A very interesting and informational read on deficits...

djkronyx · June 2013

Great read! Thanks for sharing.

SlinkyAndHerAmazingBunsOfSteel · June 2013

Saving for later!

Vailara · June 2013

This seems like a really sensible article - thank you! It's actually the first I've seen that explains "Why 1200?" as well (if it's correct). It also helps to explain why doctors will prescribe very low calorie diets.

The only thing that didn't click with me was the part saying that fatter people feel full on a larger deficit. That wasn't the case for me when very obese, sadly! But I think that may just be an individual difference, and I appreciate that the article does have information for the more overweight amongst us.

JenCatwalk · June 2013

bumpity

ApocalypticFae · June 2013

Adding to my summer reading list.

Dewdropps · June 2013

This seems like a really sensible article - thank you! It's actually the first I've seen that explains "Why 1200?" as well (if it's correct). It also helps to explain why doctors will prescribe very low calorie diets.

The only thing that didn't click with me was the part saying that fatter people feel full on a larger deficit. That wasn't the case for me when very obese, sadly! But I think that may just be an individual difference, and I appreciate that the article does have information for the more overweight amongst us.

It's because you go off of your current weight maintenance level. A 400 pound female around 5' 7 would be nearly 4000 calories/day for maintenance. If you take a 50% deficit for them, that would still be 2,000 calories in per day plus whatever they earn with exercise. 2,000 calories is still a butt load of food, and more than enough opportunity to feel full.

That same female at 150 lbs would only be at around 1600 calories or so, so they would definitely not even be able to come close to feeling the same fullness on a 50% deficit, which would only be around 800 calories.

So yes, a bigger person would naturally be able to have a higher % deficit without as many of the risks or massive hunger bordering on starvation.

Hope that answers it for you

ddellner · June 2013

Thanks for posting. The more info we have the better decisions we can make

aditifoodie · June 2013

bump

Vailara · June 2013

This seems like a really sensible article - thank you! It's actually the first I've seen that explains "Why 1200?" as well (if it's correct). It also helps to explain why doctors will prescribe very low calorie diets.

The only thing that didn't click with me was the part saying that fatter people feel full on a larger deficit. That wasn't the case for me when very obese, sadly! But I think that may just be an individual difference, and I appreciate that the article does have information for the more overweight amongst us.

It's because you go off of your current weight maintenance level. A 400 pound female around 5' 7 would be nearly 4000 calories/day for maintenance. If you take a 50% deficit for them, that would still be 2,000 calories in per day plus whatever they earn with exercise. 2,000 calories is still a butt load of food, and more than enough opportunity to feel full.

That same female at 150 lbs would only be at around 1600 calories or so, so they would definitely not even be able to come close to feeling the same fullness on a 50% deficit, which would only be around 800 calories.

So yes, a bigger person would naturally be able to have a higher % deficit without as many of the risks or massive hunger bordering on starvation.

Hope that answers it for you

Thank you. Yes, I understand why a bigger person can have a bigger deficit. I was just talking about the this bit:

"In fact, I've found that since overweight folks have higher calorie requirements than smaller folks, they often find that a small calorie deficit of 15-20% is still a lot of food and leaves them feeling pretty full! Not only is the 25-30% more effective in their situation, it's more practical too because the food quantity is more appropriate relative to their appetite."

I didn't find that was the case for me, personally. I don't find that a 15-20% deficit feels like "a lot of food" and I'm never really full. I would have found 25 - 30 % very hard even at my biggest. (Partly because of the hunger and partly because of unwanted psychological symptoms). A 30% reduction would only give me about 1200 calories in total (being older and shorter doesn't help!). So I'm sure it's been the author's experience that overweight/obese people can cope with a bigger cut, but in my case, I found a smaller cut easier to live with and therefore more successful.