Calories in and out?

Jessica232015

I just started doing 30 day shred (day 4)! I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories a day. I burn about 150 calories in 20 minutes of this exercise and I also do yoga burn about 50. I really want to lose 10-15 pounds by the end of the month. So my question is how many calories do I need to eat a day to reach this goal since I'm burning around 200 a day from workouts?

sbennett369

I'm right there with you! Its such a good question!

irfan8240

hmmm

jemhh

10-15 pounds total this month? Or have you already lost several pounds and you're trying to reach that amount as total weight lost? Because 10-15 pounds in a month is not going to be possible in a safe manner.

futuremanda

Nope, you won't be able to lose 10-15 lbs this month. Maybe 2-5?

If you like, eat 1200 and don't eat the exercise calories back. If you're feeling crummy, eat some of them back. But you look quite small to me and your goal ticker says 14 lbs, so I'm guessing you are not big enough for your maintenance calories to be 2200 or more (which would get you 2 lbs a week at 1200 cals). The closer you are to a small goal weight, the lower your maintenance calories are, so the smaller the deficit you can safely create, which means weight loss takes longer. (On the upside, a pound or two on a smaller person LOOKS like a lot more than it does off a larger person!)

Try setting MFP to "maintenance" as your goal and see how many calories it gives you to eat. (Set it back after.) That's the number that would see you neither gaining, nor losing, over time. Anything under that, but not under 1200, will result in healthy weight loss. But your daily deficits need to add up to 3500 to lose 1 lb.

So say your maintenance is 1500. And you burn 200. And you eat 1200. That's 1500 - 1200 = 300 (not eaten) + 200 (burned) = 500 deficit created! That's 1 lb a week. (500 x 7 days is 3500 calories)

On that, you'd be netting below 1200 though and so might feel pretty awful. Many people recommend netting minimum 1200. Meaning, if you eat 1200, but then burn 200, it's sort of like you only ate 1000. So they recommend eating the 200 back, so eat 1400 total (to net 1200 still). That slows the weight loss but is healthier, makes sure you're fueling your body adequately. Your body needs the nutrition not only to get you through the exercise, but to adapt to it and get stronger over time.

Holly_Roman_Empire

An unsafe amount of calories.

First step--make an attainable goal.

jacksonpt

10-15 lbs... taking the math at face value, let's walk through this...

Assuming 3500 calories = roughly 1lb, 10-15lbs would be 35,000-52,500 calories. So to lose 10-15lbs, you'd need to cumulative calorie deficit of 35,000-52,500 calories. Averaging that out over 30 days (1 month) gives an average daily calorie deficit of 1167-1750 calories.

OK, so now we know the average daily deficit needed to reach the goal (1167-1750 per day), how many cals do you need to eat each day to achieve that deficit?

Assuming a reasonably average TDEE off 2100 calories, the needed deficit would leave you at 350 - 933 calories per day.

In no situation is 350 cals per day healthy. In VERY VERY few cases is 933 cals healthy.


Hopefully you realize that your goal is not reasonable or healthy. And probably not achievable without negative side effects. Please re-evaluate your goals.

StaciMarie1974

Are you 100+ pounds overweight? If so 10-15 will be a challenge but doable. Less weight to lose? 2-3 is more realistic.

ninerbuff

Unless you're willing to hack off a limb, your goal is unrealistic.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Jessica232015

No I'm 138.6 right now. The dvd says you can lose 20 pounds in a month so I figured it was doable. Lol I just want to lose a little belly fat and get toned as fast as possible. now I feel really silly. But thanks guys for the advice it is greatly appreciated.