calorie question

zfitgal

what does net calorcalories mean..ots saua I get 1640 165 is net

zfitgal

bad typo, what does net calories mean? i get 1640 and 165 is net?

shadow2soul

Net is:
Food consumed - exercise burn = Net

MFPS calorie goal doesn't include exercise. So when you burn more calories through exercise, MFP has to increase your calories to keep your deficit the same.

Hypothetical scenario:

You plug in your stats and activity level without exercise. MFP uses this information to estimate your normal day to day Maintenance without exercise. For this scenario we will say MFP came up with 2000.

Say you tell MFP you want to lose 1 lb per week. MFP gives you a NET goal of 1500.

So far we have:
2000 to maintain
1500 to lose 1 lb per week
No exercise included

So now you workout for an hour and burn 350 calories.

2000 (burn without exercise) + 350 (exercise burn) = 2350 total daily burn

2350 (burn with exercise)- 500 (deficit for 1 lb per week loss)= 1850 calorie goal to lose 1 lb per week

MFP shows this change in goal as Net by:
Say you ate 1400

1400 (consumed) - 350 (exercise) = 1,050 Net
450 Remaining to eat

The goal is to have close to 0 remaining calories for the day (Net your goal).


~The math does show up differently in the app, but it brings you to the same goal. In app it's like this:

Goal - food + exercise = remaining
So for the scenario above it would be:

1500 (goal) - 1400 (consumed) + 350 (exercise) = 450 remaining

Same place...just different way to get there.

zfitgal

thank you so much...today is my first day...my goal is to lose 1 lb a week. if I put myself at lightly active MFP gives me 1380 calories, if I put myself at active it gives me 1640....at 1640 I would not add in exercise...at 1380 I would...if I plug in to lose .5 pound lightly active I'm given 1630...where and how should I put myself?

btw, 1380 is a little lower then my be that i checked in bodybuilding.com

tinkerbellang83

Your activity level is based on your non-exercise activity i.e. work/home life. For example if you're a 9-5 desk worker then you will be sedentary, if you were working as say a letting agent and spent part of your day showing people around houses (ie. not sat down all day) or were a stay at home mum who is chasing around after kids and doing housework all day then you're lightly active, if you were working as waiting staff/manual labour and were on your feet all day then you'd be active. You then add your exercise in as you do it and people tend to eat around 50% of those calories earned back.

zfitgal

so i guess I'm lightly active but 1380 is lower then my bmr...

snickerscharlie

^^^ This. You chose your activity level based on your normal everyday life excluding deliberate exercise. Any applicable exercise gets added in by you as it occurs, and will up the amount of calories you can eat that day and still reach your weekly weight loss goal you have set.

As mentioned, most people only eat back 50% of these *bonus* exercise calories for two reasons:

1) A lot of the exercise burns listed for various activities (as well as from exercise equipment) tend to be overinflated.

2) Only eating back @ 50% leaves you a little wiggle room for any inaccuracies you may have in logging what you're eating.

If you do this consistently for a few weeks and you're losing weight too fast, or not fast enough, some further tweaking might be in order.

If you don't already have one, I highly recommend getting a digital food scale. Best. Investment. Ever. Being accurate with your caloric intake each day is the most effective route to success.

zfitgal

so basically I need to eat 1380 without exercise to lose 1 pound a week, and if I eat back 200 calorie because of exercise i will still drop the 1 pound a week. is that what you are saying

tinkerbellang83

zfitgal wrote: »

so basically I need to eat 1380 without exercise to lose 1 pound a week, and if I eat back 200 calorie because of exercise i will still drop the 1 pound a week. is that what you are saying

Got it in one! (If your calorie burns are accurate)

zfitgal

tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

zfitgal wrote: »

so basically I need to eat 1380 without exercise to lose 1 pound a week, and if I eat back 200 calorie because of exercise i will still drop the 1 pound a week. is that what you are saying

Got it in one! (If your calorie burns are accurate)

weight training is hard to track

zfitgal

especially lifting heavy

tinkerbellang83

I tend to log between 50-100 cals for 20 mins strength training depending on intensity. I would probably more worry about the calorie burns for cardio.

zfitgal

i do weights 4 times a week and cardio 3, each for one hour...i lift really heavy

tinkerbellang83

Maybe work on the basis of 100-150 cals for the strength training and eat it back, monitor your progress over the next few weeks, and if you're progress is slower/faster adjust your calories accordingly.

zfitgal

1640 at .5 a pound a week is a very small weigjt loss....but 1380 calories to lose 1 pound a week seems so low

zfitgal

just trying to figure this out

tinkerbellang83

0.5lb per week is a more sustainable weight loss rate for long term. Means you're less likely to fall of the wagon. 0.5lb a week is still a pretty decent loss. If you're new to weight loss you will probably lose a considerable amount of water weight initially as well.

zfitgal

would it be smart to start a 1600 calories including exercise and see how I am for 2 weeks there? if weight loss is slow and not moving then I can drop 50 calories? because I dont really know how much I burn per weight session or cardio work out, especially when I am taking a cardio class...

tinkerbellang83

It can take up to 4 weeks to see progress so you may not see any results in 2 weeks.

Cardio burns are still available in the MFP database, you need to log and try to eat some back as otherwise you could be under-eating.

What are your stats? Weight/Age/Height

zfitgal

im 30 years old, I weigh 140 and my height is 5"4.5 inches...id say I'm lightly active, and i work out 7 hours a week in the gym 6 days a week

zfitgal

that's what I'm saying, should i keep my calories at active which is 1640 (also 1 pound a week if I eat back 140 which I will be netting) and not add exercise to them and lower the calories as I go...

tinkerbellang83

Assuming that's in lbs?

Your TDEE for Sedentary is around1600 and for lightly active is 1850 that's not taking into account exercise so personally if I was you I would aim for 1400-1500 per day and log your exercise, eat half the cals back and see where you are in a month. It might seem like slow progress but you're already at the top end of the "Normal" BMI range for your height so you probably don't have too much to lose.

zfitgal

I don't have much 13 pounds..but how do I track weight lifting?

zfitgal

I'm just a little confused, with exercise, how much would my day caloriclly look...4 days a week weights and 3 days cardio...an hour and high intensity

tinkerbellang83

You can get a rough estimate for weight lifting burns online, have a look, log it on the low side under cardio (create the exercise if you can't find it) and eat 50% back.

tinkerbellang83

It will depend from day-to-day, you're not going to burn as many calories on a day when you do Weight Lifting as you do when you do High Intensity Cardio. You can see an approximation of calories burned here or in the MFP database. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calories.htm

Pre-log your workouts for the week in MFP and it will show you what your daily amount is.

zfitgal

weights, is 198 per hour, cardio 368....

zfitgal

so am I wrong to start at 1600 and work my way down....becase with exercise that's where I basically am

tinkerbellang83

The goal you set in MFP is without the exercise. If you are happy you're felling satiated on 1600 per day on the days you're exercising then yes that's fine. Don't overcomplicate it in your head, as long as you're eating less calories than you're burning you'll lose weight steadily.

zfitgal

thanks so much!!!

zfitgal

i think 1550 will be the perfect number with the calculations, because I can always drop 50 calories if weight loss slows down