Please explain deficit??

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Meggie43
Meggie43 Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Im totally confused about the deficit thing ?? My calorie goal is 1200 a day . Am I supposed to be eating less than that to create a deficit?? Im really knew to this..its really overwhelming! Today I am almost at my 1200 calories and my exercise is 294. Please help me understand how I am going to lose weight?? Thank you once again everyone

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  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    MFP already factored in your deficit when it gave you a calorie goal. So your GOAL is to eat 1200 (which is why it is called a goal). When you exercise you create a bigger deficit than you need so you can eat those calories too. So you can eat 1494 today. You lose weight because you burn way more than 1200 calories just by being alive. So when you eat 1200 - or the 1494 you are eating less than you burn in a day and that is a deficit.
  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
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    No, 1200 has your deficit built in. MFP also assumes that you'll eat back atleast SOME of those exercise calories - a good rule of thumb is to start with 50-75% for a few weeks and evaluate your progress/how you feel.
  • beanz744
    beanz744 Posts: 221 Member
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    Try only eat back half of the calories u burned at the most because calories burned is just a guesstimate n MFP calculations in this department is too optimistic. GOOD LUCK!
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    The average person burns 2000 calories per day. If that person only eats 1200 calories then their deficit is 800 calories.

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