Can someone explain net calories to me? I'm confused.

You really should be eating those calories back, or else you aren't giving your body sufficient fuel to operate, leading to all sorts of problems (trust me, I know, I've got them, but I'm trying to fix them...)

So if your goal for calories is 1500
and you eat exactly 1500 calories in a day,
but then you exercise 500 of them away,
you have only netted 1000 calories for the day,
NOT ENOUGH calories to sustain your body's daily functioning needs.

You may end up loosing weight faster, but you will be giving up lean body mass (all those super awesome muscles that burn more calories than fat etc....) and bone mass (because your body will start leeching nutrients from your bones to fill the deficit) and mess with your hormones (because your body will go into starvation mode and therefore not function as a normal and healthy body should)

You don't necessarily need to eat ALL of the calories back, but even if you do, you should still be on track to loose about 1 lb a week since MFP does calculate the deficit you need to be at to lose weight through caloric restriction.

Ok, I'm with you if we're using the MFP calorie guideline/plan- MFP assumes you'll exercise, gives you a lower general number daily, which you boost up by moving the booty.

Say we're using TDEE - 20%. That already takes into account exercise. In that case, do I want to just eat the TDEE - 20% calorie goal (in my case, around 1600), or do I need to NET 1600. Thanks for all your helpful feedback!

The easiest way to understand it is that Net Calories how much food your body has to run on after you've finished exercising.

If your goal is 1500 calories, that means your goal is to NET 1500 calories. After you finish logging your exercise, you need 1500 calories to run your body (breath, move, grow, think) and STILL LOSE WEIGHT.

Your calorie deficit (500 calories a day if you're trying to lose a pound a week) is already taken out before they calculate your goal.

If you just wanted to maintain your weight, you'd have to net 2000.

So I need to eat back my burned calories? I'm confused about TDEE, BMR, etc and where I should be....

Right.

BMR - Basic Metabolic Rate. This is how many calories your body burns just to stay alive. This is what you would burn if you were in a coma.

TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is how many calories you burn in a day including exercise, and can vary greatly depending on your activity levels. A person with a desk job that literally comes home and watches TV, would have a much lower TDEE than say a nurse that comes home and goes on a 5 mile run every night.

There are two ways you can do it:

You can use the MFP way, set your activity level to sedentary and goal to lose 1lb per week, and log and eat back your exercise calories. If you are going to do that, I recommend buying a HRM for maximum accuracy.

Or, you can work out your TDEE, eat 20% below that, and DO NOT eat back your exercise calories, as they will already be accounted for in your TDEE. This works best if you have a set routine. If your exercise is irregular, I'd recommend the 1st option.

Hope this helps.

I'm really confused too! My net is usually 100-300, my calorie goal consumption is 1.2k (I usually eat between 1.2-1.4k) and I exercise about 900 cals every day on average. I'm 5'10, and 161 lbs. I know that for me to stay on my current weight I would have to consume 1.2k but I'm not sure what the net means? I thought I was suppose to create a deficit so I could lose weight?

Wow I feel pretty dumb now thanks for clearing this up!

Let me clear all this up for those who are still confused, since I've successfully lost fat without MFP in the past, and I started using it recently and have actually messed up my calculations on it and learned the hard way. Now I finally understand how MFP works.

First the basics:

BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate: The amount of calories you need to perform basic functions; to live. This is based on your BMI (Body Mass Index - roughly calculated by height/weight ratio) and age.
TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure: The amount of calories YOU are burning everyday. This is your activity level.

Generally, in order to SAFELY lose weight, you must have a maximum daily (exception: cheat meal day) calorie deficit of 20% of TDEE. Never go below your BMR.

In MFP, your 'TDEE minus Deficit equals Goal calories'. It calculates your 'Goal calories' according to the activity level you select. This is what confused me when I first started using it because it calculated my goal as 1200, which is much below my BMR and dangerous; however, I didn't realize that MFP also adds your logged exercise calories to 'Net calories' and hence 'Remaining calories'.

This means that if you want to let MFP calculate your goal calories (according to your age, weight, height, activity level settings), then you must stay true to the 'activity level' you've selected.

I, personally, prefer to use Scooby's calculator, as I have been doing for several years. I let it determine my BMR and my exact goal according to ZERO activity level. I plug in my calculated "Daily calories based on goal in step 6" into MFP as my goal calories.

THE MOST CONFUSING PART ABOUT MFP:
You have two options in the way you use MFP, which is where everyone gets confused; the whole 'net calories' business.

1. If you're using MFPs goal calories calculator (and being honest about your activity level) OR if you're Scooby's calculator (with zero activity) as your goal calories (like I am), then you MUST log your daily exercise into MFP, not just your food intake. MFP deducts your exercise calories from your 'net calories' and adds them to your 'remaining calories' of the day. If you do it this way, you must try to get the 'remaining calories' as close to 'zero' everyday. No need to even look at 'goal calories' and 'net calories' then.

2. If you are NOT logging your daily exercise into MFP (but you're still working out), you must list your activity level as sedentary in MFP (it should be the first choice in the list), and let it calculate your goal calories. OR you can use Scooby's calculator as mentioned above, but this time use an accurate activity level (not sedentary).

Both these above options will show you the correct 'remaining calories' you have to eat per day, instead of you worrying about 'net calories'.

Note: As you lose weight, you must ensure your goal calories are adjusted. If you're letting MFP calculate them, you must update your weight in the app. If you're using Scooby's calculator, you must recalculate with your new weight and add the new goal into MFP.

I hope this has cleared it up for anyone who's still confused.

I learned the hard way, because for two weeks I had plugged in Scooby's calculated calories (with an accurate activity level) as my goal calories in MFP, but I was ALSO logging all my exercises into MFP, giving me surplus calories to eat without me realizing it. Now I am using Scooby's 'sedentary' calculation. Phew!

Good luck all.

Thanks for the "simple" explanation. It helped me!