Net Calories... help!

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jwidd220
jwidd220 Posts: 5 Member
in Getting Started
Hi All.. I feel totally lost in regards to net calories.. these past few weeks I've been trying to stick to my 1,440 calorie goal, and have been exercising every day. Today I read that I am actually supposed to be eating some of these calories back that I am exercising.. I assumed that I wanted to keep the deficit as big as possible.. but now I feel like I've been doing this all wrong. Here is a chart showing my net calories.. really would love some advice. I have about 75 lbs left to go.

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Thank you!!

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
    edited August 2017
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    You want to eat all the calories given so that your Net is 1440. Eat until the bottom of the Food page is Zero.

    On the MY HOME dashboard, eat until your Net is 1440. Eat all those green calories.

    Your calorie deficit for weight loss is factored in. You need to eat more on days you exercise.

    Here: read this "Help" article:

    https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/410332-how-does-myfitnesspal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

    How do you feel? Grumpy? Hungry? Tired? Irritable? You can get away with eating a little below for a little while, mainly because you have so much weight to lose. It's not a good idea for very long, though. Those last three days are super low! You're pushing your luck...things start to happen that are not good when you undereat.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Do you really think your body can really get adequate nutrition on only 300-400 calories? Not a chance. You'll crash and burn rather quickly on that route.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    MFP is designed so you eat your exercise calories back, so you should be netting whatever your daily calorie goal is. If you are a little under some days it will not hurt, but I imagine you will start to struggle with fatigue, hunger, and general grumpiness if you keep on at the rate you are going.

    Another thing to consider in all this is how are you determining your calories burned? If you are using MFP estimates they tend to be higher than what you really burn. Most people only eat back 50-75% of what MFP estimates they burned during exercise to account for this inflation.

    If you don't mind my asking what did you do on the days you logged 1000-1200 calories worth of exercise. I am going to guess these are quite inflated, as those types of burns are pretty hard to get if you are not doing pretty serious activities. People here may be able to help you guesstimate more accurate counts if this is the case. Just for reference, I would have to run about 8 miles to get those kinds of burns. Apologies in advance if you are more active than I am giving you credit for.
  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,073 Member
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    I never have been savvy enough or took the time to figure out all the numbers and calculations. I stayed at the same calorie level and did not pay attention to exercise calories. My question is did MFP set your calories at 1440. To me that seems low with 75 lbs to lose, but then again I am not expert.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    What are you doing to burn 800+ calories in a workout session?
  • starryphoenix
    starryphoenix Posts: 381 Member
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    It's basically like this.

    If you have 1200 and the eat 200 you have a NET of 200. But if you burn 200 calories then your NET goes back to zero.

    Second example is if you have 1440 and you eat all those calories then your NET is 1440. If you were to burn 240 calories your NET is 1200.

    So basically your NET is the same amount you eat unless you exercise. When you exercise it gives you more calories to eat. You can't see your NET on the mobile app anymore, but it still shows up on the desktop website.

    I try to keep my NET above 1200 at least.

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