So confused with Net Calories

From one of my old posts from a similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
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There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

I have a hard time eating an healthy and dairy free (allergy) diet and netting above 900. I never thought it would be hard to eat more calories, but it is when I can't eat cheese, limiting the fries, and in general making an effort to eat more vegetables.

Am I sabotaging my progress?

Simplified - Net calories are your calories in less your exercise calories expended. If you eat 1200 calories and burn 300, your net is 900. You want to keep your net calories above your BMI (the calories your body needs for basic function).

Ok, so I know this has been asked a million times and when i researched this topic i got billions of answers and now am more confused! Net calories is the number of calories you are supposed to function on daily, correct? If so, is it really bad that mine is always below 900? Sometimes even below 500? Because now I am kind of freaking out. I have lost 28 pounds over the last 4 months with the Net calories being this low, but now I'm starting to plateau. Can someone please explain this whole net calorie thing to me? Also does this have to do with the eating back exercise calories? Because I hate the thought of having to eat a ton of calories a day to keep that number up. I am so very confused. Lol. again, sorry for the repeat topic/question!

Think of it the same way you think of expenses/money.

Net calories = net income

Say your earn $1000. But you have to pay $250 in taxes. Your net income is $750. That's what you have left to live on.

Calories are very similar. Say you eat 1500 calories. But you burn 250 during exercise. Your net cals is 1250. That's what your body has left to do all the things it needs to do - all it's basic functions (breathe, pump blood, etc), plus provide energy for you to do all the things you do over the course of the day (go to work/school, run errands, hang out with friends, clean, etc etc).

Make sense?

Exercise calories are related. Let's use the example from before... Say you eat 1500 cals. You burn 250 during exercise. You're left with 1250. 1250 cals isn't enough for your body to do what it needs to do. So you eat back the 250 cals your burned exercising to keep yorur net cals in a healthy range.

Still with me?

Now, to your question about being below 900 or below 500. I don't know you, I don't know your health issues, your fitness level, etc etc. But for 99.999999% of the people out there. 900 is too low. 500 is absurdly low. Without knowing more about you I can't really recommend a number, but a net of 1500 is a good starting point for most women.


On a side note... again, only knowing what you said above... it sounds like you've bought into all the crap that is in the news/on TV about diets and nutrition. Your first challenge is going to be to forget about all that. Calories are your friend. Your body needs them to function. It needs protein to build and support muscle. It needs carbs for energy. It needs fat for hormone production (this is REALLY oversimplified, but you get the point). Calories are to your body what gas and oil are for your car - ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL.


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