Calorie limit vs. net calorie limit

jade_222

I have a 1200 calorie limit but most days I exercise and earn more calories. Should I still be eating under 1200 calories or if I burn 200 calories should I be eating 1400 calories and still be able to lose weight?

monkeywizard

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

4legsRbetterthan2

If you got you calorie goals using MFP and not another method then if your calorie goals is 1200 you should eat 1200 and not under. If you burn 200 then yes you need to eat 1400 to compensate. Your net calories at the end of the day should match your daily goal.

thesupremeforce

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

That sounds dangerously vague. Exactly what is "enough to sustain your body" anyway?

erickirb

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

But 1200 is not enough to sustain your body,, which is why MFP adds the cals back.

say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.


So using the above info your nutritionist friend should have started you at the 1700 cals, then you don't eat exercise cals back, but if you followed MFP it would have said 1450, in that case, eat them back. MFP does you calories goal different than other sites or what "experts" use, in the end if you do either correctly you should end up eating close to the same amount each week, even if each day is different.

Brianna716

I have a 1200 calorie limit but most days I exercise and earn more calories. Should I still be eating under 1200 calories or if I burn 200 calories should I be eating 1400 calories and still be able to lose weight?

I eat my calories back. I'd starve if I didn't. I'm still losing weight at a healthy rate.

My guy is set up based on TDEE and his goal is the same every day, regardless of workouts (he generally does M-F at the gym). Neither way is wrong, but if you don't want to eat back your exercise calories then you should be using TDEE, and eating more than 1,200 every day.

KristinD1977

Eat them back... please :flowerforyou:

thesupremeforce

The only potential issue with eating back calories is that estimates of calorie burn aren't always accurate (or are rarely accurate), so there is the risk of eating back too many (unlikely to be an issue with a 1200 calorie goal anyway).

jade_222

Thanks everyone! Very helpful info

furniem

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

That is what my Dr said as well. As long as I was nourishing my body and not starving yourself then I should not eat back my exercise calories. Obviously listen to your body. Some days you will be hungrier than others.

ChrisM8971

Eat them back, or a portion depending on what method you use for calculating what you burn (MFP often over estimates the calories burnt)

Remember the idea is not to lose as fast as possible its to lose at a healthy, sustainable rate which many sites agree as being 0.5 to 2.0 lbs per week

erickirb

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

That is what my Dr said as well. As long as I was nourishing my body and not starving yourself then I should not eat back my exercise calories. Obviously listen to your body. Some days you will be hungrier than others.

See my earlier post, most likely they assumed an activity factor taking into account exercise was used to get your base calorie goal, with MFP that is not the case. That and most doctors have very little education on nutrition.

cwolfman13

Here is what the math looks like using my numbers. Remember, your activity level with MFP isn't supposed to include exercise...with MFP, that activity is accounted for after the fact when you log it...that's why you get the calories back after you work out.

MFP maintenance calories WITHOUT exercise = 2,350 calories. So to lose 1 Lb per week, MFP would deduct 500 calories...therefore, my MFP weight loss calorie goal WITHOUT exercise would be 1,850 calories.

Now, I know exercise is really good for me...so I go burn about 300 calories with a nice jog...my net calories are now 1,850 - 300 = 1,550 calories and my overall deficit has been increased to 2,350 - 1,550 = 800 calories vs the 500 calorie deficit I had initially. This is too fast for me and depending on where you are at, may be counterproductive to achieving your goals...so I eat those exercise calories back bringing my net back to 1,850 with a gross of 1,850 + 300 = 2,150. But, I still have that 500 calorie deficit because my NON EXERCISE maintenance of 2,350 calories has now been increased by that same 300 calories...so 2,350 + 300 = 2,650 calories.

When I take my new maintenance of 2,650 less my new weight loss calorie goal of 2,150...I still have a 500 calorie deficit because 2650 - 2150 = 500 calorie deficit still.

That's what the actual math looks like...that's why you eat exercise calories back and still lose weight...because your maintenance threshold is increasing, thus the number of calories you could consume to lose weight would increase. It's just math.

Where people go wrong is using some data base (often this one) for their calorie burn and not doing any kind of reasonableness test on that burn...so they go swimming for half an hour and log 900 calories because some database told them that's what they burned for vigorous effort...and it must have been vigorous, because they're tired right? Really, they're just out of shape and when they say "vigorous" , that database is basically assuming Michael Phelps is killing it in the pool, not some rando like me with a beer gut and moobs.

ChrisM8971

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

That is what my Dr said as well. As long as I was nourishing my body and not starving yourself then I should not eat back my exercise calories. Obviously listen to your body. Some days you will be hungrier than others.

Would love to know what you count as nourishing your body and how do you know it is nourished? Bearing in mind that hunger isn't a good guide.

cwolfman13

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

That is what my Dr said as well. As long as I was nourishing my body and not starving yourself then I should not eat back my exercise calories. Obviously listen to your body. Some days you will be hungrier than others.

See my earlier post, most likely they assumed an activity factor taking into account exercise was used to get your base calorie goal, with MFP that is not the case. That and most doctors have very little education on nutrition.

this is true...most doctors and nutritionists are going to assume some estimate of your exercise activity upfront in your calorie goal from which the cut is taken...MFP doesn't do that...MFP only gives you credit for exercise when you actually perform it.

Also...why do so many people think MFP is trying to trick them...they trust MFP to give them this calorie goal and then don't trust the actual process and proper use of this tool...it is baffling to me...this really isn't very complicated at all.

ChrisM8971

"Also...why do so many people think MFP is trying to trick them...they trust MFP to give them this calorie goal and then don't trust the actual process and proper use of this tool...it is baffling to me...this really isn't very complicated at all."


This is a question that often goes through my mind when this comes up as well

ETA Quote box messed up :ohwell:

imjolly

My calorie allowance is also 1200 per day and I work out 6 days a week. I always eat back most of the calories I burn off from exercise. If I didn't, I wouldn't have the energy to work out. Your body needs the fuel especially when you do weight training.

I use a heart monitor when I work out to get a better indication of the calories I burned based on my age, weight, etc.. MFP is not as accurate and can be either over or under stated.

Good Luck!

ninerbuff

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

Sustaining means ensuring that nutritional values for physical activity is met. Lacking in nutrients to fortify that activity will result in reducing optimal nutritional values overall. Unless one is very overweight/obese, it's much wiser to ensure that one meets necessary calorie allowance so that metabolism doesn't slow too much because that results in stall and plateaus.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

monkeywizard

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

That is what my Dr said as well. As long as I was nourishing my body and not starving yourself then I should not eat back my exercise calories. Obviously listen to your body. Some days you will be hungrier than others.

See my earlier post, most likely they assumed an activity factor taking into account exercise was used to get your base calorie goal, with MFP that is not the case. That and most doctors have very little education on nutrition.

this is true...most doctors and nutritionists are going to assume some estimate of your exercise activity upfront in your calorie goal from which the cut is taken...MFP doesn't do that...MFP only gives you credit for exercise when you actually perform it.

Also...why do so many people think MFP is trying to trick them...they trust MFP to give them this calorie goal and then don't trust the actual process and proper use of this tool...it is baffling to me...this really isn't very complicated at all.

but it does also ask how active of a lifestyle you have.

erickirb

I posed the same question to a nutritionist friend and she said don't eat to make up the difference. As long as you've eaten enough to sustain your body, you're good.

That is what my Dr said as well. As long as I was nourishing my body and not starving yourself then I should not eat back my exercise calories. Obviously listen to your body. Some days you will be hungrier than others.

See my earlier post, most likely they assumed an activity factor taking into account exercise was used to get your base calorie goal, with MFP that is not the case. That and most doctors have very little education on nutrition.

this is true...most doctors and nutritionists are going to assume some estimate of your exercise activity upfront in your calorie goal from which the cut is taken...MFP doesn't do that...MFP only gives you credit for exercise when you actually perform it.

Also...why do so many people think MFP is trying to trick them...they trust MFP to give them this calorie goal and then don't trust the actual process and proper use of this tool...it is baffling to me...this really isn't very complicated at all.

but it does also ask how active of a lifestyle you have.

And tells you not to include exercise. because of that the multipliers for each activity level are smaller than if you use a TDEE calc.

deksgrl

It's not a calorie limit, it is a calorie MINIMUM. You eat 1200 minimum, and you eat more for exercise.