Someone PLEASE Explain Calories To Me!!

Don't over think it - MFP can do the maths for you. I tend to think that a good starting point is to use MFP as it has been designed for a month or two and see how this works for you:

- Enter all your details (height, weight etc) and pick a realistic weight loss goal (unless you have a LOT of weight to lose, 2 pounds a week probably isn't realistic).
- Set your activity level to reflect the things you do each day (home, work etc), but don't include exercise here./
- Eat the calories MFP recommends PLUS the calories you burn exercising. Together, these two numbers make up your total recommended daily calorie allowance.


It's simple, and very effective for many many people.

Basically here is the simple math:

Eat 1200 cals (BMR) + cals from exercise (example 500 cals burned) = 1700 total for the day.

You can eat back the calories you burn from exercise, because you are already at a deficit by having 1200 as your BMR calories.

Does that make sense?

But how do you calculate exercise calories when not only do you exercise, but you are active during the day that you can't pinpoint as an actual exercise, I'm lost on this....

It does take a bit of getting your head around!

When you set up your profile with MFP, it asks you to nominate an activity level - sedentary, active etc. This includes all the regular activities that you do in your day - walking around the house, looking after kids, your job and other daily stuff but not exercise (like going for a run or doing an exercise DVD or going to the gym).

So, the base number of calories that MFP recommends includes calories to keep you healthy but let you lose weight without doing any exercise.

When you do extra exercise, you add that into your day. You get to eat those extra cals but you still have a calorie deficit to let you lose weight. It really does work!

But how do you calculate exercise calories when not only do you exercise, but you are active during the day that you can't pinpoint as an actual exercise, I'm lost on this....

It does take a bit of getting your head around!

When you set up your profile with MFP, it asks you to nominate an activity level - sedentary, active etc. This includes all the regular activities that you do in your day - walking around the house, looking after kids, your job and other daily stuff but not exercise (like going for a run or doing an exercise DVD or going to the gym).

So, the base number of calories that MFP recommends includes calories to keep you healthy but let you lose weight without doing any exercise.

When you do extra exercise, you add that into your day. You get to eat those extra cals but you still have a calorie deficit to let you lose weight. It really does work!

YEP

If you don't eat what you exercise, most people tend to burn out. Become tired and sluggish and not able to exercise as they would like.

BMR - basal metabolic rate, how much calories your body burns by existing
Try to never eat less than your BMR as that is what your body needs,

If you set your activity level and how much you would like to lose per week MFP gives you your daily goal.
You want your NET CALORIES as close to your goal as possible. 50 over is better than 500 under (unless your goal is to maintain)

EXAMPLE:

My BMR is 1502, so I try to eat at least 1550.
I've already lost most of my weight so my goal is set to maintain, which gives me a daily calorie goal of 1880
If I burn 500 calories during extra activities I can eat 2380 to have a net of 1880.

I found what worked best for me was the Olivia Method, I recommend that you check it out and if it makes sense to you give it a go, if not, leave it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1187-olivia-method

But how do you calculate exercise calories when not only do you exercise, but you are active during the day that you can't pinpoint as an actual exercise, I'm lost on this....

You set your activity level in your profile settings. For instance, if you are a bicycle messenger, then you want to set your daily activity level at "very active." Compare that to desk work or taxi driver, which would be sedentary types of activities.

Basically here is the simple math:

Eat 1200 cals (BMR) + cals from exercise (example 500 cals burned) = 1700 total for the day.

You can eat back the calories you burn from exercise, because you are already at a deficit by having 1200 as your BMR calories.

Does that make sense?

You are missing an important part of the calculation. to get maintenance cals take BMR add activtity level multiplied, and add exercise. and just eat less than that total. So if you BMR is 1200 (which I don't think you have that right), and are sedentary your maintenance without exercise would be 1440 (1200*1.2) and if you burn 600 cals your maintenance on that day is 2040, so as long as you eat less than that you will lose weight.

Thanks for the input! I guess I just get confused with the fact that I should eat 1200 calories a day...and then exercise burns 500 for a net of 700? So I technically want to eat 1200 calories, burn the 500 from workout. UGH!!! At the end of it, I'm sure this is all so simple stupid, I'll be ashamed for having asked!

You need to net AT LEAST your BMR. Doing so you will definitely lose weight. If you don't net at least your BMR you are not properly nourishing your body. So if you set MFP to be your BMR on a normal day without exercise (1200) and you burn 600 exercising you'd need to eat 1800 calories that day to net your BMR.

Put simply. Set MFP to your BMR or probably even a little higher and eat back all your exercise calories. OR go the TDEE route mentioned in earlier posts.

"So often people personal message me asking me if I think their calories are correct. It seems that people think there is some magical formula that only a very few can figure out. I see so many people on here just popping in numbers and following them heedless of what the numbers mean. I feel it's ULTRA important to know why MFP (and me, and a few others) gives you certain numbers. To that end I will try to empower YOU to be able to understand the basics about calories, calorie deficits, and why we recommend eating exercise calories. With this knowledge you should be able to easily figure out what your calories should be at for reasonable, healthy weight loss. So without further ado, lets get started.

1st things first, a few givens must be stated:

-Everyone's body is slightly different. ALWAYS keep in mind your numbers may not be exactly what MFP thinks simply because everyone's bodies all burn energy at a different rate. Tweaking may be needed.

- MFP's goals wizard is a "dumb" tool. That means it doesn't care whether a specific goal is healthy and/or right for you, it just subtracts the goal deficit from projected maintenance calories. This means that even if you shouldn't be trying for a 2 lb a week loss, MFP won't care, it will still try to help you get there.

-1200 calories is a generic number. It's not right for everyone. It's a baseline minimum given out as a floor by MFP based on prior research by the medical community. NOT everyone will need a minimum of 1200, very small people can go under, and bigger people need more.


OK with those facts firmly set in your mind (please go back and re-read the givens until you have them firmly planted in your skull!), we can continue. Figuring out your perfect deficit isn't magic, it's a few simple formula's base on some basic, worldwide standards, and generally with slight modefication, will work for just about anyone who (besides weight) is generally healthy.

Here's what you need:
Height, weight, age, activity level, sex

NOTE: activity level isn't as mysterious as it sounds. If you have a desk job, and do very little walking throughout the day and don't really perform any sports or physical activities, then you are sedentary, if you do some walking every day (or at least 4 days a week) or other light activity for at least 30 minutes cumulative at least 4 times a week, you are lightly active. If you do 60 minutes of light activity 5 days a week or do some kind of sport that requires walking or light jogging (say swimming or mailman or warehouse employee) then you are active, If you do a physically demanding activity (one that makes you sweat) for 4 days a week or more and for more than 1 hour a day, you are very active (like a coach that runs drills or you play volleyball). When in doubt, go down 1 level, you'd rather burn more than you think than less.

With all these numbers you can generate your BMI. Now I realize BMI is flawed, but for what we're doing it's good enough. After years on here, and doing lots and lots of research, I've been able to associate general BMI ranges with approximate goal levels. This works for about 80 to 85% of people out there (there's always a few that are outside the curve).

So now we can figure out where your goal should be.
Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

With this quick guide you can figure out your goal rather easily. I know many people will say "I can't eat my exercise calories, I gain weight when I do". Well I have news for you, that's not correct. I submit this, if you eat your exercise calories and gain weight 1 of 3 things happened:
1 you were previously in starvation mode, and you upped your calories, and had an immediate weight gain, that's normal, to be expected, and necessary to get your body on track. Give it a month, that will stop, and you, once again, will begin to lose, but this time, in a healthy manner.
2 you incorrectly calculated something, either your exercise calories, your calorie intake, or you put in to large of a goal. Go back and check all your numbers.
3 you haven't given it enough time to work. This site promotes HEALTHY weight loss people. Healthy weight loss doesn't happen in days or weeks, it takes months and years. Each change you make in how you eat needs a month or more to work, be patient, give it time. It will happen.

And to everyone who has a trainer that doesn't agree with eating your exercise calories. I also submit this: In 90% of the cases (and I have talked to a LOT of trainers about this exact topic) they actually DO agree with this method, you just explained it wrong.
Just saying to a trainer "should I eat my exercise calories?" isn't enough, you have to explain to them that MFP already generates a deficit prior to any exercise, therefore the deficit will remain whether you exercise or not. Once you give them that idea, and you are relatively sure they understand the concept then I'll bet they change their tune.

I hope this helps, it's pretty straight forward if you've been here a while, and to you new guys, I recommend going to the message boards link, clicking on the "general diet and weight loss" area, and clicking on those first few posts that have the little mouse trap next to them, they are sticky and will always be there, and are a wealth of knowledge about this site, exercise calories, starvation mode...etc. "