Too much deficit?

stv1520
stv1520 Posts: 199 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm trying to lose quite a bit of weight. So far I'm down 15 lbs. Tracking everything on MFP and working out 6 days a week, including playing hockey 1-2 times a weeknight. The other day, after a good workout and good eating throughout the day, I was at a calorie deficit of 826. Wondering if that's too much of a deficit, or if that's a great thing because the weight loss will improve. I'm 6'1, 280 lbs as of now. Waist has gone from 44 to 42 since September 26 when I began. MFP has given me a calorie goal of 2070 per day.
Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • Bedazzled35
    Bedazzled35 Posts: 50 Member
    Your deficit to lose the amount of weight you selected at set up is already included in your mfp 2070 calorie allowance. If you are burning more calories in exercise you should be eating a good percentage of them back. Faster isn't better. Good luck
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,419 Member
    The site calculator has already calculated your deficit, so you are meant to enter your food and exercise and eat until the bottom of your food diary (FOOD page) says Zero.

    That is how it is intended to be used.

    With that said, eat 2070.

    If you exercise, enter it into "Exercise." Then eat more. Since exercise is difficult to estimate, some people eat 50% of their exercise calories. I always ate every delicious calorie "earned" by exercise, and I lost weight at the rate I had set.

    This is your experiment to run. It's obviously not good to get into the habit of under-eating, for all kinds of reasons not the least of which is your health but one day isn't going to cause significant issues. I wouldn't make it a regular thing.
  • stv1520
    stv1520 Posts: 199 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    The site calculator has already calculated your deficit, so you are meant to enter your food and exercise and eat until the bottom of your food diary (FOOD page) says Zero.

    That is how it is intended to be used.

    With that said, eat 2070.

    If you exercise, enter it into "Exercise." Then eat more. Since exercise is difficult to estimate, some people eat 50% of their exercise calories. I always ate every delicious calorie "earned" by exercise, and I lost weight at the rate I had set.

    This is your experiment to run. It's obviously not good to get into the habit of under-eating, for all kinds of reasons not the least of which is your health but one day isn't going to cause significant issues. I wouldn't make it a regular thing.

    Thanks for the insight. It makes everything a lot more clear. I do have high activity. Workout 3 days a week with weights, 2 cardio, and hockey at night 1-2 times a week. So replenishing those calories make a lot more sense. Thanks again!
  • stv1520
    stv1520 Posts: 199 Member
    Azdak wrote: »
    For someone your size, an 800+ calorie/day deficit is not too high, depending on the quality of your diet.

    To me the issues with larger deficits are: are you getting enough nutrients (macro and micro), are you sufficiently fueling your activity (esp if the large deficit is fueled by a high volume of activity), and is the eating plan sustainable—ie is it a lifestyle you can follow long term.

    If the answer to these questions is “yes” then I don’t think one should be overly concerned with staying within an arbitrary deficit or weight loss number.

    2000 calories is an adequate amount of food for a lifestyle and for good health. There is no reason to substantially increase that amount to follow some MFP “guidelines”. MFP is an accounting program, not a “weight loss expert” program.

    The main reason to increase your intake would be if you are suffering chronic fatigue because you are not fueling your workouts adequately.

    So far I've felt pretty good, albeit sometimes my after work workouts have me feeling short on energy. Perhaps because it's the end of a workday or maybe not enough good food consumption throughout the day.

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