Confused about Net

fit4justme

Can anyone help me understand the "Net" on here? I understand if it's positive you should gain weight, negative you lost, zero to maintain. What I don't get is this: On a day that I hit my calorie goal AND burn 650 cals during a cardio workout it's still positive. I can't imagine gaining weight while staying on track with my cals AND working out like that. Can anyone help shed some light? TIA

ladynocturne

Okay, the number that MFP has set for you is already a deficit, not your maintenance calories.

I'm going to guess it's set to 1200 calories a day.

If you ate 1200 calories a day, you'd lose weight.

To maintain the same deficit if you exercise you would need to eat 1200 + exercise calories to net 1200.

So if you ate 1850 - 650(from exercise) = 1200 net calories. Same exact deficit to lose weight.

fit4justme

Okay, the number that MFP has set for you is already a deficit, not your maintenance calories.

I'm going to guess it's set to 1200 calories a day.

If you ate 1200 calories a day, you'd lose weight.

To maintain the same deficit if you exercise you would need to eat 1200 + exercise calories to net 1200.

So if you ate 1850 - 650(from exercise) = 1200 net calories. Same exact deficit to lose weight.

So you are saying I want the net to be a positive 1200?

Bekahmardis

So you are saying I want the net to be a positive 1200?

That is exactly what she is saying.

ladynocturne

I'm getting a little confused if we're on the same page with "positive"

So umm.. Your Net should say 1200 and your remaining calories should say 0.

Or as close as you can possibly get, sometimes I'm like 5 calories short because it's silly to run around the kitchen trying to find something worth 5 calories to eat.

fit4justme

I'm getting a little confused on if we're on the same page with "positive"

So umm.. Your Net should say 1200 and your remaining calories should say 0.

Or as close as you can possibly get, sometimes I'm like 5 calories short because it's silly to run around the kitchen trying to find something worth 5 calories to eat.

Thank you. All of the researching I was doing kept saying you want a negative net which is why I was so confused. Thanks for putting this in dummy terms for me. I appreciate your time. :happy:

ladynocturne

I'm getting a little confused on if we're on the same page with "positive"

So umm.. Your Net should say 1200 and your remaining calories should say 0.

Or as close as you can possibly get, sometimes I'm like 5 calories short because it's silly to run around the kitchen trying to find something worth 5 calories to eat.

Thank you. All of the researching I was doing kept saying you want a negative net which is why I was so confused. Thanks for putting this in dummy terms for me. I appreciate your time. :happy:

No worries, you can send me a message any time if you have any more questions. I'd also recommend finding out what your maintenance calories are. You can do this by changing MFP to lose 0 lbs a week and see how many calories it says you can eat to keep your same weight (then change it back to your original weight loss per week setting). You'll see right away that you are eating plenty low enough to lose weight.