calorie deficit question.

albali

Hello
I read somewhere that to lose weight I would need to eat 250 calories less than normal and burn 250 calories during exercise per day. Is this right? If so, should I be aiming to burn at least 250 calories per day and eating what MFP tells me? Also, is this what is called a calorie deficit?? Finally, I keep reading about 'net' calories and I don't know what that means... is it before or after exercise??? Thanks.

Heatherbelle_87

MFP builds in the deficit for you. So if you do no extra activity you should still lose eating the calories recommended by MFP

Jessicapages

I couldn't understand it either,but found this post.....hope it helps you http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/225765-how-mfp-works

Mindful_Trent

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

Check these posts out. They should answer a lot of your questions.

ladyhawk00

Edit: Haha Trent beat me to it.

But here's another one that goes into Net cals...pretty good explanation.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/188509-my-take-on-exercise-calories-please-read-if-you-are-new

jrich1

The calories MFP gives you already has a deficit based on your BMR

Articeluvsmemphis

Net is the difference between the calories you eat and the calories you burn.

Lauriek70

Might be the same link as above but it helps to explain how this site works.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

Jessicapages

I couldn't understand it either,but found this post.....hope it helps you http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/225765-how-mfp-works

I know it is alot to take in,it took me a few days to get it.

l3ugjuice

Burn more calories than you eat is what calorie deficit means. 3500 calories = 1 pound. So if you want to lose 1 pound per week, you need to have a total calorie deficit of 500 calories per day.

Basically, you need to know what your BMR is and be under that (you can just use an online calculator/estimator, or use MFP's built in one. Not completely accurate, but probably close enough for government work...). if you exercise you burn more calories, thus are able to eat more and continue losing.

Net calories can be kinda confusing if you overthink it and just focus on the term itself. Dont focus on that so much as you focus on the preceding paragraphs. Basically, they mean you should eat more if you exercise more. Personally I dont really agree with that, and NOT eating my exercise calories has been working awesome for me....but I dont want to turn this into yet another one of 'those threads' so I'm not offering that as advice or saying one way works better than the other. Whatever works for you, go with that. But the main idea is just addition and subtraction: eat less than you burn, /fin.

Naomi_84

Bump

dlaplume2

Not entirely true. In order to lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn. If a person eating 3000 calories a day cuts 250 calories out he isn't going to lose weight, he is only going to gain less weight. (based on the average 2000 cal per day diet average)

You need to put in your current weight, your typical activity level per day, do not include exercise. MFP will tell you what you typical calorie expenditure per day is. You put your goal weight loss of say 1lb per week and it will calulate a deficit and tell you what your daily calories should be. You do not want to have your calories below 1200. You should eat back your exercise calories, because if you don't you are creating a double deficit. Some people can handle the double deficit so don't be super anal about it all the time. As you get closer to your goal weight the double deficit impacts your body more and actually makes losing weight harder.

your net calories are what you have eaten minus exercise calories. you want that number to be at least 1200. Hope this helps.
Best wishes

Tissues

your net calories is what you eat minus the calories burned during exercise. Efficiently, (and you will find TONS of controversy on the subject all over this site) you should eat back all of your exercise calories to "net" at whatever MFP tells you to net and you will lose weight.

I believe, that the exercise you put in will take away from your "normal daily activity" calories burned, and so I don't think they should all be eaten back.

you have to go into calorie deficit to lose weight. your body burns calories daily, even in rest. (known as your BMR, you can check it out in the tools menu). Each lb is 3500 calories. So depending on how much weight you want to lose you'll want to go into that much deficit per day (eg, I have mine set at 1lb/week, so a daily deficit of 500 calories will get me there).

sorry if I repeated anything this has been on my screen for awhile now.

albali

Can I say a massive thank you to all of you. I have read the links, and your comments and I am beginning to get my head round the whole idea of deficits! Thanks a lot everyone.

albali

Not entirely true. In order to lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn. If a person eating 3000 calories a day cuts 250 calories out he isn't going to lose weight, he is only going to gain less weight. (based on the average 2000 cal per day diet average)

You need to put in your current weight, your typical activity level per day, do not include exercise. MFP will tell you what you typical calorie expenditure per day is. You put your goal weight loss of say 1lb per week and it will calulate a deficit and tell you what your daily calories should be. You do not want to have your calories below 1200. You should eat back your exercise calories, because if you don't you are creating a double deficit. Some people can handle the double deficit so don't be super anal about it all the time. As you get closer to your goal weight the double deficit impacts your body more and actually makes losing weight harder.

your net calories are what you have eaten minus exercise calories. you want that number to be at least 1200. Hope this helps.

Hi
This is really interesting. I had my activity level as 'light active' because I thought I would need to account for the exercise I did. I have now changed it to 'sedentary' as that is what I do at work (without counting the exercise). Will this allow me to eat more???
Thanks for the info.

dlaplume2

Not entirely true. In order to lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn. If a person eating 3000 calories a day cuts 250 calories out he isn't going to lose weight, he is only going to gain less weight. (based on the average 2000 cal per day diet average)

You need to put in your current weight, your typical activity level per day, do not include exercise. MFP will tell you what you typical calorie expenditure per day is. You put your goal weight loss of say 1lb per week and it will calulate a deficit and tell you what your daily calories should be. You do not want to have your calories below 1200. You should eat back your exercise calories, because if you don't you are creating a double deficit. Some people can handle the double deficit so don't be super anal about it all the time. As you get closer to your goal weight the double deficit impacts your body more and actually makes losing weight harder.

your net calories are what you have eaten minus exercise calories. you want that number to be at least 1200. Hope this helps.

Hi
This is really interesting. I had my activity level as 'light active' because I thought I would need to account for the exercise I did. I have now changed it to 'sedentary' as that is what I do at work (without counting the exercise). Will this allow me to eat more???
Thanks for the info.

Sedentary will give you fewer calories everyday, but on the days you exercise you can eat those calories and still lose. I had a desk job and was sedentary, I ate about 1300 calories a day to lose 1lb a week, with exercise I ate more, but averaged about 2lbs a week for the first few months. I have been averaging about a pound a week now.