net calories?

I'm 186lbs. I've gained 20lbs in one year. I'm ready to lose it. I've been reading that I need to burn more calories than I consume. In that case, should my net calories be as to zero at the end of the day?

Replies

  • No net calories should be at what mfp set u at. Im set at 1200 so at the end of the day my net calories should be around 1200

    The trick is to eat healthier food so your body doesn't store it as fat.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    MPF is set up for you to net whatever your calorie goal is, not 0. If your calorie goal is 1500, eat 1500 calories. If your goal is 1500, but you workout and burn 300 more, you get to eat 1800, but your net is still 1500. On your home page, if you eat all of your calories for the day, it will say 0 calories left.
  • 2stepscloser
    2stepscloser Posts: 2,900 Member
    Allow MfP to set your calories but make sure your net for the day equals at least 1200. For example, if I'm allowed 1600 but burn 600, I ensure that I eat enough to net 1200 for the day.
  • jenniferlynn36
    jenniferlynn36 Posts: 14 Member
    Thanks! I was a bit confused. Wohooo! weight lose here i come!
  • jenniferlynn36
    jenniferlynn36 Posts: 14 Member
    oh my goodness. I set myself at 1200, consumed 1202, then burned 858, this mean that i need to eat 856 more calories before i go to sleep?!?
  • Not necessarily. I eat when I am hungry. If I am not hungry i don't make myself eat all the calories I am "supposed" to. Today I burned a little over 1,000 calories. My net is at -462 right now. I don't think I will be able to eat 1662 at dinner lol. So I will eat till I feel full enough and leave it at that. Its really up to you though if you want to eat those calories back or not.
  • jenniferlynn36
    jenniferlynn36 Posts: 14 Member
    What work outs do you do? I wanna burn 1000!
  • I do tae bo by billy banks (fat burn accelerator) for 50 min and a 28 min video on my cable called cardio burn advanced level. The tae bo Burns a whole lot of calories. I like the one I'm doing because it feels more like strength training than cardio. So in a day I get strength training and cardio :)
  • jenniferlynn36
    jenniferlynn36 Posts: 14 Member
    I've just been doing like 10 minutes of zumba, then dance central, maybe some fitness on the kinect, then some running
  • If you do 50-60 min of zumba or tae bo you should burn close to 1000 calories
  • So much broscience up in here.

    When you're counting calories burnt you've also got to remove your BMR for the time period you are exercising. Just because it say's you've burnt 1000 calories doesn't mean it's 1000 calories on top of your BMR, it's 1000 calories including your BMR.
  • Also, idk if you know this (please don't think I assume you are "dumb" or something) but strength training is good to do also not just cardio. You still lose weight. You need the strength training to build muscle. If you just do cardio you will burn fat and muscle you have. If you burn muscle it makes working out even harder. This is something I just learned recently. This is my first time really trying to lose weight.
  • realme56
    realme56 Posts: 1,093 Member
    It is unlikely that you are burning 1000 calories in an hour, ever. Get a heart rate monitor or at least monitor your heart rate multiple times during exercise then use a site for estimating calorie burns based on that average. DOn't use numbers on machines or estimates on MFP, not reliable.
  • kcaffee1
    kcaffee1 Posts: 759 Member
    Also, if you swim you can burn a TON of calories. Though, be leery of the MFP burns - the general consensus is that those burns are way off for most people. There are a ton of great estimators if you'll google them for your preferred activities. After a while, you can "train" MFP to your particular level of activity, which will bring it a little better in line with the external estimators (or with your HRM if you are lucky enough to have one.)

    [HRM = heart rate monitor]

    I've also taken to eating just some of my exercise calories back, not all of them. Especially on days that I swim. (Kind of hard to eat back over 3000 calories after lunch ::grins::) So, if you know you are going to work out hard, think ahead if you can, and try to spread out the extra calories so you are not stuck at the end of the day with a massive chunk of your "allowance" left to eat in a short time frame. That can make it frustrating to no end!
  • Thanks for that info! I'm going to go check it out to see how much I am really burning
  • jenniferlynn36
    jenniferlynn36 Posts: 14 Member
    Thanks for that info! I'm going to go check it out to see how much I am really burning

    I bought my heart rate monitor before i started trying to loss weight. Without it i feel lost. It's cool to see how you HR effects how much you lose