Food Calories versus Net Calories

josiereside

Please forgive me if this has been asked before, but it was not until yesterday that I kind of noticed the Net calories on my daily summary. I have been basically going by my total food intake as opposed to the net. Should I be going by the net. I have my total calories for the day set at 1400 based on BMR but I work out and eat most of my workout calories, but when I look at my net calories, I have been eating well below that number... Cannot tell you if progress has been made as I just really started getting serious about tracking after the holidays and I lost initially after the holidays but have not weighed myself for 2 weeks so not sure where I stand.. I eat when I am hungry and certainly am not going hungry or starving myself but I kind of got alarmed when I saw for a lot of the days my net calories were under 1200.
Advice/opinions please...

Confuzzled4ever

Bump

No advice.. just wanna know what people say..

I have same issue

josiereside

bumpity bump!

1stday13

:huh: Bump

cyberiarob

I flipped through your diary a little bit - looks to me like you're doing fine. Some may say that you should never go under 1200 net, but this whole weight loss / nutrition thing is not an exact science. What's important is that you pay attention to how your body reacts and adjust your routine as needed. Once you find your personal "sweet spot", it becomes much easier.

josiereside

I flipped through your diary a little bit - looks to me like you're doing fine. Some may say that you should never go under 1200 net, but this whole weight loss / nutrition thing is not an exact science. What's important is that you pay attention to how your body reacts and adjust your routine as needed. Once you find your personal "sweet spot", it becomes much easier.

Thank you for the reply!

josiereside

any other perspectives on this... I am done eating for the day and although I ate 1689 calories, my net was only 1242.... if you look at my diary, I eat quite a bit and I don't really want to eat more.

Topher1978

Since I started eating back my exercise calories, I have been doing much better. I often will burn over 2000 calories a day. Not in the last few due to having a cold, but it is normal. When I began eating those back, my energy levels accelerated to much better speed!! I am set at a 950 calorie deficit, which gives me a base of 1650. On days that I have over 5000 calories to eat, I do not do it... may get a little over 3000 on those days, as I cannot consume 5000 calories with the kind of food I am eating...

josiereside

Just curious if I should worry about my net being under my BMR (1400).

Topher1978

Just curious if I should worry about my net being under my BMR (1400).

Yes. You will function better and have better gains if you keep it higher. I thought people here were throwed off when they told me to eat my calories back. It is a world of difference. It is the healthy way to lose weight. It is also ver advantageous if you change your foods to healthier choices. I love healthy and not so healthy foods both. I eat much more healthy food than not. I am feeling better and better. The only meal that is stuck in stone healthy for me, though, is breakfast...

josiereside

Well, I had a slight gain this week... looking back on my weekly summary for the past 2 weeks, I have been nearly 1000 calories each week under my net. So going to bump up the calories. I believe I do eat fairly healthy for the most part. I am going to start adding in some nuts for extra calories. Course, by next week, I am having knee arthroscopy and won't be active for a bit so I am going to have to drop my calories down anyway!