Calorie Deficit

benlockyer

Just wanted to get people's opinions on my current plan as I know it's a massive deficit but I feel fine.

28 Years Old
5'7"
73kg

I'm eating about 1500 calories a day at the minute which is split between 3 meals and a fruit smoothie. The meals are high protein and fat but low carb.

I workout 5 days a week doing weights, heavy compound movements, I do cardio about 3 days a week. My calories burnt through exercise daily averages too 600-1000.

So if my RMR is say 1200 and I'm only eating 1500 that's already a 700 deficit, then mi us my exercise makes a 1500 average deficit a day.

Now this looks and sounds extreme, but I feel fine, and actually feel really good. I'm only adopting this extreme defector for two weeks as to not cause any damage but I'm seeing the weight fall off! I'm 20% body fat and want to be about 12-15.

sebedina

well you sound like an expert. as long as you feel great and it is working for you, i don't see anything wrong. Maybe just take a multivitamin tablet with minerals. Just as a back up. You sound inspirational and 1,500 sounds like a good place to be.

sebedina

I also need to create a bigger deficit but as my weight has gone up I get so exhausted after work, so slump in my bed. I was good today but yesterday was a disaster. I am feeling I want to first get a grip on my eating/counting first before working out a deficit. Just want to have a few good days as a place to start.

shadow2soul

You actually might end up losing muscle mass that way.

If I remember correctly the body can burn about 30 calories per day from fat. So 73 kg is 160.6 lbs and at 20% BF that means you have 32.12 lbs of fat mass on your body. That means anything over a 963 calorie deficit per day and your body is going to start using lean mass for fuel. Basically, your going to be using both muscle and fat with that kind of deficit. Sure you may get to a lower weight that way, but you may find that your BF% doesn't change much (might even see an increase depending on how much lean mass ends up being lost in the process).

Carlos_421

You're undercutting the benefits you would otherwise see from your strength training.
You'd do better eating about 1,000 more calories (assuming your numbers are correct).

taco_inspector

benlockyer wrote: »

...
So if my RMR is say 1200 and I'm only eating 1500 that's already a 700 deficit, then mi us my exercise makes a 1500 average deficit a day
...

Just looking at this bit of math --

If your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is 1200cals
and you're eating 1500 cals (per day)
This would be a 300-calorie surplus.
... adding in 600 calories burned in exercise (daily) would move you back into a caloric deficit of 300-calories; not a 1500-calorie daily deficit for the numbers you provided

That math aside, for a 28yr-old 69" tall 73kg male you'll find that your Basal Metabolic Rate (no activity) will be closer to 1700 calories per day depending on the model that you're using -- Eating @1500/day and exercising at 600/day would leave you in a 800-cal/day deficit BEFORE you had any other activity (like anything besides laying-down all day). While everything is open to interpretations and biases, that 800 calorie deficit against a 2300 (admittedly WAAAY underestimated TDEE) would be ~35% deficit, which is in most thoughts "too low" for someone that's so very close to being in a normal weight range (~0.75kg if you trust BMI).

Realistically, I'd see your TDEE being 1500-2000 calories above your BMR BEFORE adding in the caloric burns from daily exercise, which of course, would leave you in even deeper deficit.

As @shadow2soul and @Carlos_421 indicate, this much of a deficit could be costing you more than you're thinking. I will join these two in reminding you that weight-loss is not equal to fat-loss, and that lean body mass (muscle or other) may be lost as you proceed.

benlockyer

My RMR is 2200 not 1200, that was a mistake lol

benlockyer

shadow2soul wrote: »

You actually might end up losing muscle mass that way.

If I remember correctly the body can burn about 30 calories per day from fat. So 73 kg is 160.6 lbs and at 20% BF that means you have 32.12 lbs of fat mass on your body. That means anything over a 963 calorie deficit per day and your body is going to start using lean mass for fuel. Basically, your going to be using both muscle and fat with that kind of deficit. Sure you may get to a lower weight that way, but you may find that your BF% doesn't change much (might even see an increase depending on how much lean mass ends up being lost in the process).

That's interesting to know, I'll factor that in. Cheers!

rollerjog

at 5"7 and 73 kg or 161 pounds, working out 5 days a week,and on only 1500 calories a day and doing compound movements, at 5 days a week your maintenance should be at 2400 or so, lets say your weight loss slows down you go from 1500 calories to 1250 calories and add a 4th day of cardio in and then you loss a little bit more and then it slows down again are you going to drop your calories down to a 1000 and add a 5th day of cardio in, your metabolism will soon come to a stand still, working out 5 days a week and 3 cardio days a week on 1500 calories is a lot of work for so little calories, if it was me when your weight loss really slows down, i would raise my calories up to maintenance still work out 5 days a week still do cardio 3 days a week for about a month and try to get your metabolism back on track, then start all over again but at a smaller def say like 250 less than your maintenance, your food is your fuel , good luck happy journeys