Net calories?? Please Help?

Nyappy94

Hello everyone, I’m new to mfp. I started about a week ago and I’ve been confused on what the remaining calories mean...do they need to equal my goal amount or do they need to be 0???

My tdee is 2246
my bmr is 1404
I’m 5’9 and 130lbs

My goal is 1746(2246-500 cal deficit)
I do cardio 5-6 days a week(30-60 mins a day)and I burn between 200-300 cals every cardio session....I also have a full time job that requires me to be on my feet all day, running around...I don’t know how many cals I burn at work

All I’m trying to do is lose weight, well mostly fat on my stomach and my sides

kami3006

Your remaining calories should be zero, or close to. Your net calories should be your original calorie goal. So, after adding your food and intentional exercise, your net should be 1710, or near to it.

Your activity setting should reflect what you do every day outside of intentional exercise. Sounds like you're active. Then you add the intentional exercise calories to your exercise diary. This will give you more calories to eat. Your deficit is already part of the goal MFP gives you.

So if you log 1710 calories of food and burn 200 from exercise then that is effectivly the same as eating 1510 (1710-200). Eat that 200 back and you're netting 1710 calories; which still leaves you in a calorie deficit.

TavistockToad

Given your stats the most you should be trying to lose is 0.5lb per week.

Also, you might want to look into recomp instead of trying to lose more weight.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

kami3006

TavistockToad wrote: »

Given your stats the most you should be trying to lose is 0.5lb per week.

Also, you might want to look into recomp instead of trying to lose more weight.

I was just editing to say this... ^

hypocacculus

If you log exercise, you are allowed to eat extra calories to compensate. The goal is the amount you are allowed to eat that day without extra exercise. The net calories are the calories you have actually eaten minus the extra calories you used doing exercise, currently 1710 calories per day. You have eaten 487 calories of food but haven't logged any exercise for that day, so the net calories still equal 487. The big figure in green is the number of calories you still have left to eat that day, which will be your goal minus your net calories (1710 - 487 = 1223).

cwolfman13

Remaining calories means just that...what you have remaining to eat to hit your goal....there is no other definition of remaining.

Redordeadhead

Also note that MFP does not use the TDEE method. When setting your activity level on here, use your normal daily activity level without the cardio sessions and then manually log the cardio and eat back at least some of the extra calories.

If you prefer to use your TDEE, don't manually add your exercise in MFP as it is already included.

kimny72

Nyappy94 wrote: »

Hello everyone, I’m new to mfp. I started about a week ago and I’ve been confused on what the remaining calories mean...do they need to equal my goal amount or do they need to be 0???

My tdee is 2246
my bmr is 1404
I’m 5’9 and 130lbs

My goal is 1746(2246-500 cal deficit)
I do cardio 5-6 days a week(30-60 mins a day)and I burn between 200-300 cals every cardio session....I also have a full time job that requires me to be on my feet all day, running around...I don’t know how many cals I burn at work

All I’m trying to do is lose weight, well mostly fat on my stomach and my sides

Your net calories are how many calories of food you've logged, minus any exercise calories burned that you've logged. You want it to equal your MFP goal of 1746 (or thereabouts) at the end of the day.So if you had logged your exercise of 200 calories burned, your Net Calories would be 487 - 200 = 287, and your calories remaining would be 1443.

If you have an active job, you should include that in your activity level. Then log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories.

You are already at the low end of the healthy weight range for your height. Instead of losing more weight, you might want to consider building some muscle instead. Once you get very lean, slowly building a bit of muscle may do far more for your "shape" than losing more weight will. Here is a thread with more info if you're interested:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

smithsusan961

"Your net calories are how many calories of food you've logged, minus any exercise calories burned that you've logged. You want it to equal your MFP goal of the day"

So, have I exercised too much or not eaten enough? The NET number should be close to zero?

amfritcher

I don’t think it’s good that your body only took in 26 calories for the day. Is that what it’s saying?

kimny72

smithsusan961 wrote: »

"Your net calories are how many calories of food you've logged, minus any exercise calories burned that you've logged. You want it to equal your MFP goal of the day"

So, have I exercised too much or not eaten enough? The NET number should be close to zero?

You didn't eat anywhere near enough. Or your logging is off and you're eating more than you think. Your exercise cals are probably inflated though, that's a giant calorie burn.

smithsusan961

I eat 1240 calories. I spent 45 min in the pool. Then I walked 20 min with crutches. I spend my entire day in a wheelchair so I am not sure how to count my calories.

Redordeadhead

smithsusan961 wrote: »

I eat 1240 calories. I spent 45 min in the pool. Then I walked 20 min with crutches. I spend my entire day in a wheelchair so I am not sure how to count my calories.

Yeah, 45 minutes in the pool and 20 minutes walking did not burn more than 1000 calories. Something is off there.

smithsusan961

I did some further checking and 60 min in a therapy pool burns 500 to 600 calories. So, I have adjusted for that and walking with crutches for 20 min burns 185.

I am still confused about net calories.

ConfidentRaven

The net is the difference between how much you have eaten and how much you have burned. The net that they list is a little akward, it takes your eaten food - your exercise to determine your net, the net should equal your total original calorie goal.

My current food log has me eating 1751 - 200 for exercise for a net of 1551. Net should equal your total calorie goal. My calorie goal is 1960 so I need to eat 409 more calories. (1960-1551 net)

To use the food log page my calorie goal is 1960 +200 for exercise would be 2160. At 1751 my food plan for the day is 409 calories short.

Basically it's just a different measure of how much you need to eat for the day. Pay more attention to the calories remaining, the net is just there for tracking purposes.

From looking at what all you posted you haven't eaten enough, you need your goal to =your net, when those two numbers are the same you've eaten enough.

cwolfman13

smithsusan961 wrote: »

I did some further checking and 60 min in a therapy pool burns 500 to 600 calories. So, I have adjusted for that and walking with crutches for 20 min burns 185.

I am still confused about net calories.

Your net calories should equal your goal calories. The calories remaining are what you should eat to meat your goal.

at 26 net calories you have 1214 calories remaining...if you eat 1214, your net will be 1214+ 26 = 1,240 which is equal to your GOAL calories. At the end of the day, those numbers (Goal and net) should match up pretty close.

smithsusan961

Thank you for your explanations. I have a hard time eating 1500 calories in one day. I must be doing something wrong.