Net calories?

adelitas_star
adelitas_star Posts: 91
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm not sure how many calories I should be netting per day. I eat roughly 1500 - 1700, just depending on the day and my workout is this:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I do weight lifting for 30 minutes. I do it more like a "circuit" routine where there aren't any breaks between each exercise. And then afterwards I'll walk for 30 - 40 minutes and 2.5 - 3.0 mph. And on Tuesday and Thursday, I just walk for about 45 minutes. In my spare time I'll play some WII sports, clean, etc for a bit more calorie burn.

I usually net about 1200 - 1300 calories a day. Is this alright?

Replies

  • lljksilk
    lljksilk Posts: 16
    In my opinion (and backed up by lots of research) I would pay more attention to what you are eating and assume that whatever tools/etc. you have are going to be overestimating your net calories.

    Generally speaking, if you are eating 1700 calories per day, you should weigh at least 170 lbs.
  • adelitas_star
    adelitas_star Posts: 91
    I weigh 143 pounds, and I just used Scooby's Workshop to calculate my TDEE and it says states my TDEE is about 2200 calories so I should eat about 1800 to lose weight ;)
  • EmilyTwist1
    EmilyTwist1 Posts: 206 Member
    Generally speaking, if you are eating 1700 calories per day, you should weigh at least 170 lbs.

    How do you figure that? So, if I eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day, does that mean I should weigh 250 to 300 pounds? That seems rather odd, since I actually weight 130....
  • adelitas_star
    adelitas_star Posts: 91
    @Emily Twist1 - Thank you! That's what I was wondering! Haha!
  • Goal_Line
    Goal_Line Posts: 474 Member
    Generally speaking, if you are eating 1700 calories per day, you should weigh at least 170 lbs.

    How do you figure that? So, if I eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day, does that mean I should weigh 250 to 300 pounds? That seems rather odd, since I actually weight 130....

    agree
  • lljksilk
    lljksilk Posts: 16
    Generally speaking, if you are eating 1700 calories per day, you should weigh at least 170 lbs.

    How do you figure that? So, if I eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day, does that mean I should weigh 250 to 300 pounds? That seems rather odd, since I actually weight 130....

    To lose weight, you can pretty much ignore most calculators and take your bodyweight, add a zero, and eat that many calories. So if you weigh 130, 1300 calories (and doing nothing else) will cause you to lose weight. If you are doing an intense amount of training - then you can increase that .

    If you eat 2500 calories a day and are 130 lbs, you are going to gain weight. It is pretty much a given unless you do intense crosstraining or weightlifting.
  • Goal_Line
    Goal_Line Posts: 474 Member
    I weigh 143 pounds, and I just used Scooby's Workshop to calculate my TDEE and it says states my TDEE is about 2200 calories so I should eat about 1800 to lose weight ;)

    It sounds like you got a handle on it. i don;t know Scooby's workshop, Google "Harris Benedict" and follow this formula, it it matches Scooby then you have confirmation you are on the right track.
  • adelitas_star
    adelitas_star Posts: 91
    I weigh 143 pounds, and I just used Scooby's Workshop to calculate my TDEE and it says states my TDEE is about 2200 calories so I should eat about 1800 to lose weight ;)

    It sounds like you got a handle on it. i don;t know Scooby's workshop, Google "Harris Benedict" and follow this formula, it it matches Scooby then you have confirmation you are on the right track.

    I did just that and it came up with 2300 calories for me. So if I eat 20% of my TDEE, that would be about 1800 calories. :)
  • lljksilk
    lljksilk Posts: 16
    To go back to your original question, your net calories seem fine. I just wouldn't overestimate what you are burning because resistance training especially is very difficult to quantify in terms of calories burned.
  • adelitas_star
    adelitas_star Posts: 91
    To go back to your original question, your net calories seem fine. I just wouldn't overestimate what you are burning because resistance training especially is very difficult to quantify in terms of calories burned.

    Yeah, I try not to overestimate what I burn when I exercise. In fact, most of the time I enter only 20 - 25 minutes of each exercise instead of the 30 - 40 that I really do so MFP doesn't overestimate the calories I burn
  • EmilyTwist1
    EmilyTwist1 Posts: 206 Member
    Generally speaking, if you are eating 1700 calories per day, you should weigh at least 170 lbs.

    How do you figure that? So, if I eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day, does that mean I should weigh 250 to 300 pounds? That seems rather odd, since I actually weight 130....

    To lose weight, you can pretty much ignore most calculators and take your bodyweight, add a zero, and eat that many calories. So if you weigh 130, 1300 calories (and doing nothing else) will cause you to lose weight. If you are doing an intense amount of training - then you can increase that .

    If you eat 2500 calories a day and are 130 lbs, you are going to gain weight. It is pretty much a given unless you do intense crosstraining or weightlifting.

    That doesn't take into account a person's metabolism. I lose weight eating 2000 calories a day, unless I am absolutely sedentary (as in not even leaving the house for days on end). The last time I was eating that much and was doing just a small amount of exercise, I weighed 98 pounds, and it was a struggle for me to keep from losing any more.
  • lljksilk
    lljksilk Posts: 16
    Generally speaking, if you are eating 1700 calories per day, you should weigh at least 170 lbs.

    How do you figure that? So, if I eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day, does that mean I should weigh 250 to 300 pounds? That seems rather odd, since I actually weight 130....

    To lose weight, you can pretty much ignore most calculators and take your bodyweight, add a zero, and eat that many calories. So if you weigh 130, 1300 calories (and doing nothing else) will cause you to lose weight. If you are doing an intense amount of training - then you can increase that .

    If you eat 2500 calories a day and are 130 lbs, you are going to gain weight. It is pretty much a given unless you do intense crosstraining or weightlifting.

    That doesn't take into account a person's metabolism. I lose weight eating 2000 calories a day, unless I am absolutely sedentary (as in not even leaving the house for days on end). The last time I was eating that much and was doing just a small amount of exercise, I weighed 98 pounds, and it was a struggle for me to keep from losing any more.

    It doesn't I agree. That being said, I would maybe speak to a doctor about possible issues with your thyroid. I have a friend who has similar issues with being able to eat whatever she wants yet drops down to the 90s in terms of weight, and it is because she's got medical issues that increase her metabolism to the point where she's exhausted all the time.

    As you get older (mid 20s to late 30s) the advice I gave becomes more uniform.
  • EmilyTwist1
    EmilyTwist1 Posts: 206 Member
    Generally speaking, if you are eating 1700 calories per day, you should weigh at least 170 lbs.

    How do you figure that? So, if I eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day, does that mean I should weigh 250 to 300 pounds? That seems rather odd, since I actually weight 130....

    To lose weight, you can pretty much ignore most calculators and take your bodyweight, add a zero, and eat that many calories. So if you weigh 130, 1300 calories (and doing nothing else) will cause you to lose weight. If you are doing an intense amount of training - then you can increase that .

    If you eat 2500 calories a day and are 130 lbs, you are going to gain weight. It is pretty much a given unless you do intense crosstraining or weightlifting.

    That doesn't take into account a person's metabolism. I lose weight eating 2000 calories a day, unless I am absolutely sedentary (as in not even leaving the house for days on end). The last time I was eating that much and was doing just a small amount of exercise, I weighed 98 pounds, and it was a struggle for me to keep from losing any more.

    It doesn't I agree. That being said, I would maybe speak to a doctor about possible issues with your thyroid. I have a friend who has similar issues with being able to eat whatever she wants yet drops down to the 90s in terms of weight, and it is because she's got medical issues that increase her metabolism to the point where she's exhausted all the time.

    As you get older (mid 20s to late 30s) the advice I gave becomes more uniform.

    I've had my thyroid checked multiple times, and it's normal. I think it may be genetic. Both my parents were the same way, and my brother is as well.

Categories