1000 calorie deficit NOT for people with healthy BMI

maverickyanda

I find it very very hard to trust BMI calculators on the internet without a doctor.

BMI calcs don't account for young people, people (generally) under twenty, the very short, the very petite, etc. Or the fit.

Your body is very adaptable. It takes a long time to go into said "starvation" mode. The reason why people lose 10 and gain ten is because they go back to their old habits, yeah.

You don't just automatically burn muscle and keep fat! You generally lose water, some fat, and eventaully your muscles lose some volume (weight), including muscles like the heart (but that comes later).

It isn't necessarily unsafe to lose that ten pounds for people with only ten pounds to lose and keep it off in 6 weeks or so if they continue a healthy lifestyle. However, I don't reccomend a 1000 calorie deficit for many (unless you're generally at 2200 calories a day, but that's hard to believe...) in terms of what you eat.

-500 eating and -500 exercising is maybe doable, depending on the person.

I mean, I know guys that can easily lose 10 lbs by cutting back on the burgers and hitting the gym.

As far as BMI RANGE...eh...my BMI range allows me to be anywhere from 109 to 135 pounds...so essentially a size 0 to a size 10. That's a lot of sizes. And the 135 would have me wide-faced, spilling over my jeans, huge-breasted, slow, zit faced and miserable.

Actually 109 has me looking and feeling a little awkward and I'm spilling over stuff and out of my underwear!

(And before you tell me to tighten, I happen to have fantastic legs and abs underneath the post-baby skin and I gave birth three years ago.)

One of the main reasons why I'm struggling so much to lose the weight is because of PCOS (google it), not because I inhaled Ben and Jerry's for six months...but anyway.

maverickyanda

Banks,

What if you don't have a healthy BMI? What if your BMI is in the obese range? I'm assuming that you can afford a greater calorie deficit than 1000, but is there any research on what is actually safe?

I ask because my BMI is still in the "obese" range. (I can't tell you how much it hurt to say that). Up until the last two weeks I' ve been losing weight steadily eating approximately 1500 to 1600 calories a day and doing at least one hour of exercise daily. Over the last two weeks, for various reasons, I've increased my calorie intake to 1700 to 1800 and I've gained 1 pound. All weight loss seems to have stopped dead cold.

I usually burn at least 500-800 calories in exercise daily. I've set MFP for a 2lb a week loss and I usually end up with about 300 or so calories left over for the day. Now, I only estimate portion sizes but I'm pretty honest and I recognize that the calories burned are probably inflated since machines are notoriosly inaccurate.

That said, I'm a little frustrated and trying to find out if the problem is too few calories or too many.

Actually, there is research on that. I'd have to do some digging to find the article by Lyle McDonald, but he's written a lot of them about a lot of stuff, and one of my favorite is on the acceptable caloric deficit based on body fat %. The general consensus is that one lb of fat will supply 31cal of energy per day. So, if you have 10 lbs of body fat, it can supply 310 cals a day, meaning that doesn't have to come from your muscle. If you have 30 lbs of body fat, it can supply 930 cals of energy per day. I'll use my measurements as an example.

I weigh around 132 normally, and my BF is about 20%. 132*.20=26.4. I have 26.4 lbs of body fat, so I can support of a deficit of 818 cals per day, maximum. That's not 2lbs per week, but it's still a large deficit. However, when you pair that against what I burn in a day (~2400 cals), I still have to eat at least 1600 calories a day (2400-800=1600).

If I were to eat in a 1000 calorie deficit, 200cal a day would have to come from somewhere else--muscle mass. At the end of the week I'd be losing about 1.5 lbs of fat and 1/2 lb of muscle, which is really awful progress actually. After dropping just 6lbs of fat, I'd be down almost half a year's worth of muscle built! (Yes, it does take that long to build a couple pounds of muscle as a trained, natural female hehe....none of this 'bulking up and looking like a man' nonsense.)

Forgot to note that some "smaller" people actually have higher fat to muscle ratios than "bigger" folk!

(like me, all packed around my belly, thankee hormones!!)

JJAE53

Guess what time it is? It's bump time!!

songbyrdsweet

Banks,

What if you don't have a healthy BMI? What if your BMI is in the obese range? I'm assuming that you can afford a greater calorie deficit than 1000, but is there any research on what is actually safe?

I ask because my BMI is still in the "obese" range. (I can't tell you how much it hurt to say that). Up until the last two weeks I' ve been losing weight steadily eating approximately 1500 to 1600 calories a day and doing at least one hour of exercise daily. Over the last two weeks, for various reasons, I've increased my calorie intake to 1700 to 1800 and I've gained 1 pound. All weight loss seems to have stopped dead cold.

I usually burn at least 500-800 calories in exercise daily. I've set MFP for a 2lb a week loss and I usually end up with about 300 or so calories left over for the day. Now, I only estimate portion sizes but I'm pretty honest and I recognize that the calories burned are probably inflated since machines are notoriosly inaccurate.

That said, I'm a little frustrated and trying to find out if the problem is too few calories or too many.

Actually, there is research on that. I'd have to do some digging to find the article by Lyle McDonald, but he's written a lot of them about a lot of stuff, and one of my favorite is on the acceptable caloric deficit based on body fat %. The general consensus is that one lb of fat will supply 31cal of energy per day. So, if you have 10 lbs of body fat, it can supply 310 cals a day, meaning that doesn't have to come from your muscle. If you have 30 lbs of body fat, it can supply 930 cals of energy per day. I'll use my measurements as an example.

I weigh around 132 normally, and my BF is about 20%. 132*.20=26.4. I have 26.4 lbs of body fat, so I can support of a deficit of 818 cals per day, maximum. That's not 2lbs per week, but it's still a large deficit. However, when you pair that against what I burn in a day (~2400 cals), I still have to eat at least 1600 calories a day (2400-800=1600).

If I were to eat in a 1000 calorie deficit, 200cal a day would have to come from somewhere else--muscle mass. At the end of the week I'd be losing about 1.5 lbs of fat and 1/2 lb of muscle, which is really awful progress actually. After dropping just 6lbs of fat, I'd be down almost half a year's worth of muscle built! (Yes, it does take that long to build a couple pounds of muscle as a trained, natural female hehe....none of this 'bulking up and looking like a man' nonsense.)

Forgot to note that some "smaller" people actually have higher fat to muscle ratios than "bigger" folk!

(like me, all packed around my belly, thankee hormones!!)

That's absolutely true...that's why this equation relies solely on the pounds of body fat that an individual has, rather than the entire body weight. It completely disregards height and net weight (except when used to calculate body fat) because even slender-looking people can still have high amounts of body fat.

banks1850

Shameless self-promoting BUMP here. nothing more, nothing less.

beep

banks1850

gonna bump this one too. :yawn:

banks1850

bumpy bump bump

banks1850

I just felt like bumping this.

shorerider

banks1850

bump

AJCM

bump again!

Banks is exactly right IMHO! Those last few lbs have to come off slow and steady!
Thanks Banks!
:flowerforyou:

banks1850

bump

banks1850

BUMP

jlwhelan1

My goal is just to slowly lose the stress weight I put on over the last year of major stress..(now less).
My current BMI is 23 and my BMR is 1108.

So if I just record my food (every bite), work out and keep my calories near the suggested amount then I'm doing fine, right??

That's what how I'm understanding this, let me know please that I "got it".

Thanks

sindyb9

Thanks for keeping this BUMPING and Banks you have a way with your posts I understand alot more everyday and just wanted to say THANKS :drinker: :bigsmile:

banks1850

My goal is just to slowly lose the stress weight I put on over the last year of major stress..(now less).
My current BMI is 23 and my BMR is 1108.

So if I just record my food (every bite), work out and keep my calories near the suggested amount then I'm doing fine, right??

That's what how I'm understanding this, let me know please that I "got it".

Thanks

IMHO you are correct my dear!

banks1850

Thanks for keeping this BUMPING and Banks you have a way with your posts I understand alot more everyday and just wanted to say THANKS :drinker: :bigsmile:

You're very welcome my dear. It's my pleasure. thats a wonderful thing to say. :flowerforyou:

arewethereyet

it amazes me that someone who is not being PAID to help is willing to do so.

Thanks...IMHO (:blushing: ) you are da bomb.

bump

sindyb9

Thanks for keeping this BUMPING and Banks you have a way with your posts I understand alot more everyday and just wanted to say THANKS :drinker: :bigsmile:

You're very welcome my dear. It's my pleasure. thats a wonderful thing to say. :flowerforyou:

I have over come a couple of plateau's reading your posts. :flowerforyou: I did not know anything about the healthy way when I started, I starved and did very bad diets. Now that I am a diabetic I really had to learn about my body and how to treat it. Your posts have helped and a few others too. :drinker:

banks1850

bump

shorerider

MontanaGirl

Bumpin' it up!!

jlwhelan1

bump

jlwhelan1

bump

jlwhelan1

bump

SoupNazi

BUMP-A-ROONI

marskids

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shorerider

best thread ever!

sculley

I realized that I am at a 23.5 bmi and I was doing a 500 calorie deficit a day when I have only 8-16lbs left to loose. thanks banks for this...