when net calories are in the negative??

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skullgirl84
skullgirl84 Posts: 36 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
:indifferent: what does it mean when your net calories are in the negative. im new to counting calories so sorry if this is a stupid question :indifferent:

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  • Umeboshi
    Umeboshi Posts: 1,637 Member
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    It means you burned a lot of calories and now you need to eat more, because you've burned more than you've consumed for the day.
  • skullgirl84
    skullgirl84 Posts: 36 Member
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    alright eat more...i like the sound of that :wink: ...jk thanks alot :smile:
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    It means you're eating too little. you need net calories of at least 1200 as this is the minimum that you're body needs to function well.

    Women need (on average) 2000 calories a day to maintain, this is net calories. If she wanted to lose 1lb a week she needs a 500 calories deficit bringing her to 1500 net. If you exercise and burn off a further 500, while you still may be eating 1500 total, you are only getting 1000 net. (equivalent of 1000 eaten, and no exercise)

    Net = Calories eaten - calories burnt through exercise :)
  • vhjacobson
    vhjacobson Posts: 64 Member
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    Hate to be Debbie Downer but negative means you ate more calories that your defined goal allows. Do some cardio to compensate!
  • skullgirl84
    skullgirl84 Posts: 36 Member
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    i just did 35 min of cardio, then i had my snack and now im in the neg...should i do more cardio?
  • Ephena
    Ephena Posts: 615 Member
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    It's not a stupid question at all. It means that you've burned more calories (exercise) than you've taken in thru food. It's not a good thing to see at the end of your day. If you workout first thing in the morning like I do it's common but as soon as you eat it should disappear. Your gross calories is all the food you've eaten. Your net calories is all that food minus your exercise. Most people eat back their exercise calories (sensitive topic on here) so that their net calories reflects the amount of calories MFP told them to eat for the day. Or at least close to it.

    You don't want your body in starvation mode because it will hold onto the fat even harder. (Been there)

    You will need to fiddle with eating back vs not until you find what works best for your body. Listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs. Don't worry, it takes time to be able to hear what it's saying. Lots of advice on here to help you along the way.
  • jvan1957
    jvan1957 Posts: 114
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    If they are in the remaining line with a - before the number and the number is red...that's how many you went over your allowance.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    Hate to be Debbie Downer but negative means you ate more calories that your defined goal allows. Do some cardio to compensate!

    Not true, sounds like you are getting confused with the green "under by ... calories" in your diary compared to the red "over calorie goal" which shows as minus .... calories

    Negative NET calories means you are consuming less calories than you are burning through your workouts. For example, you eat 1500 calories but burn 2000 through a workout, you are then at -500 for the day
    This is exactly the same as not eating anything and then having a 500 calorie burning workout. Alright for 1 day, if say, you run a marathon, or spend the day hiking, or another one off event and physically can't eat all the calories you burn. Apart from that you should be at 1200 net at least.
  • skullgirl84
    skullgirl84 Posts: 36 Member
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    thank you this helps alot:smile:
  • skullgirl84
    skullgirl84 Posts: 36 Member
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    It's not a stupid question at all. It means that you've burned more calories (exercise) than you've taken in thru food. It's not a good thing to see at the end of your day. If you workout first thing in the morning like I do it's common but as soon as you eat it should disappear. Your gross calories is all the food you've eaten. Your net calories is all that food minus your exercise. Most people eat back their exercise calories (sensitive topic on here) so that their net calories reflects the amount of calories MFP told them to eat for the day. Or at least close to it.

    You don't want your body in starvation mode because it will hold onto the fat even harder. (Been there)

    You will need to fiddle with eating back vs not until you find what works best for your body. Listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs. Don't worry, it takes time to be able to hear what it's saying. Lots of advice on here to help you along the way.



    thank you :smile:
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
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    what they said. just eat more
  • stuart959
    stuart959 Posts: 33 Member
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    Its not a silly question and can be a bit confusing, I will try my best to explain it without confusing you further. (you can see what i'm describing under home>goals, and food logging screens) When you give your information to my fitness pal it calucates out about how much energy your body needs per day (energy burned from daily activity on the right column) then you select how much weight you want to lose each week this amount shows as daily calorie deficit. On the food screen at the bottom you will see a row that says goals that is the daily activity amount minus your deficit amount IE 2520-490=2030 the remaining is in the example is your goal amount minus the total of all the food you've taken in so if you are in the negitive until that negitive number is GREATER than your deficit amount you were still in maintence. In the example 2030 is my goal if I ate 2520 the remaining will show -490 (this equals but is not greater than my deficit amount which means I mainatained my weight and didn't not gain nor lose anything.
    Further if you enter exercize this adds to the goal amount that you can eat, basically its all laid out so that however much you eat or exercize you end up with the same amount of loss everyday. I hope that makes sense and is helpful. Have a great day and God Bless.

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