1200-cal-per-day = net cal consumed or just cal consumed?

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lavsk23
lavsk23 Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am a little confused. Is the min-1200-cal-per-day the net calories consumed or just calories consumed irrespective of how much you have exercised that day?

For my sedentary lifestyle MFP calculates:
Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity : 1,850 calories/day
Net Calories Consumed* Your Daily Goal : 1,200 calories/ day

So if I keep eating back my exercise calories, my deficit per day will always remain constant, irrespective of how much I exercise. And if don't eat back all my exercise calories, I will fall below the required 1200 cal. For example, If my exercise calories come out to 400-450 per day and I eat 1400 cal I am still below the1200 net. So should I up my calorie intake?

I read many posts here on MFP but still kind of confused. :(

Could someone please enlighten me?
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Replies

  • swedishwillow
    swedishwillow Posts: 89 Member
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    bump - nicely put // Id be interested to see some answers
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    NET.

    So for me after a 500 calorie workout if I did not eat back my exercise calories I'd be fueling my body with only 760 calories for the day. Not good!

    I'm actually eating 1700 in food, working out 500, and reaching NET 1200.
  • Shweedog
    Shweedog Posts: 883 Member
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    This is in the Newbie section in the forums:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • MNA76
    MNA76 Posts: 1,541
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    If you eat 1400 calories and exercise and burn 400 calories and don't eat those calories back, then your net intake is 1000.
  • mayerel
    mayerel Posts: 254 Member
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    Generally, the consensus seems to be you should be netting not less than 1200. If you want you can get into the BMR, TDEE and all that jazz but find what works for you and go with it!
  • ddeaton80
    ddeaton80 Posts: 1
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    I would think that you can up your calorie intake to 1600-1650. Thats what I do. :smile:
  • JenniLisette
    JenniLisette Posts: 132
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    NET CAL CONSUMED.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    the 1200 is the net, it contains the deficit for weight loss so by logging exercise and eating more you preserve the original deficit rather than increasing it.

    You have to be careful that the exercise is logged accurately and watch out for mathematical traps in the 1200 minimum, so eating a proportion of the exercise is quite common.
  • MsMargie1116
    MsMargie1116 Posts: 323 Member
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    Don't feel bad, I was pretty confused by the net calories and all that. I eat as much as my exercise calories back as possible. So for me, my net calories should be as close to the amount perday I am supposed to eat as possible. :smile: I have been attempting to leave a couple hundred exercise calories back the past couple of weeks just so that I will have that to fall back on on my exercise day off which is Friday. :wink:
  • knk1553
    knk1553 Posts: 438 Member
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    You should eat back your exercise calories, if you notice when you put your exercise calories in it subtracts it from calories consumed and you still have calories left over to eat. So eat back your exercise calories, so for example, you eat 1400 calories, do 400 calorie burn, so therefore you actually only consumed 1000 calories, and have 200 left to eat for the day to be at your 1200 total. Its important to stay at or above that, going below that will actually slow down your metabolism and you'll lose muscle mass over time. So if you plan on burning 400 calories a day, you should be eating a TOTAL of 1600 which would give you a Net of 1200, make sense?
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    oh and P.S. anyone with a desk job is considered sedentary even if you workout every day at the gym.
  • lavsk23
    lavsk23 Posts: 24 Member
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    Don't feel bad, I was pretty confused by the net calories and all that. I eat as much as my exercise calories back as possible. So for me, my net calories should be as close to the amount perday I am supposed to eat as possible. :smile: I have been attempting to leave a couple hundred exercise calories back the past couple of weeks just so that I will have that to fall back on on my exercise day off which is Friday. :wink:

    I was doing a similar thing. Eating a couple hundred less, so that it acts as a cushion on the days I eat much more or don't exercise. But that would keep me at around 1000 cal per day, which looks not-recommended.

    So that brings me to the next question - On non-exercise days, how much do you eat? Esp during weekends, when going over 1200 could happen even with all that restraint!
  • mayerel
    mayerel Posts: 254 Member
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    Stuff happens, going over once in awhile won't hurt anything!
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    If the reason you exercise is to speed your weight loss, don't "eat back" those calories. Your body uses its stored fat for fuel, which is why we lose weight. If you exercise to eat more, have at it. If you exercise for non-weight reasons, either way.

    Just as an example of one respected, managed plan that does not have you "eat back" exercise, WW has you "eat back" a maximum of half IF you want to, knowing you will have slower losses. I don't know of actual respected, managed plans that tell you to eat them all back.

    If you're eating your BMR (not that you said you are) AND your exercise calories, the only calories left to burn off fat stores is the ones from your incidental activity, like the tiny amount you spend walking to the kitchen, etc.
  • lavsk23
    lavsk23 Posts: 24 Member
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    This is much more clear now :) I do try to walk around every now and then at my work but I guess that won't put me in the Lightly Active category.. So going by just sheer math, that would keep my rate of weight loss almost constant :( But on the bright side - any weight loss is a loss so I should keep going with it. :)
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    If the reason you exercise is to speed your weight loss, don't "eat back" those calories. Your body uses its stored fat for fuel, which is why we lose weight. If you exercise to eat more, have at it. If you exercise for non-weight reasons, either way.

    Just as an example of one respected, managed plan that does not have you "eat back" exercise, WW has you "eat back" a maximum of half IF you want to, knowing you will have slower losses. I don't know of actual respected, managed plans that tell you to eat them all back.

    If you're eating your BMR (not that you said you are) AND your exercise calories, the only calories left to burn off fat stores is the ones from your incidental activity, like the tiny amount you spend walking to the kitchen, etc.

    Non-exercise calories burned in excess of BMR are way more than the few you use to walk to the kitchen. It includes ALL your activity including, walking to your car, walking round shopping, cleaning, walking around work etc etc etc. I have a BMF and my non-exercise days are approx. 350 - 650 calores in excess of my BMR depending on what I do that day (and I have a desk job and am very sedentary outside my workouts).
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    If the reason you exercise is to speed your weight loss, don't "eat back" those calories. Your body uses its stored fat for fuel, which is why we lose weight. If you exercise to eat more, have at it. If you exercise for non-weight reasons, either way.

    Just as an example of one respected, managed plan that does not have you "eat back" exercise, WW has you "eat back" a maximum of half IF you want to, knowing you will have slower losses. I don't know of actual respected, managed plans that tell you to eat them all back.

    If you're eating your BMR (not that you said you are) AND your exercise calories, the only calories left to burn off fat stores is the ones from your incidental activity, like the tiny amount you spend walking to the kitchen, etc.

    Non-exercise calories burned in excess of BMR are way more than the few you use to walk to the kitchen. It includes ALL your activity including, walking to your car, walking round shopping, cleaning, walking around work etc etc etc. I have a BMF and my non-exercise days are approx. 350 - 650 calores in excess of my BMR depending on what I do that day (and I have a desk job and am very sedentary outside my workouts).

    I know, that's what I meant. I use a Fitbit and had a BMF. I think for some (especially the very overweight who feel like they did an hour workout so can sit the rest of the day), it's just not that high. Not enough for significant weight loss, not enough to keep them motivated to keep tracking all this data. And then if they decide that that walk to the mailbox was 'exercise' and track it and 'eat it back', then they close in on a meaningless deficit even more quickly.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    If the reason you exercise is to speed your weight loss, don't "eat back" those calories. Your body uses its stored fat for fuel, which is why we lose weight. If you exercise to eat more, have at it. If you exercise for non-weight reasons, either way.

    Just as an example of one respected, managed plan that does not have you "eat back" exercise, WW has you "eat back" a maximum of half IF you want to, knowing you will have slower losses. I don't know of actual respected, managed plans that tell you to eat them all back.

    If you're eating your BMR (not that you said you are) AND your exercise calories, the only calories left to burn off fat stores is the ones from your incidental activity, like the tiny amount you spend walking to the kitchen, etc.

    Non-exercise calories burned in excess of BMR are way more than the few you use to walk to the kitchen. It includes ALL your activity including, walking to your car, walking round shopping, cleaning, walking around work etc etc etc. I have a BMF and my non-exercise days are approx. 350 - 650 calores in excess of my BMR depending on what I do that day (and I have a desk job and am very sedentary outside my workouts).

    I know, that's what I meant. I use a Fitbit and had a BMF. I think for some (especially the very overweight who feel like they did an hour workout so can sit the rest of the day), it's just not that high. Not enough for significant weight loss, not enough to keep them motivated to keep tracking all this data. And then if they decide that that walk to the mailbox was 'exercise' and track it and 'eat it back', then they close in on a meaningless deficit even more quickly.

    OK - but when you said, 'the only calories left to burn off fat stores is the ones from your incidental activity, like the tiny amount you spend walking to the kitchen, etc." that was very much minimizing the calories burnt and making a huge assumption that people did log every single thing as exercise.
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    I do think it's a smallish goal. My BMR is probably around 1400/day. My incidental activity pushes that up to around 1800. If I do some distinct "exercise" (I prefer to just think in terms of overall activity) I might get that up to 2200. So if I listen to the wisdom around here, I should eat 1800 calories/day (on "exercise" days) and with my resulting 400 cal/day avg. deficit it'll take me 9 days to lose 1 lb. I think that's a lovely choice but I don't think we all need to shoot so low. Most authorities say up to 2 lbs./week is healthy.

    I should add that my 400ish cals/day from incidental activity is probably more than most people here. I get around 12,000 steps a day in that is not "exercise".
  • kingbillie
    kingbillie Posts: 1 Member
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    I have the 1200 cals - net. So if my target is 1200 without exercise I have that. However if I burn 260 calories by exercise I add that on so that day I can have 1460. I am struggling with it as it is so low. Most diets are 1400 before exercise so this is tough. Good luck.

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