NET CALORIES?!?!?!? GOOD OR BAD?

2

Replies

  • ElviraCross
    ElviraCross Posts: 331 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.
  • ShrinkingShawna
    ShrinkingShawna Posts: 186 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.

    What advice exactly? To ask a professional? Or not to listen to people in a forum? Or the bs about having to eat back exercise calories?
  • chlorisaann
    chlorisaann Posts: 366 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.

    What advice exactly? To ask a professional? Or not to listen to people in a forum? Or the bs about having to eat back exercise calories?

    You had about 150lbs of fat for your body to live on according to your tracker, so you can SAFELY, for a while, not eat exercise cals back. She is losing 10lbs, she does not have the safety net that you and I do!!!!!!! She can NOT live on negitive cals for long her body will shut down!!!!
  • rowdylibrarian
    rowdylibrarian Posts: 251 Member
    It confused me at first, too. Okay, here is the very simple breakdown:

    If you do absolutely nothing but lie in bed all day without moving at all, like you were in a coma, your body would still burn around 1200 calories all by itself, by breathing, making your heart beat, etc. This is called your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate.

    If you actually do move during the day, as everyone does, your body will burn even more calories crom just walking around. Probably another 600ish, without any formal exercise at all. So now, you have burned 1800 calories from just everyday living. That is your TDEE, or Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or the grand total of calories burned that day without extra exercise.

    Now, if you do exercise, and burn, say, 200 calories, you have now burned 2000 calories for the day, because 1200 (from your bodily functions) + 600 (from walking around) + 200 (from exercise) = 2000.

    Food-wise, in order to be healthy, you absolutely HAVE to eat approximately the same amount as your BMR (probably approximately 1200 calories, but you can look up formulas to help you find a more specific BMR for yourself all over the Internet). To eat less than your BMR all the time is going to cause problems for your organs and metabolism. So, you need to be eating at least your BMR. In the above case, where you burned 2000 calories, to lose 1 pound per week, which is a nice, steady and safe loss, you need to eat approximately 500 calories less than you burned. So that day of the 2000 burn, you would actually eat 1500 calories, giving you a "net" of 1500.

    If you exercised more, and burned 700 calories, you'd add 700 to your TDEE of 1800 to get 2500 total calories burned for the day. So that day, you would eat 2000 calories in order to stay at 500 below your total burned. 2000 would be your "net" that day.

    Hopefully this makes sense. Add me as a friend if you want, and I'll help you all I can!
  • ShrinkingShawna
    ShrinkingShawna Posts: 186 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.

    What advice exactly? To ask a professional? Or not to listen to people in a forum? Or the bs about having to eat back exercise calories?

    You had about 150lbs of fat for your body to live on according to your tracker, so you can SAFELY, for a while, not eat exercise cals back. She is losing 10lbs, she does not have the safety net that you and I do!!!!!!! She can NOT live on negitive cals for long her body will shut down!!!!

    Where did you get your medical degree? Have you measured her? Do you know her BF%? Do you know her RMR?
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    yeah this thread clears everything right up. lol
  • ElviraCross
    ElviraCross Posts: 331 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.

    What advice exactly? To ask a professional? Or not to listen to people in a forum? Or the bs about having to eat back exercise calories?

    You had about 150lbs of fat for your body to live on according to your tracker, so you can SAFELY, for a while, not eat exercise cals back. She is losing 10lbs, she does not have the safety net that you and I do!!!!!!! She can NOT live on negitive cals for long her body will shut down!!!!

    Where did you get your medical degree? Have you measured her? Do you know her BF%? Do you know her RMR?

    Where did you get YOUR degree? Bull**** academy? Don't spread your ignorance to others.
  • mcpherson4
    mcpherson4 Posts: 287 Member
    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    Hopefullly this will help. You are young and eating healthy now is a great way to stay healthy as you get older. Losing fast means gaining it back fast. And it usually means gaining more than you started with. Good luck. Getting angry is not the answer. Reading will help you. One day at a time and one pound at a time. P.S. It will really help if you open your diary in this instance.
  • kittyhasclaws
    kittyhasclaws Posts: 446 Member
    Just go read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    It explains EVERYTHING you need to know, how much you should be eating, and how to find all the numbers you need to know. I've started finally losing weight after setting my intake number to my BMR (1780 cal) and doing my best not to net below it. Just follow what he says and you'll do great.
  • darrcn5
    darrcn5 Posts: 495 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.

    What advice exactly? To ask a professional? Or not to listen to people in a forum? Or the bs about having to eat back exercise calories?

    Don't take this the wrong, but someone who is your size probably doesn't need to eat back exercise calories. You have a good 150 pounds to lose, so lots of reserves for you body to pull from. This is completely different from the OP who is trying to lose like 15 pounds and is small already. This advice you are giving is horrible for people who are already fairly small and trying to lose a small amount of weight.

    OP-Do not eat 1200 calories and exercise off 1000! You will kill your metabolism and lose lean body mass. You burn calories just by living and doing daily activities. Here are my numbers. Your numbers will be different, but this is just an example-
    I burn 2300 calories every day just by living, walking, running errands, playing with my kid, cleaning, etc. I eat 1600 calories a day. This would create a 700 calorie deficit in a day, and I would lose 1.4 pounds in a week. If I exercise, I eat those calories back. So, if I go for a run and burn 300 calories, I would then eat 1900 calories.
  • ShrinkingShawna
    ShrinkingShawna Posts: 186 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.

    What advice exactly? To ask a professional? Or not to listen to people in a forum? Or the bs about having to eat back exercise calories?

    You had about 150lbs of fat for your body to live on according to your tracker, so you can SAFELY, for a while, not eat exercise cals back. She is losing 10lbs, she does not have the safety net that you and I do!!!!!!! She can NOT live on negitive cals for long her body will shut down!!!!

    Where did you get your medical degree? Have you measured her? Do you know her BF%? Do you know her RMR?

    Where did you get YOUR degree? Bull**** academy? Don't spread your ignorance to others.

    I never claimed a degree, nor did I tell her how much she should be eating based on an estimate from an ONLINE CALCULATOR. I told her she should see a dietitian, because she's not going to get the right answer in here. You told her she should eat 2200 calories a day, based on zero knowledge of her body composition.
  • ElviraCross
    ElviraCross Posts: 331 Member
    No, you don't need to "net" 1200 calories. My dietitian told me DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES. Not to mention the calorie burns on MFP are high anyway. You need to ask a professional. Remember, you get what you pay for, and free information in a forum is going to get you exactly what you pay for.

    you need to stop giving people this advice.

    What advice exactly? To ask a professional? Or not to listen to people in a forum? Or the bs about having to eat back exercise calories?

    You had about 150lbs of fat for your body to live on according to your tracker, so you can SAFELY, for a while, not eat exercise cals back. She is losing 10lbs, she does not have the safety net that you and I do!!!!!!! She can NOT live on negitive cals for long her body will shut down!!!!

    Where did you get your medical degree? Have you measured her? Do you know her BF%? Do you know her RMR?

    Where did you get YOUR degree? Bull**** academy? Don't spread your ignorance to others.

    I never claimed a degree, nor did I tell her how much she should be eating based on an estimate from an ONLINE CALCULATOR. I told her she should see a dietitian, because she's not going to get the right answer in here. You told her she should eat 2200 calories a day, based on zero knowledge of her body composition.

    First of all I NEVER recommended a caloric intake for her. No idea where you're coming up with 2200 calories???
  • ShrinkingShawna
    ShrinkingShawna Posts: 186 Member
    i have no idea what the hell a tdee is. i meant if i exercise off 1000 calories and eat 1200, i will have a net of 200.. thats it..:explode:

    OK Hon, Im gonna give it to you simple... NO THIS IS NOT GOOD!!! If you are going to burn 1000 cals by exercising you need to eat AT LEAST 2200 cals a day so that your Net is AT LEAST 1200!!! PERIOD!!!

    If you were in a coma, doing NOTHING but the basics your body does all on its own, you need close to 1200 cals a day just for your body to do its thing... Does that make sense?? If you take all those cals away by exercising what is your body going to live on??

    My bad. This is the recommendation I was referring to.
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    Have to say that this is the one of the worst thrads I have seen on here

    OP came out with a nasty snarling 'STFU' request for help
    Lots of conflicting confusing advice
    Some more arguments
    Lots of swearing from OP
    Accusations and counter accusations
    All we need now is the threat of someone dying - no wait, we had that too!
    To my shame Ive added to it too
  • _Missy_
    _Missy_ Posts: 9
    Have to say that this is the one of the worst thrads I have seen on here

    OP came out with a nasty snarling 'STFU' request for help
    Lots of conflicting confusing advice
    Some more arguments
    Lots of swearing from OP
    Accusations and counter accusations
    All we need now is the threat of someone dying - no wait, we had that too!
    To my shame Ive added to it too
    im guessing im op? okay well i apolagize if i offended you, i get frusterated, and it was wrong of me, im really sorry.
  • lynda155
    lynda155 Posts: 112 Member
    I have only picked up on positive thing on this thread...the net calorie being at 1200 at the end of the day.... I am thankful that I do use this site and the advice of my Doctor... My advice it to always speak with you health provider, dietician or certified nutritionist, they will be able to give you the individual advice about your individual needs.

    I do appreciate the explanation on the net calorie..

    Best of luck you to all!~
  • KALMdown
    KALMdown Posts: 211 Member
    Have to say that this is the one of the worst thrads I have seen on here

    OP came out with a nasty snarling 'STFU' request for help
    Lots of conflicting confusing advice
    Some more arguments
    Lots of swearing from OP
    Accusations and counter accusations
    All we need now is the threat of someone dying - no wait, we had that too!
    To my shame Ive added to it too

    Kids nowadays!
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
    As far as trying to burn 1000 calories a day in exercise, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that as a small person. My BMR is 1120. I wear a fitbit and try to stay as active as possible. The 40 minutes on my treadmill at my weight at 3.6 mph at a 9% incline burns 286 calories. At the end of the day, my fitbit often tells me I have burned around 1750 calories total. For me to burn 1000 calories a day in exercise, I would have to quit my job and just work out for hours.

    I think the OP is getting a lot of confusing and conflicting information. There is a nicely worded explanation of all this at: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/calorie-counting.php. It also has several calculators.
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    Have to say that this is the one of the worst thrads I have seen on here

    OP came out with a nasty snarling 'STFU' request for help
    Lots of conflicting confusing advice
    Some more arguments
    Lots of swearing from OP
    Accusations and counter accusations
    All we need now is the threat of someone dying - no wait, we had that too!
    To my shame Ive added to it too
    im guessing im op? okay well i apolagize if i offended you, i get frusterated, and it was wrong of me, im really sorry.

    Not offended. I thought your request for help could have been made in a more pleasant way, but you didn't deserve to be subjected to all this extra confusion and arguments. Hope you can manage to find out what you need to know to help you
  • SomeoneSomeplace
    SomeoneSomeplace Posts: 1,094 Member
    This is eating disorder behavior.

    Go see a therapist.
  • alexbusnello
    alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 Member
    I read a lot about muscle loss when you don't net enough-I guess I am also concerned with my organs failing or something bad like that (for not enough fule). Do what works for you, and eat when you are hungry.

    Very true, it happened to me.... This site made me lose my muscle because it got me crazy about counting everything and it gave be such a looooow calorie allowance and I ate that way for months and ontop of that, I eventually did intense workouts from Bodyrock but never ate more..... Huge mistake.

    Now I'm fatter, flabbier, lost my lean shape, hair falling out from the roots, mood swings a lot, fat where I've never had it before like a muffin top and buldging back fat, ect.

    I'm working on slowly eating more and not going too crazy with my workouts and I always make sure I eat at least 20 grams of protein with each meal now. And I also rest where before I'd do that Bodyrock during the whole week and only take two days off on the weekend and while I did all this, I didn't eat nearly as much protein as I do now.

    I might be able to do Bodyrock again now since its been months since the last time but till then, undoing what I can to get my body back.
  • alexbusnello
    alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 Member
    This is eating disorder behavior.

    Go see a therapist.

    This comment does nothing. Trust me, I know. It makes you feel like ****. So....don't say things like that, especially so bluntly and care-free.
  • trojanbb
    trojanbb Posts: 1,297 Member
    i have no idea what the hell a tdee is. i meant if i exercise off 1000 calories and eat 1200, i will have a net of 200.. thats it..:explode:

    no. I gave you two posts explaining the math, did you not read? Google tdee. it's not complicated.
  • _Missy_
    _Missy_ Posts: 9
    This is eating disorder behavior.

    Go see a therapist.
    wow you are very rude. you need an anger management director.
  • _Missy_
    _Missy_ Posts: 9
    i have no idea what the hell a tdee is. i meant if i exercise off 1000 calories and eat 1200, i will have a net of 200.. thats it..:explode:

    no. I gave you two posts explaining the math, did you not read? Google tdee. it's not complicated.
    no need to be rude. its hard understanding it.
  • trojanbb
    trojanbb Posts: 1,297 Member
    i have no idea what the hell a tdee is. i meant if i exercise off 1000 calories and eat 1200, i will have a net of 200.. thats it..:explode:

    no. I gave you two posts explaining the math, did you not read? Google tdee. it's not complicated.
    no need to be rude. its hard understanding it.

    Forget the mfp "net". The ONLY thing that matters is the deficit at the end of the day. How many calories you burn daily NOT COUNTING exercise PLUS calories burned from exercise = total calories burned. You want that number to be SLIGHTLY higher than the total amount you ate that day


    I havent seen you mention what your normal daily expenditure is. That is KEY. It is your TDEE (breathing, walking, living, etc etc burns more calories than a few hours of exercise).
  • deb1962
    deb1962 Posts: 36 Member
    Some great advice here..Thanks :)
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    It almost seems as though you don't even want to understand. But I'll try anyway.


    MFP gives you a number of calories to eat.
    For example : 1200 calories.

    Okay, so you need to EAT 1200 calories. Just by doing that, you will lose weight.

    So you decide to work out (cardio, weights, etc.). You burn 500 calories.
    Well, you need to EAT back those 500 calories. You do this because you need to fuel your body properly.

    So in the end, you need EAT 1700 calories, which would be a NET of 1200 calories.

    It's really not difficult at all. Eat the number MFP gives you until it goes red. Done. Simple. Just do that. Or go see a professional. Cause it's really not that hard.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    i have no idea what the hell a tdee is. i meant if i exercise off 1000 calories and eat 1200, i will have a net of 200.. thats it..:explode:

    no. I gave you two posts explaining the math, did you not read? Google tdee. it's not complicated.
    no need to be rude. its hard understanding it.

    Forget the mfp "net". The ONLY thing that matters is the deficit at the end of the day. How many calories you burn daily NOT COUNTING exercise PLUS calories burned from exercise = total calories burned. You want that number to be SLIGHTLY higher than the total amount you ate that day


    I havent seen you mention what your normal daily expenditure is. That is KEY. It is your TDEE (breathing, walking, living, etc etc burns more calories than a few hours of exercise).

    She can't even understand MFP. Probably shouldn't try to throw BMR & TDEE stuff at her. Lol
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
    People are going to tell you to look up your BMR and never eat below that. You might want to work up to it though.

    How long have you been at this?
    ive only been at this for about 12 days and ive been working my a** off. so if i start eating 1200 a day, and burning 1000 a day, i will have a net of 200.. is that one good?

    This is perfect if you're going on the anorexia plan. NO ... this is not good. This is called starving yourself to death.
    EAT your 1200. If you exercise 1000 eat most of that too ---- . I'm starting to think this is all just a big troll. This is like saying "if i just stop eating can i lose weight?"
This discussion has been closed.