Why are calories burned added to total calories for the day?

because MFP already creates a deficit for you when you sign up. If you do anything above & beyond, you need to eat those calories back to make sure you're NETTING 1200 calories per day.

Trust me - you need to eat most of those calories back. I'm exercising very hard (doing Insanity) and was not eating enough. It totally slowed my weight loss!

This is from several posts last week, but I just copied and pasted it for convenience sake, so ignore the parts that dont pertain to your situation. But the BMR stuff is important MFP sets your calories based on what you tell it. If you told it you want to lose 2lbs per week, its gonna go as low as 1200 calories. But thats not necessarily healthy or the right thing to do. Really...check out your BMR and stick to it:


Short answer: Try Searching this topic, as it has been discussed ad nausea here on the site.

Longer (but not nearly long enough) answer:
Your body requires a certain number of calories in order for you to simply exist. In order for you eyes to blink, your heart to keep beating, your hair to keep growing, your organs to keep functioning, you have to feed it a certain number of calories. This number is called your BMR. (Use the tool on this site to check your BMR...) For example, my BMR is about 1490 calories. So say I lay in bed allllll day, motionless. I would require 1490 calories just to keep my body alive in a coma-like state.
The second I get out of bed, walk across the room, open the door to the bathroom, brush my teeth, pee, weigh myself, turn on the hot water,and hop in the shower...I have burned calories. Minimal...but still enough to start cutting into the 1490 my body needs in order to fuel its most basic functions.

So if I eat my BMR of 1490 a day, I am only giving my body enough to do its basic functions.

MFP gave me 1200 calories based on my desire to lose 2 lbs a week. At my height and current weight, losing 2 lbs per week is not reasonable, but I wanted to lose FAST. And the lowest MFP will set someone's calories is 1200 (For many good reasons). 1200 is sort of an arbitrary number at this point but no one should really eat LESS than 1200, and there are likely very few people who could eat 1200 calories for the rest of their lives and maintain weight or stay satisfied. (opinion...sorry) I lost 20+ lbs eating 1200 cals a day. Wahoo! Yeah me!! Right? WRONG. The second I started eating "normal" again, I gained all 20+ lbs back, PLUS MORE. It might "work" in the short term, but for many here, 1200 calories isnt the lifestyle change needed to STAY healthy and thin.

OK, back to the exercise thing. If I eat my 1500 (1490) cals today, my body will already be at a deficit for weight loss since I got out of bed, functioned, walked, lifted my toddler countless times, etc. So if I were to workout and burn 500 calories this afternoon, my body would be at an even greater deficit, and risk pushing my body to panic. Once your body panics and your metabolism worries that you are not feeding it enough, you will start to store fat at a faster rate. Your body and metabolism will try to hang onto any extra store of fat in preparation for an upcoming "famine".

Another way to look at it: If you eat 1200 calories and then exercise 500 calories away, you are only holding onto 700 calories for your body to draw from for energy, organ function, eye blinking, etc etc. Its just not enough for your body to exist on without causing longterm troubles.

It took me a looooong time to "get" this. I still have to consciously remind myself to eat my calories in order to lose weight. It seems counter-intuitive...but it WORKS. When I eat my BMR and at LEAST half my exercise calories, I lose weight. When I only eat 1200 calories, I am miserable, hungry, and i might lose some weight initially...but i gain it alllll back with a few extra for fluffiness.

Bottom line: eat more, keep moving, lose more, keep it off
BMR + exercise calories = longterm success



Hope that helped!

Also, if you put your goal as "lose 2 lbs per week" then MFP will set your calorie goal accordingly. That is why it gave you 1200 cals rather than your BMR. Its fruatrating to repeatedly see people say "eat 1200 if youre a girl and 1500 if youre a guy" because every body is sooo different. Dont take that 1200 "golden" number and assume you will lose weight. You might initially, but youll likely stall if your frame/height/etc arent getting enough calories to exist on.

I fall in the muddle and only eat at most half my exercise calories. After 5 months here I find it's not worth it to force myself to eat more for a calorie goal IF I'm not hungry. If i am then I eat half of them. Of course early on I would have said I was always hungry. Now as long as I eat 1200 even if it means a little bigger deficit then is deemed okay I'm still happy.

I'm set to lose 1.5lbs a week and have averaged 2lbs a week anyhow.

Thanks for all the info, i also needed this to understand why i need to eat more calories.