I feel dumb

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ksmommy5
ksmommy5 Posts: 142 Member
edited January 2017 in Getting Started
So i created my profile to lose 2 lbs a week. MFP gave me 1470 calories. I have been under all week but netting on average 1400 cals. I am under the assumption that this means if I consume x calories a day with no exercise, I WILL lose weight. Great. My problem is 1. how do i calculate a deficit or did MFP already do this? and 2. if i plug my info into another calculator, the caloric deficit says 1700 cals. Which is right?

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  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Your calorie goal includes the deficit that you requested with the exception that the calorie goal won't go below 1200 for women. If you eat to the given goal, even without exercise, you should lose close to an average of that amount each week if your food and exercise tracking is accurate.

    The other calculator likely includes purposeful exercise. MFP only includes daily activity excluding exercise and expects you to enter exercise so that those calories can be added.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    1. MFP has already taken care of the deficit. They assume you burn 2470 calories a day before exercise.
    2. Other calculators mostly go by TDEE, which includes exercise. It's still an estimation, but they could both be right.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    In addition, all of these calculators give their best estimate based upon population averages. You can calculate your personal expected results after you build up some data.
  • ksmommy5
    ksmommy5 Posts: 142 Member
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    Thank you. So if i stick to netting at least 1200 cals on MFP and eating back at least 50% of cals burned (so if i burned 400 I eat 200) I will get on track? When I enter the cals burned on MFP was at 300, it gave me 90 cals extra. I eat the 90 cals or 50% of the 300 I burned?
  • ElasticGrasshopper
    ElasticGrasshopper Posts: 5 Member
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    It can be so confusing and the best thread on the topic I have found is this one: community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1
    I hope it helps.

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