Question about Net

chelseacate450
chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When i am done with my diary for the day. What do i want the numbers at the top to say generally?

Replies

  • AngelaAlario
    AngelaAlario Posts: 46 Member
    You want to be at or close (just under/just over) to your calorie goal.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited July 2015
    Net should =/or be close to your goal
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    so if it says my goal is 1,523 on the far left (im on mobile) then i eat 1,523. I'd need to exercise 1,523 also?
    Ex.
    (1). 1,523 - 1,523 + 1,523= 1,523

    and/ or
    (2). 1,523 - 1,400 + 1,400= 1,523

    and/ or
    (3). 1,523 - 1,613 + 1,613= 1,523


    would those be correct?
  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
    No the right hand side of the = sign should be zero or a bit above zero
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    that means if i eat 1,523 and meet my goal ill lose weight without exercising?
  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
    So

    1,523 - 1,523 = 0 with no exercise

    or, if you exercise, the general suggestion is to eat back half of your exercise calories to start with (and see how you go) e.g.

    1,523 - 1,773 + 500 = 250
  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    that means if i eat 1,523 and meet my goal ill lose weight without exercising?

    Basically, yes. What have you set your Weekly Goal to?
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    I thought that if you eat more than you exercise that you will gain weight?
    how can eating more because you exercised be helpful. its like chasing an unreachable goal
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member

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  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    my calorie goal that it gave me is 1,523
  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    I thought that if you eat more than you exercise that you will gain weight?
    how can eating more because you exercised be helpful. its like chasing an unreachable goal

    Ok, your daily allowance on the left of 1,523 is what MFP has calculated you need to eat per day in order to lose 1lb a week. 1lb a week roughly equates to a calorie deficit of 500 per day. This means that the amount of calories you burn daily just by existing is 2,023 (this is calculated by MyFitnessPal from your age, gender, height, current weight and activity level - you have put sedentary which is fine if you basically do nothing all day).

    So if you just eat 1,523 a day and do no exercise then you will be on target to lose 1lb a week. Say, for example, you burnt 500 calories exercising then this would add to the amount of calories you burn making it 2,523. If you still only eat 1,523 your calorie deficit would now be 1,000 instead of 500 which would make you lose weight faster but you would find this hard to sustain. To illustrate it through the sum in the app.

    No Exercise

    1,523 - 1,523 + 0 = 0

    With exercise

    1,523 - 1,523 + 500 = 500

    Ideally, you want the number on the right to be as close to 0 as possible. If not zero it needs to be green and not red. Green means you are under your calorie allowance, red means you're over.

    Does that explain it better?
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
    edited July 2015
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    I thought that if you eat more than you exercise that you will gain weight?
    how can eating more because you exercised be helpful. its like chasing an unreachable goal

    When you told mfp you were sedentary it gave you a calorie goal that is a deficit based on you doing nothing all day, so technically you could lose weight just hanging out around the house, being actually inactive. (Most people are not truly and completely sedentary.) Any exercise you do creates a bigger deficit, giving you more to consume to support this added activity.

    That being said, exercise calories are generally overrated, so try eating back about half to three quarters. (1523 + 500 exercise = 2023, so eat say 1773 to 1898.) This will ensure you don't lose too quickly and help you preserve your lean muscle while losing fat.

  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    If 2000 clories is typically normal for maintaining weight that means i only have a deficit of 500 at the beginning though. so arent i already gaining weight by eating more than that?
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    robspot wrote: »
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    I thought that if you eat more than you exercise that you will gain weight?
    how can eating more because you exercised be helpful. its like chasing an unreachable goal

    Ok, your daily allowance on the left of 1,523 is what MFP has calculated you need to eat per day in order to lose 1lb a week. 1lb a week roughly equates to a calorie deficit of 500 per day. This means that the amount of calories you burn daily just by existing is 2,023 (this is calculated by MyFitnessPal from your age, gender, height, current weight and activity level - you have put sedentary which is fine if you basically do nothing all day).

    So if you just eat 1,523 a day and do no exercise then you will be on target to lose 1lb a week. Say, for example, you burnt 500 calories exercising then this would add to the amount of calories you burn making it 2,523. If you still only eat 1,523 your calorie deficit would now be 1,000 instead of 500 which would make you lose weight faster but you would find this hard to sustain. To illustrate it through the sum in the app.

    No Exercise

    1,523 - 1,523 + 0 = 0

    With exercise

    1,523 - 1,523 + 500 = 500

    Ideally, you want the number on the right to be as close to 0 as possible. If not zero it needs to be green and not red. Green means you are under your calorie allowance, red means you're over.

    Does that explain it better?


    Yes it does. It doesnt make sense but i see how it works. I just always hear that if you eat more then you burn you will gain weight. so i guess im stuck on that. i understand what you are saying. what do you recommend that i do? like eat the right amount then exercise and eat more? or just not exercise as much as i think i need to?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Net =/or be close to your goal
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    I thought that if you eat more than you exercise that you will gain weight?
    how can eating more because you exercised be helpful. its like chasing an unreachable goal

    Nope. You burn calories just being alive. Lungs working, heart pumping, etc all require calories. Your largest calorie burn in a day comes from the calories you burn at rest (aka BMR). You then burn more calories with daily activities like shopping, walking to the bathroom, etc (aka NEAT). Finally you burn exercise calories. Combine all 3 and you get the amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight (aka TDEE).

    So in summary:
    BMR (typically more than 50% of a person's calorie burn) + NEAT + Exercise = TDEE
    Eat less than TDEE and you lose weight.

    Example:

    BMR: 1334 calories (calories my body burns to function at rest at my current weight/Basal Metabolic Rate)
    NEAT: 549 calories (calories MFP estimates I will burn from normal daily activities at a Lightly Active Setting)
    1334 + 549 = 1883 calories (calories MFP estimates I will burn without exercise for the day)
    -500 calories
    1383 calorie goal to lose 1 lb per week WITHOUT exercise

    If I workout and say burn 300 calories, MFP then:
    BMR: 1334
    NEAT: 549
    Exercise: 300
    1334+549+300=2183
    -500
    1683 calories to lose 1 lb per week (or a NET of 1334)
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    robspot wrote: »
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    I thought that if you eat more than you exercise that you will gain weight?
    how can eating more because you exercised be helpful. its like chasing an unreachable goal

    Ok, your daily allowance on the left of 1,523 is what MFP has calculated you need to eat per day in order to lose 1lb a week. 1lb a week roughly equates to a calorie deficit of 500 per day. This means that the amount of calories you burn daily just by existing is 2,023 (this is calculated by MyFitnessPal from your age, gender, height, current weight and activity level - you have put sedentary which is fine if you basically do nothing all day).

    So if you just eat 1,523 a day and do no exercise then you will be on target to lose 1lb a week. Say, for example, you burnt 500 calories exercising then this would add to the amount of calories you burn making it 2,523. If you still only eat 1,523 your calorie deficit would now be 1,000 instead of 500 which would make you lose weight faster but you would find this hard to sustain. To illustrate it through the sum in the app.

    No Exercise

    1,523 - 1,523 + 0 = 0

    With exercise

    1,523 - 1,523 + 500 = 500

    Ideally, you want the number on the right to be as close to 0 as possible. If not zero it needs to be green and not red. Green means you are under your calorie allowance, red means you're over.

    Does that explain it better?


    Yes it does. It doesnt make sense but i see how it works. I just always hear that if you eat more then you burn you will gain weight. so i guess im stuck on that. i understand what you are saying. what do you recommend that i do? like eat the right amount then exercise and eat more? or just not exercise as much as i think i need to?

    Pick an exercise routine that is manageable to you and that you enjoy. The best routine will be one that you will continue even once you've hit your goal weight.
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    if i set my goal to 1250 but eat 1500 would that be the equivalent of burning 500 calories on to of the 500 previously taken then eating half of the last 500 back?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    If 2000 clories is typically normal for maintaining weight that means i only have a deficit of 500 at the beginning though. so arent i already gaining weight by eating more than that?

    That's an estimated average of the average person at a healthy weight I believe. Some people maintain on less and some on more. My maintenance is somewhere between 2400-2500 calories a day (5'4.5" 131.4-133 lbs). There are a lot of factors that determine what amount of calories you will maintain at.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    if i set my goal to 1250 but eat 1500 would that be the equivalent of burning 500 calories on to of the 500 previously taken then eating half of the last 500 back?

    If you don't burn at least an addition 250 calories through exercise, than you would be decreasing your deficit to 250 calories instead of the 500 you wanted.
    Now lets say you burned 500 through exercise and consumed 1500 calories, that would mean that your deficit should fall somewhere between 500-750 calories for that day (based on your goal of 1250).
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    ok I understand this a lot more now. Thank you all for helping me out! I think ill try to burn 500 more calories then eat 250 back. would that be healthy?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    ok I understand this a lot more now. Thank you all for helping me out! I think ill try to burn 500 more calories then eat 250 back. would that be healthy?

    Yes. Then you can reevaluate in a few weeks. Say 4 weeks from now, if you have lost 4 lbs then continue what you are doing. If you lose 6 lbs than you could probably eat a few more exercise calories if you wanted to.
  • jaqcan
    jaqcan Posts: 498 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    if i set my goal to 1250 but eat 1500 would that be the equivalent of burning 500 calories on to of the 500 previously taken then eating half of the last 500 back?

    What?
    I'll explain with my own numbers.
    I want to lose 2 lbs a week.
    For me to stay the same weight I currently am I would eat 2500 calories. This is with NO exercise. My organs and brain and body BURN 2500 calories a day just by existing.
    For me to lose the 2lbs a week I need to eat 1000 calories LESS per day. So my MFP goal is 1500. My body at its current size still burns 2500 calories, without exercise.
    If I exercise and burn an extra 500 calories (for this example) My body would be burning 3000 calories on that day. If I'm eating 1500 calories, I then have a deficit of 1500 calories, and that sets me to lose more than -2lbs a week. I can choose to eat those 500 calories for exercise, and I do because I get hungrier when I exercise. Or I can take the extra burn to lose a little faster.
  • chelseacate450
    chelseacate450 Posts: 15 Member
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    if i set my goal to 1250 but eat 1500 would that be the equivalent of burning 500 calories on to of the 500 previously taken then eating half of the last 500 back?

    If you don't burn at least an addition 250 calories through exercise, than you would be decreasing your deficit to 250 calories instead of the 500 you wanted.
    Now lets say you burned 500 through exercise and consumed 1500 calories, that would mean that your deficit should fall somewhere between 500-750 calories for that day (based on your goal of 1250).


    I understand that now. So ill leave the goal at the 1523 and if i burn more calories then its great, i should try to eat a little more though. but if i don't burn extra calories then its ok also because ill already lose it due to the program already taking away the calories needed to be taken away.
  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
    chelseacate450 wrote: »
    I understand that now. So ill leave the goal at the 1523 and if i burn more calories then its great, i should try to eat a little more though. but if i don't burn extra calories then its ok also because ill already lose it due to the program already taking away the calories needed to be taken away.

    That's it! Good luck
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
    One other thing...if you calorie expenditure for exercise is reasonably accurate (some are, some aren't) and you have a relatively large energy expenditure (say you walk or run 10 miles) such that it gives you a large calorie deficit each day rather than a more nominal one, you'll also find that you'll "run out energy" to sustain that exercise for a long period of time. Your body will rebel to survive.

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