Getting in a twist over NET cal's! Help!

kitwright
kitwright Posts: 15 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Help! I cant get my head around the net calories!!!!
I'm aiming to eat 1200 cals a day (which i usual do) then i add my exercise calories (usually about 300 cals) and I end up netting 900 cals per day.. is this too few? should I be aiming to net 1200 after exercise???in effect eating back the exercise cals? or does it defeat the point of exerting if you eat all the extra cals you burned?

really confused?

Replies

  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    MFP already sets you up with a calorie deficit based on your personal data and how many pounds per week you said you'd like to lose. Yes you should aim to net 1200. Yes you should eat your exercise calories back. If you don't, your deficit could be far too high. While starvation mode is technically a myth, it is a fact that if you don't eat enough calories/nutrients, your body will store what it feels it's lacking, usually in the form of fat. You may lose at first with such a large deficit but will likely stall out after a time.

    Not sure how tall you are but according to the ticker on your profile page, you don't have much to lose and therefore a large deficit won't work so well for you. I'd suggest setting your weight loss per week to 1/2 pound - healthy and realistic and you should get more calories.
  • kitwright
    kitwright Posts: 15 Member
    Okay, perfect thanks!

    I weight about 56/57kgs at the mo and would like to be 53/54 kg. I'm 5'2... so i've not a lot to loose that's why I find it so frustration, that it seem to take so long.

    thanks for your help...x

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