Net Calories

Just a quick question say if your net calories is 1300 is that what your recommended to eat each day with exercise to lose weight?..Getting confused.

Replies

  • PrincessMissDee
    PrincessMissDee Posts: 183 Member
    I was confused with this. Your net calories is the number you should be looking at. If your calorie goal is set at 1200, and you burn 600 calories a day, then technically you are only eating 600 net calories a day.

    So you should eat back that extra 600 calories to get your net cals to 1200 again.

    I struggled for aaaaages with this!
  • jennifer8989
    jennifer8989 Posts: 59 Member
    Can anyone on here please explain or break down the =Net calories to me i looked it up here on myfitnesspal but i still dont understand it .See today i burned 763 calories but i only ate a total of 427 calories i want to have a small wonton soup for dinner today which would bring my calories to 608 calories still not the recommended amount .My net then would be at -155 but i know i will stay hungry with such a small soup after a workout out if i opt out for a bit more soup my Net will go up to 26 i read online that your Net is suppose to be under 0 or in the negatives in order to be loosing weight im confused im practically starving myself can someone please help i would really appreciate it :)
  • knb2000
    knb2000 Posts: 29 Member
    What is your Goal Calories for each day? If you give me this number I can maybe explain it better..
    Can anyone on here please explain or break down the =Net calories to me i looked it up here on myfitnesspal but i still dont understand it .See today i burned 763 calories but i only ate a total of 427 calories i want to have a small wonton soup for dinner today which would bring my calories to 608 calories still not the recommended amount .My net then would be at -155 but i know i will stay hungry with such a small soup after a workout out if i opt out for a bit more soup my Net will go up to 26 i read online that your Net is suppose to be under 0 or in the negatives in order to be loosing weight im confused im practically starving myself can someone please help i would really appreciate it :)
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Can anyone on here please explain or break down the =Net calories to me i looked it up here on myfitnesspal but i still dont understand it .See today i burned 763 calories but i only ate a total of 427 calories i want to have a small wonton soup for dinner today which would bring my calories to 608 calories still not the recommended amount .My net then would be at -155 but i know i will stay hungry with such a small soup after a workout out if i opt out for a bit more soup my Net will go up to 26 i read online that your Net is suppose to be under 0 or in the negatives in order to be loosing weight im confused im practically starving myself can someone please help i would really appreciate it :)

    Your net should absolutely not be in the negatives to lose weight. In fact, you should try to keep it over 1200.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    Can anyone on here please explain or break down the =Net calories to me i looked it up here on myfitnesspal but i still dont understand it .See today i burned 763 calories but i only ate a total of 427 calories i want to have a small wonton soup for dinner today which would bring my calories to 608 calories still not the recommended amount .My net then would be at -155 but i know i will stay hungry with such a small soup after a workout out if i opt out for a bit more soup my Net will go up to 26 i read online that your Net is suppose to be under 0 or in the negatives in order to be loosing weight im confused im practically starving myself can someone please help i would really appreciate it :)

    OMG you poor thing! You must be starving all the time!

    Your Daily Calorie Goal is set for you to lose weight even if you don't exercise.

    Your Net Calories should be the same as your original Daily Calorie Goal.

    Lets just say for example your Daily Calorie Goal is 1200. Then you exercised and burned 763. MFP adds the 763 to your Daily Calorie Goal and expects you to eat them. If you do, you'll end up with Net Calories equal to your original calorie goal.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    .
  • knb2000
    knb2000 Posts: 29 Member
    Just a quick question say if your net calories is 1300 is that what your recommended to eat each day with exercise to lose weight?..Getting confused.

    This is without exercise. Once you log your exercise in it will allow you to eat those calories so your net calories should still equal 1300. Say you wake up and eat 200 calories for breakfast. you would be at net 200, Then you exercise and burn 300 calories. You would be at net -100. So now you need to eat your original 1300 + 100 more calories for the day. Hope this helps and that I explained it right.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    You eat 1800 calories then you exercise for 500 calories. The NET calories are 1800 - 500 = 1300

    MFP does not ASSUME anyone will exercise. Therefore .... the calorie deficit is built in with ZERO exercise.

    Now, MFP add back exercise calories because by exercising you increased the deficit (that was built in up front). When the calorie deficit is too large ... your weight loss will stall, and you will lose fat AND muscle.

    I eat ALL my exercise calories back because I use a heart rate monitor (MFP and many machines have inflated estimates)..... many people eat only a % of their calories back when using MFP estimates.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Can anyone on here please explain or break down the =Net calories to me i looked it up here on myfitnesspal but i still dont understand it .See today i burned 763 calories but i only ate a total of 427 calories i want to have a small wonton soup for dinner today which would bring my calories to 608 calories still not the recommended amount .My net then would be at -155 but i know i will stay hungry with such a small soup after a workout out if i opt out for a bit more soup my Net will go up to 26 i read online that your Net is suppose to be under 0 or in the negatives in order to be loosing weight im confused im practically starving myself can someone please help i would really appreciate it :)

    NOOOOOOO! Your net calories should be at the very least your basal metabolic rate BMR (the calories used if you stayed in bed all day).

    Your heart, lungs, kidneys, etc. .... still use calories while sleeping. This is why a comatose person gets a feeding tube.

    MFP gives most women at LEAST 1200 NET calories. This is the number AFTER exercise. Extremely low calorie diets will reduce your weight .... but you will lose MUSCLE tissue (your body will use it for fuel). Low muscle mass slows down your metabolism.
  • balancedbrunette
    balancedbrunette Posts: 530 Member
    Just a quick question say if your net calories is 1300 is that what your recommended to eat each day with exercise to lose weight?..Getting confused.

    This is without exercise. Once you log your exercise in it will allow you to eat those calories so your net calories should still equal 1300. Say you wake up and eat 200 calories for breakfast. you would be at net 200, Then you exercise and burn 300 calories. You would be at net -100. So now you need to eat your original 1300 + 100 more calories for the day. Hope this helps and that I explained it right.

    Yea this makes sense I thought it was this but was sturggling to figure it out in my head because I've been readin various things and getting confused.

    Suppose it just takes a while to come around to it, thanks everyone for the helpful replies :)..I'll have a read of them tomorrow again when i'm not so sleepy. :)
  • jennifer8989
    jennifer8989 Posts: 59 Member
    sorry for the late reply my goal calories are 1,240 i have read in many places that the NET'S should be in the negatives that will create a higher burn than the food consumed but im not sure if that's how MFP works please help :)
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,251 Member
    sorry for the late reply my goal calories are 1,240 i have read in many places that the NET'S should be in the negatives that will create a higher burn than the food consumed but im not sure if that's how MFP works please help :)
    Many people have just explained this above..
    Assuming that 1240 is your goal calories to lose weight (meaning a calorie deficit is already included in that number), then you need to NET 1240 calories per day.
    If you don't exercise at all and you eat 1240 calories, then you netted 1240.
    If you exercise and burn 300 calories for example, then you only netted 940. That is too much of a deficit, and you will need to eat back those exercise calories that you burned.

    if you plan on exercising all the time, and plan on burning 300 calories per day, for example, then you could eat 1540 calories, and then exercise to burn off 300, which will leave you with a NET of 1240.

    Any way you do it, you always want to NET at your GOAL calorie number.

    If you set MFP to sedentary, then it will assume you are not exercising, and will set your Goal number of calories.
    If you then exercise and log it, it will add that number of calories on to your Goal for the day, so you will see that you suddenly have all of these extra calories to eat - because you are now exepcted to eat back those calories you just burned.
    If you don't eat them back, then you will be netting below your goal, which you don't want to do.
    Hope that makes sense to you.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    sorry for the late reply my goal calories are 1,240 i have read in many places that the NET'S should be in the negatives that will create a higher burn than the food consumed but im not sure if that's how MFP works please help :)

    You're never going to get anyone to agree with you that you should be in the negative. All the answers above have told you to net 1240. Starving yourself isn't the answer.
  • jennifer8989
    jennifer8989 Posts: 59 Member
    Thank you all for your answers i understood them the first time there were just a few things i was still confused about i am not trying to starve myself at all i am fully aware that you have to eat in order to loose it just seems that my down fall is never eating enough calories i could eat 1,200 calories go to the gym have a great workout and burn off and extra 700 hundred calories and only eat back 1 or 2 hundred i guess this is why i have not lost any weight these past 3 months :/
  • jennifer8989
    jennifer8989 Posts: 59 Member
    Im not trying to starve myself at all .