Can someone please explain this food journal to me?

Where does it show HOW MANY calories a day I should take in?

And what is this "Goal: 250 to 750 Calorie Deficit per day"? Mine says -2041.

I'm confused!!



Thanks

I've never used the food log here so I don't know if it's any good. A lot of people use FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or Calorie Counter Database - Free Online Diet Program as they're both free and have big food databases.

Unless you're really overweight (100lbs+) then a calorie deficit of about 500 a day is recommended for steady, healthy weight loss. This means CALORIES IN - CALORIES OUT should equal -500 or so.

From the graphic shown above it has CALORIES IN (food), then CALORIES OUT (BMR, Lifestyle and Exercise). Subtracting the later from the former will give you your balance for the day.

At the moment yours shows a deficit of -2041, but as you add food this will increase. Once you have your whole days food added it this number will increase and hopefully end up in the recommend range.

It make sense but it seems a little bit backwards. The other sites I linked to tend to present this stuff in a way that makes a little more sense!!

One thing to keep in mind is that these trackers tend to overestimate calories burnt as part of your lifestyle and due to exercise and we tend to underestimate portion sizes.

ok.....the more food you add the numbers will change..

Calories In is how much you at that day where it says food.

where it says Calories Burned
Basal Metabolic Rate is how many calories it takes you to live. thats based on your BMI
Lifestyle Activity is the amount of calories you burn doing what you do all day

Exercise... well you know that one is

Net Calorie Balance
Goal: 250 to 750 Calorie Deficit per day is the over all calories that you burned that day yours say -2041 because you didn't add all your food for the day the way you get that number is by adding your BMR, Lifestyle Activity and your Exercise together and then subtracting your total calorie intake for the day. they say to have that number somewhere in between 250 to 750 a day to lose weight slowwww so that way it will stay off. 3500 calories make one pound.