Calorie vs Burn

Cannot seem to get into my head how this works on our home page.  When I got up this AM it showed Calories as 1200/00 Burn Estimate 1940/757 so I would guess I got burn just from getting up and entering site.

I then logged back on site and readings were C = 1200/00 B = 1940/831, then I added exercise of 230 and readings were C = 1200/0 B - 2150/1062.

Can anyone explain exactly how this works.  At the rate I am going each day I will never match my burn estimate as it changes if I do or don't do anything.

Thanks much and best of luck in your weight loss journey everyone.

Have you read the FAQ on Eat and Burn Meters?

Eat Meter tracks how much you have eaten, and shows your goal intake. A note - unless you are very small and inactive, 1200 is most likely too low for you.

Burn Meter:

  The big number in white is how much you've burned since midnight last night up til this minute. You burn calories just being alive. When you add exercise, the number will go up, although it will automatically subtract the calories you would have burned during that time had you not exercised. So if you burn 60 calories an hour just being sedentary, and then you workout for an hour, burning 300 calories, the burn meter will increase by 240, because it adds the 300, but takes away the 60 that it had originally assumed for that hour.

 The Total Estimate (smaller number in black) - how much you will have burned by midnight tonight. This will also go up when you log exercise. This is the real number to look at. If you take Total Estimate and subtract your total intake for the day, you'll get your deficit. Recommended deficit is 500-1000, depending on your size.

Your body burns calories all the time.  Your heart beating, breathing, sleeping, digesting food, even thinking all burn calories. 

When you signed up on the site you put in an activity level, and other info that let CC predict how many calories on average you are going to burn throughout the day. 

If you add calories, it will figure out how many calories you would have burned otherwise, and subtracts those out of what you added.  I'm actually surprised that you added 230 claories burned and you count changed by exactly that much.

Thanks so much, this is sort of what I figured but wasn't sure.  As for the 1200 calorie limit that is what CalorieCount entered when I signed up.  No I am not very small and inactive, I am overweight, inactive and older so I guess it takes all of that into consideration.

Well, if you are exercising, you are not inactive. Unfortunately, people get calorie recommendations that are too low because they say they are sedentary, figuring "I'll just add the exercise as I do it" - which isn't wrong, but the calorie target tool doesn't know that.

You could try www.phord.com/cc - it has descriptions of activity levels that I find easier to relate to being sedentary but adding exercise. It was created by a cc user for just this reason.

Thanks, I tried that and believe it or not it does not change things very much, even tried it to moderate level and again it didn't change.  Do believe they feel with my weight and age that it is going to be tough going, like I didn't already know that lol.  Time will tell, and if necessary I can change my profile, eat more and see what happens.

It took me long enough to find this page!  I think you should change your activity level to moderately active.  Now, that I have responded, how do I add you as a friend?

Thanks so much for that link. 

I was worried that I was still eating too many calories and not burning enough, but if that site is pretty accurate based on activity level and all other info I input, then I'm doing okay and I "should" lose almost 1.5 lbs a week as long as I stick with my calorie counting and my exercise.

Click on my name, then when screen comes up top right will show add a buddy,click there and I should be in.

See ya tomorrow.

I was a bit confused about this as well. I figured it had something to do with the BMR it calculated for me after I filled out the basic information, but was unaware of the calories burned to this moment feature.

Thanks for the info.