Calories

markchoppersmith

Hi what do i go by net calories or total calories and what is calories under weekly goal please

goal06082021

Net calories = the number of calories you ate MINUS the number of calories you burned through deliberate exercise on a given day.

Total calories = just the number of calories you ate, without counting any exercise calories burned.

The way MFP is supposed to work, it gives you a calorie budget without counting purposeful exercise. On days when you do exercise, you are supposed to log that in your exercise diary, and thus "earn" more total calories for the day. You can eat more if you move more. As long as your net calories is close to your goal, you're good.

So, suppose your budget is 1500 calories per day. That means on days when you don't exercise, you should try to eat as close to 1500 calories per day as possible.
Yesterday, you ate 1495 calories and didn't exercise, so your total calories is 1495 and your net calories is also 1495 (1495 - 0 = 1495).
Today, you ate 1440 calories, and then went for a long walk and burned 140 calories. Your total calories is 1440, but your NET calories is 1300 (1440 - 140 = 1300). Then, you ate another 200 calories to bring your net calories to 1500, and your total calories to 1640.

As for "calories under weekly goal," some people like to think about their calorie budget in terms of the week rather than day-by-day. This is also sometimes called "calorie cycling." If your calorie budget is 1500 calories per day, then for the week your budget is 1500 * 7 = 10500 calories. It doesn't actually matter precisely how those 10,500 calories are distributed across the seven days, as long as you're close to that number at the end of the week you'll still have maintained a deficit and will still lose fat. Perhaps your exercise habit is consistent enough at this point that you don't want to bother logging it. So, rather than eating 1500 calories every day plus extra for exercising, maybe you aim for 1700 on days when you work out and 1300 on days when you don't. Or maybe you want to be able to eat a little more on the weekends, regardless of your exercise, so you eat 1400/day Monday to Friday and then have 1750/day Saturday and Sunday (you "save" 100 calories each weekday; 100 * 5 = 500, so you have an extra 500 calories on the weekends; 500 / 2 = 250 per day, 1500 + 250 = 1750).

The "calories over/under weekly goal" information is also good for putting things in perspective if you binge, or have an unplanned night out, or have treats foisted upon you at work, or whatever. If you go way over your calorie budget one day, say 2500 calories, you can look at the week data and see that oh, you were under a little bit the other days of the week, so you're still on target this week. Or oh, you've been consistently over every day this week, maybe figure out where to make a change so it's easier to stay within your budget.

wilson10102018

Exercising solely to achieve calorie goals is bulimic. If exercise is incidental to calorie goals it is just part of the math.

callsitlikeiseeit

wilson10102018 wrote: »

Exercising solely to achieve calorie goals is bulimic. If exercise is incidental to calorie goals it is just part of the math.

Plenty of people (myself included at times) workout to 'earn' extra calories or bank calories for a couple of days for a treat or special occasion of some kind.

nothing wrong with that.

You also have your definitions of bulimia and anorexia mixed up (and in this case you are just incorrect)

Bulimia:

A serious eating disorder marked by binging, followed by methods to avoid weight gain.
Bulimia is a potentially life-threatening eating disorder.
People with this condition binge eat. They then take steps to avoid weight gain. Most commonly, this means vomiting (purging). But it can also mean excessive exercising or fasting.

Anorexia:

An eating disorder causing people to obsess about weight and what they eat.
Anorexia is characterized by a distorted body image, with an unwarranted fear of being overweight.
Symptoms include trying to maintain a below-normal weight through starvation or too much exercise.

markchoppersmith

Thanks guys

markchoppersmith

goal06082021 wrote: »

Net calories = the number of calories you ate MINUS the number of calories you burned through deliberate exercise on a given day.

Total calories = just the number of calories you ate, without counting any exercise calories burned.

The way MFP is supposed to work, it gives you a calorie budget without counting purposeful exercise. On days when you do exercise, you are supposed to log that in your exercise diary, and thus "earn" more total calories for the day. You can eat more if you move more. As long as your net calories is close to your goal, you're good.

So, suppose your budget is 1500 calories per day. That means on days when you don't exercise, you should try to eat as close to 1500 calories per day as possible.
Yesterday, you ate 1495 calories and didn't exercise, so your total calories is 1495 and your net calories is also 1495 (1495 - 0 = 1495).
Today, you ate 1440 calories, and then went for a long walk and burned 140 calories. Your total calories is 1440, but your NET calories is 1300 (1440 - 140 = 1300). Then, you ate another 200 calories to bring your net calories to 1500, and your total calories to 1640.

As for "calories under weekly goal," some people like to think about their calorie budget in terms of the week rather than day-by-day. This is also sometimes called "calorie cycling." If your calorie budget is 1500 calories per day, then for the week your budget is 1500 * 7 = 10500 calories. It doesn't actually matter precisely how those 10,500 calories are distributed across the seven days, as long as you're close to that number at the end of the week you'll still have maintained a deficit and will still lose fat. Perhaps your exercise habit is consistent enough at this point that you don't want to bother logging it. So, rather than eating 1500 calories every day plus extra for exercising, maybe you aim for 1700 on days when you work out and 1300 on days when you don't. Or maybe you want to be able to eat a little more on the weekends, regardless of your exercise, so you eat 1400/day Monday to Friday and then have 1750/day Saturday and Sunday (you "save" 100 calories each weekday; 100 * 5 = 500, so you have an extra 500 calories on the weekends; 500 / 2 = 250 per day, 1500 + 250 = 1750).

The "calories over/under weekly goal" information is also good for putting things in perspective if you binge, or have an unplanned night out, or have treats foisted upon you at work, or whatever. If you go way over your calorie budget one day, say 2500 calories, you can look at the week data and see that oh, you were under a little bit the other days of the week, so you're still on target this week. Or oh, you've been consistently over every day this week, maybe figure out where to make a change so it's easier to stay within your budget.

So if I'm under my calories for week but go over a couple of times a day during week that is fine cause I'm under my calories for week is that right and net or total calories I walk alot at least 6km a day not slow

goal06082021

markchoppersmith wrote: »

So if I'm under my calories for week but go over a couple of times a day during week that is fine cause I'm under my calories for week is that right and net or total calories I walk alot at least 6km a day not slow

Correct, if you're still close to your goal for the week and not over by an amount of calories equal to or greater than your weekly deficit (3500 if you're trying to lose 1lb per week), you're still losing weight for the week. (Note: it's very common for things like water retention and food in transit to mask fat loss on the scale; keep at it and don't get discouraged if you don't see a loss every single week.)

Pay more attention to net calories. The handy thing is that that's how MFP is designed - in the equation at the top of the diary, the total on the right hand side is your net. Just make sure you're logging your exercise so you don't undereat.

markchoppersmith

Ok thanks yes I do enter my excercise but I dont eat back the calories it gives me

wilson10102018

If you take each day, one at a time, the variations in intake will be smaller and you will be less likely to fail to meet your goals. Anyone who has even watched a brick wall being laid will know this is true. Weekly goals are an excuse to not moderate calorie intake on a daily basis.

kshama2001

wilson10102018 wrote: »

Exercising solely to achieve calorie goals is bulimic. If exercise is incidental to calorie goals it is just part of the math.

We have a thread on a related topic in Debate:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10839925/eat-to-exercise-or-exercise-to-eat-which-describes-you/p1