Food Calories vs Net Calories

flslp87

I'm still confused by the food calories vs Net calories....

My daily goal is 1200 so if I earn an extra 500 from exercise and I eat 1300, then my Net is only 800 which is way too low, right? I need to eat that extra to get as close to the 1200 NET as possible so that my body continues to burn fat and not muscle.....right?

tigersword

Yes.

Net = food-exercise.

Whatever you burn while exercising, you should eat, along with your regular goal.

So if your goal is 1200 and you burn 500 in exercise, you should eat 1700.

janemem

You should eat all your exercise calories back but I find that MFP is very generous with it's exercise values so I only eat 1/2 - 1/3 of my exercise calories.
If you're using a HRM and you know it to be accurate then eat all the calories it says you've earned.

flslp87

Wow, that seems like a lot of food. So how do people handle it when they don't exercise until later in the day? Eat 750 cal for dinner or just try to 'anticipate' what your day is going to bring and eat more earlier? Of course then if something happens and you don't get to exercise then you've overeaten......

janemem

I plan and log my meals out in advance (I've just finished logging what I'll be eating/drinking right up to Friday) to meet my basic goal and then as the day goes on and I log exercise I'll make adjustments to my coming meals adding more food to use the extra calories I've earned. If I've not earned them then they don't get logged/eaten.
This works for me as I like the flexibility of knowing I'm eating well with or without the exercise calories but I do appreciate that I get my exercise cals throughout the day instead of in the evening/night.
Others who exercise then will give advice no doubt.