Net Calories?

bruinsgirl3319

I'm a 25 y/o female, weighing 5'2 and 150. I have a goal weight of 130 and am set to lose 1.5 lbs/week. I've got a fairly active job (good amount of of walking around in a small store as a cashier/baker) and do 5 workouts a week. This whole net calories thing is still a bit confusing. Right now my net calorie goal is to eat 1550 calories a day, but am not sure if that's too high. (I'd only like to eat 1,550.) I've been on and off trying to lose weight (most recent attempt was disrupted by being sick almost all of last week, but am back on the counting track this week). Any thoughts? My diary is public if anyone needs more info. Thanks in advance, everyone!

MichelleSilverleaf

Ok look at it this way. MFP gives you 1550 to lose weight. Then you do some form of exercise that burns 330 calories. If you don't eat some or all of that back, you'd be ending the day with 1250 net calories, which is not entirely ideal since MFP already accounts for a deficit.

MikePTY

Think about it this way: The number of calories you eat isn't the important number. It's the calorie deficit that is created between how many calories you eat and how many you burn. So the number that you need to eat each day varies based on how many calories you burn each day. MFP generates you a goal based on the deficit you select (its 500 calories per pound of weekly weight loss per day. So if your goal is 1 pound per week, your calorie deficit is 500, if it is 2 pounds, it is 1000). That goal takes into account what you tell MFP (gender, height, weight, age, and activity level). But when you do exercise, that is outside of what you have told MFP, and needs to be taken separately.

That is why MFP uses "net calories". Lets say on a normal day, with no exercise, MFP expects that from regular activity, your body burns 2050 calories a day. And you tell it you want to lose 1 pound a week. That is why it sets a goal for you of 1550. But if you then go and do exercise that burns 500 additional calories, you need to account for that, because it changes the number that you burn for the day. That means you would have burned 2550 that day, and to hit your goal of a 500 calorie deficit, you should be eating 2050 calories that day. This is why your daily goal varies based on the exercise you do.

Hopefully this helps explain it a bit more.

NorthCascades

Eating 1,550 calories every day is like filling your gas tank once a week. If you drive more and don't put more fuel in, something bad is going to happen.

bruinsgirl3319

Okay. I might decrease my non-work exercise a bit for a few weeks and see how that goes, because if I eat 2200+ cals a day I know I'll gain. (My diet isn't exactly ideal honestly, but that is a work in progress.)

janejellyroll

bruinsgirl3319 wrote: »

Okay. I might decrease my non-work exercise a bit for a few weeks and see how that goes, because if I eat 2200+ cals a day I know I'll gain. (My diet isn't exactly ideal honestly, but that is a work in progress.)

Why do you know you'll gain on 2,200 calories?

NorthCascades

bruinsgirl3319 wrote: »

Okay. I might decrease my non-work exercise a bit for a few weeks and see how that goes, because if I eat 2200+ cals a day I know I'll gain. (My diet isn't exactly ideal honestly, but that is a work in progress.)

You can eat less and exercise less, that's basically the same as exercising more and eating more. You're just trading health benefits for time. You're not going to affect your weight loss.

A friend of a friend lost 40 pounds hiking the PCT. He ate as much as he was able to, wasn't trying to lose weight. Entire jars of peanut butter at a time. Exercise calories really are real and legitimate.

witchaywoman81

bruinsgirl3319 wrote: »

(My diet isn't exactly ideal honestly, but that is a work in progress.)

Perfection is the enemy of progress. I’d venture to guess that no one’s diet is “perfect.” What matters for weight loss is that you’re in a calorie deficit. Eat the foods you already like, but less of them. You can do this!