Net vs gross calories: which number should you track?
Your app flashes two numbers: food calories and what is left. If you track food and also subtract exercise, you can count the same walk twice. Here is how to pick one honest method and stick to it.
Your app shows two numbers. One is the food you ate. The other says what is left for the day. They seem to argue. Which one should you obey? This short read answers that. Pick one number and trust it. Mix both, and your maths quietly breaks.
Gross means food only. Net means food minus exercise.
Two ways to count exist. Gross tracking counts only the food you eat. You pick one daily food number and stick to it. Net tracking does a little more. It takes your food calories, then subtracts the calories you burn. Burnie uses net maths. It takes food calories and subtracts your BMR and your active calories. BMR means the energy your body burns just to stay alive. Even a quiet desk day needs more than your BMR. A normal day multiplies your BMR by about 1.4 to 1.7. That extra bit already covers daily movement, digestion, and small tasks. Keep that fact. It explains the trap below.
I should subtract my full workout calories from my food total.
mostly falsemostly false — explained simply
Here is the trap. Your daily energy need already includes normal movement, because it multiplies your BMR by an activity factor. If you subtract your workout calories too, you count the same walk twice. That makes your deficit look bigger than it really is. There is a second catch. Your body plays a quiet trick. Only about 72 of every 100 workout calories show up as extra daily burn. Your body saves energy elsewhere to make up the rest. So a full subtraction over-credits you. Subtract the whole burn, and you may eat back the weight you worked off.
Gross tracking vs net tracking
Pick one method and keep it
The bottom line
Net and gross are both honest ways to count. Just pick one and stay with it. Gross tracks food only and keeps the day simple. Net subtracts the burn but tempts you to over-credit it. Burnie already does the net maths for you, so trust the one 'remaining' number it shows. Do not also cut your food target to bed-rest levels. That single habit keeps your deficit clean. Burnie is free. It never reads your heart rate, sleep, blood pressure, or location. The number you trust beats the number you chase.