How to Calorie deficit

jrmillones29

Hi can someone explain calorie deficit im still confused

AnnPT77

Maybe?

Everyday, when we're alive, we do stuff: Heartbeat, breathing, home chores, job, maybe exercise and other stuff. Doing stuff burns energy, which is measured in calories.

We also eat calories in our food. (There's more to food than calories, but calories are the part that matters directly for weight loss.) If we eat exactly the same number of calories that we burn, that's our "maintenance calories", and our body weight stays steady.

If we want to lose weight, we try to eat fewer calories than we burn daily. In this scenario, the difference between the calories we burn, and the lower calories we eat, is our "calorie deficit". Our body will make up those calories, generally, by burning our stored body fat. When that happens, we lose fat weight.

Very generally, if we eat 500 calories less each day than the number of calories we burn (so a "500 calorie deficit") we'll lose about a pound of fat in a week, because a pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories of stored energy, and 7 x 500 is 3500. It may not show up exactly on the scale each week, because bodies have a lot of water in them (not just fat-muscle-bone) and water weight is weird, in healthy bodies. Over the long haul (many weeks), though, it should average out pretty close.

The thing is, we don't have strict *measurements* of the calories we burn, or the calories we eat. We just have more-or-less good estimates. Usually, the estimates are close enough to work. Also, individuals vary, which affects the validity of estimates, but most people fall in a narrow range so usually it all works out close enough, as a practical matter.

The thing to do, is tell MFP how fast you want to lose weight (right answer: not crazy fast). MFP will give you a calorie estimate to eat. If you follow the directions (set your MFP activity level based on how much you do on an average day *before* intentional exercise), then you also log exercise, and eat those calories when you burn them. Do that for 4-6 weeks, then look at your average weekly weight loss.

If you're losing at a sensibly moderate rate, just keep going. The estimates are close enough, for you. (You'll need to adjust every 10-20 pounds or so, because a lighter body inherently burns fewer calories moving through the world.)

If, on the other hand, your initial weight loss results are far off the estimates (higher or lower), that suggests you're non-average (rare, but it happens). If it happens to you, you can adjust your intake (or exercise/daily life activity), to get the right loss rate. After that, you adjust a bit as you lose weight, on account of that same "lighter bodies burn fewer calories" thing.

I hope that makes sense.

tvm1970

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Maybe?

Everyday, when we're alive, we do stuff: Heartbeat, breathing, home chores, job, maybe exercise and other stuff. Doing stuff burns energy, which is measured in calories.

We also eat calories in our food. (There's more to food than calories, but calories are the part that matters directly for weight loss.) If we eat exactly the same number of calories that we burn, that's our "maintenance calories", and our body weight stays steady.

If we want to lose weight, we try to eat fewer calories than we burn daily. In this scenario, the difference between the calories we burn, and the lower calories we eat, is our "calorie deficit". Our body will make up those calories, generally, by burning our stored body fat. When that happens, we lose fat weight.

Very generally, if we eat 500 calories less each day than the number of calories we burn (so a "500 calorie deficit") we'll lose about a pound of fat in a week, because a pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories of stored energy, and 7 x 500 is 3500. It may not show up exactly on the scale each week, because bodies have a lot of water in them (not just fat-muscle-bone) and water weight is weird, in healthy bodies. Over the long haul (many weeks), though, it should average out pretty close.

The thing is, we don't have strict *measurements* of the calories we burn, or the calories we eat. We just have more-or-less good estimates. Usually, the estimates are close enough to work. Also, individuals vary, which affects the validity of estimates, but most people fall in a narrow range so usually it all works out close enough, as a practical matter.

The thing to do, is tell MFP how fast you want to lose weight (right answer: not crazy fast). MFP will give you a calorie estimate to eat. If you follow the directions (set your MFP activity level based on how much you do on an average day *before* intentional exercise), then you also log exercise, and eat those calories when you burn them. Do that for 4-6 weeks, then look at your average weekly weight loss.

If you're losing at a sensibly moderate rate, just keep going. The estimates are close enough, for you. (You'll need to adjust every 10-20 pounds or so, because a lighter body inherently burns fewer calories moving through the world.)

If, on the other hand, your initial weight loss results are far off the estimates (higher or lower), that suggests you're non-average (rare, but it happens). If it happens to you, you can adjust your intake (or exercise/daily life activity), to get the right loss rate. After that, you adjust a bit as you lose weight, on account of that same "lighter bodies burn fewer calories" thing.

I hope that makes sense.

Great reply Ann!

Jonpower2915

it’s the difference between the calories you burn and the calories you eat. The calories you burn are from 2 “places” your BMR/RMR .. basically the calories your body needs to live plus the calories,from moving / exercising (lots of tables to calculate your BMR based on night / Weight / sex)i

So, if you burn 1300 (BMR) plus 400 (moving) then You burn a total of 1700.

It is inaccurately said that a pound of fat is 3500 calories (which isn’t accurate when you have dropped many LBS).

So, if you can BURN 1700 (B,R plus living) - 1200 (eating) then you have a deficit of 500 which means that in 1 week you will lose 1lb (7 * 500).

If you want to burn 2lb/week then you need a calorie deficit of 1000kcal / day. It’s hard to get to 1000 deficit without extreme exercising. I burn 1000 per day exercising and have lost 2lb/week for 5 months .. I was 210 now 165 and lost a lot of body fat the loss is starting to decline .. this is because as your body get more efficient it takes more calories,to burn 1lb/fat.

So, that’s it .. to lose weight you MUST have a calorie deficit .. less calories IN than OUT.

that’s also where the MyFitnessPal log is vital IF you accurately log your food .. don’t forget 1tablespoon of olive or avacado oil is 120caloroes … if youre happy deficit is 100/day (you will lose 1lb in 35 days) but Only If you log the ancillary calories (like olive oil).

You can know that you have a deficit simply by weighing yourself at the same time of day. Like, mornings before drinking or,eating. Don’t forget that 1 large glass or water or 1 large mug of coffee weights 1lb (liquid weight). So, trying to see a daily weight loss of .2lb is hard if you’ve just drunk a cup of coffee.

I hope this helps, it’s everything I’ve learned over 6 months, the big eye opener for me was that I needed a calories deficit of 3500 per week to drop a pound per week .. it seemed a lot of effort for just 1lb and it was too slow.

I went to a deficit of 7000/ week but that’s almost impossible to,domhealthily, so, I kept eating my 1000 deficit and burned 1000 in exercise which means you can stuff your face and still lose weight.

anneg50

I use the Healthline.com calorie calculator, which is based on my height, weight, and age, to calculate my personal deficit. It shows calories needed to just maintain, calories needed to lose weight. I stay around/under the calories needed to lose weight. Works for me, hope this helps.

cwolfman13

jrmillones29 wrote: »

Hi can someone explain calorie deficit im still confused

This calculator and others will calculate a calorie target that is your deficit...so you don't even really need to understand...the calculator does the work for you.

That said, a calorie deficit is consuming fewer calories than your body requires to maintain the status quo. A calorie is a unit of energy that fuels our body...everything from merely existing to going about your day to day to exercise, etc. When you consume fewer calories (energy) than your body requires, that deficiency has to be made up...so you burn body fat (stored energy) to make up that difference.

On average I require around 2800-3000 calories per day to maintain the status quo. If I eat anything less than that on a consistent basis, I will burn body fat and lose weight. Roughly 1 Lb per week on 2300-2500 calories per day.

I2k4

Some good clear explanations of calorie deficit per se. I'd throw in that this measures a monster ice cream sundae the same as a healthy meal. "Macro" nutrition breaks the total into an optimal mix of Protein (about 4 calories / gram), Fat (about 9 calories / gram) and Carbs (about 4 calories / gram) - protein will prioritize preserving or building muscle, healthy fats are essential, and carbs tend to be the first "expendable" category for weight loss, especially if exercise demand isn't high. (I'm not personallly fanatical about meeting these at individual meals or even daily, but over a few days at a time. I like to fast for a day on water only now and then. Theories abound, it's worth a little personal research.)

A very simple way to achieve an appropriate deficit is to define a target weight lower than one's current weight. Set healthy dietary parameters for the target, which will be fewer calories than required to maintain current weight, until the target is reached.