Calorie Question

So I've been using myfitnesspal and also a fitbit to track calories. This tells me what my goal calories are and then adjusts based on my activity that my fitbit tells it.

My question is, how does the net calories work? I feel like it's WAY overestimating my activity maybe, because I never get close to 1200 net calories. . . even when I eat around 1200, it subtracts for exercise, and I end up super low.

I don't want to under eat, but I don't want to eat back too many calories either.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Your net is calories in minus calories burned. Dont forget your body uses calories even when resting. You want to aim for 1200 even after you take off what you burned.

Quoting Shannonsfirst:" Your net is calories in minus calories burned. Dont forget your body uses calories even when resting. You want to aim for 1200 even after you take off what you burned. "

I don't do specific exercise, I just try to stay active during the day. I feel like it's WAY over calculating my activity. Yesterday I ate just over 1300, but it thinks I burned over 600 in exercise giving me a net of about 700, which is obviously really low. But that would put me in at almost 2000 calories a day if I ate all of those, and that seems WAY too high for me.

Quoting she nan igans:" I don't do specific exercise, I just try to stay active during the day. I feel like it's WAY over calculating ... [snip!] ... really low. But that would put me in at almost 2000 calories a day if I ate all of those, and that seems WAY too high for me. "

I really like this post....read it and see if it helps you understand better.

Quoting Shannonsfirst:" I really like this post....read it and see if it helps you understand better. "

You didn't post a link! I'm curious now, haha

Might try getting a heart rate monitor with a chest strap to wear during the day to see exactly what you're burning for your activity level.

What you may want to do is disconnect the fitbit from myfitnesspal. What's happening is that it's counting regular old calories burned as exercise, and you obviously don't want that. I'd only count exercise calories to create a deficit. 1200 is the minimum your body can function on. If you're eating that gross, you're fine.

Quoting Fatty McRunnerPants:" What you may want to do is disconnect the fitbit from myfitnesspal. What's happening is that it's counting ... [snip!] ... exercise calories to create a deficit. 1200 is the minimum your body can function on. If you're eating that gross, you're fine."

Yeah, I'm thinking I may do that. I put myself at sedentary on myfitness pal, but I think the mix of the two is adjusting WAY too much. I mean, I'm pretty short, so 1200 or a little over should be fine. That's why my Dr had wanted me to eat before, and I'm not hungry eating that. I started having a heart attack though when I was showing such LOW net calories, and all the myfitnesspal forums made it seem like I was going to drop dead from not eating enough, haha.

Quoting Fatty McRunnerPants:" What you may want to do is disconnect the fitbit from myfitnesspal. What's happening is that it's counting ... [snip!] ... exercise calories to create a deficit. 1200 is the minimum your body can function on. If you're eating that gross, you're fine."

ALSO

I was just thinking about you yesterday. How have you been?

Quoting she nan igans:" You didn't post a link! I'm curious now, haha"

I always do that....

http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/net-calories-dummies

here you go