How many calories do I need to burn to be in a calorie deficit when I consume 1300 cals?

sophiecorns11
sophiecorns11 Posts: 1 Member
edited March 2022 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys!
I'm really struggling to understand my calorie deficit. Please help. I consume 1300 cals and atm I'm only burning just over 150 cals. I know I need to burn more but how much? Do I have to burn a thousand calories to be in a deficit?

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,881 Member
    Where are you getting this number 150 from? Exercise? Your body burns a lot more than that. It burns calories all day long for breathing, your heart beat, digestion, keeping your brain working etc. That alone is probably at least 1000 calories or more, depending on your height, weight, age,... On top of that you will then burn calories for any activity or movement.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,881 Member
    If you got your calorie 1300 calorie goal from MFP, you might find this helpful:

    wmosc3y98lz4.jpg
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,600 Member
    sophiecorns11 wrote: »
    Hey guys!
    I'm really struggling to understand my calorie deficit. Please help. I consume 1300 cals and atm I'm only burning just over 150 cals. I know I need to burn more but how much? Do I have to burn a thousand calories to be in a deficit?

    That chart lietchi posted is the complete answer.

    Here's a quickie version:

    Did you get that 1300 number from MFP? Did you tell MFP your real height, weight, age, best guess at pre-exercise activity level (from your job and home life)? Did you tell MFP you wanted to lose weight, i.e., set your goal to "Lose X pounds (or kg) per week"?

    If yes is the answer to all three of my questions, then 1300 already includes your calorie deficit. You would want to eat 1300 net calories, or very close to that, every day. By "very close", something like plus or minus 50 calories would be ideal. Do that for a full menstrual cycle - so you're comparing your body weight at the same relative point in two different cycles, such as the last day of menstruation - and compare your weight loss to the "Lose X per week" value. If you're close, as you probably will be, just keep going at that calorie level.

    Any exercise you do, when you log the exercise, lets you eat more but keep that same calorie deficit. MFP will show you a number in various places that tells you how many calories you have left to eat for the day. It will do the math for you!

  • Bridgie3
    Bridgie3 Posts: 139 Member
    sophiecorns11 wrote: »
    Hey guys!
    I'm really struggling to understand my calorie deficit. Please help. I consume 1300 cals and atm I'm only burning just over 150 cals. I know I need to burn more but how much? Do I have to burn a thousand calories to be in a deficit?

    1300 calories a day is already a calorie deficit.

    Most of the calories your body uses, it uses to keep your heart pumping, and your lungs flexing, and your digestion digesting. Another way of putting that is, how much energy it would take you to survive if you were in a coma and at the hospital, and the lowest I've heard of nurses putting in one's drip (not a nurse, feel free to fact check) is 1400 calories a day, just for patients to remain alive.

    So to be at 1300 calories a day, you're already under this level unless you are already very small, light and old. It's called a Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR if you want to google and calculate yours.

    A lot of diets suggest you always stay above this number, to not trigger yourself into thinking you're starving. I don't know if that's true, but it is out there and you can read up on it if it makes sense to you.

    The point being you don't have to exercise extra; your diet is already low calorie enough for you to lose weight.

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,302 Member
    sophiecorns11 wrote: »
    Hey guys!
    I'm really struggling to understand my calorie deficit. Please help. I consume 1300 cals and atm I'm only burning just over 150 cals. I know I need to burn more but how much? Do I have to burn a thousand calories to be in a deficit?

    You dont have to burn any extra calories to be in a deficit.

    You could be in a coma and not moving and be in a deficit- if your calorie intake is more than your just living burn

    If your calorie allowance to lose weight is 1300 using MFP system and you burn 150 calories doing additional excercise - walking for about 45 mins would burn around that, for example - then you aim to eat 1450 that day - ie 1300 plus 150

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