Understanding Calories Log

ThisMomBlog
ThisMomBlog Posts: 4 Member
edited November 2023 in Getting Started
Hi, I'm not really new, just unsuccessfully repetitive. So far I've lost 9 lbs, most of which is water weight I'm assuming. But I really want to do this right and have a few questions. I've read some hold posts about 'net calories' and am confused. My general understanding is that you should burn MORE calories than your EAT in a day in order to promote weight loss.

So far today I've logge a total of 1696 calories consumed (my custom goal is 1300, just to motivate myself not to over indulge as I tend to do). So 1696 is one number.

I did two hours on the eliptical (one hour and two different times today) and various walking that I do daily with my children to and from school. That totaled out to be 1702 calories burned.

Now...on my home screen here, it says 1696 food- 1702 exercise= -13 net. Isn't that okay?! I feel just fine and have done this similar on several days over that past near two weeks now. I don't get headaches, or lightheadedness like I've read from others.

But I do want to understand this 'net calories' bit. To me it shows that you have, indeed, burned more calories than you've eaten. And going on what I've been taught..that's a good thing! My home screen also says I have something like 1300 calories left that available to consume....but that's more than I've burned which, again to my understanding, only means I'm going to be gaining weight since I'm eating more calories than I'm burning.

Be gentle, I just trying to understand correctly. :)

And for all of you peekers, again, be gentle, we're on a limited budget so we do our best when it comes to food. Some weeks are tighter than others. I'm sure some of you know how it is. :)

Thanks so much for your advice, educated responses, and helpful tips!

Replies

  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Where are you getting the calories for exercise from?
  • AndreaL0918
    AndreaL0918 Posts: 47 Member
    I too would like to understand better. I've been on here for a long time now but have read many topics about how your net is supposed to be 1200 plus exercise calories. I too feel I've been doing it all wrong. Bump to read responses.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I too would like to understand better. I've been on here for a long time now but have read many topics about how your net is supposed to be 1200 plus exercise calories. I too feel I've been doing it all wrong. Bump to read responses.

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

    Net is caloric intake less exercise calories.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    Your body burns calories all day long doing exciting things like breathing, pumping blood, digesting food, moving around to get dressed and go potty and everything else you do. The exercise you logged is just part of what you burn all day long. If you go to your goals tab, on the right side there's a number that says something along the lines of "calories burned during normal daily activity". That's how many calories you burn whether or not you do a stitch of exercise.

    Mfp gives you a calorie goal based on that number (calories burned during normal daily activity). So any exercise you do is calories burned in addition to that number.

    The goal is to eat fewer calories than your body uses in total for the day (daily activity and exercise).

    The goal is to eat until mfp says 0 calories remaining. They do all the math for you. You don't need to further restrict on top of whatever number mfp already gave you.

    A large part of the reason people "fail" is because they are far too restrictive and aiming for perfection. Aim for something you can sustain forever and ever, amen. You don't need to eat just this side of nothing to lose weight.
  • ThisMomBlog
    ThisMomBlog Posts: 4 Member
    I workout at my apartment complex. They just had new fitness equipment installed, all from "Life Fitness". You enter the type of workout you want; I always enter cardio. It asks for your age, weight, how long you want to exercise and sets your heart rate for you. It's actually pretty neat. I noticed when I enter my numbers on MFP, here the numbers are usually higher than the machine, but I always go based on the new machines.
  • ThisMomBlog
    ThisMomBlog Posts: 4 Member
    VitaminD: I did notice that number and was confused about that too! But that does explain a lot! Thank you!!
  • IMtep
    IMtep Posts: 1 Member
    Only your doctor can tell you how much you have to lose and what your daily calories should be. I had to lose almost 100 pounds and I am halfway there since February, 2013. In addition, I am elderly, have a very bad back and much pain. My doc said max 1200 cals a day, at least 50g protein a day, the rest ok. I had to have a deficit of at least 500 cals a day from exercise to lose one pound a week. I upped the game into pounding out more miles walking, as I can't run or jump with back issues. I walk a minimum of 3 miles a day every day, even when I don't want to. I do housework, cooking and all like everyone else. In addition, 2 days a week I babysit my grandson who is 10 months old, active and, at 22 lbs., a lot to pick up. that helps. I've gone from size 22 jeans to 12, and about to move into 10s. My doc wants to see my small frame back to 125 lbs. I have 50 lbs. more to go. It gets tougher the more you lose. You have to change the game and up it in different ways. Don't give up. I can's tell you how much better I feel. Better for my back.
  • lavender_fairie
    lavender_fairie Posts: 76 Member
    You don't want to burn more calories than you have eaten. You want your net to be the goal you set (I think you said 1300?). So, eat 1300 calories -OR- eat *more* than 1300 and exercise the rest off. Let's say you ate 1500 calories- you need to exercise off only 200 calories (1500-1300=200). I know it can be confusing.

    You are working too hard! I did this before too- I worked out for 2 hours/day and are 800 calories for 6 months straight- lost 13 pounds. The minute I upped my intake and slowed down exercising I gained all that back plus 7 more pounds. Working really hard doesn't win this race. There are ppl on here who only eat their net and still lose weight, it's just slower.

    Friend me if you like. :) Your diary is closed to everyone but friends.


    Hope I helped, I'm new too but I have been down the road u r on and it ended badly. I admire your determination though!! We can do this together!
  • helpme1948
    helpme1948 Posts: 5 Member
    You explained it just great !! that is how I understood it when I read it, I check my meal list 3 times a day now to see how many more cal. I can eat.
    I have tried for years now and have stayed at 220-225 -I started this a few weeks ago at 220 with not much luck but now that I am checking on my cal every day for the last 10 days- I have lost 3 lbs --not much but I am not ging to give up without a fight this time-Doctor has ordered me to loss or else I will be in big trouble.

    thank you for confiming that I was reading it right.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I workout at my apartment complex. They just had new fitness equipment installed, all from "Life Fitness". You enter the type of workout you want; I always enter cardio. It asks for your age, weight, how long you want to exercise and sets your heart rate for you. It's actually pretty neat. I noticed when I enter my numbers on MFP, here the numbers are usually higher than the machine, but I always go based on the new machines.

    You are entering 1,702 as exercise calories - you should only be entering 'formal' exercise - i.e.above your day to day activity.

    You should then eat a portion of that back - 50 - 75% is usually good to aim for to leave a buffer for inaccuracies.
  • catfive1
    catfive1 Posts: 529 Member
    It also helps to log your food ahead of time. I plan my meals for the day in the morning. Makes it much easier to hit my calorie goals.
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
    mfp pal over estimates calories burnt. The machines in the gym overestimate the calories burnt for most people.

    By all means eat some of the calories back, especially if you have set yourself as sedentary, but it actually takes a lot of effort to burn that many calories a day on exercise. There used to be a thread on the fitness board where people where talking about the most calories they burned in a day doing exercise and it was eye opening.
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
    Here is a short note on calorie burning issue:

    Your body burns a certain number of calories everyday by just existing i.e. you would burn those even if you were sleeping in bed all day. That number is your BMR (mine is about 1240 as I am a short woman relatively light). The actual number that your body is burning every day depends on you activities and that number is referred to as you TDEE (mine is about 1600, because I am lightly active all day and I don't work out). If I eat 1600 I will stay my current weight. If I eat below that I will lose weight.

    1200 calories is a number dieticians and doctors recommended as the daily minimum as they can be reasonably sure that at that number you would get all your nutrients (macro and micro i.e. protein, fats, carbs, vitamins and minerals) from your food.

    Obviously I am highly unlikely to lose a lot of weight any given week, since the maximum deficit I could get without running into a nutritionally problem is 400 a day. In reality I eat about 1300, which is the number MFP gives me. At 300 calories a day with about 3500 calories in a pound of fat it takes me about 12 days to lose a pound of fat.

    As you noticed I mentioned lightly active as my 'activity factor'. In that I count the fact that I take the kids to school, do the cleaning, washing, shopping and anything else that I do on a daily basis. I also do a little pilates to stretch and strengthen my core, but as this doesn't actually raise my heart rate I don't log this. A couple of times a week when the time I actually go swimming or walking and then I log the exercise, but I don't go by mfp, I calculate my average speed and then go from there.

    Ultimately a lot of people underestimate the calories they are eating by either not weighing everything (measuring only liquids), going from wrong information (not all entries in mfp are correct and if you eat out calories have been known to vary up to 20% from the official number), or plain forgetting. Add to that the overestimation of calories burnt and you might end up not having a calorie deficit despite your best intentions and without that, you won't lose weight.

    Good luck on your journey :-)
  • Gabrial5
    Gabrial5 Posts: 12
    Great answer!:smile:
This discussion has been closed.

Categories