Net calories messing me up????

FitnessLover001
FitnessLover001 Posts: 188 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, I recently bumped up my calorie goal to 1,580 because it was on 1,200 but I work out a lot and felt like I was depriving myself of food. SO, I am really still confused about the whole "goal" "net" food category? My goal calorie is set to 1,580, and so far today I have eaten 1,440. I burned off 471 today so it says my net is 969.

My goal is to lose weight, but I don't know if I am still supposed to eat more since my net is only 969, or since my body has taken in 1,440 I am okay to stop eating?? haha I am not hungry at all and I ate 411cal for breakfast, 429 for lunch and 520 for dinner. All healthy meals

thanks for any help with this!

Replies

  • LTKeegan
    LTKeegan Posts: 354 Member
    MFP often over estimates calories burned during exercise. I eat back 50% (ish) unless I verify with another source (or a HRM). So I would eat 1580 + 235-ish.


    Also, if you're not hungry stop eating. Unless you notice that you're consistently not eating over like 1000 calories or something.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    How did you arrive at the 1580? If you're customizing you calorie goals to account for exercise that you are doing, the whole net calorie thing is pretty much out the window. With the 1200 calories you were supposed to be eating back your exercise calories...in this case, this would have given you 1,671 calories...much closer to your 1580 or so you are now eating.

    If your 1580 includes some estimate of your exercise in it, then logging exercise to net would be double counting that activity. Most people who customize their calorie goals to include an estimate of their exercise just log whatever it is they are doing as 1 calorie or they just put it in their comments/notes.

    I would also advise to be wary of your calorie burn. You should check it for reasonableness.
  • snoodled
    snoodled Posts: 57
    As long as you're eating close to your goal you should be fine. Don't eat if you're not hungry just to make up for calories burned during exercise. I use a HRM for the calories burned during exercise so I have a pretty accurate amount. I only eat back about half of those calories on average.
  • LTKeegan
    LTKeegan Posts: 354 Member
    ^^^ What they said. I assumed you changed from a 2lb/week to a 1lb/week thing on MFP. If you did something with exercise or TDEE, ignore what I said.

    Also, you can change "calories burned" to 1 if you did account for calories burned, then you can log your exercise but not be confused about net calories.
  • FitnessLover001
    FitnessLover001 Posts: 188 Member
    I changed from 2lbs/week to 1lb/week and that's how it came to my goal calorie food was 1,580. How do I change calories burned to 1?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I changed from 2lbs/week to 1lb/week and that's how it came to my goal calorie food was 1,580. How do I change calories burned to 1?

    If you're still using MFP's calorie goals, then you would still follow the net calorie methodology. This works in that exercise activity is not (or shouldn't) be accounted for in you activity level with this methodology. You account for that activity when you log it and then get those calories to "eat back". Other calculators will include some estimate of that activity in your activity level...thus, you are essentially eating those calories back, just not deliberately.

    So if your goal is 1580 and you burn off another 400 with exercise, your net calories are now 1,180...you're supposed to net to your calorie goal, so you eat those 400 calories back and you thus net your 1580 goal while grossing 1,980. The reason this works is because your theoretical maintenance number also moves with that calorie burn...so before exercise, your theoretical maintenance number is 2,080...with that 400 calories of exercise, this would move your maintenance number to 2,480 (2,080 + 400 = 2,480) and 2,480 less your new calorie goal of 1,980 is a 500 calorie deficit still.
  • LTKeegan
    LTKeegan Posts: 354 Member
    I changed from 2lbs/week to 1lb/week and that's how it came to my goal calorie food was 1,580. How do I change calories burned to 1?

    If you're still using MFP's calorie goals, then you would still follow the net calorie methodology. This works in that exercise activity is not (or shouldn't) be accounted for in you activity level with this methodology. You account for that activity when you log it and then get those calories to "eat back". Other calculators will include some estimate of that activity in your activity level...thus, you are essentially eating those calories back, just not deliberately.

    So if your goal is 1580 and you burn off another 400 with exercise, your net calories are now 1,180...you're supposed to net to your calorie goal, so you eat those 400 calories back and you thus net your 1580 goal while grossing 1,980. The reason this works is because your theoretical maintenance number also moves with that calorie burn...so before exercise, your theoretical maintenance number is 2,080...with that 400 calories of exercise, this would move your maintenance number to 2,480 (2,080 + 400 = 2,480) and 2,480 less your new calorie goal of 1,980 is a 500 calorie deficit still.


    All of this for sure!! But make sure you verify calories burned before you eat them back. So check with another site or eat back 50%-75% of them.

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