NET CALORIES???HELP ME!!!!!!!

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OK, SO a friendly on here was explaining to me about Net Calories. I honestly have never looked at them before today. I havent lost weight for the last 2 months, yet have been working out and eating 1500 cals. I have lost inches, but again, NO WEIGHT.

She asked me what my net calories were at the end of the day. As I am scrolling through my phone I net 150 cals-900 cals. Does this mean Ive been starving myself???????

I eat 1500 cals, workouts are typically 1000 cals and most of the time DO NOT eat back calories. She mentioned I should probably stay above the 1500 cals for my net calories. This means eating back most /all of my workout calories.

HELP??????????????????????????????????????????????
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Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    If you use MFP as it was designed, yes, you're supposed to log your exercise and eat back the calories you earn. With the caveat that MFP and gym machines may overestimate your calories burned, so many people recommend only eating back about 70% of those calories, just in case.

    Is this why you aren't losing weight? Maybe but probably not. Your diary is closed so it's hard to give specific advice. How accurately are you tracking your calories? Are you weighing/measuring everything you eat? Have you invested in a cheap food scale yet?
  • focuseddiva
    focuseddiva Posts: 174 Member
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    How are you burning 100 calories a day? WHat exercise? That would be running 10 miles a day. That seems awfully high to me.

    The theory, as I understand it, is that you have your daily calories which you said are 1500. The NET calories are your daily calories (1500) - cals burned through exercise (1000, as you say) meaning you are netting 500 calories a day to live on. Not enough.

    I'm guessing you might be overestimating your calories burned. In general, 1500 calories should be enough for you to lose, even if you don't do any exercise. If all of your calculations are correct, I'm guessing you are not eating enough, exercising too much, and thus causing your body to really reserve every calorie you eat and therefore stall weight loss. Body goes into conserve mode. Try upping your calories a little if you are really exercising that much.
  • smoofinator
    smoofinator Posts: 635 Member
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    Bump because I'd like to know the answer too :)
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    If you use MFP as it was designed, yes, you're supposed to log your exercise and eat back the calories you earn. With the caveat that MFP and gym machines may overestimate your calories burned, so many people recommend only eating back about 70% of those calories, just in case.

    Is this why you aren't losing weight? Maybe but probably not. Your diary is closed so it's hard to give specific advice. How accurately are you tracking your calories? Are you weighing/measuring everything you eat? Have you invested in a cheap food scale yet?

    What she said.
  • prdough
    prdough Posts: 76 Member
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    How are you burning 100 calories a day? WHat exercise? That would be running 10 miles a day. That seems awfully high to me.

    The theory, as I understand it, is that you have your daily calories which you said are 1500. The NET calories are your daily calories (1500) - cals burned through exercise (1000, as you say) meaning you are netting 500 calories a day to live on. Not enough.

    I'm guessing you might be overestimating your calories burned. In general, 1500 calories should be enough for you to lose, even if you don't do any exercise. If all of your calculations are correct, I'm guessing you are not eating enough, exercising too much, and thus causing your body to really reserve every calorie you eat and therefore stall weight loss. Body goes into conserve mode. Try upping your calories a little if you are really exercising that much.

    I burn about 1000 calories a day but only log it as 800 for fear of the machine being too high. 45 mins on an eliptical plus weight training and a warm up walk can easily result in 1000 burned.

    Granted, I'm a 27 year old, 6'4 male who weighs 265 lbs.
  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
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    Well, your food diary isn't open so can't help you there and you didn't mention your workout so can't help you there. SO, what I can suggest is to weigh and measure ALL of your food to make sure you are eating what you think you're eating. And when you work out, get an HRM to track cals burned and not use the estimates on here or on the machines. With that said, you aren't a 'tiny' woman so I HIGHLY doubt you are 'starving' yourself. More than likely you are mis-calculating something somewhere.

    As for the NET cals, if you used the MFP program to calculate the 1500, then your deficit needed to lose weight is built in. So, what it does is when you enter your exercise calories, it says you should eat those back. Like a PP said, most people don't eat all of them back because it can be really inaccurate. PITA, I know, but not much else you can do. So, my suggestions are to open your diary, use a food scale for everything you can, use measuring cups for everything else, use an HRM, and track for a few weeks to see if you see any progress. Good luck OP and hopefully you find what has tripped you up!
  • focuseddiva
    focuseddiva Posts: 174 Member
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    okay yes, a 6'4 265-lb young male could burn 1000 calories in a workout. But it takes a lot for a woman who isn't severely obese to burn 1000 cals in a workout. Rule of thumb is running one mile = 100 calories burned for women. So that would be 10 miles of running. The ellipticals -- depends on resistance level, but even at one of the higher settings, it would take probably 90 minutes to burn 1000 calories for a woman of average size. And to do that EVERY day? Not likely.
  • Chimis_Siq
    Chimis_Siq Posts: 849 Member
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    In response to everyone :)

    Ive lost 40 lbs-and my 6 month mark is the 10th. I started at 272 lbs.


    I am 237 lbs-considered obese right? I work out 6 times a week, usually 2wice a day. I will do an hour or so of Zumba then walk 5 miles, and then walk my dogs.

    Or I will do an hour of Taebo, and walk 5 m iles .

    Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance . Im PRETTY SURE I burn about a 1000 cals a day. My fitness pal will sometimes say I burned 2000 cals-which I still dont believe. There it is :)

    As far as my diet , I eat pretty much the same crap just different combos everyday.
    I eat apples as snacks
    Oatmeal smoothie or green smoothie breakfast
    Snack protein bar or tuna packet or cheese stick and grapes or carrots
    lunch is usually a salad with no dressing and or low fat vinagarrette
    dinner is usually a smoothie, maybe a sandwhich, chicken & veggies.

    Simple jane!
  • Chimis_Siq
    Chimis_Siq Posts: 849 Member
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    If you use MFP as it was designed, yes, you're supposed to log your exercise and eat back the calories you earn. With the caveat that MFP and gym machines may overestimate your calories burned, so many people recommend only eating back about 70% of those calories, just in case.

    Is this why you aren't losing weight? Maybe but probably not. Your diary is closed so it's hard to give specific advice. How accurately are you tracking your calories? Are you weighing/measuring everything you eat? Have you invested in a cheap food scale yet?

    Thank you for your factual advice . I appreciate it over the opinions :) I guess Im not eating enough compared to the activity I do. I will now focus on my Net Cals. See if that makes a difference. I do track food pretty accurately. If I have chips, Ill have the serving size and will calculate for everything. I do measure what I eat but not 100% of the time. I just started Insanity to see if its maybe my body has adjust ed to the workouts I do. Thank you for your help.
  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
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    As you plan to increase calories, your safest bet would be to increase 100 at a time, so you dont freak out when your scale goes up in the begining(it will be mostly be water weight which will settle down). Rinse and repeat till you find the right balance!
    good luck
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    As I am scrolling through my phone I net 150 cals-900 cals.
    Not a chance. If you were eating 900 calories net the weight would be melting off of you.
    Does this mean Ive been starving myself???????
    No.

    It means you are eating FAR more than you think you are.

    And the odds of you burning 1000 calories in a workout are minuscule. That is the equivalent to you running (not walking - running) about 7-8 miles.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    I guess Im not eating enough compared to the activity I do.
    How on earth did you come to that conclusion from what was posted?

    The correct conclusion is that you aren't as active as you think you are, and you eat more than you think you do - so move more, eat less.
  • Chimis_Siq
    Chimis_Siq Posts: 849 Member
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    I guess Im not eating enough compared to the activity I do.
    How on earth did you come to that conclusion from what was posted?

    The correct conclusion is that you aren't as active as you think you are, and you eat more than you think you do - so move more, eat less.
    Hmm.....well I wouldnt be lying about my activity. Im very active. I work 15 hours a day Half of that is standing and walking non stop, I work out at 5 am, then again after work. I dont have the energy or time to cook but simple fast items. So yeah I am active.....but thanks for your help........I guess...lol
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance .

    I do 20 min .. and I am drained. And I am considerably lighter than you are. I somehow doubt that you can do this on a regular basis ?

    This would be like climbing 333 stories. If you can actually do this .. you are way more fit than me.
  • You are not alone in trying to figure out your equation to weight loss. If your main goal is weight loss it is easy to do:

    Calories consumed-calories burned+ mental+spiritual =weight loss or gain

    U can track all your averages yourself or have a software program do it for you. If you are using MFP alone to figure out your weight loss equation U will need to do some math. If you have tracked all your activity and food you have better data that the MFP equation will be able to produce. If you are going to use the BMR equation that MFP uses (which should not be necessary after 2-4 week of logging) you will need to make manual adjustment to your tdee on an ongoing basis which in my opinion is not the best, most accurate or easiest way to figure it out. (It being how many calories of the foods I am eating -calories burned of the activity I am doing =how much weight loss)
    Very few people hit starvation mode and if they do you can still get weight loss especially if you have a lot to lose.
  • vwbug86
    vwbug86 Posts: 283 Member
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    The only way you will not lose weight is if you are eating more than you burn.

    Also have you adjusted your calories since you lost weight?

    40lbs will drastically change the amount of cals you need to keep losing.
  • foxruddellc1
    foxruddellc1 Posts: 65 Member
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    Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance .

    I do 20 min .. and I am drained. And I am considerably lighter than you are. I somehow doubt that you can do this on a regular basis ?

    This would be like climbing 333 stories. If you can actually do this .. you are way more fit than me.

    obese individuals do generally have muslces to support theit increased frame sizes, so if she has been busting her butt for 6 months and built up the cardio, it is very likly she can do this.
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance .

    I do 20 min .. and I am drained. And I am considerably lighter than you are. I somehow doubt that you can do this on a regular basis ?

    This would be like climbing 333 stories. If you can actually do this .. you are way more fit than me.

    obese individuals do generally have muslces to support theit increased frame sizes, so if she has been busting her butt for 6 months and built up the cardio, it is very likly she can do this.

    I am making the assumption that she is using a Stairmill machine like I am. There is no resistance on that machine .. so probably she is using a Stairclimber machine (much much easier). So .. the jury is still out.
  • nmiller0813
    Options
    In response to everyone :)

    Ive lost 40 lbs-and my 6 month mark is the 10th. I started at 272 lbs.


    I am 237 lbs-considered obese right? I work out 6 times a week, usually 2wice a day. I will do an hour or so of Zumba then walk 5 miles, and then walk my dogs.

    Or I will do an hour of Taebo, and walk 5 m iles .

    Or I will do an hour or 1.5 hrs of stairs at the gym-high resistance . Im PRETTY SURE I burn about a 1000 cals a day. My fitness pal will sometimes say I burned 2000 cals-which I still dont believe. There it is :)

    As far as my diet , I eat pretty much the same crap just different combos everyday.
    I eat apples as snacks
    Oatmeal smoothie or green smoothie breakfast
    Snack protein bar or tuna packet or cheese stick and grapes or carrots
    lunch is usually a salad with no dressing and or low fat vinagarrette
    dinner is usually a smoothie, maybe a sandwhich, chicken & veggies.

    Simple jane!

    You are probably burning 2000 calories, because of ZUMBA. I do that also, for an hour and I burn 1156 calories. Your diet is low on the calorie scale.. how many calories is it?
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
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    Yes eat back you exercise calories. Get a HRM to get a more accurate calories burnt, MFP calories burnt and what those cardio machines say you burnt can be off by quite a bit