Net Calories/eating back calorie--my take

Onlyyoucanbeyou

I really don't understand the concept of net calories (what you eat-what you burn, right?) Lets say you eat 1800 calories and you " burn 500 through exercise". I am skeptic on this because isn't really everythig you do exericse? Maybe in that "500 calorie burn" you count your 1 hour gym session, but what aout you morning walk, or walking around, or brushing your hair...I mean, how do you know what to count. If you eat back EVERYTHING you burn, your net would be 0, correct? And if your net is 0 (meaning you burn the EXACT amount you eat) you would maintain weight. However, what really confuses me is people are saying to net your bmr. Now, if your bmr is 1200, haven't you just gone 1200 over maintnance? Thank you for your help.

3dogsrunning

I think you are a little confused.

BMR is what you burn without even getting out of bed, if you were in a coma, just your body functions.
TDEE is what you burn with your BMR, plus your daily actives, like walking to the car, you job, etc plus exercise.
MFP doesn't account for exercise. It accounts for BMR plus your daily life. So if you set up MFP, your daily goal would be at a deficit before you even exercise.

If you eat your TDEE, you will neither gain nor lose.

If you hit your MFP goal and log correctly, you will technically be burning everything you eat and a little more depending on your goal if you log properly.

Ex - your BMR is 1500, with a sedentary lifestyle, would be 1800 (without exercise according to MFP, not TDEE). Subtract 500 for a 1 lb a week weight loss = 1300 calories. So if you eat 1300 calories you are still eating 500 calories less than your body and lifestyle burn. That is without exercise. Which is why MFP suggests you eat back any exercise calories you log. So if you burned 300 in exercise, you would eat 1600, net 1300 but really burning 1800 with BMR and daily lifestyle.

dolphinswimmer15

You would only maintain weight if the calorie goal is the same as what your body needs to live. For example at my current weight, if I were trying to maintain weight and activity level, I would need to shoot for 2200 calories. If my net calorie intake (food minus exercise) is 2200 I'm going to maintain weight. My daily intake goal is 1500 calories. For exercise I only count gym time, everything else is either part of my activity level setting, or extra. For food I count everything. If I eat 1800 calories one day and work out for 300 calories that same day my net for the day is 1500, which is still 700 below what I would need to eat to maintain weight. Since I would be consuming less calories than my body requires, I would still be on the path to losing weight. Also I've heard the following a lot in my various attempts at dieting/exercise...we tend to over estimate what we burn and under estimate what we eat. Which is why I only count gym time for exercise but count everything for food.

Onlyyoucanbeyou

@3dogsrunning, THANK YOU! I understand now, big help.