Negative net calories

katep2492

So I have been exercising a lot and I find most days I end up with negative "net" calories. I am confused because I think this is good right burn more calories then you take in is how you lose weight, but I have seen other posts about eating back calories, and wouldn't that be counter productive? I don't know I have just really confused myself!

Naomi_84

Loads of info here for you in a better way than I could ever explain http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

Imagine you've eaten 1000 calories but you've burned 500 at the gym, this means your body is running on just 500 calories to perform all of it's functions. This is not enough and as a result your body will start to burn muscle before fat as energy is more readily available from your muscle. Burning away lean muscle means that although your weight will decrease, so will your metabolism (as muscle is an active tissue actively burning calories through the day) If you continue with this pattern your metabolism will eventually slow down so much to reserve energy and you will stop losing weight. The amount of calories you net per day must be no lower than 1200 to allow your body to carry out all of its functions properly. I probably haven't explained this very well, I'm sure others will do a better job.

Good luck!

gail2207

The amount of calories you net per day must be no lower than 1200 to allow your body to carry out all of its functions properly.

Ditto. You need a certain amount to function, and that's a certain NET amount. You should always eat back your exercise calories.

Good luck.

AlwaysWanderer

I try to eat 1200 cal and then a bit of my exercise calories. Never eat all of them... But I'm only 5'0 so I dont need as much food as a 6'0 person, so it depends. Also, a very overweight person can get away with not eating them back. It just depends. Some people eat them back, some dont. Do what works for you. But I wouldnt eat less than I burn, my net calories tend to stay at about 600-700 mark.

CARNAT22

Net at least 1200 cals per day. Then you can play about with exercise calories. You can see what works best for you through trial and error!

BerryH

Some days you're eating less than 700 calories, please eat more!

MFP automatically factors in a calorie deficit to lose your target amount already, so you can eat all your daily allocation plus all or most of your exercise calories and still lose weight steadily, healthily and sustainably.

ursy87

Some days you're eating less than 700 calories, please eat more!

MFP automatically factors in a calorie deficit to lose your target amount already, so you can eat all your daily allocation plus all or most of your exercise calories and still lose weight steadily, healthily and sustainably.

Absolutely - only worried for your own wellbeing here but how are you managing on 680 calories a day before you even factor in any exercise calories? You should be easily eating double what you are if you are exercising as well.

I know its tricky at first getting your head around exercise calories - its like 'Why am I bothering to exercise if I am just going to eat it all back?' but you need to realise you have already got a reduced calorie allowance factored in for your target weightloss, its not helping shaving 100s of other calories off.

Tinks2007

I find this hard also as I exercise daily and try to eat healthy, snack on fruit etc, but find I have to many calories left in the evening but dont want to eat rubbish just to use them up, but have had enough to eat so dont really want any more healthy stuff, the main time I go over slightly is probably weekend if I have a drink or eat out, but when I look at my diary through the day seems like I have eaten loads?????

coatsie79

I find this hard also as I exercise daily and try to eat healthy, snack on fruit etc, but find I have to many calories left in the evening but dont want to eat rubbish just to use them up, but have had enough to eat so dont really want any more healthy stuff, the main time I go over slightly is probably weekend if I have a drink or eat out, but when I look at my diary through the day seems like I have eaten loads?????

A lot of it depends on what you are eating. If say you are eating loads of fruits and vegetables you may feel like you have eaten loads and are under your calorie goal, but are you then giving yourself enough carbs, protein and fat in your meals to maintain a balanced diet.

The hardest thing for me is meal planning and making sure I am getting a bit of everything. Eventually I hope to know enough good recipes that I know what I should eat and buy so it becomes second nature. I'm just at the very beginning of my journey though, a long way to go.

Coltsman4ever

I'm on 1650 caleries per day as suggested by MFP. I never eat my exercise calories and I've done fine losing weight.
The way I see this whole thing... we don't exercise so we can eat more calories every day. We exercise to build muscle and burn calories to lose more weight, or at least maintain our current weight. It doesn't make any sense to eat your exercise calories. It's counter productive.
I can do 45 minutes on the ellptical machine and burn over 1000 calories at my current weight and with the resistance at 100%. I'm certainly not going to eat an extra 1000 calories that day, but I will burn off approximately a 1/4 pound.

BerryH

I find this hard also as I exercise daily and try to eat healthy, snack on fruit etc, but find I have to many calories left in the evening but dont want to eat rubbish just to use them up, but have had enough to eat so dont really want any more healthy stuff, the main time I go over slightly is probably weekend if I have a drink or eat out, but when I look at my diary through the day seems like I have eaten loads?????

I had a look at your diary and your lunches are tiny, sometimes only a banana and a yogurt. Have a sandwich too and you'll be sorted.

Tinks2007

I find this hard also as I exercise daily and try to eat healthy, snack on fruit etc, but find I have to many calories left in the evening but dont want to eat rubbish just to use them up, but have had enough to eat so dont really want any more healthy stuff, the main time I go over slightly is probably weekend if I have a drink or eat out, but when I look at my diary through the day seems like I have eaten loads?????

I had a look at your diary and your lunches are tiny, sometimes only a banana and a yogurt. Have a sandwich too and you'll be sorted.

Agree my lunces are small, but usually have reasonable amount fryit in the afternoon to and to be honest feel satisfied after my lunch, if I have a sandwich like am doing today I cant eat yoghurt and banana to as I feel bloated, but I also drink the majority of my water while at work

sugarbone

I'm on 1650 caleries per day as suggested by MFP. I never eat my exercise calories and I've done fine losing weight.
The way I see this whole thing... we don't exercise so we can eat more calories every day. We exercise to build muscle and burn calories to lose more weight, or at least maintain our current weight. It doesn't make any sense to eat your exercise calories. It's counter productive.
I can do 45 minutes on the ellptical machine and burn over 1000 calories at my current weight and with the resistance at 100%. I'm certainly not going to eat an extra 1000 calories that day, but I will burn off approximately a 1/4 pound.

Eating back calories is for people with pretty low maintainence - maybe YOU exercise so you can burn calories, but people who have no problem eating just their minimum still need exercise to be physically fit, so they need to make up those calories to stay at maintainence. I used to think, why would I eat them back? the thing is, if I exercise and burn 300 cals for the sake of physical fitness upkeep, I am below maintainence and will go into starvation mode if it keeps up. Everyone has different numbers and some people can afford larger deficits and not eating back their exercise. Some cannot.

MissTomGettingThin

I'm on 1650 caleries per day as suggested by MFP. I never eat my exercise calories and I've done fine losing weight.
The way I see this whole thing... we don't exercise so we can eat more calories every day. We exercise to build muscle and burn calories to lose more weight, or at least maintain our current weight. It doesn't make any sense to eat your exercise calories. It's counter productive.
I can do 45 minutes on the ellptical machine and burn over 1000 calories at my current weight and with the resistance at 100%. I'm certainly not going to eat an extra 1000 calories that day, but I will burn off approximately a 1/4 pound.

It's NOT counterproductive!!
MFP has already taken off the calories you need to NOT eat to lose weight.

SHBoss1673

depends on what you mean by net. for most people on MFP when they say NET they mean the amount of calories MFP gives you without any exercise, PLUS the exercise calories.

I.E. Say you want to lose 1 lb per week, and MFP puts you at 1500 calories a day to do that (which would mean in order to maintain your weight you need 2000 calories), if you exercise for 500 calories, then your NET for the day is 2000 (1500 PLUS the 500 exercise), now in order to maintain that 1 lb per week you need to eat that 2000 calories.

Here's the thing, you can't just keep reducing and reducing the amount of calories you eat, the body will reject that notion. At a certain point your body won't be able to make up the difference and it will start messing with your metabolism and storing fat because it thinks you're starving and that's the body's response to starvation.

Of course this all depends on how much body fat you have, and all the other factors involved in the human metabolism. I.E. someone with 10 lbs to lose can't expect to lose 2 lbs a week, where as someone with 100 lbs to lose could easily do this.

robin52077

I find this hard also as I exercise daily and try to eat healthy, snack on fruit etc, but find I have to many calories left in the evening but dont want to eat rubbish just to use them up, but have had enough to eat so dont really want any more healthy stuff, the main time I go over slightly is probably weekend if I have a drink or eat out, but when I look at my diary through the day seems like I have eaten loads?????

I had a look at your diary and your lunches are tiny, sometimes only a banana and a yogurt. Have a sandwich too and you'll be sorted.

Agree my lunces are small, but usually have reasonable amount fryit in the afternoon to and to be honest feel satisfied after my lunch, if I have a sandwich like am doing today I cant eat yoghurt and banana to as I feel bloated, but I also drink the majority of my water while at work

Tinks, you're not too far off where you should be. The OP is WAY too low, but you could get by by just adding a little more protein here and there. Don't be afraid of fats, fat doesn't make you fat. Good fats will bump your calorie intake and get you where you need to be. Add a handful of almonds, and a tbsp of peanut butter, or add a tbsp of olive oil to the pan when you cook your dinner. Any one of those things would put you just high enough not to be in danger of undereating. Check my diary for Monday and Tuesday (yesterday) for examples. low cal, TONS of food, and I was FULL all day. Sunday I was sick so don't look there, and before that I wasn't logging everything, just using a some quick adds as I am in maintenance and getting lazy about it. But the last 2 days are great examples.

Coltsman4ever

I'm on 1650 caleries per day as suggested by MFP. I never eat my exercise calories and I've done fine losing weight.
The way I see this whole thing... we don't exercise so we can eat more calories every day. We exercise to build muscle and burn calories to lose more weight, or at least maintain our current weight. It doesn't make any sense to eat your exercise calories. It's counter productive.
I can do 45 minutes on the ellptical machine and burn over 1000 calories at my current weight and with the resistance at 100%. I'm certainly not going to eat an extra 1000 calories that day, but I will burn off approximately a 1/4 pound.

Eating back calories is for people with pretty low maintainence - maybe YOU exercise so you can burn calories, but people who have no problem eating just their minimum still need exercise to be physically fit, so they need to make up those calories to stay at maintainence. I used to think, why would I eat them back? the thing is, if I exercise and burn 300 cals for the sake of physical fitness upkeep, I am below maintainence and will go into starvation mode if it keeps up. Everyone has different numbers and some people can afford larger deficits and not eating back their exercise. Some cannot.

I agree with you 100%. If you're in maintenance you need to eat your exercise calories. I was referring to those of us still trying to lose weight.
I also agree that everyone is different. This is just what's been working for me so far.

sugarbone

I'm on 1650 caleries per day as suggested by MFP. I never eat my exercise calories and I've done fine losing weight.
The way I see this whole thing... we don't exercise so we can eat more calories every day. We exercise to build muscle and burn calories to lose more weight, or at least maintain our current weight. It doesn't make any sense to eat your exercise calories. It's counter productive.
I can do 45 minutes on the ellptical machine and burn over 1000 calories at my current weight and with the resistance at 100%. I'm certainly not going to eat an extra 1000 calories that day, but I will burn off approximately a 1/4 pound.

Eating back calories is for people with pretty low maintainence - maybe YOU exercise so you can burn calories, but people who have no problem eating just their minimum still need exercise to be physically fit, so they need to make up those calories to stay at maintainence. I used to think, why would I eat them back? the thing is, if I exercise and burn 300 cals for the sake of physical fitness upkeep, I am below maintainence and will go into starvation mode if it keeps up. Everyone has different numbers and some people can afford larger deficits and not eating back their exercise. Some cannot.

I agree with you 100%. If you're in maintenance you need to eat your exercise calories. I was referring to those of us still trying to lose weight.
I also agree that everyone is different. This is just what's been working for me so far.

oh, no, woops I didn't mean maintainence, I meant maintaining at the MFP cal limit (usually 500 under maintainence). sometimes I get confused, my bad But still, If I am eating what MFP says, I am still 500 cals under ACTUAL maintainence, and 400+ more from exercising is just too much of a deficit. I need to eat 1200 cals a day, but I like exercising, so I need to eat that back to STAY at 1200 a day. Anything less would start a starvation mode before long.

celticmuse

I think the issue of whether or not you should eat back your exercise calories depends partly upon how much weight you need to lose. I think that if you are fairly small to start with, if you don't eat back your exercise calories, you will not eat enough to sustain yourself. Whereas, if you have a fair amount to lose, you will probably be reluctant, like me, to eat back all of that hard earned calorie deficit. I think it is an individual decision, and as long as you are eating at least 1,200 net calories per day, you will be fine. I only wish that people who disagree on these boards could be more polite. After all, we aren't discussing politics here.

slim_photographer

If you listened to people (and that includes me) you will be pulled back and forth, left and right.
Do what works for you. Is eating back the calories proven to work for you then do it. If having a huge calorie deficit made your body apply the breaks, e.g. plateau, then eat a little more than you were eating.
I made the mistake of 'listening' to the advise of well intention MFPals and confused me and frustrated me, more importantly halted my progress.
Pay close attention to what you do. Use the food diary and exercise notes to write about how you felt and highlight things that you think will make a difference and later come back to see if you were right. This technique proved to be more healthful than thousands of opinions from people who wasn't there. You are 100% of the time with you.

LorinaLynn

burn more calories then you take in is how you lose weight

You have to keep in mind that your body is ALWAYS burning calories, not just when you exercise. You can calculate your BMR on here under "Tools." That's how many calories your body would burn if you stayed in bed 24 hours a day. The second you get out of bed and start moving around, you burn more. Add exercise on top of that, and you're burning still more.

By having negative net calories, you're trying to fly an airplane on fumes.... you're going to crash.