confused about "net calories"
lovablelucie
Posts: 1
to make my goal weight I'm supposed to eat 1360 calories a day but then I work out and earn about 600 calories. By the end of the day I've eating 1300 calories but usually have about 600 calories left; am i supposed to eat those extra calories? am i not eating enough? Why isn't my weight going down?
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Replies
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Great question!
I too am confused.0 -
Yes, dear, you're supposed to eat those calories. The more you exercise, the more calories you have to eat to lose weight at a regular pace.0
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My understanding of net calories is that they are what you end up fueling your body with. You said you have a goal of around 1300 and that you often get a burn of 600 calories in. That means that 600 of the calories you ate went to fuel your excise, leaving 700 net calories from your 1300 to fuel the rest of your day. You want to make sure that you are giving your body enough fuel for your lifestyle.
Whether to eat all of your excise calories back depends partly on where you got the number from what I have been able to figure out. If it is from MFP, a lot of people seem to say eat back part to most of them (50-75%) as MFP apparently overestimates calorie burns. Personally I try to eat back only about 25% of my burns.
ETA: It looks like you have only a few pounds to lose so they will probably come off slowly. Be patient, keep your focus, eat mostly healthy (allow an occasional treat to help prevent binging), exercise regularly and it will eventually work for you.0 -
Yes and no.
Yes in that your weight loss calorie deficit is at 1360, which means with no exercise if you eat that amount you should loose the weight amount stated in your goal. So exercise calories are not included in that amount and you should eat those additional calories and you will still have your calorie deficit.
No, to an extent, in that your calorie burn can be off. If you use the calculators here or other places, they are usually high, and many people may only eat back 50% (or thereabouts) of their exercise calories. Even using a HRM for cardio will be high in that it will give you a gross calorie amount, which means it is not calculating your net calories (your gross calories minus what you would have burned just sitting on the couch watching TV) so they eat back 80% (or thereabouts) of their exercise calories.
It actually comes down to just tracking over time (I personally go 4 weeks before making changes) your progress and making changes.0 -
to make my goal weight I'm supposed to eat 1360 calories a day but then I work out and earn about 600 calories. By the end of the day I've eating 1300 calories but usually have about 600 calories left; am i supposed to eat those extra calories? am i not eating enough? Why isn't my weight going down?
Yes, you should eat back SOME of your exercise calories. MFP tends to overestimate calories burned for exercise, so eating them all back may lead to eating at closer to maintenance. Try eating back about half the calories and see how things go. If you are having a hungry day, eat them all back for that day. You won't gain and keeping the hunger at bay will keep you from binging.
How long have you been on MFP? Your ticker says you've lost 2 lbs. That's a great start! Patience. It will come off, one pound at a time.0 -
If you are trusting the 1360 eating goal without question or wondering what it's based on, why not trust the eating goal the same way when it says to eat 1960?
I'll suggest for the exercise days to balance out a potentially bigger deficit than you should have on non-exercise days, don't worry if they happen to be inflated calorie burns.
Your eating goal is likely too small too (merely based on the majority picking 2 lbs weekly though 1 is recommended for good reason, and picking sedentary whether job is or not).
Do log food correctly though.
And if the your exercise is walking from 2-4 mph flat, or running 5-6.3 mph flat - that calorie burn given for your weight is more accurate than HRM.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/774337-how-to-test-hrm-for-how-accurate-calorie-burn-is0 -
food - workout = net0
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I guess I must be a little dense or something, because I still don't get it. I am here to lose weight. A substantial amount of it. I would like at least a 1000 cal/day deficit to ensure that the weight comes off. But when I look at my numbers, right now it says
Goal 1500
Food 1109
Exercise -392 (from my fitbit)
Net 767
Don't I actually want my net to be -1000? Or am I just looking at this totally wrong.0 -
I guess I must be a little dense or something, because I still don't get it. I am here to lose weight. A substantial amount of it. I would like at least a 1000 cal/day deficit to ensure that the weight comes off. But when I look at my numbers, right now it says
Goal 1500
Food 1109
Exercise -392 (from my fitbit)
Net 767
Don't I actually want my net to be -1000? Or am I just looking at this totally wrong.
Yes - you are confused. And not at all do you want your net to be -1000. You don't understand how MFP is setup.
Confirm you have the bigger picture in mind first, so you can understand what is being done there.
You have a total day maintenance figure - eat that you neither gain or lose weight.
Non-exercise days it's smaller, exercise days it's obviously bigger.
MFP starts with non-exercise maintenance. Say 2500.
Takes off your selected deficit, you selected 2 lb weekly loss, so 1000.
That is your eating goal - on non-exercies days.
2500 - 1000 = 1500
But now you exercise and log it, or Fitbit picks up the increased activity, and reports it to MFP.
So now your non-exercise maintenance estimate is still 2500.
Fitbit saw or you logged exercise of 392.
Your total maintenance for the day went up.
2500 + 392 = 2892
Same 1000 calories comes off.
2892 - 1000 = 1892 eating goal for this day.
If you've eaten 1109 so far, you have remaining 783 to eat.
Now, I'm guessing your non-exercise day goal is actually 1200, and hence my math above is a tad off, but that is what is happening.
If you burn more in the day, and Fitbit has told MFP 392 more in your example, then you get to eat more, to maintain that 1000 cal deficit.
And you should indeed try to maintain it. Bigger is not better.
As to their exact math in your example.
Goal of 1500 includes the extra 392, so without exercise goal would have been 1108, but since MFP stops at minimum for sedentary person 1200, that was likely your goal.
So you have eaten 1109 so far, and either exercise or increased activity from Fitbit has taken 392 calories purely for mechanical movement, leaving your body with 767 to work with, not enough.
So if you keep eating the 1500-1109= 391 to reach your eating goal, your new NET will be:
1500 - 392 = 1108
Close enough.
So think if it this way.
You were willing to blindly follow the eating goal MFP gave you without understanding where it came from or why.
So keep doing that, if MFP says the new goal is 1500 - meet your goals. 50 over is better than 100 below.
Would you get to within 15% of goal weight and say, ah, close enough, I'm done?0 -
I think i might get it. I did not realize that it was calculating the BMR calorie burn for the day based on the information that it has about me. So like you said, My goal at the end of the day is to have no Net calories left. Which would mean that I am still at a 1000 cal deficit for the day.
Thank you0 -
I think i finally get it too.... thank you for this thread...
I have to eat more........0 -
This explains it.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
However, if your weight is not going down you may not be at a deficit. Make sure you weigh and log your food as accurately as possible. That being said, water weight fluctuations can mask fat loss. Water weight fluctuations can be caused by a number of things, including starting to exercise, changing the type/intensity/frequency of exercise, our cycle. macro mix.0 -
I think i might get it. I did not realize that it was calculating the BMR calorie burn for the day based on the information that it has about me. So like you said, My goal at the end of the day is to have no Net calories left. Which would mean that I am still at a 1000 cal deficit for the day.
Thank you
Well, close.
By the end of the day, your Net calories should equal your non-exercise day eating goal.
Gross calories eaten is for everything and not shown (though you can add it up), but would be non-exercise (BMR, eating, daily activity) and exercise.
Net calories eaten is gross minus the exercise or Fitbit adjustment.
So your Gross calories already has the 1000 deficit in it.
The Net calories already has the 1000 deficit in it, and also removes the exercise calories.
That way you can look at your NET goal as always being the same daily, even though the Gross goal will only match on non-exercise days.
Either way, there is a 1000 cal deficit in it.
It is an awkward confusing way of doing it.0 -
The goal is to be as close to 0 calories remaining at the end of the day.I think i might get it. I did not realize that it was calculating the BMR calorie burn for the day based on the information that it has about me. So like you said, My goal at the end of the day is to have no Net calories left. Which would mean that I am still at a 1000 cal deficit for the day.
Thank you
I think you have BMR and TDEE confused.
Maybe this list of terms will help? http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Robin_Bin/view/mfp-terms-introductory-2741850 -
I don't eat the calories that I burn excercising. I stick to eating the start goal calories for the day (mine is 1200). It works better for me and you don't tend to eat just because you can. I've lost 20lbs0
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I don't eat the calories that I burn excercising. I stick to eating the start goal calories for the day (mine is 1200). It works better for me and you don't tend to eat just because you can. I've lost 20lbs
That works for you because you have so much to lose (not a dig, just going by your ticker), but the closer you get to your goal weight, or the less weight that a person has to lose the more important it is to get those calories back. Especially as those burns increase.
Telling an individual who is smaller, with little weight to lose to not eat exercise calories back can be very dangerous, bordering on irresponsible as the larger caloric deficit can cause long term damage to such a person.0 -
food - workout = net
Did you even read the whole question?0 -
well, to be precious yes, you should eat the calories you burned in workout.
for example, my calories intake should be 1260per day, i burn around 365 calories a day which i eat back, i lost 2 kgs by following this regime0 -
Short answer: absolutely yes
Long answer: If you workout you have to eat back those calories, optimally within 30-60min of using them. e.g. I workout and burn 600kcal. My next meal, which happens to be right when I arrive from exercising, is 350kcal. 600+350 means that my next meal will be 950kcal to recover what I burned and eat enough for my body to keep going.0 -
to make my goal weight I'm supposed to eat 1360 calories a day but then I work out and earn about 600 calories. By the end of the day I've eating 1300 calories but usually have about 600 calories left; am i supposed to eat those extra calories? am i not eating enough? Why isn't my weight going down?
Yes, you should eat back SOME of your exercise calories. MFP tends to overestimate calories burned for exercise, so eating them all back may lead to eating at closer to maintenance. Try eating back about half the calories and see how things go. If you are having a hungry day, eat them all back for that day. You won't gain and keeping the hunger at bay will keep you from binging.
How long have you been on MFP? Your ticker says you've lost 2 lbs. That's a great start! Patience. It will come off, one pound at a time.
assuming there are not other health issues , i agree 100% with what she said , im sorry, but when i look at this or that exercise and it says this or that calories, i know it is often off a bit, so rather safe than sorry, i would say until you withing 20lbs or so of goal, only eat back half.0 -
ALWAYS net at LEAST 1200 calories a day.0
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food - workout = net
Did you even read the whole question?
But that's the answer for net calories..:noway:0 -
bump
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MyFitnessPal took into consideration your general activity level when you first made your account. That's why there were options ranging from "sedentary" to "mailman" or "desk job" etc.
You can eat your exercise calories back if you want. Just be consistent and bear in mind there are countless individual differences as well in terms of calories burned through exercise. No two people will burn the same amount of calories while doing the same activity for the same duration.
I personally don't eat back my exercise calories. But then again, I don't do cardio--because it's unnecessary. All you need is a moderate caloric deficit to lose weight (along with a weight training regimen).
lol, might just be me but this sounded condescending. Please be more considerate next time when you reply to posts such as these--instead of "dumbing it down" in such a manner.food - workout = net0 -
I struggle with this. My goal is 1600 caloires per day. Im working out 6 days a week and log like a mad dog and my weight is barely moving...... (annoying!!!!) my average burn is 350 cal. So I should be eating 1950 calories??0
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I think i finally get it too.... thank you for this thread...
I have to eat more........
I am in the same boat. But damn, I dont want to sit around and eat all day. I do however want to burn calories!! I typically only eat back a portion just to have a buffer for the over inflation of estimated cals burned. I still net around 1000-1100 a day though. A year ago I couldnt stop shoving food down my gullet, now I dont want to!!! Isnt it ironic!!!0
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