What are "net" calories?

By your description, it sounds like you already pretty much understand net calories.

The "net" is amount that remains after deductions which is just a different way of saying the total calories you ate (1200) minus what you burned (300), is your net (900). So when you are looking at your calorie count for the day, focus on your net calories.

This site should give you an idea of how many calories you need to eat in order to reach your goal weight healthily. Just look under the "Goals" tab in your home page. It all depends on your current weight and how many calories you burn while exercising. And it sounds like you are exercising plenty, so make sure you eat enough to make up for all those those calories burned. I think 1200 is the standard minimum for female calorie intake per day.

When I got started, this thread really helped me determine how many calories to eat. Usually, you should at minimum net 1200 (and your definition of net was correct). But I learned from this thread that most of us don't have to eat this few calories, and in fact, shouldn't. Hope it helps you. (And thanks to helloitsdan. All his posts have pretty much helped me .

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Just be careful... 1200 Calories is really on the low side. Especially if you are also exercising. Net of 900 is not good. Try get it up to 1500 (-300 exercise).

For extremely obese people, they are sometimes put on a Very Low Cal Diet of 800 cal but are then monitored constantly by doctors. So 900 is very close to this amount. Try get in a further 200 - 300 cal. Also, this should help you loose quicker believe it or not!

sorry I meant calorie

Is it, like, say I eat 1200 calories, burn 300 and my net becomes 900. Is that right?

And, anyone have any idea how many calories I should eat? I lift 3x a week for 35 minutes, and walk 5x a week for 60 minutes. Trying to lose 20 - 25 pounds! Thanks!

Correct...but you should net to 1200...which means you eat back exercise calories. If you're doing a 1200 calorie plan, it's not really "optional"...1200 calories is nothing...birds eat 1200 calories. Even if you're completely sedentary with no exercise, you should be getting at least 1200 calories.

If you need to lose 20-25 Lbs, set your goal to 1 lb per week. As you get closer...within 10 Lbs you'll have to go even slower if you want your body to respond...0.5 Lbs per week. Net to your calorie goal...i.e. eat your exercise calories back. When i was doing MFP method, I ate back about 70-80% of mine to account for estimation error. I'm not at goal weight with 35 Lbs lost.

thank you so much scottyg70 & cwolfman13 I thought I had to eat just what it was recommending me to eat and if I had calories left over(net) that it was good a couple more questions ok I have to eat 1470 a day to lose 1 1/2 lbs a week I work out 5x a week and burn 500-560 calories when I work out now how much net calories is good to have left over after each week to still obtain my weight loss my starting weight was 238 I am 227 now and I have been doing this since march 31 but I think alot the weight I lost at first was water weight so I want to make sure the pounds still keep coming off any advice???

What does "bump" mean? I see it a lot in these threads. I have been working with MFP for one week. Thanks!

it means "promote this to the top of the list" or "make it so I can find it later"

incredibly irritating, FFS why not contribute to the discussion !