Net calories?

Bastiencade

I hope it's not a dumb question, but I'm a bit confused about what our goal net calories should be if we're doing a workout program. According to my chart, I need to be getting 1550 calories a day for my nutrition goals, but along with my workout, my net calories are around 700. Do we make up for those calories in food?

lauren3101

I think the general idea is that the more you exercise, the more you burn so the more you can eat.

However I see little point in doing all that hard work then stuffing your face!

Listen to your body - you will undoubtedly eat more if you are doing exercise, but if you are not hungry and you have got the nutrition you need, then stick with it.

ColleenRoss50

I checked your stats in another post and, at your weight, age, height and gender, 1550 calories is already a bit on the low side so you should definitely be trying to make sure to eat back your calories expended in exercise. So, for example, if you expend 800 calories in exercise on a given day you should be eating 800 additional calories (or as near as possible) above the 1550 to compensate. You will still reap the health benefits from doing the exercise.

ElizabethRoad

Your calorie goal is supposed to be your net goal. If you have it set to 1550 then you should be netting 1550.

130annie

I hope it's not a dumb question, but I'm a bit confused about what our goal net calories should be if we're doing a workout program. According to my chart, I need to be getting 1550 calories a day for my nutrition goals, but along with my workout, my net calories are around 700. Do we make up for those calories in food?

Okay this is how I sort it....Not very scientific....I have a base cal...1200....Add cals from your workout....Then add and eat food until you get down to base again....

Healthymom207

Think of it this way if your calorie goal is 1550 calories for the day (which is low) and you burn 1000 calories from working out
(1550 - 1000= 550 net) this means your body has only 550 calorie for the day to live off of. Your body is going to say WTF and slow it's metabolism down, store it's fat instead of expell it and energy levels are going to go down. Your not going to see much progress if your starving your body. You need to eat your exercise calories, if you know how much your burning then you need to eat the calories back, especially with your extremely low daily calorie goal.....you really need to raise that. Another important factor is to drink plenty of water, you should be drinking a minimum 8 cups (take your weight and divide by two, that's how many ounces you should drink in a day). The importance of water, besides the fact that it flushes out toxins, is that it speeds your metabolism, speeds your fat loss and feeds your muscles (muscles are 70% water and if they don't get enough they SHRINK). Hope this info. helps, good luck.

Bastiencade

Thanks so much for the responses, guys. I'm going to really need to figure out a way to reach that many calories in a day, as I'm already having trouble getting up to the 1550 I'm supposed to have.

I know your body goes into starvation mode if you're not eating enough, and apparently I was right to worry that that could be happening to me. Luckily I'm only a week in, so I guess I'll be changing my eating patterns.

Do we eat even if we aren't hungry? I've had no issues keeping the 1550 it says I need, but I can barely surpass that. I don't get hungry that much, or at least haven't been these past few weeks.

I had no idea my goal calories were low, I simply put in the amount of weight I want to lose along with my stats, and that's what it told me I need a day.

What would the recommended calories (from food) be for someone who is 22 years old, 210 pounds, and 6'3 in height?

Healthymom207

Depending on your daily physical activity here is round about what your body is burning on a daily basis.

Example 1: Moderate Exercise 5x a week
For fat loss- need to eat 2387 calories a day
For Extreme fat loss- need to eat 1790 calories a day

Example 2: Exercising moderately everyday
For fat loss- need to eat 2673 a calories a day
For Extreme fat loss- need to eat 2004 calories a day

I know it seems like a lot for you, but your a man......men needs more calories than woman....you need to eat more, just clean options....not cheeseburgers (:

Try going to freedieting.com and using the calculator on there, and as you lose weight these figures will change. Why don't you try this for a month and see what happens, cause right now your eating like a girl (: Your eating the amount of calories that I should be eating and I'm 124lbs.

bluejones

Great question, I was actually having the same issue, trying to understand Net Calories, my daily calorie requirements, as well as reaching my daily caloric intake. I was doing a little research last night and after reading this forum today, I feel like I have a better understanding of it.... I used something called the Harris Benedict Equation to calculate my caloric intake.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

It seems to be more accurate, it takes a lot more into consideration than other calorie calculators I've used so, we'll see how it goes....

sarahrbraun

I know it seems like a lot for you, but your a man......men needs more calories than woman....you need to eat more, just clean options....not cheeseburgers (:

Try going to freedieting.com and using the calculator on there, and as you lose weight these figures will change. Why don't you try this for a month and see what happens, cause right now your eating like a girl (: Your eating the amount of calories that I should be eating and I'm 124lbs.

THIS girl eats like 2400 calories a day on the days she works out, and she STILL loses ~1lb a week. If you pick healthy foods, it is hard to eat enough, but gosh darn it, I LOVE to eat...So I make sure I have lots of healthy choices available for snacking on. On days when I know that I am going to be really active, I will supplement my diet with Atkins or Metrx bars 1-2 times a day ( they are like 200-300 calories each, and low carb)

bikinisuited

bump

steph71195

I think the first comment was right, you should eat when you are hungry and listen to your body. If you struggle to eat enough you can get things like Luna bars which have ~200 cals in them. try eating little and often to keep your metabolism fast

lauren8660

awesome explanation!!

pedraz

Think of it this way if your calorie goal is 1550 calories for the day (which is low) and you burn 1000 calories from working out
(1550 - 1000= 550 net) this means your body has only 550 calorie for the day to live off of. Your body is going to say WTF and slow it's metabolism down, store it's fat instead of expell it and energy levels are going to go down. Your not going to see much progress if your starving your body. You need to eat your exercise calories, if you know how much your burning then you need to eat the calories back, especially with your extremely low daily calorie goal.....you really need to raise that. Another important factor is to drink plenty of water, you should be drinking a minimum 8 cups (take your weight and divide by two, that's how many ounces you should drink in a day). The importance of water, besides the fact that it flushes out toxins, is that it speeds your metabolism, speeds your fat loss and feeds your muscles (muscles are 70% water and if they don't get enough they SHRINK). Hope this info. helps, good luck.

Thanks! This is perfectly explained!

badgirlturnedgood

no no do not eat them back , working out & burning cals is the object just learn to feed your body with the right stuff to give it the energy it needs to sustain the workouts you require it to do ,your body will not long term be able to keep burning through workouts if it does not get the fuel ,its not down to filling up & eating all the cals its doing the workouts ,keeping the cals under & most important of all ,to eat very small & healthy regular snacks & a meal to keep it ticking over & burning at its best all day long .

badgirlturnedgood

Think of it this way if your calorie goal is 1550 calories for the day (which is low) and you burn 1000 calories from working out
(1550 - 1000= 550 net) this means your body has only 550 calorie for the day to live off of. Your body is going to say WTF and slow it's metabolism down, store it's fat instead of expell it and energy levels are going to go down. Your not going to see much progress if your starving your body. You need to eat your exercise calories, if you know how much your burning then you need to eat the calories back, especially with your extremely low daily calorie goal.....you really need to raise that. Another important factor is to drink plenty of water, you should be drinking a minimum 8 cups (take your weight and divide by two, that's how many ounces you should drink in a day). The importance of water, besides the fact that it flushes out toxins, is that it speeds your metabolism, speeds your fat loss and feeds your muscles (muscles are 70% water and if they don't get enough they SHRINK). Hope this info. helps, good luck.

Thanks! This is perfectly explained!

hi hope you do not mind me asking but i have done over 1000 cal burn today so going by what your saying i should eat an extra 1000 cals in a day to cover the burn off ! just checking understand you right ,always take on board any advice people pass on ,it just is the opposite to what i have already been told therefore i am now confused !
thanks pedraz

psuLemon

I think the first comment was right, you should eat when you are hungry and listen to your body. If you struggle to eat enough you can get things like Luna bars which have ~200 cals in them. try eating little and often to keep your metabolism fast

You can't listen to your body always as hunger signals can adapt to frequency of meals. If you want to test this theory, it's pretty simple. Start doing interim fasting for a month. The first week is brutal, especially for someone who did 5-6 meals a day, where you only eat meals within a small window. Eventually, your body will adjust and you won't be hungry during your 16-20 hour fast. Then go back to eating 6 meals a day and you will realize you are hungry every 2-3 hours.

Your body has specific nutritional requirements to sustain your metabolism as well as your muscle. Starvation mode isn't the issue, allow your body to go catabolic should be a bigger concern as you don't want to lose muscle. Losing muscle makes it harder for long term weight loss as your metabolism will slow down and adapt.


If you don't want to stress net calories, include your exercise into the TDEE calculation. For example i workout 6 days a week and work a desk job but I am not labeled as sedentary but rather am label as moderately active. This way, I dont' eat back exercise calories.

rose313

To put it simply, if you let MFP calculate your recommended calorie intake for you then eat your exercise calories back.

geordiegirl27

now this is interesting, I struggle most days (exception of weekends) to eat my 1260 that MFP has allocated me per day, I then do a reasonable amount of exercise and ignore those calories, except like I say on a weekend when I do have a few glasses of wine or a more calorific meal.

I dont have a big appetite anyway, so to try to make up some extra cals today I've put a bit of butter on my jersey potatoes and some dressing on my salad and even a dessert spoon of light mayo, I'm still 210 calories short of the basic and I've burnt off over 800 cals with running.

I cant see the point in eating if I'm not hungry but the concensous does seem to suggest that not eating enough isnt good for losing weight, its partly why I joined this site.

Right I will try harder to eat more or maybe use the extra calories for the occasional snack. Who said losing weight wasnt difficult its downright confusing :ohwell:

geordiegirl27

A daft question what is a TDEE?

ladyraven68

no no do not eat them back , working out & burning cals is the object just learn to feed your body with the right stuff to give it the energy it needs to sustain the workouts you require it to do ,your body will not long term be able to keep burning through workouts if it does not get the fuel ,its not down to filling up & eating all the cals its doing the workouts ,keeping the cals under & most important of all ,to eat very small & healthy regular snacks & a meal to keep it ticking over & burning at its best all day long .

I'm afraid that is not how MFP works,

It sets a calorie defict based on the loss you chose, 1lb, 2lb etc, and sets a calorie goal without exercise.

so , a defict of 500 for 1lb or 1000 for 2lb.

as you chose those goals, MFP thinks that if you say you want a defict of 500, you mean it, so if you exercise and burn 400 calories you make your defict 400 larger, it tells you to eat those 400 calories, to get back to the 500 deficit you originally chose.

I recommend you read all the stickined threads at the top of this forum. Starting with this one.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

tryinghard71

I have lost 19 pounds eating my exercise calories back. This is what works for me. If I worked out as hard as I do and only ate 1200 I would pass out. Thank God this works for me because I get to eat 1600-1800 a day depending on my work out.

Sheila_Ann

Think of it this way if your calorie goal is 1550 calories for the day (which is low) and you burn 1000 calories from working out
(1550 - 1000= 550 net) this means your body has only 550 calorie for the day to live off of. Your body is going to say WTF and slow it's metabolism down, store it's fat instead of expell it and energy levels are going to go down. Your not going to see much progress if your starving your body. You need to eat your exercise calories, if you know how much your burning then you need to eat the calories back, especially with your extremely low daily calorie goal.....you really need to raise that. Another important factor is to drink plenty of water, you should be drinking a minimum 8 cups (take your weight and divide by two, that's how many ounces you should drink in a day). The importance of water, besides the fact that it flushes out toxins, is that it speeds your metabolism, speeds your fat loss and feeds your muscles (muscles are 70% water and if they don't get enough they SHRINK). Hope this info. helps, good luck.

Thanks! This is perfectly explained!

^^ x100! Well said! Def need your workout calories back to make sure you net 1550 for the day! I've lost 24lbs since December 2011 and once did I gain and that was just a pound! I def eat my workout calories back unless it's a lot and I'm just not hungry.

Good luck!

Linda_Darlene

Depending on what I'm doing, I eat back some of my calories. Rarely have I ever eaten them all. I would pass out from exhaustion if I only at the minimum calorie amount even on days I worked out hard!

linnamae

Very well said! So many people don't even put in their daily exercise because they don't want to eat more. They think it is cheating and they will gain weight, but they will just store it as fat because their body doesn't know when the next meal is. I have seen it and done it myself. Your right, we need to fuel our bodies before and after exercise so we will have enough energy for the next workout. VERY VERY important!

Zangpakto

Not to sound bad but supplement with 400-600 bars? If you are vastly over weight how do you burn that much training? Seriously?

I run constantly for 40-50min to burn that and that is at a pace of about 5:47min a km! I mean I might be able to do that in 30m, but I mean if I am going that time I do min 60m and usually do a min of 10-12km per hour....

Not being rude I hope...

Anyway to put it into perspective, I don't care about the net, I mean I DO but not like a free eat a buffet!

I set my goal as 1330 and I rarely in net ever meet it, yet I have lost great... I feel good too... If you asked me to run a marathon tomorrow, I would do it... Just wouldn't be happy at my time as I want to get a 4hr 30m time or under in September....

You know what? Don't worry about your net, the old adage that has worked throughout ALL medical "breakthroughs" ALL diet fads is simple... Eat less than before, train more than before... Doesn't mean eat nothing, and doesn't mean train like a crazy person straight away... A pound a week? I dropped that from yesterday to today... and before you say water weight... How about I dropped I think 6/7 pounds last week too... WITHOUT training... though I admit I was stressed out because of work.... but still... And hey, I continue to lose, where is this magic I WILL pick up because I ate little last week, so now I increase etc I pick up... Nope... still losing strong...

Point is, do it your way, do it how you feel comfortable what might work for one person might not hold true for you.

I can happily run myself into negative calories or cycle into negative calories yet my food intake can be on that day in excess of 3-4k calories.... Should I eat more? Why? I am fine, my body is fine and the proof is my competition stats keep improving, so why change what works?

There is no magic formula... No eat this but eat more if you train formula, I mean first off, your training to lose weight, you are not going to build muscle while in a deficit anyway no matter WHAT people say you need an excess of calories to build, look at bodybuilders for instance, they bulk up in both muscle and fat, then cut down to get rid of excess fat.... If you could build while in a deficit, why wouldn't they stay at their competition weights or close to them all the time then? It would save hassle of cutting down and the inevitable muscle loss, and they would look good all year round... Because they know you can't build while in a deficit unlike what I read from people on HERE.

General consensus in fitness industry... Lose weight first, then tone and build... will be MUCH easier and quicker...

badgirlturnedgood

ok well going into my stats ,mfp is telling me that today because of my calorie burn i should eat 3.317 cals today ,& is telling me i am under by 1.900 !! i think its all down to how you feel if your getting tired & feeling bad then a good indicator that you need more ,i feel fine & i am eating good things throughout the day & my levels of energy are good ,i know that it is 100% not possible for me to eat over 3000 cals in a day ,so i guess mfp directs you but at the end of the day you have to go with what you feel like in yourself ,i am a great believer that the body tells us what we need ,its just the art of listening to it .

2BeHealthy4Life

MFP pal Anewlucia started the group EAT MORE TO WEIGH LESS ....I copied and pasted this information below from one of her threads that may helpful.

You can get your bmr and tdee number from here :http://www.scoobyworkshop.com/calculators

What is BMR? Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed all day!

What is TDEE? TDEE is the common abbreviation for Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is a metric to calculate the amount of calories your body needs to function in a day. This is quite similar to BMR; in fact, you need your BMR to calculate your TDEE; but your TDEE accounts for your average daily activity as well to give a figure truer to your specific situation. Basically, the TDEE calculation relies on categorizing your daily activity into one of the metrics' predetermined groupings:

Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise Lightly Active - light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk (****SIDE NOTE - even if you have a desk job most people fit right here when you workout 3-5 days a week) Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training Once you have determined where you fit in on the TDEE activity rate scale, this activity rate is used to weight your BMR giving you a more accurate assessment of how many calories you really need throughout the course of the day.

Here is a link to a site that you plug in your information and it will provide your BMR and TDEE along with your Cut value (again, if you workout 3-5 times a week select "Moderate" and the "Select Your Goal" option you will select is "Lose Fat - 15% caloric reduction.



So now, you should have your BMR, TDEE, and Cut Value (TDEE - 15%)

Here is a video that talks about this in great detail that hopefully will clear up any questions you may have: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYi9xjIRvbY&feature=g-all-u

If TDEE is figured out correctly, then exercise cals don't *have* to be eaten back because, technically, TDEE figures them in. The underlying factor here, is that most people underestimate their activity levels, (for fear of being told to eat "too much") and then proceed to under eat. If a person is burning 1000 cals/day in exercise, then that should be figured into their TDEE, meaning their TDEE should be AT LEAST 1000 cals more than their BMR. If this is not the case then they are undercutting themselves on the cals. So a person w/a BMR of 1300, that puts up 1000 cal burns should have come up w/a TDEE calculation of 2400 or more. So any situation where a person is not getting those calculations, they should be eating back some of those exercise cals.

So if you come up w/BMR=1300, TDEE=1800, you need to either A)eat back some cals, or recalculate your TDEE to include the *actual* burns that you're getting.

So to cut using *true* TDEE figures, you'd just eat a flat TDEE (-15%), as long as TDEE is correct. It should be fine. But if you are using MFP's calculations, or are not getting a TDEE that includes the amount you burn each day *plus* BMR, you need to eat back some exercise cals.

psuLemon

ok well going into my stats ,mfp is telling me that today because of my calorie burn i should eat 3.317 cals today ,& is telling me i am under by 1.900 !! i think its all down to how you feel if your getting tired & feeling bad then a good indicator that you need more ,i feel fine & i am eating good things throughout the day & my levels of energy are good ,i know that it is 100% not possible for me to eat over 3000 cals in a day ,so i guess mfp directs you but at the end of the day you have to go with what you feel like in yourself ,i am a great believer that the body tells us what we need ,its just the art of listening to it .

If are bodies actually told is when things were not working then my uncle would have discover his cancer before stage III. The majority of the time your body doesnt respond until its too late. The questuon comes down to, what are you doing to burn so many calories? Is MFP estinsting calories burnt? If so you should aim to eat 50-75% of them. Or you include exercise in your daily activity. So instead of sedentary, make it moderately active and not worry about exercise calories.

badgirlturnedgood

ok well going into my stats ,mfp is telling me that today because of my calorie burn i should eat 3.317 cals today ,& is telling me i am under by 1.900 !! i think its all down to how you feel if your getting tired & feeling bad then a good indicator that you need more ,i feel fine & i am eating good things throughout the day & my levels of energy are good ,i know that it is 100% not possible for me to eat over 3000 cals in a day ,so i guess mfp directs you but at the end of the day you have to go with what you feel like in yourself ,i am a great believer that the body tells us what we need ,its just the art of listening to it .

If are bodies actually told is when things were not working then my uncle would have discover his cancer before stage III. The majority of the time your body doesnt respond until its too late. The questuon comes down to, what are you doing to burn so many calories? Is MFP estinsting calories burnt? If so you should aim to eat 50-75% of them. Or you include exercise in your daily activity. So instead of sedentary, make it moderately active and not worry about exercise calories.


Im sorry to hear about your uncle & understand my words may have confused or upset you .
i mentioned that our bodies tell us what we need ie ,water ,sugar ,carbs etc , i don't think for one min it tells us when there is a medical problem just that we get symptoms of tiredness ,aching ,feeling dizzy etc which can be a pointer to maybe we need to digest some of what it is requesting ,.
I live in the mountains & when i ride or walk its mostly hills i am doing not just flat & when i work out i try to fit in a good amount of time & yes i log it & yes mfp tells me i should eat more ,its my opinion that eating 3000 cals is not good for me per day ,i am marked as mod active not sedentary , i want to lose not maintain & i feel fine with what i am doing so in my opinion ,not speaking for anyone else or from factual studies or to push my opinion on others etc ,i personally choose to go with how my body feels & what i think it needs .