Do you count total calories or net calories?

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Howieazb216
Howieazb216 Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Question. Does everyone go by: total calories or net calories (intake - calories burned)?

I am starting my cutting phase and amping up my cardio. I use a polar hrm with a chest strap so my calories burned reading is pretty accurate.
waayijac6gfd.png

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  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,990 Member
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    Net.
  • Howieazb216
    Howieazb216 Posts: 13 Member
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    Thank you. Yes, I am hitting the gym 5 times a week and running on the weekends. I haven’t really followed the net calories because the hrms are not foolproof (one of my coworkers bought the expensive Fitbit and it is all over the place so I hope the chest strap is more effective). I am keeping my protein intake up to avoid muscle loss but I wanted to avoid starvation mode too.

    I used to be better at juggling my weight - football in the fall and then dropping weight for wrestling in the winter. Joys of getting old
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Net, that how MFP is designed
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    Your caloric goal should be based on total then adjusted as you go on a weekly basis since all of these numbers are estimates. Trying to adjust daily just turns into an exercise in futility since there's a lot of noise. You really have no idea if your hour at the gym today burned 500 or 300 or 10000 calories, and no your caloric burn based on your HR isn't really that accurate unless you are doing nothing but steady state cardio but even then the algorithms tend to be horrible due to individual differences. Your banana isn't 121 calories and nothing else is going to be 100% correct either so the number you see on MFP is only useful as a rough guide.

    My advice is always that you choose a caloric intake goal based on general activity level then adjust as you go along and notice your weekly trending.

    Disagree with the bolded.
    It works extremely well for many people and is equally valid a technique as the TDEE method which introduces an extra variable - estimating how often you exercise / duration of your exercise as opposed to knowing the actual duration using the MFP method.
    I also have an extremely good idea of how many calories my exercise burns due to the type of exercise I do and how I get my estimates. HRMs, the exercise database and many other tools have their place but all can be mis-used and mis-understood too.

    Do agree that whichever method used should be subject to a feedback loop and adjustment if required.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    Your caloric goal should be based on total then adjusted as you go on a weekly basis since all of these numbers are estimates. Trying to adjust daily just turns into an exercise in futility since there's a lot of noise. You really have no idea if your hour at the gym today burned 500 or 300 or 10000 calories, and no your caloric burn based on your HR isn't really that accurate unless you are doing nothing but steady state cardio but even then the algorithms tend to be horrible due to individual differences. Your banana isn't 121 calories and nothing else is going to be 100% correct either so the number you see on MFP is only useful as a rough guide.

    My advice is always that you choose a caloric intake goal based on general activity level then adjust as you go along and notice your weekly trending.

    Disagree with the bolded.
    It works extremely well for many people and is equally valid a technique as the TDEE method which introduces an extra variable - estimating how often you exercise / duration of your exercise as opposed to knowing the actual duration using the MFP method.
    I also have an extremely good idea of how many calories my exercise burns due to the type of exercise I do and how I get my estimates. HRMs, the exercise database and many other tools have their place but all can be mis-used and mis-understood too.

    Do agree that whichever method used should be subject to a feedback loop and adjustment if required.

    I tried the daily approach, and it can certainly work, but chasing a number each day can be fruitless since it's hard to tell how accurate your log really is. Caloric burn estimates for most exercises are very inaccurate as well and this is well known -- however, if you have been working out consistently for along time then you already know from the experience. I did have success following the daily approach but I have since switched to a weekly view and am just as successful. I just think the idea of stressing each day is unnecessary and can even be counter productive.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    Your caloric goal should be based on total then adjusted as you go on a weekly basis since all of these numbers are estimates. Trying to adjust daily just turns into an exercise in futility since there's a lot of noise. You really have no idea if your hour at the gym today burned 500 or 300 or 10000 calories, and no your caloric burn based on your HR isn't really that accurate unless you are doing nothing but steady state cardio but even then the algorithms tend to be horrible due to individual differences. Your banana isn't 121 calories and nothing else is going to be 100% correct either so the number you see on MFP is only useful as a rough guide.

    My advice is always that you choose a caloric intake goal based on general activity level then adjust as you go along and notice your weekly trending.

    Disagree with the bolded.
    It works extremely well for many people and is equally valid a technique as the TDEE method which introduces an extra variable - estimating how often you exercise / duration of your exercise as opposed to knowing the actual duration using the MFP method.
    I also have an extremely good idea of how many calories my exercise burns due to the type of exercise I do and how I get my estimates. HRMs, the exercise database and many other tools have their place but all can be mis-used and mis-understood too.

    Do agree that whichever method used should be subject to a feedback loop and adjustment if required.

    I tried the daily approach, and it can certainly work, but chasing a number each day can be fruitless since it's hard to tell how accurate your log really is. Caloric burn estimates for most exercises are very inaccurate as well and this is well known -- however, if you have been working out consistently for along time then you already know from the experience. I did have success following the daily approach but I have since switched to a weekly view and am just as successful. I just think the idea of stressing each day is unnecessary and can even be counter productive.

    I've switched from logging/estimating food to not logging food at all and still successfully managing my weight - think that underlines the part we agree on is the most important part, taking note of results and adjusting if required.
    I still log my exercise somewhat perversely but that's just so I have a casual idea of my fuelling needs.

    On a big cycling day I will log my food as a nutrition/fuelling/recovery aid - that's the only time I personally need precision.
  • CMS_3049
    CMS_3049 Posts: 20 Member
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    I use total calories but on a weekly basis. Example, I am 32, F, 5'4''. During the spring and summer (my running season) I maintain on 17,000 calories per week running 35-40mpw with a physically demanding job. Over the fall and winter when I am doing less dedicated running (20-25mpw), I drop that to about 16,000. Some days I eat more than others- always the day before my long run (which is done on Thursday so I eat more on Wednesday) and I save some calories for alcohol indulgences on Friday and Saturday. I find that easier for me to maintain on with my lifestyle. If you are trying to drop weight, you can simply take your average burn for the week and subtract 3500 for each pound you'd like to lose.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,990 Member
    edited January 2018
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    sijomial wrote: »
    [Daily adjustment] works extremely well for many people and is equally valid a technique as the TDEE method which introduces an extra variable - estimating how often you exercise / duration of your exercise as opposed to knowing the actual duration using the MFP method.

    I also have an extremely good idea of how many calories my exercise burns due to the type of exercise I do and how I get my estimates. HRMs, the exercise database and many other tools have their place but all can be mis-used and mis-understood too.

    Do agree that whichever method used should be subject to a feedback loop and adjustment if required.

    Daily adjustment works fine for me.

    My food log and exercise estimates are very accurate and I can make very fine levels of adjustment day to day that I can immediately see in the scale.

    Waiting a week to make such adjustments seems too long to me. Doing so would allow bad eating habits and/or inaccurate exercise estimates add up over a longer period of time and thereby require a longer time to correct.

    An analogy would be the difference between trying to correct course in a heavy freighter vs a speed boat. You can correct course in the freighter but it will take longer and it might crash into something b4 it can complete the maneuver.

    So, IMO, it's better to be quicker and more flexible in making the necessary dietary and exercise estimate changes in order to manage your weight and achieve your perdonal weight loss, maintenance or gain objectives.
  • iKonneKtU
    iKonneKtU Posts: 2 Member
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    Have fun in the process! !!
    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    Your caloric goal should be based on total then adjusted as you go on a weekly basis since all of these numbers are estimates. Trying to adjust daily just turns into an exercise in futility since there's a lot of noise. You really have no idea if your hour at the gym today burned 500 or 300 or 10000 calories, and no your caloric burn based on your HR isn't really that accurate unless you are doing nothing but steady state cardio but even then the algorithms tend to be horrible due to individual differences. Your banana isn't 121 calories and nothing else is going to be 100% correct either so the number you see on MFP is only useful as a rough guide.

    My advice is always that you choose a caloric intake goal based on general activity level then adjust as you go along and notice your weekly trending.

  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
    edited January 2018
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    I use net and track daily. I know what exercise I will be doing so I plan ahead what to eat that day with the calories in mind. I eat back nearly all my exercise calories unless it's a day when iburn 800 or more--1-2 x per week-usually not that hungry or would need to eat out or high calorie to meet it. I usually eat back 50-75 percent on those high exercise days. It balances out any inaccuries or underestimates on the other days. I burn about 400 calories on the other days. My net is 1620 calories per day to lose 1 lb per week.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,554 Member
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    Howieazb216 wrote: »
    Question. Does everyone go by: total calories or net calories (intake - calories burned)?

    I am starting my cutting phase and amping up my cardio. I use a polar hrm with a chest strap so my calories burned reading is pretty accurate.
    waayijac6gfd.png

    That is a massive calorie burn! I would be very caucious about it to be honest as it might take hours of dedicated cardio to get such a massive burn. There is no real correlation between heart rate and calorie burn. Also keep that in mind, and if you don't know your maximum hr (ignore 220-age as it's only accurate for about 40% of all people as a big metastudy has shown). If you happen to have a high HRmax then you'll record massive burns that are not there in reality. Also, temperature, your level of fitness, thyroid issues and lots of other things influence your HR.

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