Deficit from working out!

SlickStrives

Hello, I have been trying to learn about calorie deficit and the whole process!

I am a 5' 9'' Male weight is 225 and I am 25 years old. I have calculated my current BMR at 2173. I ALWAYS eat my BMR.

I have calculated my Maintenance Calories as 1.20 (20% of BMR which is 2607) because I really have a variable life style.

Some days I do a lot of yard work and some days I do a lot of computer work. I choose to do a Sedentary calculation due to this and I would rather add my exercise in when I choose to go for a run since its not a consistent thing.

With all this being said, the max deficit (that im aware of this method) is Maintenance - BMR = 434 Which is Almost a LB. a week. Ill call this Maintenance - BMR the natural deficit for this conversation.

My main confusion is this, I want to lose at least 2 lbs per week. That means I need an extra 566 calories burned that is not included in my Maintenance. Now it was mentioned to me that with all this being said it was impossible to get a bigger deficit therefor I was stuck at a less than 1 lb deficit because the calories I worked out would subtract from my calories I consumed. Let me give you an example... I eat my BMR (2173) I go for a run and burn 500 calories (Just a figure), that would drop my calorie intake of the day to 1673 which is below my BMR and not recommended. Now this statement makes NO sense to me which is why I am here. If this is true then I ask myself this, Why is the natural deficit LARGER when the Activity Level ((Sedentary, Moderate etc..) 1.20, 1.30, 1.40 depending on your level) Another Example - 2173 * 1.40 (just a figure) = 3042~... That's a natural deficit of 869 by just having a higher Activity Level.

With all this being said being that Activity Level is an estimate of your every day activities and Sedentary is basically doing absolutely nothing (No Job, nothing). Why would I not be able to calculated my Natural deficit from being sedentary then logging my exercise and using that as extra towards the deficit? For Example --- Natural deficit 500 + Running calories for 1 day 500 = 1000 calorie deficit for the day.

One more thing I would like to throw out there is what is the ideal (I know its not exact, none of this is) max deficit one could have without being to harsh on ones body? I heard it was 1000 but I wasn't sure if that was a 1000 calorie deficit from the "natural deficit" (Maintenance - BMR) or if it was from the following - I eat 2000 calories (BMR), my Maintenance is 2200 (as sedentary) and I decide to work out extremely hard for a while and burn 1000 calories. That would be a 1200 calorie deficit which is over the 1000 limit. I know some people do have the natural deficit of 1000 which is why I brought it up of course.

I think into things like this as much as I can until I fully understand it all (I know its not a perfect science). Doing this motivates me as I am not just "trusting" numbers that are thrown at me by an app.

Thank you for taking the time in reading this drawn out post but I would love as much clarification as possible! Thanks!!

Brandon.

DavPul

There's a lot of numbers in here. Tell me this: have you tried punching your stats and goals into the app and just eating the amount it says?

KittensMaster

I eat at a small deficit and work off a good amount of calories.

I have lost over 130 lbs

This stuff isn't rocket science.

Just find a calorie burning exercise and ride it hard

jemhh

I tried to reason through your math but gave up and decided to post the following.

If you want to log your exercise, set up your MFP profile properly. This means choosing sedentary if you are sedentary per the description given, lightly active if you are lightly active, etc. Choose your goal weight loss amount. Log your exercise. Eat the goal that MFP gives you.

If you don’t want to log exercise, figure out your TDEE using a calculator like one of these. Eat below that amount. Many people choose a 20% deficit, meaning TDEE-20% (or TDEEx.8.) Eat that amount.

Here are a few articles from Lyle McDonald that you might like. He discusses the pros/cons of small, medium, and large deficits in the first one and a quick and dirty way to figure out your maintenance calories in the second one.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/setting-the-deficit-small-moderate-or-large.html/

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-to-estimate-maintenance-caloric-intake.html/

JoRocka

jemhh wrote: »

I tried to reason through your math but gave up and decided to post the following.

If you want to log your exercise, set up your MFP profile properly. This means choosing sedentary if you are sedentary per the description given, lightly active if you are lightly active, etc. Choose your goal weight loss amount. Log your exercise. Eat the goal that MFP gives you.

If you don’t want to log exercise, figure out your TDEE using a calculator like one of these. Eat below that amount. Many people choose a 20% deficit, meaning TDEE-20% (or TDEEx.8.) Eat that amount.

Here are a few articles from Lyle McDonald that you might like. He discusses the pros/cons of small, medium, and large deficits in the first one and a quick and dirty way to figure out your maintenance calories in the second one.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/setting-the-deficit-small-moderate-or-large.html/

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-to-estimate-maintenance-caloric-intake.html/

same reaction- to much over thinking- these tools already exist for you- pick one and use it.

CyberTone

I like numbers also, but I also think you may be overthinking this.

The basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the minimum number of Calories required to keep you alive. If you have stored fat, your body will burn mostly the fat stores while in a calorie deficit before burning muscle to keep you alive. So, I would suggest you determine a target BMR for your goal weight, instead of your current weight, and use your goal-weight BMR as your minimum. Remember to include resistance training to maintain lean body mass while in a calorie deficit, and monitor your macro- and micronutrients.

For example, based on the maximum recommended body mass index (BMI) of 25.0 for a male, 25 years old, 69 inches, the recommended maximum healthy weight is 169.3 lbs. Using the MFP BMR calculator for your gender, height, weight, and age, the BMR estimate for that weight is 1743 Calories per day. I would round that up to 1750 Calories and use that as your minimum BMR.