Understanding net calories

christinartnd
christinartnd Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys, I'm having a bit of trouble understanding net calories and calories allowed/left over.

I have my fitbit flex connected to my account

So I want my goal daily to be around 1300.

Today for example.
I (unknowingly) ate around 1479 which is a little more than id like, due to MFP telling me I has more calories left.

My goal says 1290. My food is 1479. My exercise is -422 and my net is 1057.

I burned 228 calories doing about 45 minutes of bike riding earlier and then my fitbit has it's calorie adjustment and I walked about 5000 steps.

Can anyone make sense of this? I don't understand why I'm eating over and why it's telling me I can. I don't get why I've got minus exercise (and yes I've turned off the exercise adjustment because I don't want to over eat!) I've also still got about 283 calories "left to eat" which I am not but they only just appeared as I suddenly synced.

Any way I can turn all of this extra faff off and just let it allow me 1300 calories a day?!

Thank you!

Replies

  • asciident
    asciident Posts: 166 Member
    You should read http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,377 Member
    I'm going to post on my wall and see if any of my fitbit friends can help.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Your goal is 1300. You ate 1479 and you burned 422 which means you net 1479 - 422 or 1057. Since your goal is 1300 you have 1300 - 1057 or 243 calories left to eat. So you are under your goal by 243 calories.
  • oregonzoo
    oregonzoo Posts: 4,251 Member
    You are under. Now I'm not 100% sure how accurate it is...
    but generally I'd eat back most of what it gave me
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    bump b/c i have FL ppl with fitbits....hopefully they will find this and help.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    The whole purpose of having your Fitbit sync with MFP is so that you can eat back your calories burned, minus the deficit you chose for weightloss (ie. 500 for 1 lb. per week) MFP is adjusting your calorie goal by adding the extra calories Fitbit says you burned.

    So, in round numbers to make it easy, lets say I normally burn around 2000 calories per day. I want to lose a pound a week, so I set my goal at 1500 calories a day. Only I was very active today, so I actually burned around 2300 calories. Fitbit tells MFP that I'm 300 calories over my burn goal, and MFP adds that to my allowed calories. Now I can eat 1800 cals instead of 1500.

    Does that make more sense?
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    If you're going to do fitbit then you just hook fitbit up and eat what it tells you (actually I leave 100 on the table because I lose some after I go to bed, because I'm not moving). You don't log any exercise on MFP or you'll end up double counting.

    So my goal is set really low (1600) but then fitbit adds calories throughout the day. If I lift or ride a bike or whatever I add that on fitbit's site, not on MFP because fitbit will take the calories burned and subtract the calories you would have burned sitting still, and any calories it would have given you for steps you took during that activity.

    If you want to do net calories then don't hook your fitbit up to your MFP.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    The whole purpose of having your Fitbit sync with MFP is so that you can eat back your calories burned, minus the deficit you chose for weightloss (ie. 500 for 1 lb. per week) MFP is adjusting your calorie goal by adding the extra calories Fitbit says you burned.

    So, in round numbers to make it easy, lets say I normally burn around 2000 calories per day. I want to lose a pound a week, so I set my goal at 1500 calories a day. Only I was very active today, so I actually burned around 2300 calories. Fitbit tells MFP that I'm 300 calories over my burn goal, and MFP adds that to my allowed calories. Now I can eat 1800 cals instead of 1500.

    Does that make more sense?

    And this because you're trying to eat at a deficit. I'm in maintenance so it's a little different.
  • BGoodz22
    BGoodz22 Posts: 55 Member
    MFP already calculates and factors in your goals to your daily calorie limits. So any exercise you do means you get to eat more that day. Be careful not to eat too few of calories as it can do more bad than good.
  • _errata_
    _errata_ Posts: 1,653 Member
    Your goal is 1300. You ate 1479 and you burned 422 which means you net 1479 - 422 or 1057. Since your goal is 1300 you have 1300 - 1057 or 243 calories left to eat. So you are under your goal by 243 calories.

    This is what is going on.

    The fitbit adjustment is exactly like putting in exercise. Just like any other exercise, it will add that to your total calorie allotment for the day.

    For example, if your goal is 1300 and your total exercise for the day is 400, MFP will tell you that you need to eat a total of 1700 calories for the day. In your case, you clearly ate more than your original goal, but the combined exercise adjustment of your fitbit and your cycling has increased your goal by exactly that many calories.

    Does this make sense?
  • christinartnd
    christinartnd Posts: 20 Member
    Your goal is 1300. You ate 1479 and you burned 422 which means you net 1479 - 422 or 1057. Since your goal is 1300 you have 1300 - 1057 or 243 calories left to eat. So you are under your goal by 243 calories.

    This is what is going on.

    The fitbit adjustment is exactly like putting in exercise. Just like any other exercise, it will add that to your total calorie allotment for the day.

    For example, if your goal is 1300 and your total exercise for the day is 400, MFP will tell you that you need to eat a total of 1700 calories for the day. In your case, you clearly ate more than your original goal, but the combined exercise adjustment of your fitbit and your cycling has increased your goal by exactly that many calories.

    Does this make sense?

    All of these answers have been so helpful! But now the most important one... Is there any way I can turn this off? (I'm guessing no and I just have to watch my calorie intake manually)
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    Yes, but it seems rather pointless to wear the Fitbit if you're not going to use the information.

    If you want to turn it off, just disconnect the Fitbit app from MFP.
  • christinartnd
    christinartnd Posts: 20 Member
    Yes, but it seems rather pointless to wear the Fitbit if you're not going to use the information.

    If you want to turn it off, just disconnect the Fitbit app from MFP.

    Brilliant, thanks. And if think it's slightly different than just not "using the information." ... It's exactly the same as the MFP adjustment. I just don't want to overeat my calories simply because I've worked out. that's all :)
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    You can turn it off but there's a reason you're meant to eat those calories back. If you're eating 1300 and burning off 400 that means you're only netting 900 calories, which isn't enough. Eating too little can lead to muscle loss, binging, and other side effects.
  • PrincessMissDee
    PrincessMissDee Posts: 183 Member
    It's not overeating. You need to watch your net calorie intake. Your net calories is what you should be using MFP to monitor. I also didn't understand this at first and only looked into it when I started being tired ALL the time. Turned out I'd been sticking to 1200 cals a day but exercising so hard that I'd been netting 600 a day for 4 months. WAY TOO LITTLE and frankly dangerous.

    Everyone here is correct. Go back and read the page that explains how MFP works (I never did, I'm not sure many people do). And read this again and again until you get it.
    Your goal is 1300. You ate 1479 and you burned 422 which means you net 1479 - 422 or 1057. Since your goal is 1300 you have 1300 - 1057 or 243 calories left to eat. So you are under your goal by 243 calories.

Categories