Confusion about deficit
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FLBeachluvr
Posts: 110 Member
I am currently tracking all my food in MFP and using a Fitbit Charge HR for my exercise. MFP has given me a calorie budget of 1200 per day. As of this afternoon my Fitbit shows I've only burned 1001 calories (desk job). I do plan to exercise when I get home but if I didn't, wouldn't I be eating way too much if I ate all my 1200 calories? Also, my BMR is 1230. In order to get at least a 250 caloric deficit (if I didn't do any extra exercise) that would give me only 980 calories. I'm totally confused!
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Replies
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Your fitbit shows calories burned until midnight. If it shows 1001 calories at noon, you should be at approximately 2000 calories by midnight. Eat your 1200 calories (plus a little, in my opinion).3
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Since MFP gives you 1200 calories, you have probably set your goal too much, too fast. 1200 is the lowest you'll get regardless of what you put as your goal, because that is the minimum healthy amount for women.
Fit bit & MFP accumulate your calorie burn 24 hours a day, even when you're sleeping, so that number is never fxed in stone for the day.
There is a difference between BMR, TDEE, and NEAT which are different ways of estimating your calorie needs. This is explained in the sticky posts here on MFP, but I'm sure someone will be along to explain it. Sorry, I just don't have time right now to write the book.
Be sure to use a food scale & weigh all your food before logging. Accuracy is critical. Again, this is explained in the sticky posts at the top of the various MFP forums.
Hope that gets you started.2 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »Your fitbit shows calories burned until midnight. If it shows 1001 calories at noon, you should be at approximately 2000 calories by midnight. Eat your 1200 calories (plus a little, in my opinion).
Exactly this. Your Fitbit will update your calories burned all day long and then reset at midnight. Look over the past week or so and see what your average total burn was each day and you'll see what we mean.
There are lots of posts in here explaining the difference between BMR and TDEE. I'd suggest looking through the pinned threads and reading up on them. BMR is the calories you'd burn lying in a coma. TDEE is the calories you burn moving around every day. Since you aren't in a coma your calories burned is going to be higher. Beyond that simple explanation, I haven't really dug into them but I've still managed to lose weight just by following MFP.
Now for the other issues in your post. The fact that MFP has given you 1200 calories (the lowest it will go for a female) is a good indicator that you're trying to lose too much too quickly. Here's a good set of guidelines for how many pounds you should be attempting to lose each week. The number in parentheses is how many fewer calories you should eat than your body burns each day to reach that goal:
Pound per week goals
75+ lbs: set to lose 2 lb range (-1000 calories per day)
Between 40 - 75 lbs: set to lose 1.5 lb range (-750 calories per day)
Between 25 - 40 lbs: set to lose 1 lb range (-500 calories per day)
Between 15 - 25 lbs: set to lose 1 -.50 lb range (-500 to -250 calories per day)
Less than 15 lbs: set to lose 0.5 lbs range (-250 calories per day)
As you can see, to lose 2 pounds per week you need to be eating 1000 calories per day fewer than your body burns. If you don't have a lot to lose it's pretty hard, if not impossible, to meet the 1000 calorie deficit unless you are spending hours at the gym. What all of this means is that even if you set MFP for 2 pounds per week, if you aren't reaching that 1000 calorie deficit daily you aren't actually going to lose that much because you aren't creating the necessary calorie deficit. Since you don't want to under-eat so much that you lose excessive amounts of lean muscle mass along with the fat, change your goal to 1 or .5 pound per week, eat a little more and lose pounds in a way that's going to leave you more healthy when you're done.3 -
I have set my weekly weight loss goal to 1 lb per week. I'm 54, 5'3" and currently weigh 145-146. I do think the 1200 calories a day is valid.1
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I'm 5'3", 50 YO and currently weigh 135. I can lose .5 pound per week on 1280 per day plus exercise calories. ::shrug::
You can do what you like. My point was merely that you're kidding yourself you can lose 1 pound per week unless you're actually creating a 500 calorie deficit every day. Most of the time that 1200 calorie number is a good indicator that you can't. And losing faster isn't better. At your age are you considering muscle loss from losing weight too quickly and the eventual metabolic slowdown that will result? I started weight lifting a few years ago to compensate for it.2 -
I've only been at this for less than 2 weeks so I can always make adjustments. I lost 53 lbs on WW in 2012 so I'm used to that program but got tired of paying for it.0
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As you don't have much to lose 1200 seems too aggressive a deficit. Ideally 0.5lb a week loss is what you should be aiming for to minimise muscle loss.
e.g I've been in maintenance for over 3 yrs when I was trying to lose I lost 0.5lb/week eating 1700-1800 calories (I'm 5ft 2/active)
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Actually the 1200 is totally manageable for me. Often in the evening I have to have an extra snack to get close to the 1200 calories. When I choose to eat correctly I'm not much of a junk food eater so most of the foods I eat are pretty much low in calories in the first place (lean meats, lot of vegetables, eggs and low fat dairy). Being post-menopausal and with a desk job unless I make an effort to get in extra exercise every day my TDEE can be as low as around 1500. I'm just going to see what my rate of loss is and adjust as necessary. I was very successful on WW in 2011-2012 so I'm used to counting points not calories so still seeing what works best for me.0
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Definitely read the stickies, but BMR is the number of calories you'd burn if you were in a coma. Your NEAT includes "Non Exercise Activity" - just walking around, doing your job, doing housework, hobbies, whatever. It's a bigger number than your BMR. So, if you're trying to get a 250 calorie deficit before exercise, that's a deficit from your NEAT.
MFP's goal will be your NEAT, except that it won't drop you below 1200 (as a woman) because it's darn tough to get adequate nutrition below that. So it may or may not have given you an actual 250 calorie deficit, as others have pointed out. (You can change your goal temporarily to "maintain" to see what it thinks your maintenance NEAT is.)
TDEE is your daily burn including intentional exercise, on top of NEAT. (MFP doesn't inherently use the TDEE approach, though some people effectively use it that way. MFP assumes you'll eat back your exercise calories, as you seem to have realized.) Your Fitbit is estimating your TDEE.
+1 to support the idea of losing slowly, if you have relatively little to lose, in order to avoid unnecessary amounts of lean-tissue loss. Muscle is really tough (slow) to regain, for women, especially as we age. I may be over-cautious about it, but tend to look at strong muscles and bones as chief among of the things standing between me and an early move to assisted living.
FWIW, I'm 60 y/o, and lost 60+ pounds last year (from SW 183 to GW 120), most of it at 1400-1600 net calories, eating back all exercise, while sedentary outside of that intentional exercise. I admit, that's a higher-than-average NEAT - I'm glad, but don't know why.
Absolutely, you can stick to your current goal, and see what results you have over the first few weeks.1 -
So if I am understanding correctly, if I temporarily change my goal to maintain, the basic daily calories MFP then gives me would be my NEAT? If so, I got 1540. If I aim for a baseline of 1200 then that would give me a deficit of 340 per day? And then everything is just adjusted based on how much purposeful exercise I do (more exercise = more calories available to eat)?0
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So if I am understanding correctly, if I temporarily change my goal to maintain, the basic daily calories MFP then gives me would be my NEAT? If so, I got 1540. If I aim for a baseline of 1200 then that would give me a deficit of 340 per day? And then everything is just adjusted based on how much purposeful exercise I do (more exercise = more calories available to eat)?
As I understand it, yes. The part I can't comment on is what it means if you sync your Fitbit to MFP, because I'm not a Fitbit-er. Ignoring the Fitbit factor, MFP intends that you eat back your exercise calories, though some people worry that exercise calories are over-estimated, and only eat back part of them.
One minor quibble: The 1540 would be MFP's estimate of your NEAT. Your actual NEAT could differ, though most people are close to the averages the calculator is based on. You'll learn, from your actual experience - how much you actually lose eating at this level - a more accurate, data-based estimate of your actual NEAT.
Good luck!0 -
I am currently tracking all my food in MFP and using a Fitbit Charge HR for my exercise. MFP has given me a calorie budget of 1200 per day. As of this afternoon my Fitbit shows I've only burned 1001 calories (desk job). I do plan to exercise when I get home but if I didn't, wouldn't I be eating way too much if I ate all my 1200 calories? Also, my BMR is 1230. In order to get at least a 250 caloric deficit (if I didn't do any extra exercise) that would give me only 980 calories. I'm totally confused!
God no 1200 is too much, 1200 is likely way WAY to little for you. Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn in a coma, it isn't the amount of calories you need for maintenance. Your TDEE is likely considerably higher than your BMR and it is your TDEE that you should be basing your deficit off of.
I'm going to guess your stats and use a TDEE calculator. If I am guessing wrong then you can enter it yourself using the below link.
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html
Your profile says you are 53. Going to guess you are a pretty average height and weight so guessing 5'5'' and 140 pounds.
Going to say you rest 8 hours (sleeping) lead a sedentary life (desk job and sitting at home) and maybe do an hour of light activity like walking during your day (so very low activity level).
Even with that low activity I'm getting a TDEE of 1800 calories for you so eating 1200 calories is a pretty huge deficit.
If you do more than walk an hour out of your entire day you'd need even more.
1200 calories is the diet of a toddler or a 90 year old 90 pound 5' tall woman who is inactive. It certainly isn't too much for you and is if anything likely to little.
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »I am currently tracking all my food in MFP and using a Fitbit Charge HR for my exercise. MFP has given me a calorie budget of 1200 per day. As of this afternoon my Fitbit shows I've only burned 1001 calories (desk job). I do plan to exercise when I get home but if I didn't, wouldn't I be eating way too much if I ate all my 1200 calories? Also, my BMR is 1230. In order to get at least a 250 caloric deficit (if I didn't do any extra exercise) that would give me only 980 calories. I'm totally confused!
God no 1200 is too much, 1200 is likely way WAY to little for you. Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn in a coma, it isn't the amount of calories you need for maintenance. Your TDEE is likely considerably higher than your BMR and it is your TDEE that you should be basing your deficit off of.
I'm going to guess your stats and use a TDEE calculator. If I am guessing wrong then you can enter it yourself using the below link.
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html
Your profile says you are 53. Going to guess you are a pretty average height and weight so guessing 5'5'' and 140 pounds.
Going to say you rest 8 hours (sleeping) lead a sedentary life (desk job and sitting at home) and maybe do an hour of light activity like walking during your day (so very low activity level).
Even with that low activity I'm getting a TDEE of 1800 calories for you so eating 1200 calories is a pretty huge deficit.
If you do more than walk an hour out of your entire day you'd need even more.
1200 calories is the diet of a toddler or a 90 year old 90 pound 5' tall woman who is inactive. It certainly isn't too much for you and is if anything likely to little.
Actually I've figured my TDEE around 1537. This is based on my actual stats of age 54, 5'3" and currently 145. I'm also basing this on what my Fitbit Charge HR shows as calories burned on days when I get no "extra" exercise other than my normal daily activities of desk job, some minor house duties and then sitting watching tv or reading.
If the 1200 is unreasonable than why does MFP give me that number when I plug in my stats? Yes, I did put that I wanted to lose one pound per week but that is a perfectly reasonable number considering I have between 20-25 lbs. to lose. (I lost 53 lbs. on WW in 2011 so I know what is a good goal weight for me). Another factor for me is that I have low blood pressure and a low body temperature (also post menopausal). According to my doctor this means that I have what people would call a "slow metabolism".
Right now, on the days that I get no extra exercise I am eating around 1200 calories per day. On a day when I do a good amount of exercise I eat more. For example, yesterday I got in a workout at the gym and then went for a bike ride later. I ate 1428 calories. My Fitbit says I burned 1990 calories so if I took all those numbers as gospel that would mean I had a deficit of 562 calories but I'm willing to bet the Fitbit numbers are inflated.
Now that I know a little more about what all the numbers mean and how they add up I'll just continue to use what MFP gives me each day based on my exercise and then only eat back part of the exercise calories. Will see how much I've lost in a month's time and then adjust if I need to. I also monitor my macros and am ensuring that I get good amounts of carbs, fat and protein.0 -
My stats are similar to yours. The reason mfp gave you 1200 is because you put in to lose 1 pound per week. You need a 500 calorie deficit for that but mfp will only let you go as low as 1200 so if your maintenance is 1540 then a 500 deficit would be 1040 and mfp won't do that so you only get a 340 calorie deficit which puts you at losing .68 pounds per week. If you have your fitbit synced you won't log exercise into mfp. You just let fitbit give you an adjustment. Make sure you turn on negative adjustments. That way if you have a day where you are not very active you will get a smaller and possibly even a negative adjustment. I usually start the day with a negative adjustment, but I have never ended the day with a negative. Right now my fitbit adjustment show that my mfp calories burned it 1552 (this is what mfp estimates I will burn today) and my fitbit calories burned full day projection is 1661 based on my fitbit showing that I have burned 806 calories as of 10:46. So the difference is 109 and that is my calorie adjustment. Your body burns calories all day long even if you are in a coma. So even though I have only burned 806 so far today I will still burn more calories even if I don't do anything for the rest of the day but sit on the couch. That adjustment might go down if I'm less active, but if I exercise after work then it will go up. The fitbit adjustment will change throughout the day.0
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(Snips)Aaron_K123 wrote: »I am currently tracking all my food in MFP and using a Fitbit Charge HR for my exercise. MFP has given me a calorie budget of 1200 per day. As of this afternoon my Fitbit shows I've only burned 1001 calories (desk job). I do plan to exercise when I get home but if I didn't, wouldn't I be eating way too much if I ate all my 1200 calories? Also, my BMR is 1230. In order to get at least a 250 caloric deficit (if I didn't do any extra exercise) that would give me only 980 calories. I'm totally confused!
God no 1200 is too much, 1200 is likely way WAY to little for you. Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn in a coma, it isn't the amount of calories you need for maintenance. Your TDEE is likely considerably higher than your BMR and it is your TDEE that you should be basing your deficit off of.
I'm going to guess your stats and use a TDEE calculator. If I am guessing wrong then you can enter it yourself using the below link.
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html
Your profile says you are 53. Going to guess you are a pretty average height and weight so guessing 5'5'' and 140 pounds.
Going to say you rest 8 hours (sleeping) lead a sedentary life (desk job and sitting at home) and maybe do an hour of light activity like walking during your day (so very low activity level).
Even with that low activity I'm getting a TDEE of 1800 calories for you so eating 1200 calories is a pretty huge deficit.
If you do more than walk an hour out of your entire day you'd need even more.
1200 calories is the diet of a toddler or a 90 year old 90 pound 5' tall woman who is inactive. It certainly isn't too much for you and is if anything likely to little.
If the 1200 is unreasonable than why does MFP give me that number when I plug in my stats? Yes, I did put that I wanted to lose one pound per week but that is a perfectly reasonable number considering I have between 20-25 lbs. to lose. (I lost 53 lbs. on WW in 2011 so I know what is a good goal weight for me). Another factor for me is that I have low blood pressure and a low body temperature (also post menopausal). According to my doctor this means that I have what people would call a "slow metabolism".
(snips of perfectly sensible commentary)
After one hangs around here for a while, one tends to get a little symbol-reactive when one sees the 1200 goal. I know I do!
Waaaaaay too often, it represents (I'm drawing a cartoon here) a 23-year-old, 5'8" woman who wants to lose 10 vanity pounds, has set her goal to lose 2 pounds a week, is working out like a house afire, and has read some article on some blog that's based on TDEE method that says not to eat back your exercise, because you won't lose weight, even if you do a green-tea cleanse at the same time.
This well-intended but knee jerk reaction to 1200 seems especially common among younger men, who have TDEEs well up in the high 2000s or 3000s and occasionally beyond, so 1200 is unimaginable on the surface of it. Sometimes, it is aggravated . . . dare I say it . . . by sexism - we chickie-poos are all about vanity, and not bright enough to do our own calculations or make healthy choices. (Note: I have no inclination to attribute sexism to the person who posted above. I think he's just seen too much of crazy-low goals, as he's been here a while.)
1200 is approximately my calculated BMR. MFP told me to eat 1200 when my goal was 2 pounds a week. (The goal on its face was relatively reasonably; I was obese.) Eating 1200 was still a really bad idea for me, and people told me so. I soon found out they were right - though I know women my age for whom they would've been quite wrong.
Personally, given all the info you've put forward, I think you're on a reasonable initial track (though I wouldn't suggest staying at 1 pound/week for very long, as you lose), and you seem like a sensible, intelligent person who'll adjust if you lose too fast in reality, or feel fatigue or other negative symptoms. But I also think @Aaron_K123 is simply concerned about you, and intending to help.1 -
My stats are similar to yours. The reason mfp gave you 1200 is because you put in to lose 1 pound per week. You need a 500 calorie deficit for that but mfp will only let you go as low as 1200 so if your maintenance is 1540 then a 500 deficit would be 1040 and mfp won't do that so you only get a 340 calorie deficit which puts you at losing .68 pounds per week. If you have your fitbit synced you won't log exercise into mfp. You just let fitbit give you an adjustment. Make sure you turn on negative adjustments. That way if you have a day where you are not very active you will get a smaller and possibly even a negative adjustment. I usually start the day with a negative adjustment, but I have never ended the day with a negative. Right now my fitbit adjustment show that my mfp calories burned it 1552 (this is what mfp estimates I will burn today) and my fitbit calories burned full day projection is 1661 based on my fitbit showing that I have burned 806 calories as of 10:46. So the difference is 109 and that is my calorie adjustment. Your body burns calories all day long even if you are in a coma. So even though I have only burned 806 so far today I will still burn more calories even if I don't do anything for the rest of the day but sit on the couch. That adjustment might go down if I'm less active, but if I exercise after work then it will go up. The fitbit adjustment will change throughout the day.
Yes to this! I don't plan on eating below 1200 to get my deficit, I'm more focused on getting more activity so I can actually eat more. BTW I do just use what Fitbit gives me and do have the deficit set up.1 -
(Snips)Aaron_K123 wrote: »I am currently tracking all my food in MFP and using a Fitbit Charge HR for my exercise. MFP has given me a calorie budget of 1200 per day. As of this afternoon my Fitbit shows I've only burned 1001 calories (desk job). I do plan to exercise when I get home but if I didn't, wouldn't I be eating way too much if I ate all my 1200 calories? Also, my BMR is 1230. In order to get at least a 250 caloric deficit (if I didn't do any extra exercise) that would give me only 980 calories. I'm totally confused!
God no 1200 is too much, 1200 is likely way WAY to little for you. Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn in a coma, it isn't the amount of calories you need for maintenance. Your TDEE is likely considerably higher than your BMR and it is your TDEE that you should be basing your deficit off of.
I'm going to guess your stats and use a TDEE calculator. If I am guessing wrong then you can enter it yourself using the below link.
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html
Your profile says you are 53. Going to guess you are a pretty average height and weight so guessing 5'5'' and 140 pounds.
Going to say you rest 8 hours (sleeping) lead a sedentary life (desk job and sitting at home) and maybe do an hour of light activity like walking during your day (so very low activity level).
Even with that low activity I'm getting a TDEE of 1800 calories for you so eating 1200 calories is a pretty huge deficit.
If you do more than walk an hour out of your entire day you'd need even more.
1200 calories is the diet of a toddler or a 90 year old 90 pound 5' tall woman who is inactive. It certainly isn't too much for you and is if anything likely to little.
If the 1200 is unreasonable than why does MFP give me that number when I plug in my stats? Yes, I did put that I wanted to lose one pound per week but that is a perfectly reasonable number considering I have between 20-25 lbs. to lose. (I lost 53 lbs. on WW in 2011 so I know what is a good goal weight for me). Another factor for me is that I have low blood pressure and a low body temperature (also post menopausal). According to my doctor this means that I have what people would call a "slow metabolism".
(snips of perfectly sensible commentary)
After one hangs around here for a while, one tends to get a little symbol-reactive when one sees the 1200 goal. I know I do!
Waaaaaay too often, it represents (I'm drawing a cartoon here) a 23-year-old, 5'8" woman who wants to lose 10 vanity pounds, has set her goal to lose 2 pounds a week, is working out like a house afire, and has read some article on some blog that's based on TDEE method that says not to eat back your exercise, because you won't lose weight, even if you do a green-tea cleanse at the same time.
This well-intended but knee jerk reaction to 1200 seems especially common among younger men, who have TDEEs well up in the high 2000s or 3000s and occasionally beyond, so 1200 is unimaginable on the surface of it. Sometimes, it is aggravated . . . dare I say it . . . by sexism - we chickie-poos are all about vanity, and not bright enough to do our own calculations or make healthy choices. (Note: I have no inclination to attribute sexism to the person who posted above. I think he's just seen too much of crazy-low goals, as he's been here a while.)
1200 is approximately my calculated BMR. MFP told me to eat 1200 when my goal was 2 pounds a week. (The goal on its face was relatively reasonably; I was obese.) Eating 1200 was still a really bad idea for me, and people told me so. I soon found out they were right - though I know women my age for whom they would've been quite wrong.
Personally, given all the info you've put forward, I think you're on a reasonable initial track (though I wouldn't suggest staying at 1 pound/week for very long, as you lose), and you seem like a sensible, intelligent person who'll adjust if you lose too fast in reality, or feel fatigue or other negative symptoms. But I also think @Aaron_K123 is simply concerned about you, and intending to help.
Yes! Thank you for the positive comments. I will definitely go by how I feel. I do not by any means feel that I am starving or eating too little. I actually had to make sure to have some turkey jerky last night as my calorie count was still too low based on the exercise I did yesterday.1 -
@AnnPT77 is right. She always gives good advice. 1200 is not an inappropriate goal for a woman who is not very tall and a little older. I'm in my late 40's and not real tall. My BMR is about 1240. I also started out with an mfp goal of 1200. I adjusted it up a little to around 1300 most of the time I was losing and then as I got close to maintenance I added 100 or so calories every couple of weeks until I hit maintenance which mfp estimates as 1555 for me. I actually can eat more since I eat back my fitbit adjustment and honestly I'm still figuring out what my maintenance calories are. I think that at you feel ok doing 1200 calories then that is fine. If you change your goal to .5 per week you will still only get around 1300.1
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I have been using my Fitbit App (Charge HR) and MFP together and I have lost 39 lbs so far by going with what MFP says my daily goal should be.
I am off from work during the summer and I haven't been as active as if I was working. If I went with what Fitbit says I should eat I would starve! I like the Fitbit for keeping track of my activity but rely on MFP for my food logging & daily calorie goal.
My daily goal is 1200 calories and it really is not an unreasonable goal.
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@AnnPT77 is right. She always gives good advice. 1200 is not an inappropriate goal for a woman who is not very tall and a little older. I'm in my late 40's and not real tall. My BMR is about 1240. I also started out with an mfp goal of 1200. I adjusted it up a little to around 1300 most of the time I was losing and then as I got close to maintenance I added 100 or so calories every couple of weeks until I hit maintenance which mfp estimates as 1555 for me. I actually can eat more since I eat back my fitbit adjustment and honestly I'm still figuring out what my maintenance calories are. I think that at you feel ok doing 1200 calories then that is fine. If you change your goal to .5 per week you will still only get around 1300.
<blush> . . . aw, aren't you kind? Thanks for the nice compliment.0
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