If I ate 1650 calories and burned 700 calories, am I still in a calorie deficit?

mkandh
mkandh Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I’m confused about how a calorie deficit works. Today I ate 1667 calories but I burned around 700-800 by exercising (I ran, walked and lifted weights). This left me with a total of 902 net calories. Am I still in a calorie deficit or should I not eat back the calories?
1300 - 1667 + 760 = 363
My calorie deficit normally is 1300 for weight loss.
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Answers

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,867 Member
    Not enough information, but you're almost certainly in a calorie deficit.

    First of all, I'm doubtful you burned an additional 760 calories compared to sitting idle. That's a hell of a lot of exercise. And even if you did, your body would borrow calories later in the day from your NEAT to compensate, so your realistic net calorie figure might be half of that, i.e. 380. So if you ate 1667 and subtract out 380, you are effectively at 1,287 which is almost certainly a deficit. Yes I know MFP works by treating 100% of calories burned as if they can be consumed back, which is a fundamental flaw because that's not how our bodies work.

    How much of a deficit 1,287 is for you, I couldn't possibly know. Your weight loss over time will tell you that.

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