Net Calories?

Same thing I'm trying to figure out! Accordingly someone told me it's suppose to be high. I don't really get the whole thing. It's like whatever you intake minus exercise equals net. At the end of the day mines is always low. I don't know wish I could understand it fully too. I feel really dumb not knowing whats it about but oh wells.

If you burned 2000 calories today, and you ate 2500 calories, you "net" 500 MORE calories than you are burning. If you did that every day for a week, you would (theoretically) have gained a pound (3500 calories). So if you are trying to lose weight, you want the net to be negative... If you burned 2000 calories today and you ate 1500, you net -500 calories. Do that every day for a week, and you should have lost a pound.

Most people dont burn the same number of calories per day, and dont eat the same number per day. So on a daily basis, if you average -500 net calories, you should be losing a pound a week roughly.

Its ok to look at the daily number, but it means more I think if you look at the weekly totals. If you burned 2000 calories every day for 7 days, you burned 14000 calories. If you ate 1500 calories on 3 days, 2000 on one day, and 2500 on the other three days, you would have eaten 14000 calories... you net 0 for the week and your weight will stay constant, even though some days you ate much less than others. It means that if you "mess up" one day, you can still make up for it at a weekly level. It helps take some pressure off the day to day, and it helps you not kick yourself hard if you happen to have a rough day.

MFP only displays calories burned OVER your base rate. So look into your goal settings for your base rate. If you add that to the exercise calories, you get what I described above.

In the goal settings, it tells you your "goal" net calories based on what you are trying to accomplish... So that is your judgement number you are trying to hit. It already has your 500 calorie deficit built in (if that is what you were attempting), so that is just the number you want your net to match.

You need to know your BMR (the calories you burn when resting). So for example, if your BMR is 1500, and you eat 1500 and stay all day sleeping, you wouldn't gain, but stay the same. Since this is probably something you never do, if you eat 1500 per day, you would lose weight.

Now, the net is what @aylajane explained, but you need to eat those calories you've burned. It's healthier if they are not negative.
It's like a treat, if you do excercise, that day you can eat more.

personally I wouldn't log the exercise because MFP from what Ive used and heard others say some of the numbers aren't accurate.

I know that in a 24 hr period I burn about 2500-2800 generally on work days and exercise days. I have bodymedia and it figures out how many steps I take ,how many calories I burn while exercsing and sleeping and just everyday things.

I non work days or no exercise days I don't burn more like 2000-2400.

I eat about 1200-1600 cals. Some days I may not eat even 1200. Depends on how sleepy/tired I am or what I am doing that day.

Sometimes I don't get enough water it.

With all this said. It looks as though I should be dropping 2 pounds a week ,right ? but I generally loose inches first and faster then pounds.

As long as their is a 500 cal deficit daily or 3500 cal deficit a week.

Your energy availability, or net as they call it here, should be calculated based on your fat mass and how much weight loss your body can realistically experience per week. As a rule, the less body fat one has, the smaller the deficit should be resulting in a higher net calorie amount. For example, if a person has a goal to drop 25 lbs, then their weight loss goal weekly should be no higher than 1 lb per week. Although it is not entirely accurate for all persons due to total body weight, the approximate 3500 calories is the rough estimate of 1 lb. Thus, a 500 calorie total deficit each day would lead to that 1 lb weight loss per week. Someone with 100 lbs of weight to lose can aim for a weekly weight loss goal of 2 lbs (or more) which would double the deficit to 1000 calories. Naturally, this person will have to reduce the deficit as their fat mass decreases.

The deficit is the sum of less calories below TDEE eaten and increased exercise calories. Thus, your deficit is comprised of those two variables. For the example above, you can partition a 500 calorie deficit by eating 350 calories under actual TDEE and engage in 150 calories of total exercise. By these figures, a person with a TDEE of 2000 calories would eat 1650 calories and exercise a total of 150 calories to establish the 500 calorie deficit. The net would be 1500 calories.

BMR is your Base Metabolic Rate meaning that it is the LOWEST amount that you need to eat in order to fuel your body while just lying in bed all day

nope, it's the amount of calories that will be used to fuel your body, whether those calories come from what you eat or the hundreds of thousands in your fat reserves.

If you had to eat to fuel your body you wouldn't be able to sleep, as the 60 calories you use at 4am wouldn't be available, so we've evolved to have fat stores. That's why it takes a hunger striker some months to die, rather than a few hours or a day or two.

I don't know what all these long explanations are trying to get to. It may have something to do with BMR or even the FAA for that matter, but none of that matters for understanding "net.' Here it is: READ "NET" on MFP as NET NUMBER OF CALORIES EATEN!

MFP gives you a certain number of allowed calories per day, say 2000. If you eat 1000, then exercise off 500 of them, MFP says your "net" is 500--in other words, your net number of calories eaten is 500. You actually ate 1000, but then you worked off 500, so only 500 are left to be applied to your total. After you ate the 1000, you only had 1000 left for the day, but now that you worked off 500 (making you "net 500"), MFP says you have 1500 left for the day!

SIDENOTE: I try to stay under my daily initial limit, and don't eat the calories it allows me to eat once I worked them off. Personal choice.

Am I missing something? I am trying to match the number given for "goal" with the number showing for "net" right?

On your food page, it has Your Daily Goal and Totals. Your total amount of calories eaten should match the goal number.

Ok, so say your daily calorie goal is 1,500.

Think of your body as a bank account. At the start of each day, your bank account is completely empty, with a balance of $0.00. By the end of the day, you need to be exactly $1,500 dollars in credit. No more, no less.

So if you deposit $2,000, you need to withdraw at least $500 by the end of the day, so that you end up with $1,500.

If you only deposit $1,500 one day, you needn't withdraw any.

If another day, you withdraw $1,000 at the start of one day, then your balance will be -$1,000; so you'll need to deposit $2,500 to make your balance at the end of the day reach $1,500.

Your body works the same way.

If you eat 2,000 calories in one day, you need to burn at least 500 calories off with exercise, so that your net at the end of the day is 1,500.

Alternatively, one day you could eat 1,500, but not burn any off, and your net would still be 1,500 for the day.

Or, if you go crazy one day and burn off 1,000 calories with exercise, you need to eat 2,500 calories that day to bring your net back up to 1,500.

It's simple maths.

Calories in MINUS calories out EQUALS net calories.

2,000 calories eaten MINUS 500 calories burned EQUALS 1,500 net calories.

Your NET CALORIES should match the daily goal that My Fitness Pal gives you.

For the Myfitnesspal system, you want to eat until your Net is "0".

Read these:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again


Just eat to zero. Not under, not over. Zero.

I keep thinking I understand this, but then trying to explain is hard, and then I read something like this...

On my home page right now, it says Goal=1640... Food=1421 (that is truly what I ate so far today), Exercise=-657 (I went on a hike this morning... I am writing this at 5pm, so I know I did not only burn that much the whole day - it is truly only that above and beyond my base rate showing in my goals tab)... and my "net" is currently 1421-657 = 764...

There is NO WAY i can "eat until my net is 0" on the MFP system! Since it only counts in the exercise number the amount ABOVE my TDEE (which is also 1640 - I dont like it calculating the deficit for me), I would have to stop eating at 657 calories until I somehow burn another 800 calories and eat nothing else today...

Am I missing something? I am trying to match the number given for "goal" with the number showing for "net" right?

Okay, I was talking about the bottom of the math equation on the bottom line of your Food Diary. Not the "Net" calories shown in the very misleading "NET" on your Home page. I think a lot of the confusion here is around that.

Eat until you get to "0" at the bottom of your Food Diary if you are using the Myfitnesspal system.

Since you have stated that you want to eat to your TDEE? ....if your TDEE is 1640, then eat that everyday and don't add in your exercise calories...but if you are asking Myfitnesspal to calculate FOR you to help you lose weight, then it will calculate a deficit somewhere below your TDEE. IF your TDEE is 1640, it will subtract an amount in order to create a deficit so you will lose weight.

If you don't want to add in your exercise calories, don't. Eat at just a little below your TDEE every day. Don't track your exercise here. You're making this way. too. complicated. Keep it Simples.

Well, here's how I do it, and it is what has made it simple for me.

I think of that number (daily goal) that I start off wth every morning (in my case 1200 calories) as cash in my wallet, and I cannot spend what I do not have.

That gives me 1200 to spend on food each day. By working (exercizing), I earn more cash (calories), and therefore, have more to spend on even more food (calories).

If I planned well, and logged everything, at the end of the day, I will have spent nearly all my cash,leaving me with zero or close to zero in my wallet.

Okay, I admit I might even spend up to 100 calories beyond the 1200 allowed, which leaves me with -100 (in red) at the end of the day. Not that big a deal, so long as I don't make it a habit.

Next day, just start over, fresh, with that wallet full of cash (calories) to spend on food.

Does this help?

I gave mfp all my stats, and chose my goals, and then just let mfp set me up accordingly. I find all those other details distracting, so I just focus on that daily goal/cash and try to make healthy choices most of the time (but not all of the time, I need my ice cream).