I somehow keep managing this....negative net calories please

NavyKnightAh13
NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Ok, i don't know how i do this, but somehow i keep going negative into the net calories....for the past couple of days after i exercise, i manage to net in the negative. I need some advice, i'll open my diary to the public to see.

Replies

  • TurtleTape
    TurtleTape Posts: 254 Member
    OMG What the heck are you doing to burn 2k calories a day?
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
    Stairs (my sons room is upstairs and i'm constantly having to run them to go check on him during the day and night and feed him in our living room), plus jm 30ds and c25k altered with pilates and zumba and dance off the inches (I alternate those with c25k).
  • TurtleTape
    TurtleTape Posts: 254 Member
    I'd wager a guess that you're overestimating. Either way, if you aren't making your net calories you need to exercise less or eat more.
  • giantruss
    giantruss Posts: 100
    hi... yes it could be over estimating your burn calories, i run for an hour straight and it's only 800 cal, plus weight training plus pushups /situps, all up about 1200 cal.

    some others on here would have a better idea of you burn, but dont over estimate exercise or you will be dissapointed with the lack of results, if your eating to the wrong amount of calories.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    First, your Stairs and taking care of your son should be factored into your daily activity levels, not being added as exercise.

    Second, I'd also guess that you were overestimating your workout calories. As an example, I ran 13 miles, at a pace of 9 minutes, 45 seconds (6.15 mph) and I burned just over 1300 calories. So if you're doing C25K on a night, that's 30 minutes or so of alternating jogging and walking, so you're probably only burning a few hundred calories at that. (based on your pic you're only a bit bigger than me).

    I'd recommend either an HRM for you to actually track your workouts, or even better, something like a FitBit or BodyMedia Fit to properly capture your actual daily calorie burn from taking care of your son as well as your workouts.
  • alli_baba
    alli_baba Posts: 232 Member
    I may have this wrong, but it is my understanding that you don't count normal activities (e.g. walking up stairs, checking on kids, etc.) as part of exercise calories burned on MFP. I think you adjust for this when you first set up your calories (e.g. are you sedentary, moderately active, etc.) for your daily lifestyle. So, for example, I walk my dog for 45 minutes twice a day everyday but I don't count those calories as exercise calories -- just a normal part of my day.

    I would count things like your zumba, c25k, etc. as normal exercise calories.

    That's just the way I understand it.
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
    Ok, ty :) trust me, i need all the guidance i can get...i have been thinking about getting a hrm for a while because i had a feeling that maybe i'm not burning as much as I thought. The reason my running is a little higher today is cuz i did the c25k and ran a little extra (I took at least two extra songs and ran to them after the cooldown).
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
    Ok, so readjusted the exercise diary (took the stairs off) but i'm still really active (cuz i went from being lightly to active).
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    Also, I just looked at your diary for today and you should try to be more specific about what you're logging. For example, for breakfast you have a generic peanut butter and fluff on whole grain bread entry.

    Breaking that down, the average for two tablespoons of PB is 190-200 calories. And a couple tablespoons of fluff would be around 20ish calories. So that leaves 90 calories for both slices of bread. Do those stats actually match up with how much you've measured for your sandwich and the nutritional stats of you items?
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
    For the most part yes. The only thing that might not was the chocolate syrup (i'm weird, i put it on my peanut butter sandwich) which i did measure out and there was no way i put 2 tbsp on. (I put half a tbsp).
  • agranados87
    agranados87 Posts: 23 Member
    Hey girl! You might want to check your exercise diary, be careful what you put in there.. for example, I see you put in that you were running 5.5 min miles for long periods of time.. I have never met anyone who can do a 5 min mile for very long lol. It was probably just a simple error, but by putting that in, it computes that you've burned thousands of calories, which could be why you keep having a deficit. A general calorie count (when it comes to running) is about 100 cals for every mile that you've ran. I use the cals burned as a loose guideline for what I've actually burned. I would hate for you not to see progress because what you've put in your diary is incorrect, that would be very frustrating. Keep up the good work! :)
  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
    Go for it and get the HRM. It will be the best investment you ever make. MFP is WAY over on the calorie counts for exercise.
This discussion has been closed.