SO CONFUSED!! NET ?? someone PLEASE dumb it down for me

Options
lynnsheer1988
lynnsheer1988 Posts: 1
in Getting Started
SO I am new to this and the whole (net) calories is confusing the hell out of me. I have seen it explained like this

the amount of calories you eat - the amount of exorcise = net.

what im having trouble understanding is lets say I can only have 1200 calories a day, Its the morning I just ate 280 and just burned 250 at the gym. now I have 250 extra calories in my net that im allowed to eat? why would I want to eat them when I just worked my *kitten* off to burn them off?

IDK.

My thingie says Daily budget 1257, food consumed 280, calories burned 250 = net 30....wtf?

Replies

  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    Options
    You've got it right.

    Do you like to eat? I do. When I exercise I get to eat more food and still lose weight. I don't know how much you weigh or how much weight you want to lose, but 1200 calories is a pretty small amount of food.

    If I exercise and DON'T eat more, I find that I don't have the energy to keep exercising. Plus exercise has other benefits besides weight loss.
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
    Options
    You've got it right.

    Do you like to eat? I do. When I exercise I get to eat more food and still lose weight. I don't know how much you weigh or how much weight you want to lose, but 1200 calories is a pretty small amount of food.

    If I exercise and DON'T eat more, I find that I don't have the energy to keep exercising. Plus exercise has other benefits besides weight loss.

    ^ This. MFP is designed so you lose weight even if you don't exercise. Eating your 1200 calories means you will lose weight. Exercise is so you can eat more food and still lose the same amount of weight. Don't be afraid or reluctant to eat the calories you get from exercise. Your body needs fuel. Monitoring your diet is for weight loss, exercise is for fitness. Eat your food to keep yourself fit.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
    Options
    You eat back your calories, or at least part of them, so you are losing at a reasonable rate, and not end up exhausted. Now, if you are losing at a very slow rate, of e.g. a calorie deficit of 200 per day, and then burn 200 calories per day walking, then you can afford to not eat these extra calories back. But, if you are trying to eat a 500+ calorie deficit and then burn 1000 calories with exercise, then you are going to have to eat at least half, if not more, of these 1000 calories back, or you will soon end up with no energy.
  • Gray_Sare
    Gray_Sare Posts: 21
    Options
    You've gotten some good answers! If I don't eat back exercise calories I am either really hungry the next day and sluggish, or just lack the energy to put anything substantial into my next workout. Everyone is different, so you may not need them, but at a 1200 goal if you burn 200 then your body's only sustaining on 1,000 for daily functioning which isn't much.
  • PippiNe
    PippiNe Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    If you are allowing yourself 1200 calories per day, that is around 500 calories less than what your body will burn if you just go about your normal daily activities (no added exercise). So even WITHOUT exercise, you will lose weight simply because your calories burned is greater than the amount of calories you are eating.

    So when you do a workout and burn 250 more calories, you can eat those calories plus your normal daily 1200 calories and STILL be eating at a 500 calories deficit (500 calories less than your body will burn that day). I understand that it does seem like "why work out then?", but your workouts will build and shape your muscles so that as that fat disappears, you like what you see in the mirror.

    Hope this helps you understand :o)
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    Options
    Other posters have given you the basic principle, so let me put things another way:

    You run a reasonable calorie deficit (250-1000 calories a day, depending on what you set MFP for) in order to lose weight.

    You exercise to look good as you lose weight, and to preserve lean body mass (mostly muscle), so that the weight you lose is mostly fat.

    In order to exercise, you need fuel for the exercise. So you eat back the calories you burn in exercise. But you still have a reasonable 250-1000 calorie deficit.

    Result: you lose weight, but you also get trimmer as you lose body fat but not (much) muscle. And you feel more energetic. It's a win all around.

    If you don't eat back exercise calories, you lose too quickly, you lose more muscle, and you get tired and cranky more easily. Not a win all around.

    (Edited to rein in the out of control underline tag.)
  • Tanya949
    Tanya949 Posts: 606 Member
    Options
    Other posters have given you the basic principle, so let me put things another way:

    You run a reasonable calorie deficit (250-1000 calories a day, depending on what you set MFP for) in order to lose weight.

    You exercise to look good as you lose weight, and to preserve lean body mass (mostly muscle), so that the weight you lose is mostly fat.

    In order to exercise, you need fuel for the exercise. So you eat back the calories you burn in exercise. But you still have a reasonable 250-1000 calorie deficit.

    Result: you lose weight, but you also get trimmer as you lose body fat but not (much) muscle. And you feel more energetic. It's a win all around.

    If you don't eat back exercise calories, you lose too quickly, you lose more muscle, and you get tired and cranky more easily. Not a win all around.

    (Edited to rein in the out of control underline tag.)

    Good explanation!

Categories