Food diary calorie goal and net calories...Confuse!!

naturalbeautii

Once I reach my daily goal do I need to stop since I am so close? Or do I need to look at my net claories? These two are confusing I am not sure which one I should be looking at. This is including exercise calories.

try2again

I apologize- your question confuses me a little, and my answer may be confusing as well MFP is designed for you to eat back the calories you burn through exercise, so when you log exercise, it adds these calories to your goal. The deficit required for you to lose weight is already included in your total.

That being said, most MFP calorie burn estimates are inflated. (The 818 calories you have logged seems quite high, unless you engaged in 2 hours or strenuous exercise.) So many will only eat back 50-75% of those calories and monitor their actual results over a number of weeks. If you want to do that, you can either adjust the calories when you log them or remember to leave some of those calories at the end of the day.

naturalbeautii

try2again wrote: »

I apologize- your question confuses me a little, and my answer may be confusing as well MFP is designed for you to eat back the calories you burn through exercise, so when you log exercise, it adds these calories to your goal. The deficit required for you to lose weight is already included in your total.

That being said, most MFP calorie burn estimates are inflated. (The 818 calories you have logged seems quite high, unless you engaged in 2 hours or strenuous exercise.) So many will only eat back 50-75% of those calories and monitor their actual results over a number of weeks. If you want to do that, you can either adjust the calories when you log them or remember to leave some of those calories at the end of the day.

I will try and explain it better. Ok the picture above shows my daily goal is 2,168. And the picture below shows my net which is 1,292 which one am I suppose to be looking at to make sure I am losing weight. I already know about eating back half of my exercise calories I only want to eat back 50%. But when looking at these two its confusing. Now

try2again

I feel like you are over-thinking this. All you need to do to lose weight is eat the total calorie goal MFP gives you, adjusted to reflect that you only want to eat back 50% of your exercise calories (so in this case, it would have been about 1700).

naturalbeautii

try2again wrote: »

I feel like you are over-thinking this. All you need to do to lose weight is eat the total calorie goal MFP gives you, adjusted to reflect that you only want to eat back 50% of your exercise calories (so in this case, it would have been about 1700).

I said the same thing too I am over thinking it. Ok so I am suppose to look at my net calories.

try2again

naturalbeautii wrote: »

try2again wrote: »

I feel like you are over-thinking this. All you need to do to lose weight is eat the total calorie goal MFP gives you, adjusted to reflect that you only want to eat back 50% of your exercise calories (so in this case, it would have been about 1700).

I said the same thing too I am over thinking it. Ok so I am suppose to look at my net calories.

Your net calories should match your goal, yes.

AnnPT77

naturalbeautii wrote: »

try2again wrote: »

I feel like you are over-thinking this. All you need to do to lose weight is eat the total calorie goal MFP gives you, adjusted to reflect that you only want to eat back 50% of your exercise calories (so in this case, it would have been about 1700).

I said the same thing too I am over thinking it. Ok so I am suppose to look at my net calories.

In the first screen shot, it is showing your total logged calories eaten as 2113. It also show your daily goal as 2168 calories. That 2168 number includes the 818 calories of logged exercise (because MFP thinks you should eat that back). From those two, I'd assume your daily calorie goal (before doing/logging any exercise) is 1350 calories.

The first screen shot is saying you have 55 calories left to eat, within your calorie goal, if you eat back all 818 of the exercise calories.

In that second screen shot, your total calories are the calories you ate (1733 at lunch + 380 at dinner = 2113 total). The net calories are the total calories minus your logged exercise (2113 total calories - 818 calories logged for exercise = 1295 net **). Effectively, it's saying that you've combined eating and intentional (logged) exercise in a way that is equivalent to having eaten 1295 calories. Your goal is to eat 1350 net calories (as MFP thinks of it, i.e. if you eat back all exercise calories).

The second screen shot is saying pretty much the same thing as the first about calories remaining: That you've eaten (effectively) 1295** calories of your 1350 goal, so you have 55 calories available to eat (1350 - 1295** = 55).

Does that make sense?

** I know it says 1292 net: Your first screen shot appears to be from MFP in a web browser. Your second appears to be from a phone app. I've found that web MFP and phone MFP add/round the calories in my food diary differently, and sometimes end up a very small number of calories different. (I think this is dumb of it.) I assume that accounts for 1293 vs. 1295, though I don't know for sure.

If you want to eat back only half your exercise calories, you have several choices of how to record that. You could just log 414 calories on the exercise page, instead of 818. Or, you could log all 818, and eat until there are 414 left in "remaining" on the page you show in your first screen shot (or a difference of 414 between "goal" and "net" calories on the second screen shot). Or, you could create a fake food called "exercise offset" (or something), and log 414 calories of that, leaving only 414 calories of the exercise that will show up in "remaining".

I hope it's obvious that I used 818/414 in the preceding paragraph just as an example. You'd obviously be using the actual number of exercise calories you have on a particular day, treating them in the way described.

I hope that helps.

naturalbeautii

AnnPT77 wrote: »

naturalbeautii wrote: »

try2again wrote: »

I feel like you are over-thinking this. All you need to do to lose weight is eat the total calorie goal MFP gives you, adjusted to reflect that you only want to eat back 50% of your exercise calories (so in this case, it would have been about 1700).

I said the same thing too I am over thinking it. Ok so I am suppose to look at my net calories.

In the first screen shot, it is showing your total logged calories eaten as 2113. It also show your daily goal as 2168 calories. That 2168 number includes the 818 calories of logged exercise (because MFP thinks you should eat that back). From those two, I'd assume your daily calorie goal (before doing/logging any exercise) is 1350 calories.

The first screen shot is saying you have 55 calories left to eat, within your calorie goal, if you eat back all 818 of the exercise calories.

In that second screen shot, your total calories are the calories you ate (1733 at lunch + 380 at dinner = 2113 total). The net calories are the total calories minus your logged exercise (2113 total calories - 818 calories logged for exercise = 1295 net **). Effectively, it's saying that you've combined eating and intentional (logged) exercise in a way that is equivalent to having eaten 1295 calories. Your goal is to eat 1350 net calories (as MFP thinks of it, i.e. if you eat back all exercise calories).

The second screen shot is saying pretty much the same thing as the first about calories remaining: That you've eaten (effectively) 1295** calories of your 1350 goal, so you have 55 calories available to eat (1350 - 1295** = 55).

Does that make sense?

** I know it says 1292 net: Your first screen shot appears to be from MFP in a web browser. Your second appears to be from a phone app. I've found that web MFP and phone MFP add/round the calories in my food diary differently, and sometimes end up a very small number of calories different. (I think this is dumb of it.) I assume that accounts for 1293 vs. 1295, though I don't know for sure.

If you want to eat back only half your exercise calories, you have several choices of how to record that. You could just log 414 calories on the exercise page, instead of 818. Or, you could log all 818, and eat until there are 414 left in "remaining" on the page you show in your first screen shot (or a difference of 414 between "goal" and "net" calories on the second screen shot). Or, you could create a fake food called "exercise offset" (or something), and log 414 calories of that, leaving only 414 calories of the exercise that will show up in "remaining".

I hope it's obvious that I used 818/414 in the preceding paragraph just as an example. You'd obviously be using the actual number of exercise calories you have on a particular day, treating them in the way described.

I hope that helps.

Thank you for going in detail with me. I was always wondering why sometimes why I would negative number in red when I look at my daily goal. Thank you again for thoroughly explaining it, it helped.

naturalbeautii

AnnPT77 wrote: »

naturalbeautii wrote: »

try2again wrote: »

I feel like you are over-thinking this. All you need to do to lose weight is eat the total calorie goal MFP gives you, adjusted to reflect that you only want to eat back 50% of your exercise calories (so in this case, it would have been about 1700).

I said the same thing too I am over thinking it. Ok so I am suppose to look at my net calories.

In the first screen shot, it is showing your total logged calories eaten as 2113. It also show your daily goal as 2168 calories. That 2168 number includes the 818 calories of logged exercise (because MFP thinks you should eat that back). From those two, I'd assume your daily calorie goal (before doing/logging any exercise) is 1350 calories.

The first screen shot is saying you have 55 calories left to eat, within your calorie goal, if you eat back all 818 of the exercise calories.

In that second screen shot, your total calories are the calories you ate (1733 at lunch + 380 at dinner = 2113 total). The net calories are the total calories minus your logged exercise (2113 total calories - 818 calories logged for exercise = 1295 net **). Effectively, it's saying that you've combined eating and intentional (logged) exercise in a way that is equivalent to having eaten 1295 calories. Your goal is to eat 1350 net calories (as MFP thinks of it, i.e. if you eat back all exercise calories).

The second screen shot is saying pretty much the same thing as the first about calories remaining: That you've eaten (effectively) 1295** calories of your 1350 goal, so you have 55 calories available to eat (1350 - 1295** = 55).

Does that make sense?

** I know it says 1292 net: Your first screen shot appears to be from MFP in a web browser. Your second appears to be from a phone app. I've found that web MFP and phone MFP add/round the calories in my food diary differently, and sometimes end up a very small number of calories different. (I think this is dumb of it.) I assume that accounts for 1293 vs. 1295, though I don't know for sure.

If you want to eat back only half your exercise calories, you have several choices of how to record that. You could just log 414 calories on the exercise page, instead of 818. Or, you could log all 818, and eat until there are 414 left in "remaining" on the page you show in your first screen shot (or a difference of 414 between "goal" and "net" calories on the second screen shot). Or, you could create a fake food called "exercise offset" (or something), and log 414 calories of that, leaving only 414 calories of the exercise that will show up in "remaining".

I hope it's obvious that I used 818/414 in the preceding paragraph just as an example. You'd obviously be using the actual number of exercise calories you have on a particular day, treating them in the way described.

I hope that helps.

The screenshot you see now. Is it suppose to look like that on my exercise days when I am only eating back half of my exercise calories. The picture is example.

MishMashMisha

naturalbeautii wrote: »

The screenshot you see now. Is it suppose to look like that on my exercise days when I am only eating back half of my exercise calories. The picture is example.

Yes, that looks correct.

naturalbeautii

MishMashMisha wrote: »

naturalbeautii wrote: »

The screenshot you see now. Is it suppose to look like that on my exercise days when I am only eating back half of my exercise calories. The picture is example.

Yes, that looks correct.

Thank you. Now I can stop asking million questions now lol.

AnnPT77

That's exactly what you want to see (well, really 417 would be half of 834 . . . I'm joking!! ).

Now, the idea is to stick with the plan for a long enough time to evaluate results. For premenopausal women, that's a full menstrual cycle plus a bit. As general advice, 4-6 weeks is reasonable.

If you begin feeling weak or persistently fatigued during that time, eat a little more, especially if you appear to be losing very fast at that point. (Fast initial loss can be deceptive by itself, but weakness/fatigue are a danger sign.)

If your average weekly weight loss rate during that 4-6 weeks is sensible**, you're all set with a routine that seems to work for you. If you're losing too fast, eat a little more (you can think of it as eating more exercise calories, or just bump up your daily goal). If you're losing too slowly for your taste, but you feel excellent, satiated, happy and faster would stiil be sensible**, then drop your calorie goal a little.

** A rule of thumb for what's sensible is no more than 1% of body weight per week, for most people, maybe slower (especially for smaller people) when within 50 pounds of goal, maybe faster if extremely obese and under very close medical supervision.

Best wishes!

naturalbeautii

AnnPT77 wrote: »

That's exactly what you want to see (well, really 417 would be half of 834 . . . I'm joking!! ).

Now, the idea is to stick with the plan for a long enough time to evaluate results. For premenopausal women, that's a full menstrual cycle plus a bit. As general advice, 4-6 weeks is reasonable.

If you begin feeling weak or persistently fatigued during that time, eat a little more, especially if you appear to be losing very fast at that point. (Fast initial loss can be deceptive by itself, but weakness/fatigue are a danger sign.)

If your average weekly weight loss rate during that 4-6 weeks is sensible**, you're all set with a routine that seems to work for you. If you're losing too fast, eat a little more (you can think of it as eating more exercise calories, or just bump up your daily goal). If you're losing too slowly for your taste, but you feel excellent, satiated, happy and faster would stiil be sensible**, then drop your calorie goal a little.

** A rule of thumb for what's sensible is no more than 1% of body weight per week, for most people, maybe slower (especially for smaller people) when within 50 pounds of goal, maybe faster if extremely obese and under very close medical supervision.

Best wishes!

Thank you