net calories vs total calories

foodie178

so on other weight loss sites like livestrong or just general articles, i frequently read things like "athletes should eat 1500-1700 calories daily" or other things along those lines. Does this mean that i should be eating 1500-1700 calories daily total, or my net intake should be that much?

risenonlytofall

That's kind of vague without any other information. Calorie intake depends on lots of different things, not just activity level. My sister is half a foot shorter than me, so her calorie intake is much different than mine despite us both being "athletic".

wild_wild_life

Only MFP really uses the concept of net calories. I think you can assume other sites are talking about total calories.