Is it OK to have negative net calories?

Lizzy_Sunflower

How the heck do you get that many calories in in one day? That would be eating like 2500 calories? Unless I go to mcdonalds lol.. and I don't think thoes are the calories I should be eating! anyone who wants to friend me and look at my food diary and help me I would really appreciate it!

Mix in some protein shakes, almonds, and peanut butter. You can get to 2500 pretty easy.

google high density foods. things like whole grains, avacado, cheese. you could even drink juice to help if you simply could not eat another bite

good luck all things are possible

ilookthetype

How the heck do you get that many calories in in one day? That would be eating like 2500 calories? Unless I go to mcdonalds lol.. and I don't think thoes are the calories I should be eating! anyone who wants to friend me and look at my food diary and help me I would really appreciate it!

Justin's Nut Butter comes in packets and you can suck it straight from the packet, I keep a bunch in my bag. <- I know that sounds like an innuendo, it's really really not. (justinsnutbutter.com - the song is catchy), keep a bag of nuts in your bag and eat high calorie foods (avocados/olives)

Teliooo

How the heck do you get that many calories in in one day? That would be eating like 2500 calories? Unless I go to mcdonalds lol.. and I don't think thoes are the calories I should be eating! anyone who wants to friend me and look at my food diary and help me I would really appreciate it!

Are you working from MFP cal burns? They tend to be way off so you are probably burning half of what it says. Also what they say below. Educate yourself on food a bit more. Some foods are great for adding cals but not too much fat. Fat with not too many cals and so on.

McKayMachina

How the heck do you get that many calories in in one day? That would be eating like 2500 calories? Unless I go to mcdonalds lol.. and I don't think thoes are the calories I should be eating! anyone who wants to friend me and look at my food diary and help me I would really appreciate it!

Every other site calculates what you need to eat to MAINTAIN your current weight. MFP factors the deficit in FOR YOU. That's why it's different.

Do you understand?

P.S.: If you add cheese, eggs, avocados, dark chocolate, nut butters or other calorie-dense foods that you enjoy, it will be easy to reach your daily net goal.

ashleymashley02

Thanks guys, I am a VERY over weight person (not as overweight since Ive been losing weight) .. but I am 5'4 and 209 lbs and I have been trying to exercise and keep track of calories etc.. I am using MFP to do all that counting etc.. says I should eat about 1400 without exercise.. I need to exercise.. so my MFP says that I should be eating over 2000 calories a day.. just for me being so fat I don't think I should be...

Teliooo

Thanks guys, I am a VERY over weight person (not as overweight since Ive been losing weight) .. but I am 5'4 and 209 lbs and I have been trying to exercise and keep track of calories etc.. I am using MFP to do all that counting etc.. says I should eat about 1400 without exercise.. I need to exercise.. so my MFP says that I should be eating over 2000 calories a day.. just for me being so fat I don't think I should be...

This is because you need to educate yourself on dieting, healthy eating and so on.

nursenelson

Thats not good. That's HCG diet followed by a colon cleanse levels of insanity right there

LOL Funny!
But I agree - not good

McKayMachina

Thanks guys, I am a VERY over weight person (not as overweight since Ive been losing weight) .. but I am 5'4 and 209 lbs and I have been trying to exercise and keep track of calories etc.. I am using MFP to do all that counting etc.. says I should eat about 1400 without exercise.. I need to exercise.. so my MFP says that I should be eating over 2000 calories a day.. just for me being so fat I don't think I should be...

This is because you need to educate yourself on dieting, healthy eating and so on.

That's exactly right.

Trust us. We have PROOF that this approach works.

I was 235 lbs. when I started. I've lost 60, making me 175 now and I eat my exercise calories. Not bad, eh? You can get there, if you open your mind and learn why your approach is not healthy. Trust me. How much would it suck to lose a little bit of weight and then find yourself sick and stuck because you didn't properly fuel your body?

I'm going to be done trying to explain this now. If you want to educate yourself, you can search the forums and google it. All the data is there. Good luck.

vikesfanmb

Hi Ashley . . MB here. Team Purple.

Everyone who has posted so far is exactly right. I didn't realize you were consuming that few calories . . I try to look at my friends' food diaries every day . . guess I just haven't been paying good attention and I apologize.

You definitely need to eat back at least some, if not all, of your exercise calories. I eat back roughly half of mine . . but sometimes all. And I have lost 58 pounds so far, since January . . but I've only "officially" been on MFP since April and in that time, I have lost 55 pounds.

Gosh, I really wish we lived closer . . we could work out together and share nutrition tips. But MFP will just have to do!!

There are so many non-junk food choices you can make to "fill up" your calories . . like others have mentioned, peanut butter, almond butter, whole grains, cheeses, nuts (even though nuts are high in fat - it is the "good" kind of fat) and I've been trying to drink protein shakes myself but I don't do them regularly. But just 1 Special K protein shake (and they are delicious!!) has about 190-200 calories and of course, it''s high in protein, but not too high in fat, and it even has fiber. Baked potatoes also - high in fiber, potassium not to mention delicious with broccoli and/or cheese. YUM

I also love cereal. I am completely addicted to cereal actually! Oatmeal with peanut butter is just so delicious . . tastes like a warm peanut butter oatmeal cookie. Also, there are a lot of good, healthy cereals which are relatively high calorie (not the sugary ones, I'm talking more like Grape Nuts, Raisin Bran, etc.) and you pair that with skim or 1% milk, well it's just a bowl full of goodness!

Okay . . I will jump off my soap box now. LOL I hope this helps even if only a little bit! Feel free to message me anytime.

McKayMachina

Vikesfanmb: Good message and good loss!

vikesfanmb

Thanks, McKayMachina!

Looks like you've been doing really well too! Keep up the good work!

RMinVA

I'm kind of surprised that no one has asked how you are calculating your additional calorie burn. If your target is 1400 and you are eating 1300, that's not so bad. But according to your journal, you are adding exercise and activity on top of that to give you an even bigger gap. Are you using an HRM? I know that I have found MFP calorie burns to be a bit higher than everything else out there, so I always go with a lower number.

For some perspective, for me to burn an additional 1400 calories, I would have to run a half marathon, do a triathlon, or ride a bike for a couple of hours or so. It takes lot of work and effort to consistently get that type of calorie burn and you need good nutrition to sustain it. Not to mention you said you have triplets...which I'm sure is a full time job in itself.

Which leads me to my next point, I would also encourage you to brush up on some basic nutrition: your diet should be based on whole grains, fresh/fruit veggies, healthy carbs, lean protein and low fat diary. And do yourself a favor and lay off the McDonalds.

crittytn

Yeah, I would wonder how you were getting your calorie burn totals too. I know you burn more calories if you're carrying some extra weight, but that still seems pretty high for the activities you post.

And I would ask if you're consulting with a doctor too.

Good luck, dear. Do extra research and make sure you're doing things the proper, healthy way.

McKayMachina

I'm kind of surprised that no one has asked how you are calculating your additional calorie burn. If your target is 1400 and you are eating 1300, that's not so bad. But according to your journal, you are adding exercise and activity on top of that to give you an even bigger gap. Are you using an HRM? I know that I have found MFP calorie burns to be a bit higher than everything else out there, so I always go with a lower number.

For some perspective, for me to burn an additional 1400 calories, I would have to run a half marathon, do a triathlon, or ride a bike for a coupe of hours or so. It takes lot of work and effort to consistently get that type of calorie burn and you need good nutrition to sustain it. Not to mention you said you have triplets...which I'm sure is a full time job in itself.

Which leads me to my next point, I would also encourage you to brush up on some basic nutrition: your diet should be based on whole grains, fresh/fruit veggies, healthy carbs, lean protein and low fat diary. And do yourself a favor and lay off the McDonalds.

I agree with some of this. But I wanted to comment real quickly on where our opinions differ.

Dietary fat is not the cause of obesity. Sugar is. So I would say skip the low-fat stuff unless you think it tastes better (like my 2% reduced fat sharp cheddar! yum!) Also, grains are unnecessary. It's an agricultural marketing myth. There is only one type of animal that does well on a grain-based diet and that's birds. Grains have evolved a defense mechanism to make mammals sick. I didn't believe it either til my buddy went Paleo and explained it to me. I stopped eating grains and simultaneously stopped feeling sick to my stomach 24/7. I don't totally omit them (because BREAD!) but I skip them most meals. Just wanted to put those out there for consideration.

:drinker:

spammyanna

I'm kind of surprised that no one has asked how you are calculating your additional calorie burn. If your target is 1400 and you are eating 1300, that's not so bad. But according to your journal, you are adding exercise and activity on top of that to give you an even bigger gap. Are you using an HRM? I know that I have found MFP calorie burns to be a bit higher than everything else out there, so I always go with a lower number.

For some perspective, for me to burn an additional 1400 calories, I would have to run a half marathon, do a triathlon, or ride a bike for a coupe of hours or so. It takes lot of work and effort to consistently get that type of calorie burn and you need good nutrition to sustain it. Not to mention you said you have triplets...which I'm sure is a full time job in itself.

Which leads me to my next point, I would also encourage you to brush up on some basic nutrition: your diet should be based on whole grains, fresh/fruit veggies, healthy carbs, lean protein and low fat diary. And do yourself a favor and lay off the McDonalds.

I agree with some of this. But I wanted to comment real quickly on where our opinions differ.

Dietary fat is not the cause of obesity. Sugar is. So I would say skip the low-fat stuff unless you think it tastes better (like my 2% reduced fat sharp cheddar! yum!) Also, grains are unnecessary. It's an agricultural marketing myth. There is only one type of animal that does well on a grain-based diet and that's birds. Grains have evolved a defense mechanism to make mammals sick. I didn't believe it either til my buddy went Paleo and explained it to me. I stopped eating grains and simultaneously stopped feeling sick to my stomach 24/7. I don't totally omit them (because BREAD!) but I skip them most meals. Just wanted to put those out there for consideration.

:drinker:

That's really interesting, I never thought of it that way. I think I might try cutting them out as well. I don't eat a lot already, but less would be better!

Thanks for sharing that!

RMinVA

I'm kind of surprised that no one has asked how you are calculating your additional calorie burn. If your target is 1400 and you are eating 1300, that's not so bad. But according to your journal, you are adding exercise and activity on top of that to give you an even bigger gap. Are you using an HRM? I know that I have found MFP calorie burns to be a bit higher than everything else out there, so I always go with a lower number.

For some perspective, for me to burn an additional 1400 calories, I would have to run a half marathon, do a triathlon, or ride a bike for a coupe of hours or so. It takes lot of work and effort to consistently get that type of calorie burn and you need good nutrition to sustain it. Not to mention you said you have triplets...which I'm sure is a full time job in itself.

Which leads me to my next point, I would also encourage you to brush up on some basic nutrition: your diet should be based on whole grains, fresh/fruit veggies, healthy carbs, lean protein and low fat diary. And do yourself a favor and lay off the McDonalds.

I agree with some of this. But I wanted to comment real quickly on where our opinions differ.

Dietary fat is not the cause of obesity. Sugar is. So I would say skip the low-fat stuff unless you think it tastes better (like my 2% reduced fat sharp cheddar! yum!) Also, grains are unnecessary. It's an agricultural marketing myth. There is only one type of animal that does well on a grain-based diet and that's birds. Grains have evolved a defense mechanism to make mammals sick. I didn't believe it either til my buddy went Paleo and explained it to me. I stopped eating grains and simultaneously stopped feeling sick to my stomach 24/7. I don't totally omit them (because BREAD!) but I skip them most meals. Just wanted to put those out there for consideration.

:drinker:

Everyone has to start somewhere, and I was simply trying to make the point for eating a nutritionally dense diet. The food groups were not in any particular order. I don't eat a lot of grains either, but some people do fine with them. I did say low fat, not "no" fat, so I completely understand that it has a place in our diets. I have no problem using full fat versions of some things and I will add that coconut oil rocks!!

ashleymashley02

I get my calorie burn mostly from the website of les mills because that is mostly the classes I take and the walking I get from my phone app called cardio trainer...I just bought a fitbit yesterday and hope that helps me be more accurate and I started today to try to make sure my net calories say 1200 min. Hope this helps and I don't eat a lot of carbs right now..just a few things. Mcdonalds is what I have to work with sometimes and I just get side salads and grilled chicken ontop that's it so its not bad. Thanks for all your advice!

armymil

That is not good. I am on a 1500 calories diet. Sometimes with my work outs, I dip under 1200 calories. If I am hungry, I will eat or if I want a snack. Generally, I try to bring it to at least1200, but one day, I ended under 1200 calories, not in the negative. I dont think your body has enough nutrients from burning so much to be able to be healthy.

But as someone said, check with a doctor and make a regular visit if you are going to do so much. Because once you come off that diet, you will be hungry.