Net Calories?

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Renae_Nae
Renae_Nae Posts: 935 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Right now to lose 2 pounds I'm eating just over 1,300 calories (what my trainer says I should be eating and what it says I should be eating here too). Most nights I work out and I'm burning around 500 calories. But now it says I need to eat another 500 calories! Do I HAVE to eat that? Should I only eat about half? I'm so full already for today and I can't imagine putting another 500 calories down.

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  • rockylucas
    rockylucas Posts: 343 Member
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    Ideally you will eat your exercise calories... you say you are full for today... If you live in the USA, its 5:20 pm at the latest... sometime in the next 6 1/2 hrs you will be hungry... so eat your calories like you are supposed to :)
  • davidpm
    davidpm Posts: 208 Member
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    There will be a great debate about this with no clear answer. Some will say yes, others will say no. I personally eat if I'm hungry and if I do, try to keep it within half of what I burned working out. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    From what I've seen posted here, most people find they don't need to at first but do need to as they closer to their goal weight. Don't eat them back for now and see how things work out. If you find that you're not losing weight very quickly, you may want to try eating at least some of them back every day.
  • mrsjennifermaffei
    mrsjennifermaffei Posts: 469
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    I've always heard you are suppose to, that's how it's worked out on the food logs.
    If you eat 1300 calories then burn 500 calories exercising, there is no way your body can handle living on 800 calories. Your body will go into starvation mode and hold onto the fat in your body, slowing your metabolism. Eat your calories. Your body is still burning calories and building muscle when you eat them anyway. You won't regret it, it won't set you back.

    I followed this and have lost 20lbs so far, I think you're gonna be ok.
  • wutamunkee
    wutamunkee Posts: 440 Member
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    eat if your hungry but if the calories are based on MFP numbers not HRM only eat half to be sure you arent eating extra.. sometimes they are way high/low...
  • JRMcCaghren
    JRMcCaghren Posts: 114
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    From what I've seen posted here, most people find they don't need to at first but do need to as they closer to their goal weight. Don't eat them back for now and see how things work out. If you find that you're not losing weight very quickly, you may want to try eating at least some of them back every day.
    This is probably true. Right now, I still have a lot to lose, and thus a lot of calories and I don't need to eat the exercise calories. But, someone who only eats 1200-1400 calories per day, would probably need to eat some of them back. Keep in mind: your net calories are supposed to be no lower than 1200 for a normal day.
  • Krishoppa
    Krishoppa Posts: 1
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    You only have to eat 1,200 calories (for females, 1,600 for males) to not throw your body into malnutrition. You don't HAVE to eat your exercise calories back, but you can.

    i set limits for how many exercise calories I eat back. For every 10 calories I burn, I can only eat 6 back. And likewise, for every 6 calories over my daily budget I eat, I have to burn 10. I do this for several reasons. Mainly to make myself think about whether or not it is worth eating more than my daily budget, and then my net calories will be lower if I do eat over my daily budget.

    In the end, just eat enough so that your body doesn't go into malnutrition. Beyond that, do whatever you want, and what works for you. If you want to burn 6,000 calories a day, and have a negative number for your net calories, more power to you. :)
  • harmonysdream
    harmonysdream Posts: 92 Member
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    You should eat back your exercise calories. I dont know whose this was originally and I dont know the person who made the site, but I've saved it to share when this comes up. So check out the MFP topics linked on this post for the explanation as to why.

    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/index2.html
  • cbediria
    cbediria Posts: 29
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    i struggle with this all the time...but ideally what i do now is eat at least 1,100 net calories for the day to avoid going into starvation mode. it's the worst possible thing for weight loss. i've yo-yo dieted my entire life, because i never ate enough. you don't have to eat back all your excercise calories if you're not hungry, don't shove food in. but make sure you're eating enough for your body to function healthily. and eat lots of protein!

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