deficit

multiflower1234

could someone please explain this deficit thing to me because im not sure im following. my goal is 2000 calories, what exactly is the deficit im aiming for

tigersword

A deficit means you are eating less than you are burning. If you burn 2000 calories a day, you eat less than that to lose weight, more than that to gain weight. That's it. As for a specific calorie goal, that depends on your goals.

malibu927

The goal MFP gives you is a deficit from what you burn throughout the day at that particular activity level (minus exercise)

chimebird

Based on the information you gave to MFP, they've roughly figured out how many calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. Then they assign you a target calorie goal that is a little less than the calories you need to maintain your weight (or a lot less, based on how quickly you want to lose weight).

The deficit is simply the difference between the calories you eat and the calories you need to maintain weight.

For example, you may need to eat something like 2,200 calories to maintain your current weight. MFP gave you a goal of 2,000 calories. So in this example you're in a 200 calorie weight loss deficit.

multiflower1234

well i do eat less than 2000 calories daily, what about when it says i have an x amount of calories remaing

chimebird

You should try not to have calories remaining. That means you're eating too little according to MFP's calculations.

honkytonks85

So here is a brief run down of how this site works.

You log on and you enter your information (your weight, age, height) and MFP calculates a couple of things.

- Firstly it works out your BMR is based on your stats (weight, height, age). Your BMR is basically how many calories your body burns in a day without adding in activity.

- You also input your activity level - so sedentary, active etc. It uses this to calculate your TDEE - which is your TOTAL energy expenditure.

MFP will ask you how much you want to lose per week. If you say you want to lose 1kg a week it will create a deficit and subtract it from your TDEE which gives you the amount of calories you need to eat every day to achieve that loss. So if you've entered in your details and said you want to lose weight then 2000 calories is what you need to eat to get there.

Some important things to remember:
- aim to eat your daily allotted calories as closely as possible
- if you have set your level to sedentary and you log your exercise, you will get extra calories (those are your extra calories burned). You can choose to eat those extra calories or not.

multiflower1234

but with exercise you are going to see some remaining wont you? because my day today says 1700 remaining with the exercise i factor in

honkytonks85

Since MFP is already calculating a deficit for you, you don't need to worry about anything except eating the calories MFP has set up for you. If you see calories remaining in there, you are creating a much larger deficit than what you need to.

If you are accurately estimating your calories burned during exercise, you should eat most of those calories back. So if you burn 1700 calories exercising (which I find hard to believe, no offense) then you should eat 1700 calories back. Don't forget to account for the fact that calorie burns are estimates, and some equipment and MFP overestimate exercise calories.

malibu927

multiflower1234 wrote: »

but with exercise you are going to see some remaining wont you? because my day today says 1700 remaining with the exercise i factor in

The way MFP is set up, you're supposed to eat your exercise calories back as well to bring you to 2000 net calories. But due to overestimations in calories burned, most people only eat back 50-75%.

multiflower1234

ohh no lol im not a machine i cant burn 1700 calories just so. what happened was i ate like 1200 hundred calories, did some boxing as well as a circuit training session, and im left with that. but it looks like i need to start eating more food then

honkytonks85

yep - eat some of those calories back.

chimebird

multiflower1234 wrote: »

ohh no lol im not a machine i cant burn 1700 calories just so. what happened was i ate like 1200 hundred calories, did some boxing as well as a circuit training session, and im left with that. but it looks like i need to start eating more food then

Eat 2000 calories if you don't work out.
Working out = earning extra calories to eat.

So on days like today you should aim to eat the 2000 calories you would eat whether or not you exercise, plus 400 or 500 to fuel your workout. Most MFP users agree not to eat back all the calories you burned, because MFP overestimates the calories burned in a workout.

You always want that "Calories Remaining" number to be close to zero, though on days you work out it's ok to have some leftover calories. But you need to eat more than you did today.

multiflower1234

everything seems so unhealthy though, because im thinking of eating sandwiches but then i hear all this research on how bad bread is. everything seems either expensive or unhealthy

malibu927

"Healthy" and "unhealthy" are relative terms. If you want to eat bread, go for it.

honkytonks85

^^ this. Don't confuse yourself reading too many articles. I know it's easy to do and everyone has an opinion on what you should and shouldn't eat but your first goal is to create the deficit and trust the process. Trust the process!

multiflower1234

so ok then the main things i should cut then are fried foods, and sugar and empty carbs and soda and juices?

kcmccormack

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

I literally just asked the same thing. This calculator will help show you what to eat taking into account your activity level, what your body naturally burns to survive, depending on your goal (fat loss or maintaining your weight or gaining weight )

malibu927

multiflower1234 wrote: »

so ok then the main things i should cut then are fried foods, and sugar and empty carbs and soda and juices?

If that's what gets you into a calorie deficit, then yes. Myself, I've modified some things (switched to water most of the day and diet soda at dinner instead of regular soda all day), but I still eat some things in moderation. I just ate a gelato pop to finish off my day since I had calories left. I always fit something sweet in, ice cream or chocolate.

multiflower1234

i feel so awful i havent drank soda or juice in like 3 weeks, only water and it is pretty hard i wont lie, plan to have a little cheat day on friday though

tigersword

Cut portion sizes, not food types. A diet can be healthy or unhealthy, an individual food is just food, neither good or bad.