Confused on calories

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Sheila4046
Sheila4046 Posts: 28
in Introduce Yourself
Please help me to understand. If the goal to loosing weight is to burn more calories than you take in, then why when I log in my food intake and exercise for that day, the screen states - based on my total calories consumed for that day, i am eating too few calories and this may be putting my body in starvation mode thus making weight loss more difficult. My daily calorie goal is 1200. So if i eat 1200 calories in a day and then exercise thus earning extra calories - do i eat again to meet my 1200 calorie goal? See how confused I am?

Much appreciated

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  • retired42
    retired42 Posts: 1
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    I, too am confused by this. I have just started this week and have had the same message at the end of the day, even though I have used up all the values allowed for sugar, which continues to be a problem as well.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    I also was wondering about this and still am, if you exercise do you eat more? One person told me yes another said no. Thus confused with you too.
  • bunsi_fidget
    bunsi_fidget Posts: 2
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    I think for someone who is trying to maintain their weight this would be the right way, but we are trying to lose and to do that we do have to be burning more cals than we take in. I say if your getting atleast 1200/day you should do well. Base your exercise on how you feel. If you feel dizzy I'd grab a snack. I've been ignoring it, but it is frustrating, makes it hard to know if your doing things right or not.
  • iwillwin1313
    iwillwin1313 Posts: 55
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    You do eat more if you log your excersise.
    For instance, if you are supposed to be eating 1200 a day (without excersize), but then you run for half an hour and burn 200 calories, you need to eat 200 extra calories so that your NET intake is 1200 calories.
    Does that make sense?
  • LanderRose81
    LanderRose81 Posts: 237 Member
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    I was also confused about this at first. Here is what I found out (I will use myself as an example)...

    For my everyday activity my body needs 1700 calories. In order to lose one pound per week MFP says to only eat 1270 calories. So there is a deficit already. When I work out I need to replace those calories I burned while exercising - preferably with something healthy...still working on that. :laugh:

    So in short - yes, when you work out - you need to replace those calories to get to your daily goal.

    And I use that to my advantage at times...if I know I am going out or to a party or something, I will make sure to work out so I get more calories and don't go over without working out.

    Hope this helps!
  • acmilan11
    acmilan11 Posts: 36 Member
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    Hi Shiela, I think it's just a disclaimer - keep doing what you're doing!!!
  • DPernet
    DPernet Posts: 481 Member
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    Eat More.

    Don't set up MFP and tell it you want to lose 2lb per week. Go back into settings and change it to 1lb per week. Unless you weigh 300lb+ then 2lb is too much too fast.

    If MFP tells you to eat 1200 calories and you do 200 calories worth of exercise then you need to eat 1400 calories. (1200+200)
    But this is already worked out for you on your home page. Just keep eating until the number on the main page says ZERO. You cant miss it. It's a big red number and it's right next to *Calories Remaining*

    Just remember though that the calories you enter - for exercise or food - aren't terribly accurate and +/- 10% can make a big difference. A lot of people tend to overestimate the exercise and underestimate the food. I generally only log about 60% of the exercise that I do and eat all of those calories back. For me the Net is 2200. I log about 800 - 1000 calories of exercise and so for the day I can eat 3000 calories. Seems to work. Trial and error. See how it goes :D
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
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    Well first you aren't alone in your confusion but a little trial and error has helped me with mine. There are a lot of opinions because of different peoples experience on here. If something works, don't fix it but I think that one thing I have learned to be true for me, is that the harder I workout, the more fuel I need for my body. I do believe that fuel does burn the calories. I read not too long ago about pro athletes. They have to eat more calories because they burn so much.

    For me, it works to eat back about half of my calories but I don't always do this. Some days I eat under what my diary says and some days over. I don't plan it, it's just how it goes. If I have a glass of water when I feel hunger, sometimes I don't need to eat, but, if I am still hungry, I eat. A wise lady told me that and she had lost something like 300 lbs. She drank half her weight in water and she did pay attention to her foods and calories but she told me if she was hungry she didn't deprive herself.

    I think taking what each person says here and working out what is right for you( listen to your body)you will find what is right, healthy and fun for you. I believe in being happy and enjoying life, not depriving myself as if punishing myself for not being perfect at any of this:) I can tell you MFP is the best thing that has happened to me and my health, EVER;)

    Lots of good stuff and ladies(and guys!!) that are so willing to share with you:)

    denise
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
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    thanks Dpernet, I appreciate what you shared. I do find it hard to guess-timate exercise. If I put less exercise calories burned, that is the way to go in my opinion. Then, as someone else mentioned, if I am hungry, I try the water first usually, then I will eat something good like peanut butter toast and that protein is very filling:)

    Thanks again,
    denise
  • Sheila4046
    Sheila4046 Posts: 28
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    Thank yall so much, a lot of good advise/feed back, i love it :happy: Be blessed.

    Sheila
  • RobynBourgeois
    RobynBourgeois Posts: 51
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    What I was told by a personal trainer is that you need to eat your BMR (which is located under tools). For me, my daily goal calories are 1,300 but my BMR is 1,429. As long as I am eating the 1,439 along with exercise, I am within my goals. It has helped for me, have lost 6 of the 10 pounds.
  • cphelps73
    cphelps73 Posts: 4 Member
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    Yes this can be confusing, as was just stated you should try to get to the BMR for you. As long as you have a "decent" intake it will not give you this message. I rarely taken in enough calories to hit my BMR which is 2100 calories as I have my daily goal set at 1870. My wife and I have been using fitness pal routinely since December. I have lost 57 lbs, and she has lost 75 lbs. using this program. We have also set up our carbs, fats, and protien to get the maximum boost to our metabolism. A good book to read is 'The diet docs' guide to permanent weight loss,' the gentleman who wrote this is an MD, and it breaks down how to boost your metabolism, and how to use carbs, proteins, and fat to aid your weightloss. Good Luck!!
  • Sheila4046
    Sheila4046 Posts: 28
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    Thanks guys:) @cphelps i will be purchasing this book. Wow 57lbs and 75lbs since December congrats!
  • D0minionconquest
    D0minionconquest Posts: 18 Member
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    I noticed that as well when I started. A lot of people suggested not logging my exercise, but I felt that I wouldn't stay diligent if I didn't make myself log it daily. So what I do now is focus on only the calories I've eaten for the day, ignoring the "earned" calories from exercising. I am on a 1200 diet and try to end the day with a total of 600-700 calories remaining (those calories being the calories burned by exercise, I do actually eat close to 1200 a day or try to). That way I know I'm still burning calories, not overdoing, but yet also not technically "starving" myself either.

    I started out great the first week here losing 2lbs, got very excited but now I'm at a stand still. It's really hard for me to lose weight so I may have to push myself a little harder in the following weeks, but I do like holding myself accountable for logging calories and exercise. Makes me really think before I put something in my mouth.

    Good luck to you and you can add me if you wish. I'm looking for good supportive friends on here to bounce ideas off of, with the occasional "Way to go!"

    Have a great day!
  • Healthydiner65
    Healthydiner65 Posts: 1,579 Member
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    Please eat your exercise calories.Your body need fuel(food) to function properly. I did not start losing until
    I started eating them. I read do many blogs of women who are dizzy and fatigued because they are eating too
    Few calories. Good luck and good health to you!
  • cphelps73
    cphelps73 Posts: 4 Member
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    Thanks! We owe a lot of our success, and dedication to fitness pal. My profile shows I've only logged in for 35 day's, while that is currently true, my wife and I went on a cruise and didn't have net access so we had 6 days that we couldn't log, so our count started over, if it hadn't started over we would be in the neighborhood of 255 day's.

    I've read several posts in this thread about weather or not to eat your calories burned, I say it depends on if you KNOW those calories are the correct number. I have started slowing down on my cardio workouts, and have started focusing on weight lifting. Well, since I don't have a "calculator" built in that tracks my calories for lifting, I put the time in for lifting under cardio as well. This gave me a number of calories burned based on an average calculator. When I started eating those calories too (lifting calories) my weight loss slowed down. So now, I track the time, but only give myself 1 calorie burned. This way I don't eat those calories too.

    Also something to help everyone, if you have a Wii the "sports games," boxing, tennis, bowling, etc, are good workouts. The boxing burns about 15 calories a minute of activity. And again @sheila Thank You!

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