Net calories question? Help please!

kksmom1789

I guess I still haven't quite figured out this whole calorie thing
26 year old female
5 foot nothing
Cw: 183 Gw: 125
I have both my Fitbit & MFP set to the lowest activity level
I have my Fitbit synced to MFP for calories burned
1200-1259+626=567
Did I do good today?

MsBuzzkillington

You need to NET 1200 or more.

kksmom1789

MsBuzzkillington wrote: »

You need to NET 1200 or more.

Thank you for replying
Net 1200 or more to lose weight?

samanthachen

Since you used MFP to set your goal, you need to eat back your exercise calories. To be safe, as MFP tends to overestimate the burns, you can start by eating back about 75% of what MFP gives you. It sounds strange, but your deficit is already built into your original number. If you work out, you are burning even more. While the weight loss will be quick, it will also mean tapping into lean muscle mass (dangerous in the long run).

If your exercise burn today was 626 calories, I suggest eating about 469 (75%) calories back, give or take.

Your "net" calories should end up near 1200, if that is your daily goal.

I hope this helps.

MsBuzzkillington

yep. the 1200 is what you should be hitting, or sometimes more depending on how active you are being. The goal isn't to get below 1200.

Be_Lively

To lose 2 lb a week, you need to have a 1000 calorie deficit each today. Use a bmr calculator for an estimate on how many calories your body burns throughout the day, exercise not included. Then add your exercise calories, however, activity trackers can be inaccurate so I would understimate. Subtract the calories you ate from that total, and that would be your deficit. 3500 calories = 1 lb. Therefore, 1,000 calorie deficit each day of the week = 7000 calories = 2 lb down.

samanthachen

Using your given numbers on a website, I calculated your Total Daily Energy Expenditure(TDEE) at about 1790/day. That means, if you aren't doing anything but living and functioning (waking up, cooking, eating, brushing teeth, sitting at work, etc.), you are burning 1790 calories, roughly. To lose 1lb/week, that means eating 3500 calories less/week OR 500 calories less/day than you burn.

1790 (living and functioning) - 500 (needed for 1lb/week) = 1290 (to eat).

Using those same numbers, I calculated your Basal Metabolic Rate(BMR) which is what your body needs at a minimum to support vital functions. The site said you need about 1492 calories (different sites will give you different numbers). That's the minimum you need to keep your body going. Many people do say that going below BMR by a little isn't dangerous or anything. However, it's a good number to keep in your mind. And it will change as you lose or gain weight. I'm not an expert in this, simply relaying information collected from similar discussions.

Without any exercise, you could be eating about 1290 calories each day AND still lose weight.

If you go for a run and burn 500 calories, that would be:

1290 (to lose weight) - 500 (burned while running) = 790 calories

Remember that BMR number of 1492... 790 is significantly below that.

790 calories are all you would be leaving yourself to fuel and feed your body, and its most vital needs.

If you ate back those 500 calories from your burn, you are back at 1290 calories NET. And remember, 1290 is still plenty to lose weight.

Having said that, I always suggest eating a bit more and losing at a slower pace. It's much more sustainable, and I felt better as soon as I did it.

malibu927

kksmom1789 wrote: »

MsBuzzkillington wrote: »

You need to NET 1200 or more.

Thank you for replying
Net 1200 or more to lose weight?

You'll lose weight netting less than 1200, but that isn't necessarily the best idea. You're prone to losing more muscle mass at a higher deficit, as well as not getting enough nutrients in to fuel your body.

katej37

I'm 5ft, how many steps are you doing a day? I normally get over 10k a day, I set mfp to lightly active and to lose 0.5lb a week which gives me 1500 calories per day plus any additional exercise calories I earn. ( I'm 42) I tend to eat around 1400 a day (some days more, others left) My net calories are generally over 1000.
I changed my setting to lightly active as then I don't feel like I'm cheating if I eat more. My official weigh in day is tomorrow but looking back I'm averaging 0.5-1lb loss per week. Sometimes more loss, sometimes gaining. Lost 20lbs since Sept last year. I don't generally eat back all my activity calories.

Edit: just checked my gross calories eaten for the last week - apart from one day I have gone over 1500 every day. not by much but over all the same. Scales will tell me tomorrow.

kksmom1789

Thank you everyone that commented I think I have a better understanding I hope
so if I eat 1200 calories and burn 600 I need to eat an additional 300-450 more calories making it were i eat 50-75% of my exercise calories correct?

CharlieBeansmomTracey

kksmom1789 wrote: »

Thank you everyone that commented I think I have a better understanding I hope
so if I eat 1200 calories and burn 600 I need to eat an additional 300-450 more calories making it were i eat 50-75% of my exercise calories correct?

you want to net 1200 so if you eat 1200 and burn 600 you want to eat that 600 back if you only eat back 300 you would be in a net of 900 and if you ate back 450 you would be 1050 net,still too low. you could always eat 1800 and burn 600 and you would be at your 1200 calories if that makes it easier to understand.

hamelle2

kksmom1789 wrote: »

Thank you everyone that commented I think I have a better understanding I hope
so if I eat 1200 calories and burn 600 I need to eat an additional 300-450 more calories making it were i eat 50-75% of my exercise calories correct?

This is the tricky part. You may find that the exercise calories you are given may be a bit exaggerated. I slowly added in those additional calories until my weight loss showed a nice steady loss.

rileysowner

1) Assuming you are logging what you eat carefully, that is being sure one potion sizes (using a digital kitchen scale and weighing in grams is pretty much the most accurate you can be)
2) Assuming you are currently losing weight
Then
3) Eat all your exercise calories.

If after 2-3 weeks your weight loss has stopped, reversed (more than just when you started eating your exercise calories), or stalled, then adjust how much you eat by eating less by 250 calories or so. 2-3 Weeks evaluate again, repeat as often as necessary. Eventually, and possibly right away, you will lose the fat.

firstlay_d

Reading this thread just gave me a headache lol

lemonychild

I think MFP should go away with net as it's confusing so many people ! What's the point anyway.

Eat calories left remaining

mwood1234

Great explanation @samanthachen. That helped me too!