Net calories

cubbygirl_8
cubbygirl_8 Posts: 1 Member
in Chit-Chat
Hello. Can someone explain how a caloric deficit works if the app is adding calories based on my exercise? I feel like if my goal is say 1600, but I train 90 minutes at the gym and say I burned 1000 calories, I've now been given 2600 cals for the day...how am I accomplishing that caloric deficit to lose weight?

Replies

  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 860 Member
    Mfp give you a deficit before exercise so if you are sedentary all day eat 1600 however if you then burn.. Let's use your example 1000 calories more and don't eat any of those that's the same as eating only 600 calories does that sound healthy? Although I would question 1k calorie burn in 90min 🤔 mfp is known for over estimated calorie burn so some people start off by eating 50% and monitor weight loss and adjust accordingly
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,101 Member
    Your goal is based on your NEAT (the energy you burn through all activity except intentional exercise) minus the deficit that is appropriate for your desired weight loss rate.
    If you exercise, those calories are extra calories you burn, so you need to "eat them back" to arrive at the calorie deficit appropriate for your set weight loss rate.

    That being said: 1000 calories seems really exaggerated. Is this the calorie burn MFP gives you, or is it what the gym equipment tells you? I wouldn't trust that number at all. I would eat back half of that and then see if you lose weight at the expected rate or not. You can adjust accordingly.
  • SwannySez
    SwannySez Posts: 5,864 Member
    Using a net to catch your calories is cheating.
  • johnbtay3
    johnbtay3 Posts: 170 Member
    A lot of people think they burn more calories than they actually do when exercising. A common mistake is to eat more because we feel like we burned a lot of calories. The result is we either gain or don't lose weight.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,101 Member
    johnbtay3 wrote: »
    A lot of people think they burn more calories than they actually do when exercising. A common mistake is to eat more because we feel like we burned a lot of calories. The result is we either gain or don't lose weight.

    There are also people like me who eat back all of their exercise calories (in my case calculated by an activity tracker) and still lose weight, at a faster rate than expected even.
    The principle of eating back exercise calories is sound, not eating back exercise calories creates a larger deficit, which in some cases leads to an overly aggressive deficit.

    The issue lies in the fact that we don't know how many calories we burn (through exercise or otherwise). They are estimates and can be incorrect, hence the need to be cautious with calorie burn estimates and monitor our weight to see if it corresponds to the estimates or not.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    2600 calories eaten by the end of the day.
    Minus the 1000 calories burned in exercise.
    Net calories at the end of the day is 1600, what MFP gave you.

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