Should I be counting gross or net calories whilst cutting?

[bells00]

I've read through all the stickies, and couldn't find anything on this, so I apologise if it was covered and I just missed it...

I've been wondering about this for a while now, and get totally different answers from everyone I ask, so heres to asking again - When you are cutting calories, and sticking to a say... 1300 cal diet, should your gross calories equal 1300? Or should your net calories equal the 1300 (that is, after exercise)?
And then there is the whole issue of 'starvation mode'. If I were to eat 1300 calores, and burn 1500 in the gym, is that just as bad as eating <200 calories a day in terms of your body being starved of the nutrients/energy it needs? I know that you are supposed to eat back calories after a workout, but eating back all of them? I don't know, I'm so confused, haha

Help! :P

[e75id]

I've read through all the stickies, and couldn't find anything on this, so I apologise if it was covered and I just missed it...

I've been wondering about this for a while now, and get totally different answers from everyone I ask, so heres to asking again - When you are cutting calories, and sticking to a say... 1300 cal diet, should your gross calories equal 1300? Or should your net calories equal the 1300 (that is, after exercise)?
And then there is the whole issue of 'starvation mode'. If I were to eat 1300 calores, and burn 1500 in the gym, is that just as bad as eating <200 calories a day in terms of your body being starved of the nutrients/energy it needs? I know that you are supposed to eat back calories after a workout, but eating back all of them? I don't know, I'm so confused, haha

Help! :P

Why would you want to burn 1500 calories in the gym? Don't you think that a bit extreme? I don't know anything about starvation mode but what I do know what you're asking doesn't sound healthy. Why don't you just figure out your TDEE and base your diet off of that and see how your fat loss is going? Yes your body does need basic nutrients to function, if you don't feed your body you will be lethargic and most likely get dizzy from just being undernourished and wind up looking like crap if you starve your body. You sound like you're rushing to lose weight, get out of that mindset.

[bells00]

Why would you want to burn 1500 calories in the gym? Don't you think that a bit extreme? I don't know anything about starvation mode but what I do know what you're asking doesn't sound healthy. Why don't you just figure out your TDEE and base your diet off of that and see how your fat loss is going? Yes your body does need basic nutrients to function, if you don't feed your body you will be lethargic and most likely get dizzy from just being undernourished and wind up looking like crap if you starve your body. You sound like you're rushing to lose weight, get out of that mindset.

The 1500 was theoretical, as it was 200 cals above 1300. Thanks for your input anyway.

[AAOBob]

Your body has a baseline it needs to live, for example I had mine tested and its 1950 as of 4 months ago.

Your body will burn extra from doing exercise to work to bodily functions. For me thats 2900 a day average, I used a body fit media to track but that also fits the charts. My high days are 3200, my low are 2700.

So if I were to eat 2800 calories a day, theoretically I'd lose 1lb in 35 days (3500 calories).
What I am eating is between 1500-1700 a day, which means I lose 2.5 lbs a week, but its not quite that much, its closer to 2.

So you need to find a good estimate of your calories your body uses a day (stickies above) and cut from that. If its not going down cut a bit more until you start to see weight loss.

[CrabSock]

The amount of calories you burn just from being alive + calories burnt in the gym + calories burnt doing anything else = maintenance calories.

Eat fewer than maintenance calorie need to lose weight, more to gain. Don't go extreme either way.

[senor_mortgage]

Just track calories consumed alone and adjust based on scale results. Estimating daily activity/calories burned at the gym is borderline impossible to do with any real accuracy.

[WorkingTheDoors]

I've read through all the stickies, and couldn't find anything on this, so I apologise if it was covered and I just missed it...

I've been wondering about this for a while now, and get totally different answers from everyone I ask, so heres to asking again - When you are cutting calories, and sticking to a say... 1300 cal diet, should your gross calories equal 1300? Or should your net calories equal the 1300 (that is, after exercise)?
And then there is the whole issue of 'starvation mode'. If I were to eat 1300 calores, and burn 1500 in the gym, is that just as bad as eating <200 calories a day in terms of your body being starved of the nutrients/energy it needs? I know that you are supposed to eat back calories after a workout, but eating back all of them? I don't know, I'm so confused, haha

Help! :P

You're on the right track. If you eat your for example 2,000 calories as a deficit of 500 calories from your maintenance, then you go to the gym and burn 500 calories - you're going to have to get those 500 calories back into your body to stay within the 500 calorie deficit.

Heres a simplified example:

Maintenance 2,500 calories
> Eats 2,000 calories to cut
> Goes to the gym and burns 1,500
> Has to refeed 500 calories into body to get back up to 2,000 calories (your original cutting calories).

If you're running to lose bodyfat then I advise you stop, just calculate your calories and do the work in the kitchen to lose weight. But if you want to train your heart (cardiovascular training) then go for it, by all means .

As for starvation mode - I don't believe in it! Speaking from experience too.. something about eating too low calories will actually resort in it gripping onto your fat? Just think about anorexic people and people that are starving in Africa - are any of them fat? And I went through having a eating disorder (went down to 6 stone) and not once did my body hang on to any fat, or muscle for that matter..

Goodluck with your goals.

[Yoy0]

You're on the right track. If you eat your for example 2,000 calories as a deficit of 500 calories from your maintenance, then you go to the gym and burn 500 calories - you're going to have to get those 500 calories back into your body to stay within the 500 calorie deficit.

Heres a simplified example:

Maintenance 2,500 calories
> Eats 2,000 calories to cut
> Goes to the gym and burns 1,500
> Has to refeed 500 calories into body to get back up to 2,000 calories (your original cutting calories).

If you're running to lose bodyfat then I advise you stop, just calculate your calories and do the work in the kitchen to lose weight. But if you want to train your heart (cardiovascular training) then go for it, by all means .

As for starvation mode - I don't believe in it! Speaking from experience too.. something about eating too low calories will actually resort in it gripping onto your fat? Just think about anorexic people and people that are starving in Africa - are any of them fat? And I went through having a eating disorder (went down to 6 stone) and not once did my body hang on to any fat, or muscle for that matter..

Goodluck with your goals.

Advising someone to stop running to lose fat? Why? When losing fat it comes down to two things: Diet and exercise - thus meaning you can eat less but exercise less, or eat more but exercise more.

[WorkingTheDoors]

Advising someone to stop running to lose fat? Why? When losing fat it comes down to two things: Diet and exercise - thus meaning you can eat less but exercise less, or eat more but exercise more.

Losing fat comes down to one thing: diet - simple. But if you want to go and add running to it, then why not? (just aslong as he readjusts his macros). I was merely keeping things simple.

[bells00]

Yeah, I've realised that I really am eating way too little, and shall be adjusting that. It worked (amazingly, mind you) when I first started, but now, 9 months on, I'm starting to feel the ill effects of practically starving myself... and nothing much in terms of weight seems to be shifting.

Thank you for all the help!

[daviedave]

Just track calories consumed alone and adjust based on scale results. Estimating daily activity/calories burned at the gym is borderline impossible to do with any real accuracy.

I wear a Polar FT80 heart rate monitor while I work out - cardio and weights. It gives a very accurate count of the calories you burn during exercise.

[BenD4Me]

you're not going to get an answer because TDEE accounts for calories burned during exercise. Thats why you have to choose an activity factor to use, and adjust until you get it right. Then you can really dial in how many calories you need on a cut