have expected to over say 3 months then adjust accordingly.

    My diary is open. I'm set to lose 1 pound a week and my base TDEE is about 2200 so my calorie goal is about 1700. Yesterday I burned about 3000 calories on top of that going for a walk according to my fitbit so my TDEE was 5200 and it told me to eat 4700 as a result. I didn't fully believe that amount of burn was accurate so I ate back more like half of that, 1500 extra calories, so I only ate about 3,400 calories that day.

    Can be hard to gauge your exercise burn, only experience with your own body and the exercises you do through meticulous tracking will tell you.

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