Managing calorie bank v calorie burn

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jenniferrines910
jenniferrines910 Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
I set my activity level at lightly because without dedicated activity, I have a desk job (usually hit about 10k steps a day though). However, I’ve committed to doing some sort of activity daily (I’ve been doing a cardio session and lifting weights). My bank is about 1700, I generally eat about 1200 a day, and I generally burn through 900-1100 calories through activity. My question is perhaps more complex but is that working the plan correctly? I frequently end up with something that looks like this (from home page): 1700-1200+1000=1500. My goal is to lose weight. Any feedback or experiences will be helpful.

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  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    edited January 2021
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    Yes, this! Please don't undereat as it will cause damage to you in the long run. Plus, the bigger your calorie deficit the bigger the amount of muscle your body burns for energy. So you not only lose weight quickly (yay!), but also lose all the lovely muscles that took ages to build, that make you look lean stead of flabby, and that prevent osteoporosis at age (meh!). Please do use MFP as it's meant.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
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    As mentioned above your 1700 already includes the deficit, so no, don't eat 1200 per day.

    Set your activity level correctly, and eat that goal + at least some of your exercise calories (they aren't always accurate calorie burns but they are more accurate than zero!).

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  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
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    Did you go through the guided goal-setting in MFP? If so (and based on your numbers, I'm assuming you did), the number in "calories remaining" should average zero. The deficit you need to reach your weight loss goal is already built in. MFP is easy that way: tell it what you want, it tells you what to do. No extra thought required on the math part.

  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    No, that is not working the plan correctly.

    You're underestimating your activity level; if you're hitting 10K steps a day not counting exercise, you are active, not lightly active.

    Then you're eating 500 calories below you're goal. Your deficit is already built into your goal; you don't need to, and generally shouldn't, regularly eat 500 calories below it.

    Then you're not eating back any of your exercise calories.

    You are significantly undereating, and it's pretty much only a matter of time before you crash and burn. And, sadly, many people feel fine until they don't, and by the time they feel bad, damage has already been done that can take months to recover from (or, in the worst case, you will never recover from).

    All of this.

    Once you are at a more reasonable calorie intake level, I would also check what kind of activity you are doing that you think burns an additional 900-1100 calories. That's quite a lot and would take most people a lot of time exercising, so you might want to start by eating back only half or 75% of those calories.

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