I'm clueless on the calculations...

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moonlightturk
moonlightturk Posts: 398
in Health and Weight Loss
If I'm eating a total of 1500 calories daily which equal to about 10500...
And I'm working out and burning 500 calories a day for 6 days which equal 3000 at the end of the week.

10500 - 3000 = 7500

Would I be gaining two pounds? or losing?

Replies

  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    You can't estimate your loss without estimating how much your body burns every day. If it's 2000 (without those workouts) you should lose around a lb. from your deficit (7 x (2000-1500)) and a lb. from your workouts (7 X 500).
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    You wouldn't be gaining 2 lbs unless it takes your body 0 calories to run.

    What you're missing (and isn't provided) is what your body takes to run not counting the exercise. Everything you do, including breathing, digesting food, and sleeping, burns some calories. Otherwise, you'd have to eat *nothing* in order to not gain when you weren't doing exercise.

    It's much easier to do the calculations by letting MFP calculate your deficit. When you go to My Home -> Goals, MFP will tell you what your daily calorie deficit (not including projected exercise) is. If you want to project your loss at 1500, manually change your goals to 1500.

    Or you could just tell MFP 1 lb/week and not worry as much.
  • Belenwright23
    Belenwright23 Posts: 33
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    if your eating 1,500 calories a day and you burn 500 that leaves u with a net of 1,000 cals a day which is good so you should be loosing not gaining. Of course if you eat less say if you only eat 1,200 calories a day you will see greater weight loss that is if ur still buring 500 cals a day. you can add me I can help you I know its confusing but were all here for support!
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    if your eating 1,500 calories a day and you burn 500 that leaves u with a net of 1,000 cals a day which is good so you should be loosing not gaining. Of course if you eat less say if you only eat 1,200 calories a day you will see greater weight loss that is if ur still buring 500 cals a day. you can add me I can help you I know its confusing but were all here for support!

    That would result in an *awfully* low net for someone who's 30 lbs from goal.

    When you have a lot to lose, higher deficits aren't so bad. But when you get closer to your goal, netting consistently lowly can result in greater amounts of muscle loss compared to fat loss, which can leave you at goal weight and still looking pudgy.
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
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    if your eating 1,500 calories a day and you burn 500 that leaves u with a net of 1,000 cals a day which is good so you should be loosing not gaining. Of course if you eat less say if you only eat 1,200 calories a day you will see greater weight loss that is if ur still buring 500 cals a day. you can add me I can help you I know its confusing but were all here for support!

    Netting 1000 a day is bad... and doing it all the time for weeks on end will result in little to none weight loss.. A plateau will occur and possibly loss of lean body mass. Fuel your body and it will reward you!

    This is easy. Figure out your TDEE and a deficit of 500 calories will result in a pound a week.. 750 1.5lb... 1000 2lb. My TDEE is somewhere around 2200.. so 2200 - 500 = 1700 calories a day to lose a pound. The exercise you do is extra calories burnt, your decision to eat them back or not. Please don't net any less than 1200 a day unless told by a doctor...
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    MFP member Helloitsdan authored a great post which explains the calculations (and a lot more) in great detail:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • moonlightturk
    moonlightturk Posts: 398
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    Thank you all so much. I've got more than 70lbs to lose. My goal weight is 150 and I am currently at 225. I have tried unhealthy methods of trying to lose weight in the past, but that's left in the past. Rigth now I'm just focused on my health. I will not be netting less than 1200 - I couldn't do it even if I wanted ;) ... Thanks again!
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    Thank you all so much. I've got more than 70lbs to lose. My goal weight is 150 and I am currently at 225. I have tried unhealthy methods of trying to lose weight in the past, but that's left in the past. Rigth now I'm just focused on my health. I will not be netting less than 1200 - I couldn't do it even if I wanted ;) ... Thanks again!
    You've just said that you would be eating 1500 and burning 500 daily... that's a net of 1000.

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