Calorie loss math
Seanb_us
Posts: 322 Member
So, if my BMR is 2000. And, I want to drop 2 lbs. each week. And, it takes minus 3500 calories to drop a pound. Then I need to lose 7000 calories a week or 1000 calories a day. That leaves me max 1000 calories per day intake. How is losing 2 lbs. per week even possible?
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Replies
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you take calories away from your TDEE not BMR.
and 2lb per week loss isn't always appropriate18 -
So, if my BMR is 2000. And, I want to drop 2 lbs. each week. And, it takes minus 3500 calories to drop a pound. Then I need to lose 7000 calories a week or 1000 calories a day. That leaves me max 1000 calories per day intake. How is losing 2 lbs. per week even possible?
Can't answer this without knowing:
Age/Height/Current Weight
Also, as @TavistockToad says, your deficit is taken from your TDEE. Give the stats and we'll show you the math...5 -
TavistockToad wrote: »you take calories away from your TDEE not BMR.
and 2lb per week loss isn't always appropriate
Yep, what she said.1 -
So, if my BMR is 2000. And, I want to drop 2 lbs. each week. And, it takes minus 3500 calories to drop a pound. Then I need to lose 7000 calories a week or 1000 calories a day. That leaves me max 1000 calories per day intake. How is losing 2 lbs. per week even possible?
...because your BMR is the amount of energy you would use if you spent all day flat on your back in bed staring at the ceiling. Since I assume you don’t, you’re actually expending more than 2000 calories, and so can eat more than 1000.2 -
Ahhh, I need to look at TDEE. And the calculator I found says 2600. So, it's kinda doable if I want to be unhappy. Thanks all!1
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Ahhh, I need to look at TDEE. And the calculator I found says 2600. So, it's kinda doable if I want to be unhappy. Thanks all!
You don’t need to find a calculator online - MFP will do all that math for you. Also, MFP calculations don’t include exercise, so if you want to eat more, move more.4 -
Ahhh, I need to look at TDEE. And the calculator I found says 2600. So, it's kinda doable if I want to be unhappy. Thanks all!
You don’t need to find a calculator online - MFP will do all that math for you. Also, MFP calculations don’t include exercise, so if you want to eat more, move more.
I use both. They should essentially agree. If your activity level is relatively consistent, you'll get to the same target. For me, it's easier to use my average expenditures and have a consistent intake based on a target deficit than it is to constantly adjust up and down depending on the day.1 -
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collectingblues wrote: »
No, 2 lbs. per week is not reasonable, because I won't stick to it if I hate it. Am aiming for 1.5 lbs. I would maintain with 2100 I suspect, and not lose.2 -
If your TDEE is 2600, 2100 is a 500 calorie per day deficit, and you'd loose 1lb per week on average, if all your maths and logging is correct. The energy has to come from some where else if its not coming from food.1
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collectingblues wrote: »
No, 2 lbs. per week is not reasonable, because I won't stick to it if I hate it. Am aiming for 1.5 lbs. I would maintain with 2100 I suspect, and not lose.
If your TDEE is 2600 that is about where you would maintain. At 2100 you would be at a 500 calorie deficit or 1lb per week projected lose rate. 1950 is 1.5lbs per week.
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Also, I remember that a few weeks ago you and I discussed some thing and you admitted you liked to go at things backwards. You are still kind of doing it by making things more complicated than they need be and not getting out of your own way. What is wrong with entering your information into MFP, selecting an appropriate activity level, your desired weight loss and just giving it a try for 3 weeks?
If you want more control and to look at numbers that might help get yourself a food scale and diligently weigh and log your food to confirm you are in a deficit so you don't have an unknown variable out there keeping you from losing weight. It might give you the peace of mind you seem to struggle getting.
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So, if my BMR is 2000. And, I want to drop 2 lbs. each week. And, it takes minus 3500 calories to drop a pound. Then I need to lose 7000 calories a week or 1000 calories a day. That leaves me max 1000 calories per day intake. How is losing 2 lbs. per week even possible?
Your BMR is the calories you burn merely existing...you do more than exist I'm sure. You don't cut from BMR, you cut from your TDEE.
My BMR is around 1800 calories...My TDEE is 2800-3000 calories so I lose about 1 Lb per week eating 2300-2500 calories and would lose 2 Lbs per week eating 1800-2000 calories.collectingblues wrote: »
No, 2 lbs. per week is not reasonable, because I won't stick to it if I hate it. Am aiming for 1.5 lbs. I would maintain with 2100 I suspect, and not lose.
I doubt that very much considering the average male with little in the way of activity is going to maintain on 2500ish calories.2 -
collectingblues wrote: »
No, 2 lbs. per week is not reasonable, because I won't stick to it if I hate it. Am aiming for 1.5 lbs. I would maintain with 2100 I suspect, and not lose.
If your TDEE is 2600, why do you think you'll maintain on 2100?5 -
Also, I remember that a few weeks ago you and I discussed some thing and you admitted you liked to go at things backwards. You are still kind of doing it by making things more complicated than they need be and not getting out of your own way. What is wrong with entering your information into MFP, selecting an appropriate activity level, your desired weight loss and just giving it a try for 3 weeks?
If you want more control and to look at numbers that might help get yourself a food scale and diligently weigh and log your food to confirm you are in a deficit so you don't have an unknown variable out there keeping you from losing weight. It might give you the peace of mind you seem to struggle getting.
Good point.0 -
collectingblues wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »
No, 2 lbs. per week is not reasonable, because I won't stick to it if I hate it. Am aiming for 1.5 lbs. I would maintain with 2100 I suspect, and not lose.
If your TDEE is 2600, why do you think you'll maintain on 2100?
It just feels like I store calories very well. Slow metabolism?10 -
collectingblues wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »
No, 2 lbs. per week is not reasonable, because I won't stick to it if I hate it. Am aiming for 1.5 lbs. I would maintain with 2100 I suspect, and not lose.
If your TDEE is 2600, why do you think you'll maintain on 2100?
It just feels like I store calories very well. Slow metabolism?
Your TDEE is what you're actually using. So if you maintain on 2,100, then that is your TDEE.
Do you have an actual reason to think your TDEE is so much lower than what the estimates are though? I think many of us "felt," before we actually began tracking accurately, that our metabolisms were slow or it was harder for us to lose weight than other people. But for most of us, that turned out to be untrue. We were just terrible at estimating what we ate compared to what our bodies were using!8 -
It just feels like I store calories very well. Slow metabolism?
You are going to be a lot happier if you can give eating a normal calorie deficit a try and dispelling the myths in your head. When it comes to the science of weight loss you are not that special of a snowflake. You may need to drop your calories down after a month or two by a hundred or so but it won't be 500.
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Also, I remember that a few weeks ago you and I discussed some thing and you admitted you liked to go at things backwards. You are still kind of doing it by making things more complicated than they need be and not getting out of your own way. What is wrong with entering your information into MFP, selecting an appropriate activity level, your desired weight loss and just giving it a try for 3 weeks?
If you want more control and to look at numbers that might help get yourself a food scale and diligently weigh and log your food to confirm you are in a deficit so you don't have an unknown variable out there keeping you from losing weight. It might give you the peace of mind you seem to struggle getting.
^ This!0 -
Ahhh, I need to look at TDEE. And the calculator I found says 2600. So, it's kinda doable if I want to be unhappy. Thanks all!
Don't try to be unhappy. Try to be successful.
My choice at the beginning was to stay as close to happy as I could, so I chose a rate of loss goal of 0.5 lb per week. I have been successful.
Also, please realize that myfitnesspal does not use TDEE. Myfitnesspal uses NEAT. They are not identical, and you will confuse yourself if you try to combine results from two different systems.6 -
You maintain when you eat your TDEE. if you don't leave your bed your maintain at your BMR. MFP sedentary is pegged at 1.25x BMR. So you can easily have a 20% deficit (25% deficit while obese) and still end up eating at or above your BMR.
Not everyone can sustain a 2lb a week deficit. I find it useful to consider maximum deficits as **UP to** 20% of TDEE (or up to 25% of TDEE while obese).
Realistically most people with a TDEE of less than 2500 should only be trying for a 1lb a week loss. however you might be surprised as to how high your TDEE might get if you seek to add incidental activity throughout your day!
Best of luck! You've got some good advice and at least one knowledgeable friend from what I see.2 -
Still going. 19 down since mid-May-ish. 235 now. At some point am going to look at my chaotic eating patterns and try to overlay a reasonable eating plan, plus schedule mild exercise.3
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I am not going hungry. Got a few beers in there, too, and some walking/jogging. Rate of loss is already slowing.0
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