Calories vs net calories for losing weight

nnd001 · August 2017

Hi everyone,
Looking for advice. For my weight loss goals ny recommended calories is 1200 per day in MFP. Then there are days when I exercise and may burn about 300 calories. Net calories ends up at around 900. Am I supposed to target net calories to be 1200 or just my calories eaten to be 1200?

I'm 5'2", at around 173 and trying to get back to the 130's. 1200 always seems so low as well. My progress has been slow so far and I tend to yoyo a bit.

Any advice welcome. Thanks.

cmriverside · August 2017

Net 1200. Eat the exercise calories. They're delish.

cmriverside · August 2017

1500 is a reasonable amount for your height. You could always raise your base calories a little. 1200 is tough.

Play around with your food choices, too. More protein and fat (therefore fewer carbs) seems to help people remain full for longer. Fiber is good for that too.

nnd001 · August 2017

Thank you! That's helpful.

melesine · August 2017

My calorie goal is 1200 also and I go by that, not my net calories. For one thing, logging exercise calories isn't reliable. I've been using MFP for 2 years and I've lost about 80 pounds.

cmriverside · August 2017

melesine wrote: »

My calorie goal is 1200 also and I go by that, not my net calories. For one thing, logging exercise calories isn't reliable. I've been using MFP for 2 years and I've lost about 80 pounds.

That doesn't mean it's right for her. Or for me. Or for most people.

I lost 70 pounds ten years ago and have kept it off by logging food and eating all my exercise calories. So, if she's hungry, maybe she is more active than you.

Here is MFP's explanation of how your calories are calculated:

How do you calculate my calories?

As always, run the experiment. S/he who loses weight while eating the most food wins. 1200 is really difficult for most people, and there is no need to suffer.

caseydimples · August 2017

"S/he who loses weight while eating the most food wins."

THIS!

GaleHawkins · August 2017

@nnd001 welcome to MFP forums and best of continued success.

My yo-yoing weight never stopped until after I got my Vitamin D level over 50 ng and today I try to keep that health marker around 100 ng. My weight loss has been slow but I have been trending down and or maintaining for the past 2.5 years.

You will find a way to eat, think and move that will work for you. You have time on your side which I did not.

GottaBurnEmAll · August 2017

I will add that though you are supposed to net the appropriate number of calories, methods of calculating exercise calories burned are not always reliable.

Go by scale performance. If you're not losing at the rate expected, dial back to eating only a percentage of your exercise calories. For example, if you're using the numbers a gym machine gives you, they are notoriously unreliable. Eat back about half of those.

When I first started here on MFP, I used to use the MFP data base to log activity, and I ate back about 75% of those and lost as expected.

It also depends somewhat what activity you're doing. I know someone here on MFP who used the data base to log running and found it entirely accurate.

Bottom line? Use the scale for feedback, adjust what you're doing as necessary. But do eat at least a portion of those calories. That's the way MFP is designed to work!

Calories vs net calories for losing weight

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