Calorie Deficits

LittleCulturedPearl

According to Livestrong.com, 3,500 caloies is equal to 1 pound of weight. I maintain a calorie intake of 1200 per day, but I have set a weight loss goal of 20 lb (I want to weigh 120 pounds, which is a healthy weight or my body size.) I am trying to figure out, if 3,500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound of weight, and I set a weekly weight loss goal of 2 lbs a week, then does that mean my calorie deficit should be 7,000 per week? That would make my daily calorie deficit be 1,000, but would I be consuming too few calories?
I am not sure that I understand what a calorie deficit means. Someone, please explain!

seena511

you're correct all around. you don't need to lose at a rate of 2 lbs a week with only 20 lbs to lose, hence the huge seeming deficit. for severely overweight people, a 1,000/day defiicit might still mean they're eating over 2000 calories. change your goal to 1 lb/week

laurelobrien

Yes, a deficit of 7000 a week theoretically would yield 2lbs of fat lost a week. However, you will also lose muscle and just generally feel ****ty. Don't try to lose that quickly if it puts your calories that low, it's not worth it.

cwolfman13

You're being too aggressive for not needing to lose that much. But here's what this means...

My TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure...which includes all amounts of activity, including exercise) is roughly 2700 calories per day. To lose 1 Lb per week I need a deficit of 500 calories per day...so I would consume roughly 2200 calories per day. If I wanted to lose 2 Lbs per week I would consume 1,700 calories per day. The problem here would be that I would be eating below my BMR with a 2 Lb per week loss goal. This is because I'm at a healthy BF% already and do not have the fat stores necessary to maintain such an aggressive deficit....I would also be wanting to kill somebody.

With MFP, it's a little different. You don't take into account exercise when you set your activity level...rather, you log it after the fact and then you're supposed to eat back your estimated burn...so while your net would be 1200 (I still think too aggressive for you), your gross would be 1200 plus any exercise (just remember to allow for some estimation error).

deksgrl

A rule of thumb for how many pounds a week loss you should aim for:

If you have to lose.....
More than 75 lbs: 2 lbs/week
40-75 lbs: 1.5 lbs/week
10-40 lbs: 1 lb/week
Less than 10 lbs: 0.5 lb/week

LittleCulturedPearl

You're being too aggressive for not needing to lose that much. But here's what this means...

My TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure...which includes all amounts of activity, including exercise) is roughly 2700 calories per day. To lose 1 Lb per week I need a deficit of 500 calories per day...so I would consume roughly 2200 calories per day. If I wanted to lose 2 Lbs per week I would consume 1,700 calories per day. The problem here would be that I would be eating below my BMR with a 2 Lb per week loss goal. This is because I'm at a healthy BF% already and do not have the fat stores necessary to maintain such an aggressive deficit....I would also be wanting to kill somebody.

With MFP, it's a little different. You don't take into account exercise when you set your activity level...rather, you log it after the fact and then you're supposed to eat back your estimated burn...so while your net would be 1200 (I still think too aggressive for you), your gross would be 1200 plus any exercise (just remember to allow for some estimation error).

@cwolfman13: Thanks for that! Actually, during the few days that I was maintaining such a high deficit, I did feel like killing somebody... or eating everything biodegradable.

The problem is, my metabolism is so slow that it takes a long time to burn what I consume. My current BMI is about 22.0, my BF% is at 26.0. A healthy BMI fo my body type is 18.5-24%, and BF under 24%. This is what I am trying to achieve, but it's not happening very fast. I realized that changing my activity level on MFP changes my calorie goal. When I set my weekly weight loss to 1lb a week at "Lightly active", my calorie goal was 1350 and I was actually losing only .4 lbs a week, so it didn't help very much.
Nonetheless, thank you all for your comments, suggestions, applications. I've changed my activity level to "sedentary" and my weight loss goal to 1lb/wk, and now my daily net calorie goal is 1220, so not that different. I'm going to try ensuring a deficit of 500 calories a day (3500 per week) and see whether I improve.

Thanks again, guys! Feel free to add me!

shannonschmiedel

Okay so I created another post trying to figure this out and probably should have just replied to this one to begin with. I am 5' 9' and about 65 pounds overweight. I would like to lose 1.5 or 2 pounds per week but not sure how many calories I should eat every day after exercise. My TDEE is 2697 according to fitness frog and my BMR is 1730. MFP says my net calories is 1480. I am just plain confused with all these numbers because I have never had to do this before now. I have been burning 350 calories at least 4 days a week and I am not sure how many calories to eat in order to lose weight in a healthy manner. Do I just eat the 1480 plus the 350 that I burn and then I will lose up to two pounds a week? Please anyone????

LittleCulturedPearl

What does MFP suggest when you set your pounds per week goal?

deksgrl

Yes, 1480 + 350.

You should choose 1.5 pounds per week. 2 pounds is probably too aggressive.