A very interesting and informational read on deficits...

1princesswarrior · October 2013

Read once, bump for an excellent reference

spade117 · October 2013

If you're explaining something to someone and they don't understand, the problem is with you, not them.

That is one of the less intelligent sayings I have heard in my life.

epz1157 · October 2013

thanks for sharing, very interesting and helpful.

mmapags · October 2013

i read it but I'm not sure i understand.. how do i figure out what i should be eating a day?

You are still applying the basic method, eat less than you burn daily, on average.

This helps with making it a reasonable deficit to what you burn.

So you need best accuracy on what you eat side of the equation - so weigh all your foods except liquids that are measured.

Get best estimates for the burn side of the equation, not just exercise but daily life.

Take reasonable deficit based on what you do and amount to lose.

This will help get best estimates, and allow tracking progress. More exercise you do, more the progress will be seen in inches instead of scale. Link at bottom if you don't need the education on BMR and TDEE and why differences.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

I looked at this link and it just confused me. there isn't a simple way to find out?

No.
Unless you want to pay a lab to monitor you for a 24 hr day for energy burn, and then get your VO2max tested so you can get a nicer HRM setup correctly.
Then you'll have the figures to do this simple.

But you'd still need to log eating as correct as possible.

You want rough ball park results, then go for simple rough ball park setup.

sadly, you want results, you'll need to work to understand. Or spend a lifetime doing this again and again never learning.

Simple depends on person, get it setup right once, and make minor adjustments along the way.
Or basic setup at first, log carefully and note results, and then make adjustments along the way - probably takes longer.

Eat at 10-11 calories per pound of weight, and eat your exercise calories back.
After 4 weeks, see how much you have lost.
Calculate what your TDEE must have been to cause that loss.
Adjust accordingly.

Love this. :bigsmile: Classic poor teaching... 'You don't understand because you're not trying. It's NOTHING to do with the way I explained things.'.

If you're explaining something to someone and they don't understand, the problem is with you, not them.

I disagree with your take on this. Heybale's spread sheet is fairly straight forward as was the Venuto article. For someone to say that they just want it more simple looks like laziness from where I sit. Heybales has engaged with many people here both in forums and one on one and developed a rather easy to use spreadsheet voluntarily with no compensation. He has helped many just from a passion for doing it. You can't teach someone who has no spirit to learn and just wants something handed to them like a child. We are all responsible for our own results. In this case it seems the old adage applies about leading a horse to water but you can't make them drink!

OP, good article covering the basics and the reasoning behind it. Thanks!