Can someone explain net calories?

sarahkateelizabethpotts
sarahkateelizabethpotts Posts: 1 Member
edited November 28 in Health and Weight Loss
I don't understand how net calories are calculated or what they mean. Sometimes my net calories end up negative. Does that mean I need to eat more or less?

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    If your net calories are negative and your logging is accurate, then yes you should eat more.

    Net calories are the number of calories you've eaten minus the number of calories you've burned through exercise. Ideally, the net amount should equal your goal. However, to account for overestimation of what you've burned, it's best to only eat back 50-75% of those calories.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    edited January 2016
    The terminology can be a little confusing.

    BMR (base metabolic rate) is the energy you use being alive with no activity at all, as if asleep or comatose.
    NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is BMR plus daily activities (being awake, cleaning house, commuting)
    ..... but NOT including planned exercise.
    TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is the total you burn in a day, or NEAT + intentional exercise (if any).

    MFP uses the NEAT method, meaning the "net calorie" goal it gives you reflects a caloric deficit for your specified activity level with no planned exercise. If you exercise, you get more calories while maintaining said caloric deficit. There is a belief among many that the exercise credit is overstated, possibly up to twice as much as you have actually burned. That's why some recommend eating 50%-75% of exercise calories in addition to NEAT.

    Net calories>BMR is where you want to be, as BMR is what your brain & hart need daily just staying alive.
    Net calories=0 means your exercise burn equals your consumption, leaving nothing for your brain & heart.
    Net calories<0 means you have burned more though exercise than you have eaten. It may also mean that exercise burn is overestimated and intake is underestimated, which is why accuracy is helpful on both parts of the equation.

    I hope I have not confused the matter more.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    I don't eat back any of my exercise calories unless I want to justify a treat, which isn't very often. When I do, I stop losing weight.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    The terminology can be a little confusing.

    NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is BMR plus daily activities (being awake, cleaning house, commuting)
    ..... but NOT including planned exercise.

    I hope I have not confused the matter more.

    NEAT is not defined this way, you have the right words but the wrong usage. Also there is no requirement to eat above your BMR or net above it as BMR is just the largest part of your TDEE and can be fuelled in part from your fat reserves.

    BMR + NEAT + TEF + Exercise = TDEE

    Net calories for the OP are calories eaten minus calories logged as exercise. To get a negative net calorie number would require (for example) eating 800 calories and logging 1000.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    How are you logging your exercise? It is very easy to over-estimate.

    Your net calories should be your MFP goal if you are logging your food and your exercise appropriately

    So food eaten = MFP allowance plus exercise calories

    eg my MFP allowance is 1750
    I generally add 300 calories in exercise per day (I am sure of the logging, I am not overestimating)
    So my food intake should be 2050
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    yarwell wrote: »
    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    The terminology can be a little confusing.

    NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is BMR plus daily activities (being awake, cleaning house, commuting)
    ..... but NOT including planned exercise.

    I hope I have not confused the matter more.

    NEAT is not defined this way, you have the right words but the wrong usage. Also there is no requirement to eat above your BMR or net above it as BMR is just the largest part of your TDEE and can be fuelled in part from your fat reserves.

    BMR + NEAT + TEF + Exercise = TDEE

    Net calories for the OP are calories eaten minus calories logged as exercise. To get a negative net calorie number would require (for example) eating 800 calories and logging 1000.

    Thx for clarification!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    It's like income. Your net income is your income less taxes and other deductions from from the income you took in.

    So net calories would be the calories you've taken in less additional activity/exercise. So if you consumed 1400 calories and did exercise that burned 300 calories, your net calories for the day would be 1400 - 300 = 1,100.

    Keep in mind that MFP is designed to net to your GOAL. So in the equation above, you would not be hitting your target goal...in the equation above, you would eat back 300 calories to account for exercise activity (not accounted for in your activity level when you set up your profile) to net to 1,400 calories.
  • NORTHSEA76
    NORTHSEA76 Posts: 18 Member
    Since it seems confusing, and might not feel right to you, what I do is log what I eat so that I consume enough calories, THEN I log in my exercise. Of course, the numbers change, and I read that I can consume more if I want but for me, I do NOT want to do that because the science behind the method does not support individual differences in metabolism accurately enough. I lose more efficiently when I eat less, and record it. If I want a treat, I plan for it within my caloric range. If I decide to go beyond my range sometimes, I don't make myself feel bad over it. This is a process, an individual process, not intended to be perfect.
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