Extremely Confused about NET Calories? Please Explain!

alegria_marie09
alegria_marie09 Posts: 27
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello Everyone :-) I'm 18 year old female, 1.82m which is about 6ft and a hefty 230 pounds. Call me stupid, but I'm literally confused on the whole net calories. My goal calorie is 1,960 per day. I have been doing it for a week. I have been eating between 500'1500 calories a day, BUT do 1-2 hours of power walking on a treadmill 5 days a week. I have lost 2 Pounds so far in 5 days and wondering if its an unhealthy weight loss. This NET issue is driving me up the wall. Today my NET was 702 is that bad, good? Please explain it to me in the simplest terms and if i keep going like this is it bad?

Please Excuse my ''Dumbness', Even after hours of research it doesn't seem to be clicking.

Thank you & God Bless ♥

Replies

  • tricksee
    tricksee Posts: 835 Member
    Call me stupid

    Try to nett your goal caloric intake to ensure you aren't left a too big a deficit after exercise, stupid.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    If you goal calorie is 1960 (really ?) that's your net after exercise. The calories remaining on your diary (green numbers at the bottom) should be minimised (hitting zero on them all would mean you exactly hit the targets, but you don't have to be that exact).

    Your diary is closed so we can't see what you're actually doing.

    The "net" thing is what you eat minus your logged exercise. So if you ate 2200 calories and exercised 240 your net would be 2200- 240 and that hits your goal of 1960.
  • dalemckeown
    dalemckeown Posts: 46 Member
    Net calories is your daily goal calories plus your exercise calories.

    Example, if you were aiming for 2000 calories a day and did 200 calories worth of exercise, your net calories would be 2200.

    Many people find it hard to eat to their net calories if they are doing lots of exercise. My target is 1730 calories a day and i burned way over 1000 calories yesterday. I finished the day with 600 calories or so 'spare' in my net calories.
  • kristy6ward
    kristy6ward Posts: 332 Member
    Think about your body as a car. Your calorie goal is the amount of calories your body needs to maintain body function and preform daily activities. I should already have a deficit built in to the goal amount, so you see a weight loss at the end of the week.

    If you exercise, you need more fuel (food). Otherwise your deficit keeps increasing and you are not functioning with enough calories. If you don't put gas in the car, it doesn't go. You want to NET as close to your goal as possible if you are using the mfp method of calorie counting.

    If you are following the TDEE-x% method, your exercise calories should already have been calculated into your calorie goal and you do not eat back your exercise calories, you eat your set number and stop.
  • kcoftx
    kcoftx Posts: 765 Member
    http://www.sparkteens.com/
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member

    Example, if you were aiming for 2000 calories a day and did 200 calories worth of exercise, your net calories would be 2200.

    Umm no. If you eat 2200 and burn 200 from exercise your net is 2000 (2200-200), as eating 2000 with no exercise is the same as eating 2200 and burning 200 from exercise on the day.
  • LadyPakal
    LadyPakal Posts: 256 Member
    "Example, if you were aiming for 2000 calories a day and did 200 calories worth of exercise, your net calories would be 2200. "



    You mean GROSS calories would be 2200.

    Gross is total number calories eaten. Net is the gross minus exercise calories.

    OP, you are eating far too few calories if you have a goal of 1960 (this seems a little high but given your height, weight and age may be ok) and are netting between 500-1500. FAR TOO FEW.

    The Net value is your goal - so your net intake should be 1960.


    Also, you will lose a fair amount of weight when you first start - it's water weight and the loss will slow.
  • sevsmom
    sevsmom Posts: 1,172 Member
    Your body needs a basic amount of calories to maintain itself properly. So MFP takes that into account when it calculates your NET Calories for the day. Do you have to hit it perfectly every day? No. But at your height/weight. . . a net of 700 on a regular basis isn't really great. You should definitely be upping the GOOD QUALITY foods you are eating. It seems odd, but you DO need to eat enough to keep your body healthy while losing weight. You have to feed the machine!!
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
    Your goal is how many calories you should eat normally. Your net is how many calories you have when you take your goal calories and ADD IN your exercise calories.

    You should always try to eat as many calories as the MyFitnessPal says "XXX Calories Remaining."
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    If you goal calorie is 1960 (really ?) that's your net after exercise.

    I'm a bit shorter and weighed a bit less to start..

    If I had to guess, the poster included her regular daily exercise when MFP said "How active are you?" Therefore, she shouldn't be eating back any of those calories.

    OP: When MFP asks how active you are, it's asking about activity *outside of* planned exercise. If you include a regular walk (to work or school, for example), then you should NOT log that walk as exercise, or eat back those calories.

    MFP uses your height, weight, age, and activity level to come up with the number of calories it takes to maintain your current weight.
    Then it takes that number and subtracts 500 calories/day for 1 pound a week (or 1000 for 2, or 250 for 0.5).
    That's your goal. It assumes you are exactly as active each day as you told MFP you are.
    Some people don't include their exercise in their "activity level." If you exercise, you need MORE calories to maintain, and you can eat more calories to have a 500-calorie deficit.
    If you don't eat back your exercise calories, you will have a larger deficit. This sounds awesome, right? Huge deficit brings faster results?
    Well, except that too large a deficit can be too hard for your body to sustain. It can cause you to start binging, or it can cause your body to slow down your metabolism, or it can set off a cycle of yo-yo weight loss and gain.

    Long story short: OP? Try to eat your goal.
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
    WHAT IS YOUR GOAL???

    The higher the activity level you pick, the more calories MFP gives you......
    For example, when I started, i just had a baby...... I picked Sedentary... at 190 pounds it gave me 1200 calories a day.
    Now... it is set to maintain..... it gives me 1480 calories a day.


    WHAT WOULD IT SAY IF YOU SWITCHED TO SEDENTARY??? Take that and add your exercise calories. That is how much you should eat a day. I'm guessing it would be around 1800 calories a day.

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