question about Net Calories

Littlerunner0514 · March 2012

So I understand that my net calories show me the difference between how much I ate and how much I used. But I am a little confused on how MFP is calculating them. I was taught that you take your food intake subtract it by you BMR and then subtract that total by how much you burned working out. Is this correct or do you not incorporate your BMR?

Todaycfor example, I ate 1246 calories, worked out a total of 951 calories and my BMR is 1300the roughly. Now if I do the math how I understand it I get a deficit of 1005 calories. But MFP says my net is +295... im so confused. Any help would be lovely.

Lukazetta · March 2012

So I understand that my net calories show me the difference between how much I ate and how much I used. But I am a little confused on how MFP is calculating them. I was taught that you take your food intake subtract it by you BMR and then subtract that total by how much you burned working out. Is this correct or do you not incorporate your BMR?

Todaycfor example, I ate 1246 calories, worked out a total of 951 calories and my BMR is 1300the roughly. Now if I do the math how I understand it I get a deficit of 1005 calories. But MFP says my net is +295... im so confused. Any help would be lovely.

Eating your exercise calories is a huge controversy on MFP. In my opinion, you should eat them back as long as you're hungry.

However, I recommend you look up your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).

This is a good way to figure out how many calories you need to consume to lose body fat and not lose much lean muscle you already have:

Example:
If your TDEE is around 2500, calories under that will lose more body fat.
If your BMR is around 1800, calories under that will lose more lean muscle.

You just have to find that perfect balance by finding your sweet spot between your TDEE and BMR where you don't lose too much lean muscle but still lose weight.

Good luck!

Chester_1 · March 2012

I believe how it works is MFP estimates the calories you would use living your day to day life, including the basic moving around you do during the day, and creates a defecit based on how much weight you want to lose and how quickly you want to do it. Your BMR is the number of calories you would use in a day if you were to sleep for 24 hours straight, so the number of calories you burn in a day when you're NOT sleeping the whole time should be quite a bit higher.

So once MFP has created a deficit for you it lets you know how many net calories you need in a day. In my case it's 1200. So if I work out and burn an additional 500 calories I actually need to consume 1700.

Your net calories should be equal to (or close to) your goal calories for the day.

To add to the above post, lots and lots of people will tell you you absolutely MUST eat back your exercise calories, others will tell you not to. If you're hungry, eat them. If not, don't. In my case, since my goal is only 1200 I should be eating most of mine back, but if your goal is higher I would assume it's safe to not eat them back assuming you keep your net around 1200 calories a day.

jaabee11 · March 2012

you're confusing 2 different equations.

MFP net is the net calories consumed for the day. ie: you have eaten 1246 but used 951 on exercise so MFP has your net calories consumed as 295. 1246 - 951 leaves 245. You still need to eat up to your calorie goal for the day according to MFP.

lukazetta is correct , eating exercise calories is controversial but it is the way MFP is set up. Some choose to not eat them and ignore the net calorie figure. It's up to you.
The main problem with eating your calories is overestimating how many calories you have burned which is why I try to only eat half of mine unless I'm really hungry.
Clear as mud? Good luck.

kwehrheim · March 2012

you're confusing 2 different equations.

MFP net is the net calories consumed for the day. ie: you have eaten 1246 but used 951 on exercise so MFP has your net calories consumed as 295. 1246 - 951 leaves 245. You still need to eat up to your calorie goal for the day according to MFP.

lukazetta is correct , eating exercise calories is controversial but it is the way MFP is set up. Some choose to not eat them and ignore the net calorie figure. It's up to you.
The main problem with eating your calories is overestimating how many calories you have burned which is why I try to only eat half of mine unless I'm really hungry.
Clear as mud? Good luck.

Correct answer, right here. The 295 is simply comparing what you've eaten to what you've burned. The "Calories Remaining" field is what takes into account your BMR.

djsupreme6 · March 2012

So I understand that my net calories show me the difference between how much I ate and how much I used. But I am a little confused on how MFP is calculating them. I was taught that you take your food intake subtract it by you BMR and then subtract that total by how much you burned working out. Is this correct or do you not incorporate your BMR?

Todaycfor example, I ate 1246 calories, worked out a total of 951 calories and my BMR is 1300the roughly. Now if I do the math how I understand it I get a deficit of 1005 calories. But MFP says my net is +295... im so confused. Any help would be lovely.

yes you've consumed 1246 cals and burned 951 of them off which means there are 295 of those things still hanging around lol...I would say 951 cals burned is quite a workout(s) and your body may need more nutrients to help it out...eating the exercise cals back is a good thing

Littlerunner0514 · March 2012

Thank you everyone. I think it makes sense to me now...so the Net calories DOES NOT take into account of my BMR....So really I shouldnt look at that too much when figuring out my deficit?

susannamarie · March 2012

Why are you trying to figure out your deficit?

Your deficit is what you programmed into MFP (If you forgot, it's visible on the 'goals' tab of your homepage) + the calories you have left for your goal.

So if you're 500 calories short of your goal (500 calories left) and you programmed in a 500 calorie deficit, you're currently at a 1000 calorie deficit.

question about Net Calories

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