What are "net" calories?

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inglysh731
inglysh731 Posts: 42 Member
in Getting Started
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I take 1220 cal in food today, subtract 1K in exercise calories... and arrive at 220 Net calories. wtf does that even mean? How is it relevant or important?

Shouldn't it say 1300 Cal + 1000 (exercise) = 2300 (goal) - 1220 (food) = 1080 (togo)
...or something similar.
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Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Your NET is what you consume after exercise. Ideally your NET calories should be equal to what your goal was before exercise.

    In your case, your goal is 1300 calories, NET. So you need to consume 1080 more calories.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    it tells you how many calories you have left on your food diary page. why are you only taking in 1300 calories a day? 1500 is the bare minimum for men. are you under a doctors care to eat less calories? if you are only netting 220 calories you are way under your goal. you should be netting what your caloric goal is. 1300 is too low for a male especially if you are burning 1000 calories a day. it means you are underfeeding your body, what did you do to burn 1000 calories? I would eat more and then burn those calories. you never want to net under 1200 calories( and thats for women for me it should be no less than 1500). you are also eating less than your BMR which is not healthy.
  • Butterflymoon1971
    Butterflymoon1971 Posts: 15 Member
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    NET calories is how much you have left to your goal of 1300.... the rest (1000 from exercise) you don't HAVE to eat... I never do.. it helps me lose weight and build muscle... you CAN eat up to 1080 calories, but you will lose weight slower.. if you want a gradual loss (which is preferred by Doctors) you CAN eat up to 2300 calories and still lose weight.... just really slow... My Doc is fine with my weight loss (5 pounds a week) as long as I am not hungry or dizzy or my blood sugar doesn't get too low... Hope this helps
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    As an aside, I question your calorie goal. As a man, you should be eating 1500 calories minimum, without exercise. Your picture indicates you're possibly a cyclist. You'll need to consume ALOT more than that to keep doing that kind of activity.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    AngelaRessler1971 wrote: »
    NET calories is how much you have left to your goal of 1300.... the rest (1000 from exercise) you don't HAVE to eat... I never do.. it helps me lose weight and build muscle... you CAN eat up to 1080 calories, but you will lose weight slower.. if you want a gradual loss (which is preferred by Doctors) you CAN eat up to 2300 calories and still lose weight.... just really slow... My Doc is fine with my weight loss (5 pounds a week) as long as I am not hungry or dizzy or my blood sugar doesn't get too low... Hope this helps

    You're not building muscle. Aside from a small percentage who may experience "newbie gains", you are not building muscle in a deficit. Losing weight, yes. You're meant to eat those exercise calories because 1) Your deficit is already built in. Not eating them leads to a more aggressive deficit which is going to burn through your LBM and 2)To properly fuel your body and workouts.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    Ninkyou wrote: »
    AngelaRessler1971 wrote: »
    NET calories is how much you have left to your goal of 1300.... the rest (1000 from exercise) you don't HAVE to eat... I never do.. it helps me lose weight and build muscle... you CAN eat up to 1080 calories, but you will lose weight slower.. if you want a gradual loss (which is preferred by Doctors) you CAN eat up to 2300 calories and still lose weight.... just really slow... My Doc is fine with my weight loss (5 pounds a week) as long as I am not hungry or dizzy or my blood sugar doesn't get too low... Hope this helps

    You're not building muscle. Aside from a small percentage who may experience "newbie gains", you are not building muscle in a deficit. Losing weight, yes. You're meant to eat those exercise calories because 1) Your deficit is already built in. Not eating them leads to a more aggressive deficit which is going to burn through your LBM and 2)To properly fuel your body and workouts.
    +1
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    if you are only netting 220 calories you definitely need to eat them or most of them back.you have to fuel your workouts, you will burn out if you dont eat most of them back. not eating back calories with so little net calories is not good advice.as for eating more calories like 2300 no one can say you will lose weight slower.it all depends on how much of a deficit you have. having too big of a deficit is not healthy. I agree with ninkyou
  • JoshuaMcAllister
    JoshuaMcAllister Posts: 500 Member
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    AngelaRessler1971 wrote: »
    NET calories is how much you have left to your goal of 1300.... the rest (1000 from exercise) you don't HAVE to eat... I never do.. it helps me lose weight and build muscle... you CAN eat up to 1080 calories, but you will lose weight slower.. if you want a gradual loss (which is preferred by Doctors) you CAN eat up to 2300 calories and still lose weight.... just really slow... My Doc is fine with my weight loss (5 pounds a week) as long as I am not hungry or dizzy or my blood sugar doesn't get too low... Hope this helps

    This is terrible advice. 1300kcal is to low for an average male, by burning 1000 of daily intake is putting yourself at real risk your body needs more than 220kcal to survive over a 24hr period.
    Ninkyou wrote: »
    As an aside, I question your calorie goal. As a man, you should be eating 1500 calories minimum, without exercise. Your picture indicates you're possibly a cyclist. You'll need to consume ALOT more than that to keep doing that kind of activity.

    Couldn't agree more, when burning calories over distance, running, cycling etc you really need to fuel your body properly or you are in serious risk of burnout.

    The whole basis of building muscle is to eat excess calories, building muscle is very difficult in a deficit. Its not impossible but as Ninkyou stated this will most likely be "newbie gains"
  • inglysh731
    inglysh731 Posts: 42 Member
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    Thanks for the info... btw, I eat 100% of my calories back (always) so I'll do close to 2300-2500 cal today. I average a hair over 2k per day.

    Mfp set my goal. 5'6", sedentary (work from home, less than 2k steps per day...). I've been doing 1.3k per day + 100% of burned calories since December (when I was over 200 lbs) w/ no trouble. I've been averaging 1.5 lbs per week (now its closer to 1lb per) My ftp power has increased 20%. If I can't hold efforts, or the hr is low, I do eat more... I watch this closely.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    if mfp set your goal to less than 1500 contact them. its a glitch and should not be less than that,why not just set your goal yourself to something more realistic? set it to 2000 a day since you said you average a little over that and go from there.
  • JoshuaMcAllister
    JoshuaMcAllister Posts: 500 Member
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    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if mfp set your goal to less than 1500 contact them. its a glitch and should not be less than that,why not just set your goal yourself to something more realistic? set it to 2000 a day since you said you average a little over that and go from there.

    +1
  • inglysh731
    inglysh731 Posts: 42 Member
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    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if mfp set your goal to less than 1500 contact them. its a glitch and should not be less than that,why not just set your goal yourself to something more realistic? set it to 2000 a day since you said you average a little over that and go from there.

    The way I am managing it is working for me right now. In the past I would often eat for workouts that never occurred. It was... problematic.
    At this point I am averaging 1lb per week in weight loss. Adding back 500 cal will erase any progress.
    I still have 20 lbs to go in order to reach my target weight.

    I work at home and as a result I am sedentary 22 or so hours a day. As I posted before, I sometimes only get as few as 2k steps per day, so, not a lot of activity.

    I use a power meter while riding... again, if I am not hitting target wattages, I know I am at too much of a deficit and adjust accordingly.
  • JoshuaMcAllister
    JoshuaMcAllister Posts: 500 Member
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    inglysh731 wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if mfp set your goal to less than 1500 contact them. its a glitch and should not be less than that,why not just set your goal yourself to something more realistic? set it to 2000 a day since you said you average a little over that and go from there.

    The way I am managing it is working for me right now. In the past I would often eat for workouts that never occurred. It was... problematic.
    At this point I am averaging 1lb per week in weight loss. Adding back 500 cal will erase any progress.
    I still have 20 lbs to go in order to reach my target weight.

    I work at home and as a result I am sedentary 22 or so hours a day. As I posted before, I sometimes only get as few as 2k steps per day, so, not a lot of activity.

    I use a power meter while riding... again, if I am not hitting target wattages, I know I am at too much of a deficit and adjust accordingly.

    Of course its working for you now, you are under eating so of course you will be loosing weight. Whether that is safe and sustainable is another question.

    Regardless of your low activity your body still needs calories to function, I'm no expert but I'd certainly say 220kcal isn't sufficient in doing so.

    You obviously seem set on doing it this way, so I'm not going to try persuade you otherwise but there is a reason MFP sets a daily low level limit for males of 1500kcal. Seems like a good system you have on the bike, its off the bike that is more concerning.

  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    if you have 20lbs to go you should be aiming for .5lbs a week. the less you have to lose the less you should be trying to lose per week.

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    MFP has not implemented a 1500 minimum for males, which is baseless anyway.
  • inglysh731
    inglysh731 Posts: 42 Member
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    JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »
    inglysh731 wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if mfp set your goal to less than 1500 contact them. its a glitch and should not be less than that,why not just set your goal yourself to something more realistic? set it to 2000 a day since you said you average a little over that and go from there.

    The way I am managing it is working for me right now. In the past I would often eat for workouts that never occurred. It was... problematic.
    At this point I am averaging 1lb per week in weight loss. Adding back 500 cal will erase any progress.
    I still have 20 lbs to go in order to reach my target weight.

    I work at home and as a result I am sedentary 22 or so hours a day. As I posted before, I sometimes only get as few as 2k steps per day, so, not a lot of activity.

    I use a power meter while riding... again, if I am not hitting target wattages, I know I am at too much of a deficit and adjust accordingly.

    Of course its working for you now, you are under eating so of course you will be loosing weight. Whether that is safe and sustainable is another question.

    Regardless of your low activity your body still needs calories to function, I'm no expert but I'd certainly say 220kcal isn't sufficient in doing so.

    You obviously seem set on doing it this way, so I'm not going to try persuade you otherwise but there is a reason MFP sets a daily low level limit for males of 1500kcal. Seems like a good system you have on the bike, its off the bike that is more concerning.

    You seem fixated on a number that has no context. Never actually had a day where I ate 1300 cal.
    Said differently... I eat 1500 cal per day but only consume 80% of my exercise calories. How is that different if I end up getting to the same number?
    ..
  • inglysh731
    inglysh731 Posts: 42 Member
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    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if you have 20lbs to go you should be aiming for .5lbs a week. the less you have to lose the less you should be trying to lose per week.

    .5 lbs per week would mean managing to a deficit of 1750 calories or 250 cal per day based on a bunch of estimates of physical activity, calories burned, consumed, etc.

    Even if I had the rigor required to do that, I wouldn't have the data.

    Great suggestion. IMPOSSIBLE to execute.
  • JoshuaMcAllister
    JoshuaMcAllister Posts: 500 Member
    edited February 2016
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    inglysh731 wrote: »
    JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »
    inglysh731 wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if mfp set your goal to less than 1500 contact them. its a glitch and should not be less than that,why not just set your goal yourself to something more realistic? set it to 2000 a day since you said you average a little over that and go from there.

    The way I am managing it is working for me right now. In the past I would often eat for workouts that never occurred. It was... problematic.
    At this point I am averaging 1lb per week in weight loss. Adding back 500 cal will erase any progress.
    I still have 20 lbs to go in order to reach my target weight.

    I work at home and as a result I am sedentary 22 or so hours a day. As I posted before, I sometimes only get as few as 2k steps per day, so, not a lot of activity.

    I use a power meter while riding... again, if I am not hitting target wattages, I know I am at too much of a deficit and adjust accordingly.

    Of course its working for you now, you are under eating so of course you will be loosing weight. Whether that is safe and sustainable is another question.

    Regardless of your low activity your body still needs calories to function, I'm no expert but I'd certainly say 220kcal isn't sufficient in doing so.

    You obviously seem set on doing it this way, so I'm not going to try persuade you otherwise but there is a reason MFP sets a daily low level limit for males of 1500kcal. Seems like a good system you have on the bike, its off the bike that is more concerning.

    You seem fixated on a number that has no context. Never actually had a day where I ate 1300 cal.
    Said differently... I eat 1500 cal per day but only consume 80% of my exercise calories. How is that different if I end up getting to the same number?
    ..

    You seem to have me wrong, I'm not fixated on the number. I'm not trying to argue a point or even say you're wrong, just slightly concerned and sharing an opinion, like others have. You may say it has no context but if you read any other thread on here in regards to this subject you will find a whole host of posts stating the exact same.

    I don't know your stats, height, weight etc, but judging from your photo and age and apparent distance cycling, all I'm saying is that it seams extremely low number.
  • inglysh731
    inglysh731 Posts: 42 Member
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    JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »
    inglysh731 wrote: »
    JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »
    inglysh731 wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if mfp set your goal to less than 1500 contact them. its a glitch and should not be less than that,why not just set your goal yourself to something more realistic? set it to 2000 a day since you said you average a little over that and go from there.

    The way I am managing it is working for me right now. In the past I would often eat for workouts that never occurred. It was... problematic.
    At this point I am averaging 1lb per week in weight loss. Adding back 500 cal will erase any progress.
    I still have 20 lbs to go in order to reach my target weight.

    I work at home and as a result I am sedentary 22 or so hours a day. As I posted before, I sometimes only get as few as 2k steps per day, so, not a lot of activity.

    I use a power meter while riding... again, if I am not hitting target wattages, I know I am at too much of a deficit and adjust accordingly.

    Of course its working for you now, you are under eating so of course you will be loosing weight. Whether that is safe and sustainable is another question.

    Regardless of your low activity your body still needs calories to function, I'm no expert but I'd certainly say 220kcal isn't sufficient in doing so.

    You obviously seem set on doing it this way, so I'm not going to try persuade you otherwise but there is a reason MFP sets a daily low level limit for males of 1500kcal. Seems like a good system you have on the bike, its off the bike that is more concerning.

    You seem fixated on a number that has no context. Never actually had a day where I ate 1300 cal.
    Said differently... I eat 1500 cal per day but only consume 80% of my exercise calories. How is that different if I end up getting to the same number?
    ..

    You seem to have me wrong, I'm not fixated on the number. I'm not trying to argue a point or even say you're wrong, just slightly concerned and sharing an opinion, like others have. You may say it has no context but if you read any other thread on here in regards to this subject you will find a whole host of posts stating the exact same.

    I don't know your stats, height, weight etc, but judging from your photo and age and apparent distance cycling, all I'm saying is that it seams extremely low number.

    That's not true. You do know my stats because I shared them.
    Also, as you put it, "of course it's working for you. You are under eating so of course you'll be losing weight."

    Huh? *rolls eyes*
    How do you know I'm under eating. You saw one screenshot after one meal. You've jumped to so many conclusions you tripped and fell on the jump to conclusions mat.
    I'm not just losing weight, I'm developing my baseline power. You can't make power w/o feeding your body. I am still able to at least hit my peak wattage numbers.

    So... what exactly are you concerned about if I'm eating 2k+ calories per day and all I wanted to do with this thread is point out how worthless a "net calories" figure is.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    inglysh731 wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if you have 20lbs to go you should be aiming for .5lbs a week. the less you have to lose the less you should be trying to lose per week.

    .5 lbs per week would mean managing to a deficit of 1750 calories or 250 cal per day based on a bunch of estimates of physical activity, calories burned, consumed, etc.

    Even if I had the rigor required to do that, I wouldn't have the data.

    Great suggestion. IMPOSSIBLE to execute.

    .5 is half a pound per week. you said you were averaging 1lb a week. so the .5 or half a pound would be a slower loss and a slower deficit. so how can you not do that as opposed to what you are doing now? which is a bigger deficit?

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