NET Calories

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Hi! I'm super confused!
I have been using MFP for about a 3 weeks now and i still have doubts about net calories.
I'm 5'5'' and 141 pounds but I intend to lose around 10 more pounds. I currently exercise 5 to 6 times a week (I am doing Focus t25 Beta Phase but I also add in around 45min to an hour of zumba or hip-hop abs everyday) and burn around 600 to 1200 depending on wether it's a double workout day. I eat around 1000-1400 calories a day (healthy calories!!) but still I don't see any significant weight loss.
Can someone tell me if I'm eating enough or if I'm eating too much?

Replies

  • Dannelle123
    Dannelle123 Posts: 8 Member
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    I would say you aren't eating enough calories if you are burning 600+ calories a day. Maybe try eating back some of those calories.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    I would say you aren't eating enough calories if you are burning 600+ calories a day. Maybe try eating back some of those calories.

    Yup. Read the MFP FAQs...and use the tool you've got here. It works.
  • janupshaw
    janupshaw Posts: 205 Member
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    Net calories is the same as "remaining calories" in your food diary. Log your exercise & eat back anywhere from half to all of those calories.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    If you're not losing weight then you are eating more than you think you are or you are a statistical outlier whereby MFP's calorie goals wouldn't apply to you...usually it is the former.

    Calorie counting is all about precision...there are numerous studies out there that indicate people underestimate their caloric intake by 20 - 30% or more just eyeballing portions, etc. Really, you need to be as precise as possible which means you need to use a food scale and weigh anything that has a serving size listed by weight and measure everything else. You also have to log consistently and log everything.

    MFP is a NEAT method calculator which means your activity level is only supposed to include your day to day hum drum...it doesn't include any estimate of your exercise and thus your exercise calories. While other calculators do give you an estimate of those calories up front and then you get your cut, MFP doesn't do that. MFP only gives you credit for that exercise after the fact when you log it...thus you get exercise calories to eat back and you NET to your calorie goal. As an example...

    Let's say someone using a TDEE calculator puts in exercise 3-5 hours per week and the TDEE calculator gives them a maintenance of 2300 calories. To lose 1 Lb per week that individual would eat a gross 1800 calories. Now let's say they use MFP and without exercise, MFP gives the individual 1500 calories NET to lose 1 Lb per week...but on average they burn around 300 calories per workout...so they would gross the 1800 calories just like the TDEE calculator. It's just two different ways of accounting for those exercise calories and making sure that activity is fueled and your deficit isn't too big.

    On that note, I'd check your calorie burns as well. Burning 600 - 1200 calories per day in exercise is not necessary and you're probably not burning that much...people don't burn as much as they think they burn and if you're using a database for your numbers I can guarantee that they are inflated. It is very difficult to burn more than about 10 calories per minute and that is working pretty damned hard...so you aren't going to be able to sustain that level of exertion for long periods of time unless you are an endurance athlete. If you are overweight you can burn a bit more than the 10 calories per minute, but really...if your burns are super huge then you need to check those against multiple sources.

    As I noted before, this is about precision and you have to be as precise as possible with both intake and output. Also note that weight loss is slow....when people tell me they haven't seen any "significant" weight loss after only 3 weeks I tend to think they don't really have realistic expectations of what their weight loss is going to look like and how truly slow the process is.
  • lucan07
    lucan07 Posts: 509
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    Its probably an error in calculating intake or burn calories or a mixture of both

    http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    You're trying to lose ten pounds. Your goal should be set to .5LBS a week. Is it? Are you losing .5LBS a week? :smile: The last ten are the hardest.
  • mpoiares
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    Thanks :) That topic really helped!!!
  • brandonzeciri
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    Whenever I see I have hit a plateau I switch to a week or two of carb loading.
    Works like a charm...

    No Carbs = No Startch, Keep your carbs below 5% of your total intake
    Low Carbs = 1g of Carbohydrate per pound of lean body mass
    High Carbs = 2g of Carbohydrate per pound of lean body mass

    Also everyday I make sure to drink a full gallon of purified or distilled water.
    And get in 1.2g of lean protein per pound of lean body mass

    Monday - No Carbs
    Tuesday - Low Carbs
    Wednesday - No Carbs
    Thursday - High Carbs
    Friday - Low Carbs
    Saturday - No Carbs
    Sunday - Low Carbs

    Seems to kick my fat loss and metabolism a bit.
    It's recommended to eat just clean carbs, but on my High day I sneak in some pizza and dirty carbs and tend to notice better results...