Net intake!??

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  • erogers85
    erogers85 Posts: 32
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    Slightly off-topic, but I'm kinda not understanding the whole net intake. Sort of. Mine is set for 1,400. When I burn X amount of calories, that gives me an extra X amount of calories/etc to consume. Very stupid question sorry, but am I supposed to consume those extras, if I already met all my intake # before working out, or just leave it? I hope that makes sense. I'm new on here, and am wanting to learn how to remain healthy and lose weight the proper way.

    yes, you want to consume those extra calories so that you have a net of zero at the end of the day. Technically you don't want your number to be red (over your net calories) or green (under your net calories) but of course some days you'll be hungrier and some days you won't feel like eating all of your exercise calories back. Good luck with your weight loss!
  • cressievargo
    cressievargo Posts: 392 Member
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    Slightly off-topic, but I'm kinda not understanding the whole net intake. Sort of. Mine is set for 1,400. When I burn X amount of calories, that gives me an extra X amount of calories/etc to consume. Very stupid question sorry, but am I supposed to consume those extras, if I already met all my intake # before working out, or just leave it? I hope that makes sense. I'm new on here, and am wanting to learn how to remain healthy and lose weight the proper way.

    MFP already has a built in calorie deficit - so eat your exercise calories back. If you are using the MFP calories burned and not a heart rate monitor, personally I wouldn't eat ALL of them back b/c they are notoriously HIGH. I'd say most people I have seen on here do roughly half. So say you ate 1400 calories...and burned 500 (according to MFP)...eat back 250 or so of that.
  • moea432
    moea432 Posts: 75 Member
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    Slightly off-topic, but I'm kinda not understanding the whole net intake. Sort of. Mine is set for 1,400. When I burn X amount of calories, that gives me an extra X amount of calories/etc to consume. Very stupid question sorry, but am I supposed to consume those extras, if I already met all my intake # before working out, or just leave it? I hope that makes sense. I'm new on here, and am wanting to learn how to remain healthy and lose weight the proper way.


    From what I'm understanding your supposed to NET INTAKE your goal or at least be a littler
    Under if your wanting to lose weight... So mine is now like 1700 and if i excercise
    Another 600 my NET CALORIES should be a little less than 2200 in order for me to lose weight still....and I mostly am under 1200..... : /
  • Lampy00512
    Lampy00512 Posts: 117
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    Ooh, thank you very much to those who replied!
  • moea432
    moea432 Posts: 75 Member
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    I am a female and when I plateaued for about 4 weeks I had to up my calories and those last stubborn pounds came off fast. I plateaued around the time my lifting became heavier and more rigorous and my body couldn't keep up with the lower cals. Try it for 2 weeks, it can't hurt to see.
    If I can ask: what are your stats? How much were you netting before, and how much after? Height/weight?
    Thanks!



    Anywhere from 600-1200 on weekdays but no
    More than 1400 on any day
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    1500 before workout....so I figure don't net anymore than 1500
    But no less than 1200

    Netting exactly 1500 keeps you on target for whatever weight loss you chose in your profile (1, 1.5, or 2 pounds per week). If you chose 1 or 1.5, then being an extra 300 calories under (by netting 1200) is not really the end of the world, but you'll probably have better results by eating closer to 1500 net. The lighter you get, the harder it is to maintain a large deficit and see results.

    Edit: I see that since the post where you mentioned 1500, you've changed your activity level. That's fine (though not what MFP recommends), but keep in mind that you changed the activity level with your workouts in mind. If you do that, then you shouldn't log all of your workout calories burned as exercise, because you've already counted some of those calories in your initial target. By counting the same calories twice (once in your "lightly active" estimate, and again in an exercise diary entry), you'd be overestimating your calories burned for the day, and possibly eating too much food. Your weight loss might slow down as compared to how you were recording things before.
  • moea432
    moea432 Posts: 75 Member
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    1500 before workout....so I figure don't net anymore than 1500
    But no less than 1200

    Netting exactly 1500 keeps you on target for whatever weight loss you chose in your profile (1, 1.5, or 2 pounds per week). If you chose 1 or 1.5, then being an extra 300 calories under (by netting 1200) is not really the end of the world, but you'll probably have better results by eating closer to 1500 net. The lighter you get, the harder it is to maintain a large deficit and see results.

    Edit: I see that since the post where you mentioned 1500, you've changed your activity level. That's fine (though not what MFP recommends), but keep in mind that you changed the activity level with your workouts in mind. If you do that, then you shouldn't log all of your workout calories burned as exercise, because you've already counted some of those calories in your initial target. By counting the same calories twice (once in your "lightly active" estimate, and again in an exercise diary entry), you'd be overestimating your calories burned for the day, and possibly eating too much food. Your weight loss might slow down as compared to how you were recording things before.


    Well I changed it back to sedentary but I'm really not sitting all day but just to be safe and make sure I'm not eating to much I changed it back
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    It says my max is 1500 calories a day to lose 2lbs a week but I work out at least 600 calories a day....so am I supposed to net at least 1500?

    yes, and as a man you should never net below 1500, that being said even 1500 may be too low for you.

    Here is a guide for setting weekly weight loss goal, these goals give you net caloric intakes:
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    So, with only 30lbs left to go your goal should be to lose 1 lb/week, this will give you an additional 500 cals/day, that yous should be eating.
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    I am a female and when I plateaued for about 4 weeks I had to up my calories and those last stubborn pounds came off fast. I plateaued around the time my lifting became heavier and more rigorous and my body couldn't keep up with the lower cals. Try it for 2 weeks, it can't hurt to see.
    If I can ask: what are your stats? How much were you netting before, and how much after? Height/weight?
    Thanks!

    My stats at that time were:

    5'2, 119 lbs I'm now at 115. I was netting 1200 but not always able to eat my exercise cals back. My goal now is 1350 and but I usually net more bc I eat my exercise cals back and I'm trying to find a good level to eat at to drop 1-2 more BF%.
  • hinmana
    hinmana Posts: 16
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    YES! You need to NET 1500! If you dont eat enough your body will go into starvation mode and it will want to hold onto everything it has so you wont see much change in weight! If you burn off 600 a day you need to eat 2100 approximately. But you will just have to experiment a little to see the right amount needed for YOU. But you probably need to eat more!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    My stats at that time were:

    5'2, 119 lbs I'm now at 115. I was netting 1200 but not always able to eat my exercise cals back. My goal now is 1350 and but I usually net more bc I eat my exercise cals back and I'm trying to find a good level to eat at to drop 1-2 more BF%.
    Thanks! Sounds like a good plan.

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