My Fitness Pal important info!

For those of you keeping track of your food and exercise, whether to loose a few pounds, gain a few pounds, or maintain for the Marines (or what have you), below is very good information on how to use the site and what you should be doing with your food!

My Fitness Pal

*******

I got this from a user and what she wrote is very valuable about using this site!

I noticed that 90% of the posters on this thread either just joined, have a very low post count, or both...which is FINE, but also means that most of you are new at this and uneducated in the ways MFP calculates your goals. 

Please listen up: 

Your daily calorie goal already includes a sizable deficit. You do NOT need, or WANT, to make it bigger by leaving calories uneaten at the end of the day. Your goal is a goal to REACH, not a goal to stay UNDER. 

If you chose the recommended 1 lb per week your goal is 500 calories less than your maintenance amount, which is the amount you would eat to stay the same weight. 

You need to EAT all the calories you are given to maintain that reasonable deficit. If you eat LESS than your goal, you are making that deficit way bigger and possibly hurting yourself in the process. 

Your NET calories are shown on your homepage in that box right in the middle. At the end of your day, that NET should be equal to what your original goal was to start the day. 
Your calories in your diary should be equal to zero remaining, or within 100 regardless of if it goes red or not. 

RED does NOT mean failure. You have a 500 (or more, if you chose 2 lbs per week) deficit. You would have to be RED by 500 to break even and maintain for the day. 

You goal is based off of regular daily activity NOT including exercise, so on days you DO exercise, you HAVE TO eat them back to maintain the same daily deficit. it is NOT counterproductive, it is fueling your body for your workout! 

If you DON'T eat them back you are creating a much larger deficit than you intended and are not getting adequate nutrition. 



To the OP: 
you say you have an 800 calorie "deficit" at the end of the day...what you really mean is that you have 800 calories left to eat. If your goal was 1 lb per week, you already have a deficit of 500, so the 800 left uneaten makes it 1300! That is WAY too little to be holding back from your body each day. 
I understand that you get this and are trying to figure out ways to eat more, but it really isn't hard, just eat more. Healthy food. It's quite simple. 

To the people who say they don't eat their exercise calories. That's all fine and good when you're morbidly obese and have a ton to lose, but once you are within 50 pounds of goal you need to be at 1 lb per week and EAT a LOT more. 
Within 20 lbs of goal, people need to be at .5 lb per week and eat even more. 

To the person who is looking to bulk up: 
You need to eat a calorie SURPLUS to put on muscle. Calculate maintenance calories, set your diary to that amount, and aim to turn it RED, and with a LOT of protein daily (1g per pound of your weight is good). Lift HEAVY weight near to the point of failure. 

Also, I must point out, WOMEN have a MINIMUM net of 1200 a day to be healthy (unless you are under 5 feet tall and under 100 pounds, then you MIGHT be able to get away with a little less) 

MEN, on the other hand have a BARE MINIMUM of 1500 a day, and this site can't differentiate between male or female on the goals page so it uses 1200 across the board. If you are a man, please be sure to NET OVER 1500 a day bare minimum, preferably more. 

Trust me, I maintain at 1800-2200 a day as a 5'2" 108 lb female. 

*******

5'2, 108lb, 30 something woman, who eats about 2,000 calories a day. Now that is impressive! 

Now go do some push ups and chow down on raw steak.