Need help understanding net calories?!

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mommyweighless
mommyweighless Posts: 192 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 5'6" and about 218 pounds myfitnesspal gave me a daily calorie intake of 1390. I am having a hard time understanding what net calories are. i do 45 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of strength 5 days a week and usually burn about 700-1000 calories a day.

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  • darlingkaya
    darlingkaya Posts: 37
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    Net calories are the food you eat minus the calories you burn from exersice ;)

    when you do exersice you can add that up to your calorie intake, that is why they have the Net calories.

    If you only have 1300calories a day, wich i think is pretty low... id never be able to do that without feeling starved.
    If you burn 800 or 1000calories with exersice, on those day´s you can add that to your 1300 and eat that to. Just make sure theyr healthy and dont use´em all up if you feel you dont need to ; ) its nice to save a few for those going out to dinner occations or tv crisp binges;P
  • mommyweighless
    mommyweighless Posts: 192 Member
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    I've read that that is low but its what it spit out at me lol. and i eat healthy and usually don't feel hungry. i just didn't understand what it was. so basically if my net calories is say 294 i can add that to my daily intake making it about 1500?
  • Meaganandcheese
    Meaganandcheese Posts: 525 Member
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    You need to eat back enough exercise calories to hit a total of 1390 after your exercise calories are deducted.

    A net of 200-300 is dangerously low!
  • mommyweighless
    mommyweighless Posts: 192 Member
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    So far my net today is 471..good or bad..what should.i aim for daily if i want yo lose 1-2 lbs a week?
  • Meaganandcheese
    Meaganandcheese Posts: 525 Member
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    Your net intake should be around 1390.
  • mommyweighless
    mommyweighless Posts: 192 Member
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    Ok so the 919 calories remaining is what i still need to consume?
  • Meaganandcheese
    Meaganandcheese Posts: 525 Member
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    Yep! Sounds like you had a great workout!

    The number that MFP gives you is where you should be ending at (or close). That number has already factored in a calorie deficit, so you want to make sure you're still consuming enough fuel for your body to function properly.

    Good luck!
  • mommyweighless
    mommyweighless Posts: 192 Member
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    Thanks so much! Now i know why i haven seen a number budge on the scale!
  • hadesflame
    hadesflame Posts: 95 Member
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    Ok lemme see if I understand this completely....
    MFP set my goal at 1600 daily. My exercise today burned over 800. According to what I'm reading, my net is supposed to be 1600 and I'm supposed to eat back those 800 that I burned. That really seems like a lot to me but I guess that would explain why my scale won't move down and on some days it moves up. Is this right?
  • Micahroni84
    Micahroni84 Posts: 452 Member
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    eat those calories! I had a hard time accepting eating the calories that I burned off but once I did the weight started coming off. And I'm not hungry at the end of the day.
  • Micahroni84
    Micahroni84 Posts: 452 Member
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    Ok lemme see if I understand this completely....
    MFP set my goal at 1600 daily. My exercise today burned over 800. According to what I'm reading, my net is supposed to be 1600 and I'm supposed to eat back those 800 that I burned. That really seems like a lot to me but I guess that would explain why my scale won't move down and on some days it moves up. Is this right?

    I have been eating 100 or so less than what the machine or MFP's system says I burned because I've heard the numbers are not typically accurate.
  • LovingLisa2012
    LovingLisa2012 Posts: 802 Member
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    from the help section on this site

    We set your nutritional target in Net Calories which we define as:

    Calories Consumed (Food) - Calories Burned (Exercise) = Net Calories

    What that means is that if you exercise, you will be able to eat more for that day. For example, if your Net Calorie goal is 2000 calories, one way to meet that goal is to eat 2,500 calories of food, but then burn 500 calories through exercise.

    Think of your Net Calories like a daily budget of calories to spend. You spend them by eating, and you earn more calories to eat by exercising.
  • critter347
    critter347 Posts: 58 Member
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    So we're supposed to have our Net Cals at the end of the day match our Goal? or at least be somewhere near?

    Because mine usually looks something like this

    Goal: 1870 Food: 2090 - Exercise: 1037 Net: 1053

    817 remaining.

    So I should eat 600 ish more calories today? That seems like it be backwards to do that after all the exercise? but I don't know.
  • tbresina
    tbresina Posts: 558 Member
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    eat those calories! I had a hard time accepting eating the calories that I burned off but once I did the weight started coming off. And I'm not hungry at the end of the day.

    Why does you ticker say 0 wt loss if you have been losing wt, im confused?
  • Meaganandcheese
    Meaganandcheese Posts: 525 Member
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    So we're supposed to have our Net Cals at the end of the day match our Goal? or at least be somewhere near?

    Because mine usually looks something like this

    Goal: 1870 Food: 2090 - Exercise: 1037 Net: 1053

    817 remaining.

    So I should eat 600 ish more calories today? That seems like it be backwards to do that after all the exercise? but I don't know.

    Yes, you need to net a MINIMUM of 1200 (maybe more as a male). The daily goal that MFP gives you does not reflect activity. That is the basic # of calories your body needs to function. If you do more, you need more fuel. You will still have a deficit, even if you eat back all of your exercise calories.

    @Michah - you should look into getting a heart rate monitor. Much more accurate!
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    So we're supposed to have our Net Cals at the end of the day match our Goal? or at least be somewhere near?

    Because mine usually looks something like this

    Goal: 1870 Food: 2090 - Exercise: 1037 Net: 1053

    817 remaining.

    So I should eat 600 ish more calories today? That seems like it be backwards to do that after all the exercise? but I don't know.

    yes - you can keep going until your remaining are zero, as long as you are sure your calorie calculations are accurate.
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
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    Yes, your body needs the fuel, so eat back those exercise calories. Just make sure that you know what you're really burning, MFP tends to overestimate on a lot of things. A HRM with a chest strap will give you the best estimate of what you're really burning. Once I got my HRM, I started eating back all of my exercise calories, and I've had good success with it.
  • ShaSimone
    ShaSimone Posts: 276
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    Calories in (eat/drink) - Calories out (exercise) = net calories
  • Micahroni84
    Micahroni84 Posts: 452 Member
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    eat those calories! I had a hard time accepting eating the calories that I burned off but once I did the weight started coming off. And I'm not hungry at the end of the day.

    Why does you ticker say 0 wt loss if you have been losing wt, im confused?

    I just started a biggest loser contest so I reset my ticker until the next weigh in. On Monday you will see how many pounds I lost. I just want my ticker to reflect my biggest loser weight loss.

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