NET CALORIES???HELP ME!!!!!!!
Chimis_Siq
Posts: 849 Member
OK, SO a friendly on here was explaining to me about Net Calories. I honestly have never looked at them before today. I havent lost weight for the last 2 months, yet have been working out and eating 1500 cals. I have lost inches, but again, NO WEIGHT.
She asked me what my net calories were at the end of the day. As I am scrolling through my phone I net 150 cals-900 cals. Does this mean Ive been starving myself???????
I eat 1500 cals, workouts are typically 1000 cals and most of the time DO NOT eat back calories. She mentioned I should probably stay above the 1500 cals for my net calories. This means eating back most /all of my workout calories.
HELP??????????????????????????????????????????????
She asked me what my net calories were at the end of the day. As I am scrolling through my phone I net 150 cals-900 cals. Does this mean Ive been starving myself???????
I eat 1500 cals, workouts are typically 1000 cals and most of the time DO NOT eat back calories. She mentioned I should probably stay above the 1500 cals for my net calories. This means eating back most /all of my workout calories.
HELP??????????????????????????????????????????????
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Replies
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If you use MFP as it was designed, yes, you're supposed to log your exercise and eat back the calories you earn. With the caveat that MFP and gym machines may overestimate your calories burned, so many people recommend only eating back about 70% of those calories, just in case.
Is this why you aren't losing weight? Maybe but probably not. Your diary is closed so it's hard to give specific advice. How accurately are you tracking your calories? Are you weighing/measuring everything you eat? Have you invested in a cheap food scale yet?0 -
How are you burning 100 calories a day? WHat exercise? That would be running 10 miles a day. That seems awfully high to me.
The theory, as I understand it, is that you have your daily calories which you said are 1500. The NET calories are your daily calories (1500) - cals burned through exercise (1000, as you say) meaning you are netting 500 calories a day to live on. Not enough.
I'm guessing you might be overestimating your calories burned. In general, 1500 calories should be enough for you to lose, even if you don't do any exercise. If all of your calculations are correct, I'm guessing you are not eating enough, exercising too much, and thus causing your body to really reserve every calorie you eat and therefore stall weight loss. Body goes into conserve mode. Try upping your calories a little if you are really exercising that much.0 -
Bump because I'd like to know the answer too
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If you use MFP as it was designed, yes, you're supposed to log your exercise and eat back the calories you earn. With the caveat that MFP and gym machines may overestimate your calories burned, so many people recommend only eating back about 70% of those calories, just in case.
Is this why you aren't losing weight? Maybe but probably not. Your diary is closed so it's hard to give specific advice. How accurately are you tracking your calories? Are you weighing/measuring everything you eat? Have you invested in a cheap food scale yet?
What she said.0 -
How are you burning 100 calories a day? WHat exercise? That would be running 10 miles a day. That seems awfully high to me.
The theory, as I understand it, is that you have your daily calories which you said are 1500. The NET calories are your daily calories (1500) - cals burned through exercise (1000, as you say) meaning you are netting 500 calories a day to live on. Not enough.
I'm guessing you might be overestimating your calories burned. In general, 1500 calories should be enough for you to lose, even if you don't do any exercise. If all of your calculations are correct, I'm guessing you are not eating enough, exercising too much, and thus causing your body to really reserve every calorie you eat and therefore stall weight loss. Body goes into conserve mode. Try upping your calories a little if you are really exercising that much.
I burn about 1000 calories a day but only log it as 800 for fear of the machine being too high. 45 mins on an eliptical plus weight training and a warm up walk can easily result in 1000 burned.
Granted, I'm a 27 year old, 6'4 male who weighs 265 lbs.0 -
Well, your food diary isn't open so can't help you there and you didn't mention your workout so can't help you there. SO, what I can suggest is to weigh and measure ALL of your food to make sure you are eating what you think you're eating. And when you work out, get an HRM to track cals burned and not use the estimates on here or on the machines. With that said, you aren't a 'tiny' woman so I HIGHLY doubt you are 'starving' yourself. More than likely you are mis-calculating something somewhere.
As for the NET cals, if you used the MFP program to calculate the 1500, then your deficit needed to lose weight is built in. So, what it does is when you enter your exercise calories, it says you should eat those back. Like a PP said, most people don't eat all of them back because it can be really inaccurate. PITA, I know, but not much else you can do. So, my suggestions are to open your diary, use a food scale for everything you can, use measuring cups for everything else, use an HRM, and track for a few weeks to see if you see any progress. Good luck OP and hopefully you find what has tripped you up!0 -
okay yes, a 6'4 265-lb young male could burn 1000 calories in a workout. But it takes a lot for a woman who isn't severely obese to burn 1000 cals in a workout. Rule of thumb is running one mile = 100 calories burned for women. So that would be 10 miles of running. The ellipticals -- depends on resistance level, but even at one of the higher settings, it would take probably 90 minutes to burn 1000 calories for a woman of average size. And to do that EVERY day? Not likely.0
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In response to everyone
Ive lost 40 lbs-and my 6 month mark is the 10th. I started at 272 lbs.
I am 237 lbs-considered obese right? I work out 6 times a week, usually 2wice a day. I will do an hour or so of Zumba then walk 5 miles, and then walk my dogs.
Or I will do an hour of Taebo, and walk 5 m iles .
Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance . Im PRETTY SURE I burn about a 1000 cals a day. My fitness pal will sometimes say I burned 2000 cals-which I still dont believe. There it is
As far as my diet , I eat pretty much the same crap just different combos everyday.
I eat apples as snacks
Oatmeal smoothie or green smoothie breakfast
Snack protein bar or tuna packet or cheese stick and grapes or carrots
lunch is usually a salad with no dressing and or low fat vinagarrette
dinner is usually a smoothie, maybe a sandwhich, chicken & veggies.
Simple jane!0 -
If you use MFP as it was designed, yes, you're supposed to log your exercise and eat back the calories you earn. With the caveat that MFP and gym machines may overestimate your calories burned, so many people recommend only eating back about 70% of those calories, just in case.
Is this why you aren't losing weight? Maybe but probably not. Your diary is closed so it's hard to give specific advice. How accurately are you tracking your calories? Are you weighing/measuring everything you eat? Have you invested in a cheap food scale yet?
Thank you for your factual advice . I appreciate it over the opinions I guess Im not eating enough compared to the activity I do. I will now focus on my Net Cals. See if that makes a difference. I do track food pretty accurately. If I have chips, Ill have the serving size and will calculate for everything. I do measure what I eat but not 100% of the time. I just started Insanity to see if its maybe my body has adjust ed to the workouts I do. Thank you for your help. 0 -
As you plan to increase calories, your safest bet would be to increase 100 at a time, so you dont freak out when your scale goes up in the begining(it will be mostly be water weight which will settle down). Rinse and repeat till you find the right balance!
good luck0 -
Not a chance. If you were eating 900 calories net the weight would be melting off of you.As I am scrolling through my phone I net 150 cals-900 cals.
No.Does this mean Ive been starving myself???????
It means you are eating FAR more than you think you are.
And the odds of you burning 1000 calories in a workout are minuscule. That is the equivalent to you running (not walking - running) about 7-8 miles.0 -
How on earth did you come to that conclusion from what was posted?I guess Im not eating enough compared to the activity I do.
The correct conclusion is that you aren't as active as you think you are, and you eat more than you think you do - so move more, eat less.0 -
Hmm.....well I wouldnt be lying about my activity. Im very active. I work 15 hours a day Half of that is standing and walking non stop, I work out at 5 am, then again after work. I dont have the energy or time to cook but simple fast items. So yeah I am active.....but thanks for your help........I guess...lol
How on earth did you come to that conclusion from what was posted?I guess Im not eating enough compared to the activity I do.
The correct conclusion is that you aren't as active as you think you are, and you eat more than you think you do - so move more, eat less.0 -
Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance .
I do 20 min .. and I am drained. And I am considerably lighter than you are. I somehow doubt that you can do this on a regular basis ?
This would be like climbing 333 stories. If you can actually do this .. you are way more fit than me.0 -
You are not alone in trying to figure out your equation to weight loss. If your main goal is weight loss it is easy to do:
Calories consumed-calories burned+ mental+spiritual =weight loss or gain
U can track all your averages yourself or have a software program do it for you. If you are using MFP alone to figure out your weight loss equation U will need to do some math. If you have tracked all your activity and food you have better data that the MFP equation will be able to produce. If you are going to use the BMR equation that MFP uses (which should not be necessary after 2-4 week of logging) you will need to make manual adjustment to your tdee on an ongoing basis which in my opinion is not the best, most accurate or easiest way to figure it out. (It being how many calories of the foods I am eating -calories burned of the activity I am doing =how much weight loss)
Very few people hit starvation mode and if they do you can still get weight loss especially if you have a lot to lose.0 -
The only way you will not lose weight is if you are eating more than you burn.
Also have you adjusted your calories since you lost weight?
40lbs will drastically change the amount of cals you need to keep losing.0 -
Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance .
I do 20 min .. and I am drained. And I am considerably lighter than you are. I somehow doubt that you can do this on a regular basis ?
This would be like climbing 333 stories. If you can actually do this .. you are way more fit than me.
obese individuals do generally have muslces to support theit increased frame sizes, so if she has been busting her butt for 6 months and built up the cardio, it is very likly she can do this.0 -
Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance .
I do 20 min .. and I am drained. And I am considerably lighter than you are. I somehow doubt that you can do this on a regular basis ?
This would be like climbing 333 stories. If you can actually do this .. you are way more fit than me.
obese individuals do generally have muslces to support theit increased frame sizes, so if she has been busting her butt for 6 months and built up the cardio, it is very likly she can do this.
I am making the assumption that she is using a Stairmill machine like I am. There is no resistance on that machine .. so probably she is using a Stairclimber machine (much much easier). So .. the jury is still out.0 -
In response to everyone
Ive lost 40 lbs-and my 6 month mark is the 10th. I started at 272 lbs.
I am 237 lbs-considered obese right? I work out 6 times a week, usually 2wice a day. I will do an hour or so of Zumba then walk 5 miles, and then walk my dogs.
Or I will do an hour of Taebo, and walk 5 m iles .
Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance . Im PRETTY SURE I burn about a 1000 cals a day. My fitness pal will sometimes say I burned 2000 cals-which I still dont believe. There it is
As far as my diet , I eat pretty much the same crap just different combos everyday.
I eat apples as snacks
Oatmeal smoothie or green smoothie breakfast
Snack protein bar or tuna packet or cheese stick and grapes or carrots
lunch is usually a salad with no dressing and or low fat vinagarrette
dinner is usually a smoothie, maybe a sandwhich, chicken & veggies.
Simple jane!
You are probably burning 2000 calories, because of ZUMBA. I do that also, for an hour and I burn 1156 calories. Your diet is low on the calorie scale.. how many calories is it?0 -
Yes eat back you exercise calories. Get a HRM to get a more accurate calories burnt, MFP calories burnt and what those cardio machines say you burnt can be off by quite a bit0
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Hmm.....well I wouldnt be lying about my activity. Im very active.
WTF? Who said anything about you lying about your activity? It's the calorie burn you are assigning to it that's the problem.
Anyway, I tried. Believe what you want to believe...0 -
Bump0
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Are you weighing and measuring all of your food?0
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On this site, your net calories should equal your calorie goal. That's why MFP increases your allowance when you add calories burned through exercise. The point is not to create as large a deficit as possible, but to achieve a deficit appropriate to your weight loss goals. So yes, eating more (or exercising less) would be a good idea.0
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My humble opinion is that you are eating too many carbs (and sugar), and not enough protein and fat. Most likely no issues at all with the calories. The strategy I use is aligned with the LCHF diet. For example, you say you eat carrots and grapes every day...there's lots of sugar in them, as an alternative, I eat avocado, celery, berries, cucumber, broccoli, fennel, bell pepper, tomato, or zucchini instead (lower sugar). Again, this is a strategy that works for ME. I wish you luck with finding what works for YOU. Good luck.0
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First off, losing inches is great progress! Better than actual weight coming off for a while, it indicates fat is being absorbed and muscle is being built, meaning you can burn more later. The general other posters consensus is probably right too though: since you aren't losing, you are probably both eating more than you think and burning less than you think. No you aren't lying, machines and formulas overestimate. But, even now you seem to be in a great place so far losing inches (muscle gain, fat loss). You need to open your diary to say much more though, and height.
The original question: yes you eat back most of your calories for this site's calculation, but before you do that, get a food scale and count calories more carefully and only eat back say 50-75% of your calories for a week and see what happens. The reason is, so far your errors of eating more than you think and a lower calorie burn than you think are probably essentially cancelling each other out, and if you suddenly changed to accurate calorie intake (eating less), that NET calorie intake you mentioned is way too low for you.0 -
This is my bet.
I'm also extremely skeptical of burning 1000 calories per day.0 -
This is my bet.
I'm also extremely skeptical of burning 1000 calories per day.
you knw what I noticed the other day? the treadmill has this thing where you can add your weight in and it tells you how many calories you burned and it' s more if you're heavier...could that explain it?0 -
This is my bet.
I'm also extremely skeptical of burning 1000 calories per day.
you knw what I noticed the other day? the treadmill has this thing where you can add your weight in and it tells you how many calories you burned and it' s more if you're heavier...could that explain it?
To some extent.
If the OP was losing weight too quickly I'd say that she needs to eat more. But since she's not losing weight over a 2 month period it's more likely that she's both overestimating her burns and underestimating how many calories she's taking in, especially since she said she doesn't always measure.0
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