What is a safe calorie deficit?

boophil

Please forgive my ignorance, but a friend and I were having a discussion as to what is considered a safe calorie deficit. I'm just looking for some opinions and examples. For example, let's say that "Abby's" calorie target is 1350. She burns 300 calories during her workout, making her new calorie target 1650. And then she consumes 1300 calories for the day. Is this a safe calorie deficit?

Thanks for your input so my friend and I can continue this conversation tomorrow!

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

It depends on the person's size. A 200lb male bodybuilder needs a lot more calories than someone like I would.

susannamarie

It depends on many things. Usually it's easier to determine a safe target as a percentage of expenditure. Tilly the elderly librarian who is five feet nothing and Bobby the delivery driver who is six feet six will have vastly different caloric needs. Bobby can probably handle a higher deficit in absolute numbers than Tilly.

Calorie deficits can be more aggressive as a percentage when someone is obese, but less aggressive when someone is lean. This is to avoid losing too much lean body mass.

Here's an article with more info. http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/members/449.cfm

DatMurse

TDEE-20%

boophil

Thanks, everyone! This will definitely give us a lot more to talk about tonight!