Confused about NET calories at end of day?

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mindy_moorehead
mindy_moorehead Posts: 17
in Food and Nutrition
Me and my sister both use this site and we are having a debate about whether at the end of the day the NET calories are or are not supposed to be in the negative in order to lose weight.......any one know cuz we r apparently clueless?????
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  • AncGeorge
    AncGeorge Posts: 3
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    I believe your net calories should be close to zero. Meaning you haven't eaten to little if you have them left over or eaten too much if you have negative net calories. Close to zero on either side isn't a bad thing. I find on the days I do a hard cardio workout and "buy back" calories sometimes i have a hard time eating enough, but i'm eating mostly good food,lots of veggies and lean protein. Good Luck!
  • AVinmill
    AVinmill Posts: 88 Member
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    Assuming the following:
    - You have MFP set to your correct age, sex, height, and weight
    - You've been honest on your daily activity level
    - You set it to loose "x" lbs per week

    Then all you need to do is enter your exercise for the day that is not included with your normal daily activity and aim to have 0 cal remaining. Although some will debate that you should or shouldn't eat back all of your exercise calories if not eating them puts you at less than about 1200-1300 then I would highly recommend you eat them. Too large of a deficit = bad idea.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    Me and my sister both use this site and we are having a debate about whether at the end of the day the NET calories are or are not supposed to be in the negative in order to lose weight.......any one know cuz we r apparently clueless?????

    When MFP calculated your normal daily calorie goal, that already includes your deficit. When you exercise, MFP adds those calories onto your daily calorie goal so that you always have a consistent calorie deficit.

    Therefor, your NET calories should equal your normal daily calorie goal.
  • birdieaz
    birdieaz Posts: 448 Member
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    I believe your net calories should be close to zero.

    No, your net should never be zero or in the negative. Your net should equal your daily goal calories.

    To further clarify...
    Go to Goals>Nutritional Goals>Net Calories Consumed/Day> The calories shown here is what you should try to net everyday.
  • mindy_moorehead
    mindy_moorehead Posts: 17
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    So if My calorie goal is 1440 a day and I eat a totalf of 1200-1300 calories a day but my excercise = more than 1300 and my net is a negative number then thats NOT good? I cannot get my head around this at all/am I stupid ? I just dont understand y u would want a positive # if u r trying to lose weight????? I'm not trying to be obtuse but I REALLY dont get it!!!!
  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
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    You should be netting the 1440 a day. That's the point. If you exercise, eat enough to get to 1440.
  • ashleew1117
    ashleew1117 Posts: 158
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    Depends on what your results say. Usually you want to eat a little bit more and keep your net not in the negatives.
    I usually try to keep mine 300-700 but others tell me that's really bad for me and i should eat more.
    But i see results with that as long as keep it up and keep working out like that.

    really just depends on what works for you, so don't listen to everyone else just listen to your body and see what works for you.
  • chlorisaann
    chlorisaann Posts: 366 Member
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    So if My calorie goal is 1440 a day and I eat a totalf of 1200-1300 calories a day but my excercise = more than 1300 and my net is a negative number then thats NOT good? I cannot get my head around this at all/am I stupid ? I just dont understand y u would want a positive # if u r trying to lose weight????? I'm not trying to be obtuse but I REALLY dont get it!!!!

    If you do this then you essentially have eaten NOTHING for the day!!! You exercised off more than what you ate and left your body with NO cals to use for normal body functions like BREATHING!! This is NOT a good thing! Your net should = your goal!
  • coops9999
    coops9999 Posts: 11 Member
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    My understanding of it.....

    Your Goal = 1440 calories

    With no exercise you should try to hit this number. If you exercise you are effectively buying more calories to eat. Say for example you workout and that exercise = 500 calories you now have a total for the day of 1940 that you can take in.

    Your counter should reach as close to zero as you can, or at least you should be taking in half of those workout calories so a total of 1440 + 250 = 1690.

    Hope that helps.....
  • cindybindyboo
    cindybindyboo Posts: 14
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    Mindy if your daily goal is 1450, MFP has already put you in deficit. You probably burn 1700-1800 cals per day doing nothing, so eating 1450 is going to give you a loss. You need your net amount to be as clost to 1450 as you can get, but a little under isnt going to kill you, so you have to eat back exercise calories to keep it at this number, thays why it says, if you ecercise you can eat more.
  • CMB1979
    CMB1979 Posts: 588 Member
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    So if My calorie goal is 1440 a day and I eat a totalf of 1200-1300 calories a day but my excercise = more than 1300 and my net is a negative number then thats NOT good? I cannot get my head around this at all/am I stupid ? I just dont understand y u would want a positive # if u r trying to lose weight????? I'm not trying to be obtuse but I REALLY dont get it!!!!

    Your daily calorie goal already is adjusted so you will lose the weight you put into MFP (1, 1.5, 2 lbs/week). That gave you the 1440 daily calorie goal because it is ALREADY 500-600 calories/day lower than you are burning. You won't want to go below that number because your body needs those calories to function.

    Say you put that you want to lose 2 lbs/week so MFP gave you a 1440 goal. If you exercise those 1440 off and end up near zero, then you've just invalidated MFP's 2 lbs/week goal and are trying to push your body to lose something like 5-6lbs/week - which isn't healthy and could backfire on you.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Do you know what your BMR is? Basal Metabolic Rate - the amount of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day just sleeping. Mine is around 1430, so I make sure I never NET below that number. If your body needs that many calories to function in a comatose state, shouldn't you give it more than that when you're moving around, and even more if you're exercising? Food is fuel!

    Negative or zero net calories is no bueno - you are out of gas! Do that on a regular basis and your body has a reason to store fat rather than burn it.

    It can be confusing at first. I found this thread to be very helpful in figuring out how much I should be consuming: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • Kanlassak
    Kanlassak Posts: 101 Member
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    You need some amount of energy to live, breathe, etc. Any burn from exercise is in addition to this energy. This is why people can lose weight without exercise.

    Your net calories is the amount that is going towards this survival energy. It's what's keeping you breathing and your heart beating. If your net calories are negative, it has to get all of that energy from stores, which can mean faster loses, but also means that you will tend to feel worse and have less energy, and may lower your metabolism. You should try to have your net be a positive number, generally recommended to be somewhere above 1200 NET, although some people do okay with less than that.
  • chellern34
    chellern34 Posts: 1
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    Net calories should not equal zero or negative. Your body will go into starvation mode and hold on to the weight. You have to provide your body with nutrition so that it can run properly. I do not eat back cals burned in exercise, but my net cals always equal a bit more than zero...otherwise i do not lose weight.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    So if My calorie goal is 1440 a day and I eat a totalf of 1200-1300 calories a day but my excercise = more than 1300 and my net is a negative number then thats NOT good? I cannot get my head around this at all/am I stupid ? I just dont understand y u would want a positive # if u r trying to lose weight????? I'm not trying to be obtuse but I REALLY dont get it!!!!

    OK, let me try to explain. MFP is assuming that according to your stats, you are burning 1950 calories a day...so they tell you to eat 1440 a day. That means you are eating 500 calories a day ( 3500 a week= 1lb) LESS than your body needs to function. That 500 calories will be taken from the excess weight you have.

    If you exercise and burn off another 500 calories ( 1,000 calories a day deficit) you need to eat those calories back, or your body will decide that you are starving, so it needs to hold onto every calorie you eat. You wouldn't try to eat just 500 calories a day, would you?

    In short, you want your "goal" calories and your "net" calories to be as similar as possible. You want the "calories remaining" to be as close to zero as possible.
  • Ginashusband
    Ginashusband Posts: 1
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    Food minus exercise equals "net".
    If net is equal to goal you are on track.
    If less than goal you will loose more.
    If net is more than goal you will not lose (at least as fast).
  • shadowkitty22
    shadowkitty22 Posts: 495 Member
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    So if My calorie goal is 1440 a day and I eat a totalf of 1200-1300 calories a day but my excercise = more than 1300 and my net is a negative number then thats NOT good? I cannot get my head around this at all/am I stupid ? I just dont understand y u would want a positive # if u r trying to lose weight????? I'm not trying to be obtuse but I REALLY dont get it!!!!

    You might possibly be confusing your NET and REMAINING calories. Your NET always needs to be at least 1200 calories because that's the bare minimum that your body can function on on a daily basis without going into starvation mode. Your REMAINING calories should be as close to 0 as you can get it. And you get your remaining calories by taking your NET - what you've eaten for the day (1440-1400=40). However when you exercise it adds in those calories. For instance, you exercised and burned 500 calories but still only ATE 1400 worth then your NET would look something like this 1440+500-1400=540. Which means your body really only consumed 540 calories after you factor in the calorie burn. So you would still need to eat AT LEAST 660 in order to get you up to 1200 NET. Of course since your net is 1440 you can tack on an extra 230 to that 660 to get the 900 to get you an even 1440 for the day.

    I know it took me a little while to understand why in the world I would want to eat back my exercise calories, but your calories are like fuel for your body. Your body burns the fuel when it exercises (just like a car burns gas when it drives) and when your body gets low on fuel it needs to be refilled (eating) just like you would fill up a car with gas when it ran out. It's an odd concept but you need to eat MORE in order to LOSE more when you're exercising.

    However, if you want to just eat 1440 and not exercise then you will lose weight. I recommend exercising though because it will cause you to look at feel better once you're at your goal weight. :)
  • EmilyTwist1
    EmilyTwist1 Posts: 206 Member
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    Going by how MFP has things set up, looking that the top of your home page, your net should be as close to your goal as possible. So, for you your daily net should be near 1440.

    The reason our net is supposed to be positive and as close to our goal as possible is that we don't measure the calories we burn doing things like breathing, blinking, digesting, and growing hair and finger nails. For example, I'm maintaining my weight, and if at then end of the day I did not exercise and my MFP net is 1800, that means that I burned all those calories just being alive and doing my regular daily activities. So, your 1440 is actually burned by your body keeping itself alive, therefore MFP assumes that those calories will be burned and doesn't require you to count them, because if they're not burned then you're probably not alive.

    Hope that makes sense :)
  • stevefarris
    stevefarris Posts: 4
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    Maybe I'm wrong but just as long as you don't go over the remaining you will lose weight. I have lost 70 lbs and have gone over twice.
    I do like that myfitness kind of rewards you for excercising. I always start my day with excercise so before I eat I'm in the negative.
  • imizznana28
    imizznana28 Posts: 6
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    Wow, then i guess i am having a problem. :(

    My Net calories they gave me were 1510, wanting to lose atleast 2 lbs a week, excersising 7 days a week.

    Well, Quick story i pretty much got heavy for eating loads of junk food and take out... I was never a BIG eater like everything i ate (home cooked) was always small portioned.. But what got me was the late night chips, and take out or whatever.

    I see that i have to eat 1510 calories a day and to me, its pretty much alot. In fact i only consumed 882 calories in total today and i am NOT hungry at all. Plus, my 2 workouts today landed me at a total of 886 calories lost. thats why my net now has a -4.

    I drank about 7 glasses of water. If i was in starvation mode, my stomach would be growling up a storm. But its not like that! What can i do different?

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