Net Calories...Eating your calories back???

Shalisa209
Shalisa209 Posts: 2
in Food and Nutrition
I'm very confused I have googled this question all day and still don't know the "right" thing. If you burn 500 calories are you supposed to eat those as well? What is the difference if you are still eating the recommended calories? Right now I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories according to MFP and I stay around 1200-1300 and I burn roughly 500 calories from exercise.

Replies

  • popo312
    popo312 Posts: 78 Member
    There's great thread I'm sure someone will link. But the short version is you've told MFP you want to lose X pounds/week and it has adjusted your calorie count based on what you've told it, say 1500 cals for a 500 cal theoretical deficit. You but 400 calories and now it's tell you need to eat those 400 cals back to stay at the 500 cal deficit that was set-up. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. One very important part is that you calories burned are accurate.
  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
    If you use MFP as it is designed, then you should eat back your exercise calories as the deficit to lose weight is already built in to your calories before exercise. Using this method, the calorie count MFP determines you need in a day to maintain your weight is your Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), and they subtract your deficit calories from that number to get your daily calories. Thus, any exercise would increase the number of calories you need to maintain, and increase the number of net calories you need to stay at the selected deficit.

    For example, if I had a NEAT of 2000 calories and wanted to lose a pound a week, MFP would set my daily calories at 1500 per day (a 500 calorie deficit). If I work out for 500 calories, then to have 1500 NET calories, I would need to eat 2000. If I did not eat them back, I would only have 1000 NET calories which would work out to a 1000 calorie deficit for that day.

    ETA: Some people only eat back a portion of their exercise calories because of inaccuracies in the calculations. If you use MFPs numbers for exercises, they are generally high (as are exercise machines). Even Heart Rate Monitors can be off. A good recommendation is to eat back 75% of the calories, and, if your loss is too low or too high, tweak that number.
  • JasmineTheJewel
    JasmineTheJewel Posts: 2
    you need to understand that 1200 calories is literally the MINIMUM amount of calories you should consume a day.. anything less than that could put your body into starvation mode & inadvertently cause you to gain weight.. so if you burn 500 calories then you technically only consumed 700 calories that day which is not enough calories to keep your body in fat burning mode! your body NEEDS those calories.. you should also understand that you will lose weight eating 1,200 calories a day with or WITHOUT working out.. therefore if you put those calories back your workout isn't going to waste because you're going to lose weight anyway! the whole point of working out is to tone your body while dropping fat.. otherwise you would just be dropping weight without building muscle.. and we all want a little muscle, right? ????☺????????
  • tchereej
    tchereej Posts: 18 Member
    This topic confuses me as well. I am at 1260 calories and I do not eat back my calories from exercise. I have only been doing this for a couple weeks, and have lost 7 lbs so far. I realize the initial week or two of a diet results in a higher weight loss than what will be normal due to water weight but so far so good. I may adjust if I stop losing. My goal is 2 lbs per week. It's a confusing topic because there are so many varying opinions. I'm going to keep an eye on this thread and hopefully learn the answer!
  • dixoncrew
    dixoncrew Posts: 186 Member
    1200 is the absolute minimum NET calories you should be consuming. MFP assumes you will be eating your exercise calories back. I have mine set at 1900 :)
  • cevalid
    cevalid Posts: 59
    Eat em all back :)
  • necolong1014
    necolong1014 Posts: 25
    What if you can't eat that much anymore am I going to stop losing weight? I have been stuck for almost a month and I am getting annoyed. Increased workouts from 2hrs to 3hrs. I just don't get up higher than 1300-1400 cals and it wants me to eat in the 1500's. and that is not including my 700+ calories I am burning each day. My exercise is not high as I sit all day at work so I do 1.5 hrs in the morning and 1.5 hrs at night. Workout is 30-45 mins aerobic /30-45 mins strength/ 30-60 mins treadmill 4.5 mph or going on a brisk walk. Night time workout is core-30-45 mins/ yoga-30/ walking on treadmill or doing recumbent bike 30-45 mins. and 3 times a week I go for a 5 mile jog/walk (jog 10mins/walk 10mins for 1hr). I am pushing my self every time and I switch up my exercises every week. Any advice? I still need to lose 50 lbs
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    What if you can't eat that much anymore am I going to stop losing weight? I have been stuck for almost a month and I am getting annoyed. Increased workouts from 2hrs to 3hrs. I just don't get up higher than 1300-1400 cals and it wants me to eat in the 1500's. and that is not including my 700+ calories I am burning each day. My exercise is not high as I sit all day at work so I do 1.5 hrs in the morning and 1.5 hrs at night. Workout is 30-45 mins aerobic /30-45 mins strength/ 30-60 mins treadmill 4.5 mph or going on a brisk walk. Night time workout is core-30-45 mins/ yoga-30/ walking on treadmill or doing recumbent bike 30-45 mins. and 3 times a week I go for a 5 mile jog/walk (jog 10mins/walk 10mins for 1hr). I am pushing my self every time and I switch up my exercises every week. Any advice? I still need to lose 50 lbs

    3 hours of exercise per day and only 1300-1400 calories per day? I'm confused as to how you even function at this point. Overexercising and undereating - not a good combination. Either keep the exercise and eat more or exercise less and eat the same (if not more).

    I do 1 hour of strength training 3x/week and 30 minutes of cardio 2x/week. That's it. And I eat an average of 1800 calories per day. I'm almost at goal, so slow weight loss is fine for me, but I was losing .5-1 lb per week at 1600 calories per day.

    Why do people think they should be losing 2 lb/week or it's not progress? Stop starving yourselves and fuel your workouts.
  • ljk3
    ljk3 Posts: 9
    If your stuck, you're probably not eating enough... body is holding on to every calorie it can to preserve itself. Remember, its a marathon not a sprint... eating too far below maint. sounds great because you think you will lose faster but your body is smart and will adjust. Also, keep in mind that working out as hard as you are is skyrocketing your cortisol levels and your body is storing lots of extra water to replenish glycogen as a result of the stress you are putting on the body. Measure results with the mirror and with a measuring tape and stay off the scale for awhile...

    Your body weight can fluctuate albs in a single day based on sodium intake, etc... don't fixate on lbs... good luck!
  • ljk3
    ljk3 Posts: 9
    What if you can't eat that much anymore am I going to stop losing weight? I have been stuck for almost a month and I am getting annoyed. Increased workouts from 2hrs to 3hrs. I just don't get up higher than 1300-1400 cals and it wants me to eat in the 1500's. and that is not including my 700+ calories I am burning each day. My exercise is not high as I sit all day at work so I do 1.5 hrs in the morning and 1.5 hrs at night. Workout is 30-45 mins aerobic /30-45 mins strength/ 30-60 mins treadmill 4.5 mph or going on a brisk walk. Night time workout is core-30-45 mins/ yoga-30/ walking on treadmill or doing recumbent bike 30-45 mins. and 3 times a week I go for a 5 mile jog/walk (jog 10mins/walk 10mins for 1hr). I am pushing my self every time and I switch up my exercises every week. Any advice? I still need to lose 50 lbs


    If your stuck, you're probably not eating enough... body is holding on to every calorie it can to preserve itself. Remember, its a marathon not a sprint... eating too far below maint. sounds great because you think you will lose faster but your body is smart and will adjust. Also, keep in mind that working out as hard as you are is skyrocketing your cortisol levels and your body is storing lots of extra water to replenish glycogen as a result of the stress you are putting on the body. Measure results with the mirror and with a measuring tape and stay off the scale for awhile...

    Your body weight can fluctuate albs in a single day based on sodium intake, etc... don't fixate on lbs... good luck!

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