Negative net calories

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katmustbeskinny
katmustbeskinny Posts: 41
in Health and Weight Loss
How bad is it to go negative in your net? I have a really hard time eating back everything. Is this a bad thing? What happens when you do go into the negative net calories? I heard that it eats away at your muscles when you do that. I mean, I feel just fine. I do kind of get light headed sometimes, but it's not bad .

Bottom line, how bad is it to go into the negative net calories?
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Replies

  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
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    Is this a joke?
  • Celebi03
    Celebi03 Posts: 310 Member
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    You should at least eat half of your exercise calories back.
  • elis_mama
    elis_mama Posts: 308 Member
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    That's what I was thinking....how can you be negative and not falling over from hunger and exhaustion? you have no calories for energy!
  • jayrae87
    jayrae87 Posts: 36 Member
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    You obviously don't feel fine if you're getting light-headed....don't be so scared of food. It won't keep you from being "skinny".
  • mjl54
    mjl54 Posts: 127 Member
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    easier than you think

    eat a normal size breakfast (at least for me) 500 calories then go on a road bike trip for 2 hours where i burn sometimes 1400 calories.

    when i get back i eat my morning snack and im still alot of times negative and i feel great.
    now there is no way I could be negative by the end of the day that would be crazy.
  • elis_mama
    elis_mama Posts: 308 Member
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    easier than you think

    eat a normal size breakfast (at least for me) 500 calories then go on a road bike trip for 2 hours where i burn sometimes 1400 calories.

    when i get back i eat my morning snack and im still alot of times negative and i feel great.
    now there is no way I could be negative by the end of the day that would be crazy.

    Right. I totally get that. I mean, you put in a great workout and get an awesome burn, but at the end of the day? Sheesh! There's no way to be negative at the end of the day on a daily basis and be healthy.
  • watfordjc
    watfordjc Posts: 304 Member
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    How often is it?

    For me the biggest question (other than possible reduced exercise performance and recovery) would be what happens when you have lost the weight and enter maintenance (or a surplus if you then focus on increasing lean mass).

    It will probably be less of a problem for an active person who gets to a negative net due to a lot of exercise than it would be for a sedentary person who gets there from not eating enough, as the active person will probably cut back on exercise to stop losing weight (and their body will probably slow them down when it needs to recover a bit) whereas the sedentary person will have to increase food consumption to stop losing weight (which if they are already having trouble with could be a big issue).

    I'm generally hungry the day after I do a lot of exercise, so I eat some of my exercise calories then. Since my main exercise is walking, on my long walks I usually eat back half my exercise calories during my walk and the other half after or the next day. Doing it that way probably wouldn't be feasible if I were doing something like swimming or skiing, so I'm not sure what I'd do then - at present when my appetite is reduced, I usually cut back on the exercise.
  • katmustbeskinny
    katmustbeskinny Posts: 41
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    I get my exercise from riding my bike and some abdominal exercises when I wake up in the morning. I usually bike for 45 - 65 mins, depending on the rout I take. I also don't like eating a lot of junk, so it's harder for me to get the calories—without bingeing—when I eat raw.
  • Alex_Silvers
    Alex_Silvers Posts: 1 Member
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    New to this whole weight loss thing. I thought the whole point was to go negative.. so I"m assuming you mean you burn more calories exercising than you eat in a day? I think your body will reject this in some unhealthy ways. You're workouts won't be very effective.

    On a side note, I wish not being able to eat enough was my problem : /
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Oh dear.... I presume you don't want any muscle? Or hair? What about Nails?
  • missveeoh
    missveeoh Posts: 90 Member
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    That's what I was thinking....how can you be negative and not falling over from hunger and exhaustion? you have no calories for energy!

    Now I feel extremely guilty and scared. I thought it was okay to be negative. :( I've been negative nets for over 2 months or so....
    I'll consume more!!!!! Btw, this might explain my constant headaches..
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    :sad:
  • MzManiak
    MzManiak Posts: 1,361 Member
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    How do you know your negative if you don't log your food or exercise?:huh:
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    New to this whole weight loss thing. I thought the whole point was to go negative.. so I"m assuming you mean you burn more calories exercising than you eat in a day? I think your body will reject this in some unhealthy ways. You're workouts won't be very effective.

    On a side note, I wish not being able to eat enough was my problem : /

    Oh heavens no. MFP gives you a certain number of calories you should be eating. This calorie value is already below your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), you are technically "negative" in the sense that you mean. When you exercise, MFP adds extra calories to your total for the day to keep you deficit (the amount below your TDEE) constant. At the end of the day, your "Calories Remaining" total from MFP should be close to zero. If that total is negative, it means you have essentially eaten nothing that day. Your deficit on negative calories is huge, which can lead to a host of health problems and can prohibit fat loss (you'll still lose weight, but most of it will be muscle and lean body mass, which you want to keep). You need to eat close to your goal every day in order to make sure that you stay healthy.
  • KellyyT
    KellyyT Posts: 41 Member
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    That's what I was thinking....how can you be negative and not falling over from hunger and exhaustion? you have no calories for energy!

    Now I feel extremely guilty and scared. I thought it was okay to be negative. :( I've been negative nets for over 2 months or so....
    I'll consume more!!!!! Btw, this might explain my constant headaches..

    how much are you burning per work out that you've been "negative net for over 2 MONTHS"?? the lowest MFP will allow you to go is 1200, so unless you're burning over 1000 every day, or not eating anything, i wonder if you're tracking correctly.

    if it's a gym day, i usually net negative until i have dinner. because i work the midnight shift, my hours are weird, so i work out in the morning, snack, sleep, then eat "lunch" when i wake up. so if i burn 700 cals, but only have a 250 cal breakfast at work, and a 350 cal lunch, i'm still in the negatives. but then i'll catch back up having a good sized dinner and snacks throughout the day.

    but to STILL be negative at the end of the day? what are you eating? paper?
  • shadus
    shadus Posts: 424 Member
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    Negative net calories on a regular basis is effectively starvation more or a less. Most people who aren't watching calories hit net negative calories on occasion but it's something you should avoid if you can. Being 'light headed' is not a trivial thing, it's your body telling you to eat or quit moving as much. If you don't listen, you will have increasing negative health effects until you have no choice but to listen. See anorexic stories with permanent heart damage, hair loss, and brittle bones.

    If you're worried because your margin of error is small, get a HRM it estimates more accurately than most time/weight/age estimates do.

    Edit: reading further on, you mention you try to eat clean/raw... this is no excuse for not meeting your calories goal. There are many *very* high calorie clean healthy foods you can eat. See Avocado, Coconut Oils, Nuts, Cheese, Dried Fruits (great trail food for hiking), etc.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    How do you know your negative if you don't log your food or exercise?:huh:

    ^this

    If you don't ever log your food, you'll *always* be negative. Try logging your food and this problem may be resolved.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    No, it's not okay to net a negative number, especially not at 130 lbs. You want to net your goal, and since you have so little to lose you should have MFP set up to lose .5 lbs/week.

    Yes, you need to track your food so that you'll know how much you really are netting. It's called a calorie goal because you're supposed to hit it, as closely as possible.
  • Rilzy
    Rilzy Posts: 59 Member
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    I was half way saying that some times this happens because I have been 200 - 500 under because of my exercise. However... having checked back my Diary and realizing you meant 'net calories' and not 'calories remaining' I can without a doubt say that that isn't healthy.

    I am to eat 1200 calories per day but I exercise between 500 and 700 calories. The one time I ate less that 1200 calories (I had a headache and went to bed and woke up late without an appetite) when I logged my diary MFP warned me that I was eating less than 1200 cals and it was dangerous. I'd imagine that that message would come up if you've managed to get negative net calories unless you are exercising off over 1200 cals per day. Try hard to eat more because the last thing you want is your body to go into starvation mode.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    I was half way saying that some times this happens because I have been 200 - 500 under because of my exercise. However... having checked back my Diary and realizing you meant 'net calories' and not 'calories remaining' I can without a doubt say that that isn't healthy.

    I am to eat 1200 calories per day but I exercise between 500 and 700 calories. The one time I ate less that 1200 calories (I had a headache and went to bed and woke up late without an appetite) when I logged my diary MFP warned me that I was eating less than 1200 cals and it was dangerous. I'd imagine that that message would come up if you've managed to get negative net calories unless you are exercising off over 1200 cals per day. Try hard to eat more because the last thing you want is your body to go into starvation mode.

    You are meant to net your goal. So if you're burning 500 calories, you should be eating 1900.

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