calorie deficit

MrsEGreen

Can someone please explain calorie deficit to me in a easy to understand way
Thanks

heybales

You burn so many calories a day. (say 2000)

You eat less than that by some amount. (say 1500)

That amount is your calorie deficit. (2000 - 1500 = 500)

That results in fat loss if a reasonable deficit. (daily 500 x 7 days = 3500 calories weekly = 1 lb of fat, hopefully)

Reasonable for you has to do with amount to be lost to healthy weight, and type of exercise done.

It has nothing to do with how fast you want it gone.

In reality, you do NOT burn the same amount daily, MFP estimates what you burn with NO exercise by your resting metabolism (BMR) and your selection of activity level (Sedentary perhaps, meaning desk job/commute, no kids, bump on a log all evening).
If and when you exercise, you log that, letting MFP know you just burned more that day.
Less the deficit - new higher eating goal since you burned more. Keep that hopeful reasonable deficit.

bpetrosky

Your body needs a certain number of calories each day to fuel your basic metabolic processes, moving around, exercising, etc. That number is a function of your height, weight, age, activity level. If you ate exactly that number each day, you would maintain weight.

Eating less than that number will cause your body to lose weight by getting some of it's energy by metabolizing fat and other tissues. For example, if you ate 500 calories less than your maintenance level each day for a week, that would be equivalent to about 1 pound of fat (1 lb fat ~= 3500 calories).


MFP does the calculations for you and the number it gives includes the deficit you've selected.

nutmegoreo

Something that I see frequently misunderstood with new people is that the calories burned per day does include all basic calories from just being alive, not just the calories you burn from exercising. So this means that you do not try to exercise 2000 calories (piggybacking on heybales example).

MrsEGreen

Im eating around 1300-1400 calories per day
My Calories burnt at the gym varies most days its around 300calories on pt days its about 500 calories and on slow days its around 250 calories
Am i burning enough for the deficit

nutmegoreo

The 1300-1400 per day has your deficit built into it already, you do not need to exercise more of it away. You should be eating about half of those exercise calories back. This helps account for inaccurate burn estimates (machine burns and MFP burns are typically inaccurate, so I wouldn't eat them all back). It will also help ensure you are getting enough nutrition to support your workouts.

ETA: calorie deficit for weight loss, exercise for fitness

MrsEGreen

So sorry if i sound silly
Just trying to learn

heybales

MrsEGreen wrote: »

Im eating around 1300-1400 calories per day
My Calories burnt at the gym varies most days its around 300calories on pt days its about 500 calories and on slow days its around 250 calories
Am i burning enough for the deficit

You have a misconception. Reread the posts. You should be eating more when you burn more - MFP already has your eating goal with a deficit.

You eat less than you burn in total - whether that be from big daily activity or exercise.

Do that you lose fat weight.

Exercise is for heart health and body transformation, side effect is actually water weight gain at first.

Diet is for weight loss.

Only thing exercise does for diet is make you burn more daily (say 2500), so that when you eat at a deficit (say 500), you get to eat more (2000) then you would if you did NOT exercise (1500).

Eating more usually helps one adhere to the diet better.

bpetrosky

MrsEGreen wrote: »

Im eating around 1300-1400 calories per day
My Calories burnt at the gym varies most days its around 300calories on pt days its about 500 calories and on slow days its around 250 calories
Am i burning enough for the deficit

That level of calories would be in a deficit for most people, regardless of exercise.

Plug your stats into MFP with your weight loss target. Eat the number it gives you, it includes the deficit already.

If you log exercise, MFP will give you more calories to eat. Be careful eating all of it back because exercise can be overestimated. 50% is a reasonable amount for most people.

nutmegoreo

MrsEGreen wrote: »

So sorry if i sound silly
Just trying to learn

These are common questions and common misunderstandings. Best to ask

heybales

So in essence - would you rather eat 2000 calories, lose 1 lb weekly, and get body transformation from the workouts?

Or eat 1500, lose 1 lb weekly - and just look like a smaller version of current self with no exercise?

Or exercise and attempt 1500 and end up not having workouts that are that great and lose more than fat weight?