Really confused about calorie deficit

AnitaKundu

Hi, I'm relatively new to MFP. Sorry if this sounds like a really dumb question, but I'm totally confused about creating a calorie deficit. MFP recommends I consume 1,200 calories per day for weight loss, based on the data I inputted. I have a long journey ahead of me, but for the first ten kg, I would like to lose weight at the rate of 1 kg per week, less after that afterwards (I will change it later). I exercise every day and I noticed those calories burned get added to my daily allowance in my food diary. Here's the question - how much under (if at all) my daily allowance + exercise calories (ie daily total) should I be in order to lose weight? I've been on this journey for 3 weeks and lost a total of 4.5kg, which I'm pleased about. I've never exceeded the daily total, but I'm often not under it by a lot, which confuses me. I thought that in order to lose weight at the maximum rate, I'd have to be quite a bit under. Someone in a post I read said that your daily allowance contains a built in calorie deficit which allows for weight loss. Is this true? Would really appreciate it if someone could clarify, hopefully I was clear in describing what I'm confused about. Thanks, Anita

L1zardQueen

MFP is designed for you to eat your calories back. Sounds like you are on the right track.

WinoGelato

The goal MFP provides includes the deficit in it so that even if you don’t exercise at all, you should still lose weight at the desired rate. The exercise calories get added in and you should be eating those back so that you always net 1200.

A couple of caveats - to lose a kg per week you need a 1000 cal deficit from your maintenance cals. Depending on your stats, it may not be possible to subtract 1000 cals and stay above the 1200 cal minimum threshold for women, so MFP bottoms out at 1200. Ask, exercise cals can be inflated so some people start with eating back only a portion of their cals until they determine how accurate those estimates are.
Good luck!

elsie6hickman

I'm glad you asked the question. Good information here.

AnitaKundu

Thank you - it's much clearer now guys