Net calories
beth0277
Posts: 217 Member
I made a new thread so my question doesn't get lost but I posted about CICO and a few people said they thought I was eating too little, which surprised me. I've been on plenty of 1200 calories/day diets and have been miserable. MFP says I should eat 1200 but I customize it up to 1500 because I know that is more realistic for me to not feel deprived and end up binging. Right now, I weigh 198 and need to lose at least 50 pounds. I have been eating 1500 calories per day and planning to try to burn around 500 most days of the week. It doesn't always happen but it is a goal. My TDEE based on fitbit is around 2080 and online calculations have given me a similar range of 1990-2200. So that gives me a 1000 calorie deficit per day which would work out to a loss of around 2 pounds/week. This would have me netting 1000 calories/day but I guess I don't understand why this would be an issue since I am eating 1500 calories. I thought the problem was when you weren't eating enough, which I definitely feel like I am. I'm eating 1500 calories of very healthy foods. So, does this seem like an issue, and if so, why?
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Replies
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MFP's calorie goal is net calories and you're netting below the minimum MFP will suggest.
If you're eating 1500 and your TDEE is 2080, your net deficit is 580, not 1000.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »MFP's calorie goal is net calories and you're netting below the minimum MFP will suggest.
If you're eating 1500 and your TDEE is 2080, your net deficit is 580, not 1000.
I'm including an exercise goal of around 500 calories most days of the week.0 -
An additional exercise goal, making your TDEE 2580?DeguelloTex wrote: »MFP's calorie goal is net calories and you're netting below the minimum MFP will suggest.
If you're eating 1500 and your TDEE is 2080, your net deficit is 580, not 1000.
I'm including an exercise goal of around 500 calories most days of the week.
ETA: How much fat do you think you're carrying?
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There are 2 formulas. Plug your intended exercise in a TDEE calculator and don't log workouts, OR use MFP and add exercise after you do it. Your goal is to burn 500 exercise calories a day......how do you come up with your estimated burn? Machines & MFP stats are often inflated.
TDEE = BMR + Activity Level + Exercise.....TDEE 2080 less 1500 = 580 deficit
MFP = BMR + Activity Level ....MFP wants you to add exercise after the fact. MFP doesn't want you to net below 1200 because your body is using calories 24/7....heart, lungs, kidneys. 1,000 calories is not enough so a fair amount of weight you lose will be lean muscle.
Forget the 1,000 calorie a day deficit. 2 pounds a week is overly aggressive for 50 pounds. 2 pounds a week is more appropriate for >75 pounds to lose. Set MFP to 1.5 pounds a week (max) and you will get a number higher than MFP's lowest default minimum (1200).0 -
Fifty pounds of fat can almost certainly (easily) cover a 1000 deficit.0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
An additional exercise goal, making your TDEE 2580?DeguelloTex wrote: »MFP's calorie goal is net calories and you're netting below the minimum MFP will suggest.
If you're eating 1500 and your TDEE is 2080, your net deficit is 580, not 1000.
I'm including an exercise goal of around 500 calories most days of the week.
ETA: How much fat do you think you're carrying?
I'm not sure how much fat I'm carrying. I know I'm overweight. I have a small build and could easily look healthy 80 pounds less than I am now, but I'm not shooting for that.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »Fifty pounds of fat can almost certainly (easily) cover a 1000 deficit.
I'm sorry. I'm new to all of this and don't really understand what you mean.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »Fifty pounds of fat can almost certainly (easily) cover a 1000 deficit.
I'm sorry. I'm new to all of this and don't really understand what you mean.
If you are very overweight you are much less likely to lose lean muscle. As you get closer to goal, fat+muscle loss is pretty much a fact. You will have to work to minimize muscle loss eventually.
Pound per week goals
75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range
Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range
Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range0 -
Your body can only get so much energy from a pound of fat each day. As long as your deficit is less than your body is able to provide from your stored fat, you aren't any more likely to lose meaningful lean mass, even if the deficit is larger than the charts that show up here all the time. Like the one above. Basically, the amount of fat you have sets sort of a limit on your maximum theoretical acceptable deficit.DeguelloTex wrote: »Fifty pounds of fat can almost certainly (easily) cover a 1000 deficit.
I'm sorry. I'm new to all of this and don't really understand what you mean.
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Its only an issue if you have reason to think its an issue. Try not to led judgmental internet based strangers (who know nothing about you) to mess with you.
Generally its recommended to not eat under 1200 calories TOTAL as it becomes difficult to get enough nutrients. Exception of course is under a doctor's/dietician's care. Net calories is a MFP thing. Its ok to think for yourself.
Moving more to increase your TDEE is a good thing. Stay fluid: meaning realize things may need to change from time to time. If 1500 is working for you now, based on your activity and such, keep going with it. Every now and then re-evaluate.
Feel free to 'friend' me if you'd like - I'm a fellow Fitbit addict. I ate 1400-1600 for 6-7 months to lose most of my weight, and then went to 1600-1800 (decreased my deficit) as I honed in on the home stretch. Now generally maintain around 1800. Though lately I find myself indulging more on weekends so try to stay around 1500-1600 weekdays. Build up a little extra room for the weekends. 0 -
StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Its only an issue if you have reason to think its an issue. Try not to led judgmental internet based strangers (who know nothing about you) to mess with you.
Generally its recommended to not eat under 1200 calories TOTAL as it becomes difficult to get enough nutrients. Exception of course is under a doctor's/dietician's care. Net calories is a MFP thing. Its ok to think for yourself.
I was one of the people who expressed concern that OP may not be eating enough. It wasn't my intention to be judgmental, but to point out that net calories are worth focusing on if one is burning a lot of calories through exercise (she indicated that she was).0 -
IMO -- and this is contrary to MFP's approach -- if you're eating enough to get proper nutrition and burning within your fat metabolization limit, you're almost certainly fine, even if your net makes MFP sad.0
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I think people get hung up on 'net' @janejellyroll .
She set a manual goal of 1500. Which is no different than taking the MFP goal of 1200, logging 300-500 for exercise and eating 300 of it back. (Many here would recommend only eating back part of what is burned, to avoid overestimating burn.) No one would tell her that was a problem.
But since she said her goal is 1500 and she's burning 300-500, she now worries she's doing something bad because people are saying her net is too low.
6 of one, half a dozen of another. If 6 is ok, why is half a dozen a concern?0 -
StaciMarie1974 wrote: »I think people get hung up on 'net' @janejellyroll . She set a manual goal of 1500. Which is no different than taking the MFP goal of 1200, logging 300-500 for exercise and eating 300 of it back. No one would tell her that was a problem. But since she said her goal is 1500 and she's burning 300-500 more, she now worries she's doing something bad because people are saying her net is too low.
I will go back and review the thread, but I'm pretty sure when I initially brought up my concern, I was unaware that she had manually set a goal of 1,500 -- I thought that was her MFP-provided goal. I didn't intend for those comments to come across as judgmental, but as concerned. I can go back and edit, but I'm not sure exactly what to edit. If you could let me know, I would appreciate it.
Either way, I don't think there is anything wrong with being flexible with your net, but new users should be aware of it in case they start running into problems with hunger, energy, etc.
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Pay attention to how you feel, not your net calories. Do you feel strong and vibrant? Can you power through your workout - at least most of the time? That's important, not the "net calories."
Eat enough to give yourself the vitamins and minerals you need and to be strong and healthy...and don't worry so very much about numbers like "net calories."0 -
My TDEE based on fitbit is around 2080 and online calculations have given me a similar range of 1990-2200. So that gives me a 1000 calorie deficit per day which would work out to a loss of around 2 pounds/week. This would have me netting 1000 calories/day but I guess I don't understand why this would be an issue since I am eating 1500 calories.
Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the calories necessary to maintain your current weight. If your Fitbit burn is 2,080 and you're eating 1,500 gross calories, then your deficit is 580 calories. That's a 1-lb. loss per week, which is appropriate for someone who's 50 lbs. overweight.
The Fitbit-MFP sync is not designed for use with a custom goal. If you set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight and enable negative calorie adjustments, then MFP will adjust your daily calorie goal to TDEE minus deficit.
You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users0 -
That's the thing...I feel great. I drink a ton of water and do get hungry, but if I'm hungry, I'll eat. If I have an extra hard workout and feel like I need something more, I would have no problem using up some more calories. Most days I'm pretty satisfied around 1300 calories or so, but I tend to add a snack in later in the day just to help things not feel as painful as they had in the past on those 1200 calorie diets!0
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I think your goals are reasonable and if you feel good and are eating enough nutrient-dense foods I don't think you have anything to worry about.0
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MFP & Fitbit work fine together even if you use custom calorie consumption goals.
And honestly the only time negative adjustments need to be enabled: is if you're regularly seeing 0 additional Fitbit calories. Seeing 0 would mean your Fitbit burn is at or below what MFP expected you to burn - and hitting it perfectly is unlikely. So if you're seeing 0, you're probably not as active/burning as much per day as your MFP activity level indicates. So you can either enable negatives, move more, or lower your MFP activity level to correct things.0 -
Customs goals have no problem with mfp.StaciMarie1974 wrote: »MFP & Fitbit work fine together even if you use custom calorie consumption goals.
And honestly the only time negative adjustments need to be enabled: is if you're regularly seeing 0 additional Fitbit calories. Seeing 0 would mean your Fitbit burn is at or below what MFP expected you to burn - and hitting it perfectly is unlikely. So if you're seeing 0, you're probably not as active/burning as much per day as your MFP activity level indicates. So you can either enable negatives, move more, or lower your MFP activity level to correct things.
This. Fitbit works perfectly fine with custom goals. Just remember the TDEE it gives you includes all step based exercise.0
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