can anyone explain the burn meter to me? Please Help!

I am having a tough time understanding the burn meter. Everytime I log something in my numbers don't add up. I need a complete break down in order to understand how this works. I think I am over thinking it. I am supposed to burn an average of 1900 calories naturally. Is that shown in the total estimated or in the blue box under the estimated calories? HELP! I need it step by step! Please help!

I have also been logging in how long I sleep because during the summer I have been sleeping more than when I am going to class. Should I add in the total number of minutes I have slept or just the difference in minutes from what I said was my average?

What happens with the burn meter is that when you log 500 calories and 60 minutes (for instance) then CC subtracts a certain amount of calories. During those 60 minutes you were breathing and living (like you would when you were doing nothing) but you were doing a bit of extra work. If CC wouldn't subtract anything you would log too much (and maybe eat too much).

To know how much CC subtracts divide your daily burn number (top number in blue box) by 1440 minutes (=24 hrs) to calculate what you burn in one minute by doing nothing.

I burn 2430 calories in 24 hrs. That is 1.6875 calorie per minute. When I log 500 calories after a workout of 60 minutes CC subtracts 60*1.68=101.25 calories. So I end up with a burn meter of 2430 + (500-101) = 2829

Don't log your sleep hours. they are in the top number CC shows you. Only log your extra activity. I only log my real workouts not my activity in house/work or cycling to work because I am used to that because I've done that all my life.

I hope that this is what you mean.

I still don't understand what you mean by 500 calories and the 60 minutes. Does that mean that you are burning the 500 calories in the 60 minute span of time? And then logging in whatever activity burned the amount of calories in the burn meter?

I have three different number:

The number of estimated calories:1640, the number of calories in the big numbers: 1394, and then the amount of calories I logged: 870.

When I logged in 89 calories in 60 minutes the estimated calories only went up by 20 calories (1620 to 1640)? Why didn't it go up 89 calories?

It is almost too much math and guess work to make sense. I hope this made sense.

I am supposed to eat 1,300 calories and if I am supposed to burn 1640 estimated calories, how am I supposed to lose weight when I don't have enough room to eat less without going under 1,200 calories? I exercise 2-4 times a week, but was advised in multiple readings that I should enter myself as sedentary so that I can log things in without less guess work. I just want to loose weight. I didn't think it would be the complicated.

Original Post by gmullady:

The number of estimated calories:1640, the number of calories in the big numbers: 1394, and then the amount of calories I logged: 870.

When I logged in 89 calories in 60 minutes the estimated calories only went up by 20 calories (1620 to 1640)? Why didn't it go up 89 calories?

During the 60 minutes that you worked out to burn 89 cal your body was also doing what it normally does (breathe, blink... lol) and also burning calories in the process.

When you log your workouts, CC automaticaly discounts the calories your body burned naturally by breathing, blinking, etc from the calories you burned during your workout in those 60 minutes.

If you simply leave yourself at sedentary, log in your exercise and TRUST CC to add the calories correctly -- you will come up with your burn number each day (it will be different depending on how long/what exercise you do (if any).  Then simply try to average eating 500 calories less than your final burn number.

It won't always work -- you should not go below 1200 calories (and that's not really enough for most of us), so, if your burn meter says 1610 -- then lowest number of calories you should eat would still be 1200 (which is only a 490 deficit).

The EAT meter TOP number shows the number of calories you have selected as your target goal (in your account settings -- you can change it)

The EAT meter BOTTOM number reflects the calories you are logging into your food log.

The BURN meter TOP number is the total estimated calories you burn based on your age, height, current weight, gender, and activity level -- if you set yourself as "sedentary" and then add in your activity calories -- those are added into the TOP number.

The BURN meter BOTTOM number shows how many calories you have burned at the moment you are looking at the meter. This number starts at 0 at midnight, reflects all the calories you burned throughout the night while sleeping, all the calories you burn just by living, and calories normally expended at your listed activity level. When (If) you add in activity minutes -- it will also reflect that added to the total.

If you stay up til midnight you can see both meters switch over to 0

Thank you all! I think I understand it. If not, all I need to do is just eat less than what I burn and I should reach my goal weight! I just don't want to give up this time!