Confused about net calories.

ajc1309
ajc1309 Posts: 255 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm unsure on what it means exactly. How many calories should I be consuming? I'm currently eating around 1200 and burning 250-300 (according to my bike) 5 days a week.

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Net calories=calories eaten - calories burned through exercise, as MFP does not account for exercise in your initial goal. You should be consuming 1200 net, which means eating back your exercise calories. This is to both fuel your body and ensure you're getting enough nutrients. However, most people only eat back 50-75% of exercise calories to account for overestimation of burns/underestimation of intake.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    The theory is that you net your goal. In a perfect world, you'd eat 1450-1500 so that you net 1200. In this world, exercise burns are often inflated, so it's best not to eat back all of them at first. Maybe eat half and see how that affects your progress.
  • amyr271
    amyr271 Posts: 343 Member
    That means that you have a net of 900ish, Net is what you've eaten minus what you've exercised. Your calorific goal should be your net amount of colories.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited August 2015
    You've lost 52 pounds?

    I think everyone here would love it if you made sure to net at least 1200 calories and that your logging is as accurate as possible. But honestly, if you've lost 52 lbs and you're happy with how you feel and look, and your doctor hasn't told you about any deficiencies from your bloodwork, then keep doing what you're doing.

    If you don't weigh your food, it's likely you're eating more than the 1200 anyway. And the reason I'm recommending not changing anything is because WHATEVER it is you're doing is working, right? I'd hesitate to recommend a change -- unless there's a reason you want to change what you're doing.

    What's important to note is that if you log as accurately as possible, weighing your food, etc., it's quite likely you could still lose while eating more calories, if that's something that interests you.
  • ajc1309
    ajc1309 Posts: 255 Member
    I do weigh everything I eat and drink. I lost the 53 lbs about 2 years ago now.

    Right now I'm just trying to lose the extra that I gained after moving in with my other half plus trying to get to my original goal weight of 112 lbs. Last time I weighed myself I'd lost 4 lbs so far, eating 1200 cals and exercising.

    I didn't understand the net thing so I haven't been eating back a lot of my exercise calories, maybe 20-100 cals back?
  • jesikalovesyou
    jesikalovesyou Posts: 172 Member
    ajc1309 wrote: »
    I do weigh everything I eat and drink. I lost the 53 lbs about 2 years ago now.

    Right now I'm just trying to lose the extra that I gained after moving in with my other half plus trying to get to my original goal weight of 112 lbs. Last time I weighed myself I'd lost 4 lbs so far, eating 1200 cals and exercising.

    I didn't understand the net thing so I haven't been eating back a lot of my exercise calories, maybe 20-100 cals back?

    I think most people would recommend that you eat 100-150 of the calories you burn. That's pretty close to half of what it says you're burning.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    It's really hard to get an exact number of what you eat and even harder to get an exact number on what you burn.

    The app is set up to have you eat the exercise calories. So, try that. It's the easiest way to do it. If you eat them back for two or three weeks and don't lose any weight, try eating half of those extra calories. That works for many people.

    The goal is to eat as much as you can while losing weight. :)
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