Still confused about Net Calories after reading other forums

Yes, it is. :flowerforyou:

That is correct. Just enter all your food and exercise and eat the number of calories in big numbers at the top of your home page every day.

If you don't eat back at least some of your exercise calories, especially if you're burning as much as you are (way to go!) you'll end up what we call "skinny fat". You don't want that!

Thank you! I should have asked this earlier in the day because the way Ive been eating its hard for me to eat close to 2200 because I had a huge burn today at the gym. haha

one day wont hrt - but try to plan better in the future i usually log my exercise in the morning that i will be doing later in the day so that i can spread my "exercise" calories throughout the day instead of trying to cram them in after the workout

Just be cautious- i have noticed the calories burned for most exercises in the database are really high. Best to get a heart rate meter and get an actual amount of calories burned.

Hi Emily.

We all have a "basal metabolic " energy requirement. This is the amount of energy your body would require to carry out normal bodily function such as breathing etc even if you lay in bed all day. The 1200 calories goal that MFP has given you is based on that. IN other words eat less than this and you should lose weight even without doing exercise as your body will make up the shortfall by burning off your fat reserves.

If you do exercise then your energy requirement is obviously greater. In your case you burned off an extra 1042 calories today, meaning that your body requires a total of 1200 + 1042 calories of energy today. Take in less and as before you will burn off fat and eventually lose weight.

It is a simple equation really take in less energy that your body requires and it will make up the shortfall by burning fat and you lose weight.

Hope this makes sense

I take the numbers off the elipitical machine at the gym.

Those numbers aren't really accurate either!

Yeah, but not everyone can afford a HRM right off the bat. (Like me, for example.) Regardless, it's an estimate and at the OP's current weight, a couple hundred calories over the 1200 here and there won't ruin her weight loss at all.

My calorie numbers that I burn at the gym?? I go by what the machine says calories burn for the time spent.

I just want to give you an example. Today, I went to the gym and did 40 minutes of elliptical. I was wearing my chest strap for my HRM. I burned, according to my HRM, 389 calories; however, according to my machine, it was almost 700! That's a huge discrepancy. I'd be very cautious using the machine as your calculator. It would probably be better if you took your HR every so often and averaged them out and then used this calculator: http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm This calculator has been pretty accurate for me.

I'm not saying your machine is necessarily wrong, but it's possible that it's off-like mine are.

Good luck!!

My calorie numbers that I burn at the gym?? I go by what the machine says calories burn for the time spent.

I just want to give you an example. Today, I went to the gym and did 40 minutes of elliptical. I was wearing my chest strap for my HRM. I burned, according to my HRM, 389 calories; however, according to my machine, it was almost 700! That's a huge discrepancy. I'd be very cautious using the machine as your calculator. It would probably be better if you took your HR every so often and averaged them out and then used this calculator: http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm This calculator has been pretty accurate for me.

I'm not saying your machine is necessarily wrong, but it's possible that it's off-like mine are.

Good luck!!

Many machines have heart rate monitors built in to the handles. Presumably, they are accurate at calculating calories burned, or are you saying that those machines are off?

Do those machines let you program in your height, weight, etc?

Hi Emily.

We all have a "basal metabolic " energy requirement. This is the amount of energy your body would require to carry out normal bodily function such as breathing etc even if you lay in bed all day. The 1200 calories goal that MFP has given you is based on that. IN other words eat less than this and you should lose weight even without doing exercise as your body will make up the shortfall by burning off your fat reserves.

If you do exercise then your energy requirement is obviously greater. In your case you burned off an extra 1042 calories today, meaning that your body requires a total of 1200 + 1042 calories of energy today. Take in less and as before you will burn off fat and eventually lose weight.

It is a simple equation really take in less energy that your body requires and it will make up the shortfall by burning fat and you lose weight.

Hope this makes sense

I am new myself but I am pretty sure that this is not quite correct. The net calorie goal that MFP gives you AUTOMATICALLY FACTORS IN a calorie deficit, and many thanks to the people who helped me understand this when I joined. It is not your base metabolic rate, it is figure which has been calulated by MFP to give you a safe weight loss.

For instance, it reckons my BMR is 1234, and my daily needs are 1540. 1200 net already gives me a deficit of 340, and I would lose a nearly a pound in 10 days if I netted that.

If I netted only 1000, I would have a calorie deficit of 540, which is more than a third of what I need to survive, and is less than my BMR! That has got to be bad for you.

It's almost correct., you just missed one step in the equation... MFP does a few calculations to work out how many calories you should eat each day.
- It works out your BMR (the cals you burn each day just to stay alive)
- It multiplies that number by an activity level (where you have specified that you are sedentary, lightly active etc. If you are sedentary it multiplies your BMR by 1.2). This give you a number of calories that should keep your weight stable - maintenance calories.
- It subtracts calories to create a calorie deficit (if you have said you want to lose 2pounds a week it subtracts 1000)
- If this number is under 1200 it will increase it up to 1200 as this is commonly recommended minimum calorie level for women. For men I think it goes to 1500 but I'm not sure.

All of this maths goes to give you your daily calorie allowance. It hasn't factored exercise in at all.
At this point if you exercise for 300 cals, then it gives you these extra calories to eat so that the cals available for your body to function remain at your recommended calorie allowance.

ALL of this is an estimate. The food and exercise numbers you add are also an estimate, none of it is absolute and "correct" for everyone.
My personal opinion is that you may as well try MFP the way it has been designed to start with and then if you find you aren't losing weight at a steady rate then you can change things around a bit to suit your own body.