so confused!

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dianne223
dianne223 Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I know this has been covered so many times, but im simple :P can someone please explain as clearly as possible net calories and calories. I want to get everything as close to right as possible so I can reach my goal rate with as much ease as I can.

I go to the gym 5 days a week mixing cardio with weights in the morning, I burn around 800 calories. Then I am consuming around 1400 - 1600 throughout the rest of the day. Does this mean I am wasting my time and im eating back the 800 I have burned plus more? Will this mean I won't lose weight? Btw I am sedentary through the rest of the day, as in I don't do any other forms of activity, just the morning workouts.

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  • tabbyavalon
    tabbyavalon Posts: 58
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    the daily calories are what ur body needs 2 survive for the day
    the extra calories you get from exercise u have to eat so u dont get ill
    the daily calories already involve a deficit which helps u lose weight

    ie:
    i need 1500 calories a day
    my allowance lets me have 1200 thats a 300 cal deficit with staying still
    to see how many calories u should eat a day go 2 apps bmr
  • Carolyn_79
    Carolyn_79 Posts: 935 Member
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    MFP gives you a calorie limit based on the activity level you entered and how many pounds a week you want to lose. Lets say MFP set you a 1400 calories a day. This already includes a deficit. If you burn 800 working out then you are only netting 600 calories a day. You want to net 1400 so you eat back your exercise calories to ensure the deficit isn't too large. If you think maybe you're overestimating your burn you could eat back half or 75% of your exercise calories and see how that goes.
  • dianne223
    dianne223 Posts: 2
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    mfp has given me 1200 net, I assume this is what I have to have no matter what, even on the days im not at the gym, is this right?

    it says my bmr is 1,349, so using the harris benedict equation would it be 1349 x 1.55 = 2090
    then to lose a pound a week would I take away 500 from this?
    to lose 2 would I take 1000? though this would put me under 1200....
  • krisiepoo
    krisiepoo Posts: 710 Member
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    Here's a super easy way to do it:

    1. Go to Scoobys calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
    2. Put in how much exercise you do (he breaks it down as exercise you do during the week)
    3. Eat at -20% of your TDEE (they give you that number)

    then you don't have to worry about net cals or exercise cals because it's all worked out for you.
  • DogTrainingGal
    DogTrainingGal Posts: 8
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    Calories = how much you take in (eat/drink).

    Net calories = how many calories you ate/drank minus the amount you burned off doing exercise/activities.

    For example, if you ate 1500 calories worth of food for the day and then exercised and burned off 300 calories, you would have a net calorie balance of 1200.

    Calories minus calories burned equals net calories.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Read these:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/383956-exercise-calories-explained
    and
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

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