calories and why it says Im below my target everyday

Did you set it at 1200, or did MFP set it there based on the info you put in? Are you eating back your exercise calories?

What weekly weight loss goal did you put in, and how much are you trying to lose? If you put in 2 pounds a week and you have less than say 50 pounds to lose, you might want to lower it a little, say 1 pound or even 1/2 a pound a week. Of course, we would all love to lose weight as quickly as possible, but it is better in the long run to go as slow as your body needs.

If you are eating less than 1200 calories a day, and working off over 600 calories, your leaving less than 600 calories a day for your body to do all the rest of the things it needs to do. Eating back your excersize calories is a hotly debated topic here, but I would suggest eating at least some of them back.

Since so many of the numbers used are estimates, you will have to find a good balance that works well for you. Read the forum, take what information you think works best for you, and good luck on your journey.

Yes, ALWAYS eat your workout calories, for whatever reason a lot of people on here don't understand simple math to know that if you eat 1200 calories, and workout and burn 300, you'll only left with 900 calories for your body to survive, grown, and function on..... just think of the workout calories as bonus calories to eat back, they don't matter, it won't mess with your weight loss, they are just there for you to enjoy

MFP set it at the info I put in.What do you mean by eating back my exercise caloreies?I just finished my workout,after I logged it in it said I earned 606 calories,what is that?Should I eat an additional 606 calories?

YES!!! You will feel better and your body will function better if its getting the nutrition it needs

The 1200 is to make sure that - with a VARIED diet - you get enough of the various nutrients your body needs.


On top of that, you need to find out what ENERGY you used.


Food gives you nutrients AND it can be burned to make energy. The main energy foods are carbohydrates (starches and sugars) and the long term stores are your fat.

You need to eat a VARIED diet of around 1200 to run your body even if you do very little. If you do more, then your body will burn more of your energy stores, BUT it needs the proteins, vitamins et al from the 1200 calories you ate to do that.

If you give it too little or too 'same-y' a diet, it can't burn your fat stores, but it still need the energy, so it will burn your protein and other stores - which are your muscles and your other essential organs.

So, eat a VARIED diet, with 500 calories less in it (as long as you have at least 1200 or so) than your body needs, and then exercise to encourage the fat burn. That gives you 1 pound a week loss.

For any more loss, you must burn calories by exercise NOT reduce your input to silly numbers.

Silly numbers means 800 or less for more than a day or so at a time, with 1200 or so for the rest of the week, and silly diets are ones with too little variety. Fruit, veg, protein, dairy for calcium, and soon.

If you are going by MFP's calorie burn estimates, slash those by 50%. MFP estimates are VERY ridiculously high.

For some people. For me, they are ridiculously low.

There is no rule of thumb here. If you want to be accurate, get a heart rate monitor. If you're just going to make a guess based on what was already a guess, just throw in whatever number feels good.

Well either way, you know you had to burn SOMETHING from exercise, right? So eat SOMETHING back lol. :laugh: Pick a number. I don't know!