Make sure your NET calories are enough!

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missmilarae0213
missmilarae0213 Posts: 42 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey MFP'ers. I've been doing this for a long time now. The first go round, I lost 60 lbs. Took some time off to learn who I was 60 lbs. lighter and now I'm going for the remaining 65 lbs. (Yes, folks, thats 125 lbs. all together. I started at 300, my goal is 175 lbs and I'm 5'10-1/2" with a large frame.)

So, I wondered why I've been stuck in the rut for the past two months. Same five lbs. up and down week after week. I've adjusted workouts and calories to boot to try to figure out where my body needs to be to make the scale move. And nothing. So staring dumbfounded at the MFP homepage, I realized I was neglecting my NET calories (base calories and workout calories together). Some days I was only eatting 400-500 Net Calories! (Here I thought I was hardcore, eatting 1200 cals and doing 700+ calories worth of cross training daily.)

Its a little weird, almost backward thinking, to tell myself to eat more to lose weight, but it WORKS. If you're in a rut, check your net calories! ((And yes, I do realize this is not NEW news from many of you, but hey, it could help just one person and that's good enough for me!))

So keep up the great work everyone! Never give up - you are worth it!

~Emi

Replies

  • shan2bthin
    shan2bthin Posts: 68 Member
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    Thanks, and good to know! Congrats on 60 lbs.
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Yes! When I first started P90X over a year ago I wasn't losing weight eating what they recommended, so I cut calories. Still wasn't losing and my friend who's a body builder said I probably wasn't eating enough. fast forward I started eating the recommended calories at the beginning of this round, still no loss and no, no inches either. I have a fitness buddy who uses MFP so I checked it out. Problem with the P90X formula and even the one on the team beach body website is I still wasn't eating enough. They can't account for different calorie burns each day. Now after signing up with MFP almost three weeks ago, I've lost 5 pounds AND finally for the first time, an inch. My base goal is 1250 as my BMR is 1234. I take in anywhere from 1850 to over 2000 calories on some days ending with a NET as close to 1250 as possible. I've gotten within 1 the last two nights =]
  • Nataliethin81
    Nataliethin81 Posts: 315
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    Congratulations, you have worked so hard! Great job!
  • Ashbee1224
    Ashbee1224 Posts: 65
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    Thanks for the post! Ive actually been wondering this exact thing since Ive recently started working out. I feel so guilty eating ALL those calories, I get scared that the scale wont move @ my next weight in!
  • PoorGirlEatingHealthy
    PoorGirlEatingHealthy Posts: 209
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    Ok i thought I had figured that out but now I just don't get it.
  • aprilmssmith
    aprilmssmith Posts: 35 Member
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    bump!
  • karylee44
    karylee44 Posts: 892
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    yup... that is what i found out when i started on here a week ago.. that i wasn't eating enough.. since i started eating again, i have lost 3 pounds.

    always sounds weird.. eat to lose...

    great job on the weight loss!!
  • TeenaMarina
    TeenaMarina Posts: 420 Member
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    I thought I had it figured out and now I'm confused again... where are my net calories listed?!
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
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    :flowerforyou:

    It's tru, alot of us have to work really hard to shake the old ways of thinking. I was raised by a mom always on a starvation diet, smoking, and perscription diet pill talking woman of the 1960's. It's all they knew!!! How unfortunate that this is what still today so many of us think has to be done to lose fat and be fit......sort of feel sorry for them.

    We have to break free of that and realize to lose - you need to eat!

    Thanks for bringing up the topic - much success to you!!
  • missmilarae0213
    missmilarae0213 Posts: 42 Member
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    Thanks everyone! If you need a support buddy, send me a request! :)

    Good health is always a work in progress.
  • brandip80
    brandip80 Posts: 22 Member
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    PLEASE help me to understand I am new to the website! My recommended net is 1610 so if eating less or right on that and exercising 5 days a week possibly slow my weight loss down?
  • PoorGirlEatingHealthy
    PoorGirlEatingHealthy Posts: 209
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    Hey MFP'ers. I've been doing this for a long time now. The first go round, I lost 60 lbs. Took some time off to learn who I was 60 lbs. lighter and now I'm going for the remaining 65 lbs. (Yes, folks, thats 125 lbs. all together. I started at 300, my goal is 175 lbs and I'm 5'10-1/2" with a large frame.)

    So, I wondered why I've been stuck in the rut for the past two months. Same five lbs. up and down week after week. I've adjusted workouts and calories to boot to try to figure out where my body needs to be to make the scale move. And nothing. So staring dumbfounded at the MFP homepage, I realized I was neglecting my NET calories (base calories and workout calories together). Some days I was only eatting 400-500 Net Calories! (Here I thought I was hardcore, eatting 1200 cals and doing 700+ calories worth of cross training daily.)



    Its a little weird, almost backward thinking, to tell myself to eat more to lose weight, but it WORKS. If you're in a rut, check your net calories! ((And yes, I do realize this is not NEW news from many of you, but hey, it could help just one person and that's good enough for me!))

    So keep up the great work everyone! Never give up - you are worth it!

    ~Emi

    Any chance you will friend me, look at my diary, and explain to me what I need to do?
  • armygurl92
    armygurl92 Posts: 9
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    i thought you had to keep your food calories at 1200 or more because thats why it tells some people your eating to few calories. your supossed to eat atleast 1200 calories a day and your supposed to burn more calories than you eat
  • tentenisaboss
    tentenisaboss Posts: 7
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    I thought I had it figured out and now I'm confused again... where are my net calories listed?!
    They're listed right on your home page! Under the big box that tells you how many calories you have left :)
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
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    NET equals the amount of calories at the end of the day that your body actually gets to use in order to function and so on. It's on your homepage. My goal is 1250 after exercise that goes up to between 1850 to over 2000 on some days with a NET of close to 1250 because I burn between 600-800 calories a day. So for instance today would look like this, 1250, I ate 2,050 calories, take away 800 from that because thats what I burned exercising and that leaves 1250 for my body to use to function and get rid of fat.
  • MissDwood
    MissDwood Posts: 108 Member
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    This was very useful...I had been wondering this for a while!

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