I believe on the "Net Calories - Weekly" tab for android, the math for the graph is flawed. At the bottom of the chart it says " Average daily net calories consumed calculation only includes days where atleast one food item has been added to your diary." This is not the case. If you have added a food item but your net calories for that day are < 0, it does not include that day in the calculation. There have been multiple days where I have stayed below my calorie goal for the day (1950) but have spent nearly 2 hours doing cardio onthe elliptical machine (approx. 2000 cal.) This puts my net calories daily at < 0, and therefore excludes that day from my weekly average , regardless of all of the food logged that day. Other than that, this is probably my favorite app. Thanks.

It's really not a good idea to have negative calories.

I know but I really don't have much of a choice right now. I have a lot of weight I need to lose in the next 25 days, then I plan to slowly scale it back to a normal diet. It's jus something I noticedthat wasnt right, so I thought I'd mention it.

This is my first week using My Fitness Pal and I'm finally motivated to eat healthy and exercise. But one thing I'm unsure about is the way the calculator takes the number of calories I burned in one day from exercising, and ADDS THEM to my allowed calories to consume for the day. I don't see the point of exercising to burn 300 calories, and then being told that I can consume 1800 calories that day -- how will I lose weight this way?

If you go to "Fitness Goals" under the My Home section. You will see how many calories you burn daily and you will also see how many calories you are supposed to consume. The calorie deficient is the difference between these two numbers and the recommended number of calories that you should burn a day to lose 1-2 lbs a week.
So basically, you will be losing weight by sticking to your daily calorie goal without working out because your caloric intake is less than the calories you burn, but you also have an exercise goal which means that you will burn more calories, creating a larger calorie deficient.
My Fitness Pal wants everyone on the site to lose weight the healthy way, if your calorie deficient is too large, you are not fueling your body enough and you may tire you body out on too little energy.

That's exactly where I'm at. I am eating a healthy 2000 calorie diet, and it seems counterintuitive to exercise less, or eat more when trying to lose weight. I've been trying to find more info on the net regarding this issue without much luck. Am I putting my body into starvation mode by exercising too much?

It's almost certain you're are not burning 1000 calories per hour on an elliptical machine.
FIgure 10 cal/minute for most moderate aerobic exercise - and that's all anyone can do for 2 hours.

im curious to..but my calories are at 1400

The calculator is designed to calculate how many calories you can eat in a day while losing a certain amount of weight per week. So, for example, if you've set the calculator to lose 1lb/week, and it says to accomplish this restrict your calorie intake to 1500 calories/day. But if you exercise, burning 300 calories, you can now consume 1800 calories that day while staying on track to lose 1lb/week. Or you can consume just the 1500 calories, have a 300 calorie deficit from the amount of calories that would cause you to lose 1lb/week because of the exercise, and lose more than 1lb/week.

If you want to change how much weight you're trying to lose per week (or you don't know what you put in the calculator), you can go to Settings -> Update diet/fitness profile.

Here's how I'd say it:

According to MyFitnessPal, at my current height, weight and age, for my gender, my body naturally burns about 2500 calories per day, without me even really trying. Therefore, to lose one pound per week, my calorie goal is 2000 calories per day.

But, I play hockey once or twice a week. According to MyFitnessPal, 45 minutes of hockey burns about 560 calories. Therefore, on those days, my body is burning 3060 calories instead of it's normal 2500.

You can think of that in two ways:
1 - You're burning extra calories, therefore you're losing weight more quickly.
2 - You've "bought" yourself some extra calories with the exercise, so you're allowed to eat more those days.

Having an extra large deficit occasionally is not a big deal. But, a large deficit on a regular basis will cause your body to go into "starvation mode" which kicks off all kinds of changes in your hormones and metabolism, to try to store calories.

Therefore, the current wisdom among health experts is to try to stick to 1 - 2 lbs/week. That's around 500-1000 calories/day for most people. So, because of that, on the days where you have substantial exercise, you actually should eat enough extra to come close to balancing it out.

Different people put forth different effort in their exercise, so don't take the numbers in MyFitnessPal as gospel. But, they're probably in the ballpark. So, if you're trying to lose 1 lb/week, then a good rule of thumb is to put your calorie intake for that day within a coupla hundred calories of what MyFitnessPal says you should. If your goal is 2 lb/week, then you should probably stick closer to what the program is suggesting. You can modulate it a little, based on your actual results. But don't go overboard.

As always, moderation in all things. Even in calorie deficits :-)

Drake

To deflix and everyone else - Thanks for explain this so clearly... and I lost another 2 pounds YAY!