NET Calories question.

afelty85 · October 2011

Ok, I am a little confused about the whole calorie deficit thing. I am down from 257 to 222 (since May 2011) am running 3 miles (5-6 days a week) and 5 miles (1-2 days a week) about 10-12 min miles... I am shooting for losing about 2 lbs per week so I am at 1400 calories daily.

At my weight, I burn about 500 cals for 3 (10 min) miles. If I eat 1400, burn 500, that leaves me with 900 actual cals to fuel my basal metabolic functions, right? So at the end of my day, I have actually only given my body 900 cals to live off, and that seems way too few for my weight and activity level. LAST thing I want to do is freak out my metabolism and start burning glycogen from muscle mass rather than fat and end up lighter and flabby.

When I look up different sites online, the general concensus is, not to go below 1200 cals for my weight and age (45)... So should I have a total at the end of my day of at least 1200 cals? Eat 1200, burn 500, (net 700 actual cals) eat an additional 500 cals to equal end of day total calorie intake odf 1200?

I guess my basic quesiton is: when the general concensus for my weight loss/exercise goal is 1400 TOTAL cals daily, should that INCLUDE or NOT INCLUDE exercise cals burned?

Thanks in adavnce for any advice or suggestions!

Elzecat · October 2011

you will get a TON of different opinions on this one...personally, I "eat back" my exercise calories and have been able to lose 40 lbs and keep it off that way. Some people choose not to eat them back, or just some of them...the general rule is to not go below 1200 net calories per day, and for most men it's usually recommended to have about 1400-1500. Everyone is so individual though...you will have to experiment a bit to see what works for you.

As far as the running...are you taking any rest days? as a new runner I usually don't run every day, I like to take breaks in between. Be careful not to overtrain if you're a beginner

jodie0520 · October 2011

Its my understanding that the deficit is built in BEFORE the exercise and the site views exercise as a way you can "earn" more calories to eat. So I would think you should be eating enough calories to equal 1400 after all your food and activity combined.
That is just my understanding of it though, so I will def check back to see what others have learned along the way.

laurajcarter · October 2011

I was wondering the same thing, but I figured that since it says I "stayed under my calorie goal" if my Net Calories are under my goal, then that's what I'm supposed to go off of, not the calories I've actually eaten.

trelm249 · October 2011

Try to keep your net calories close to the 1400 mark. You will still lose and be easier to live with.

I tried to skip eating back my exercise calories and it was making me sick. I was too tired and weak to keep exercising. For me it isn't about just the weight loss. By eating back my exercise calories I am still losing weight and able to engage in the exercise I want to and need to for my fitness goals. I am also a lot more pleasant to live with and work with.

My 2 cents.

HMonsterX · October 2011

A lot of this is set by whatever you put your activity level to. If you have it set highly, it's already taking into account your exercise. Because my day time is pretty much sedentary, and all my exercise is late evening stuff, i put my activity level at sedentary, log my exercise, and eat some of that back if i want to. At least once a week i'll eat to maintainance.

Getting_Fit_4_Life · October 2011

For ME eating back my workout calories did NOT work for me! I tried it for about a month and I gained weight. I stopped eating back my calories and I have been losing since then. I think everyone's body is a bit different so I suggest that you try eating back some of the calories back and see what happens. I tried eating back the entire calories and then some and it still didn't work for me. I know there is a lot of different opinion on this so I say try it and see what works for you. If am hungry, then I will definatetely eat back some, but I usually don't.

goretro · October 2011

as long as you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. as far as losing glycogen from your muscles don't worry about that to much because your body will not start attacking your muscle mass until you reach about the 5 - 6 % body fat range. I know that goes agaist the whole dogma of the popular media today but it has actually been scientifically proven through the US military. As we all know they are all about pushing the human body to its outer limits. EX. for 8 weeks they took army rangers and put them though a brutish training regiment of only 1200 cals a day and most days pushing them to extremes of 5000 to 6000 cals a day in burn. these guys were coming in at 14% bf average. At about week 6 is when they were around the 5 - 6 % bf range.this is when their body's hit the wall and they also started having horomone imbalances such as testosterone and hgh levels decreasing.

but don't take my word for it find the research and make the decion for your self. I say if you don't feel deprived at the 900 cal level keep doing it.

afelty85 · October 2011

Thanks for ALL the responses! I will continue to do some research, but it sounds like ending the day at 1400 (eating back the exercise cals) is the common response. I really do appreciate the input!

5'11"
45 y/m
SW 257 (May 11)
CW 222
GW 200 (re-evaluate)
Run 3 miles 5-6 days (30 min)
Run 5 miles 1-2 days (33 min)

neuro316 · October 2011

I'm not a nutritionist, but I do have a science background - I would guess that at your height, weight, and with the fact that you're male, plus the amount of daily exercise you're doing, 1400 net calories is a much healthier goal for you than 900, and that 1400 net is also an amount at which you should almost certainly lose weight.

So, yes, if you burn ~500 calories in exercise on a given day, then you should eat 1900 calories, which would give you a final net amount of 1400.

NET Calories question.

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