Confused about Calorie Defecits...

RedRider230

I am very confused about how to calculate my calorie deficit! I tried the online calculators but I get weird numbers, lol...so I'm hoping someone can help me.
I'm 43 year old female, weigh 161lbs and am 5'5. It says my BMR is 1458.75. My best guess at calories burned each day are about 260 (through walking on the treadmill and pushups, crunches, etc) and I've been trying my best to stick with 1300 calories consumed each day. I've lost 2 lbs. in a week and a half so far.
I've been reading a lot of posts on here and a lot of people talk about the calorie deficit. Can anybody shed some light to a newbie about this? Thanks!

norcalskater

Everyone is different but for example lets say it takes 2000 calories for your body to function daily. That means if you ate 2000 calories you will not gain nor lose weight because that is the balanced amount of calories you need to function. If you started eating 1600 calories a day that means you are eating at a 400 calorie deficit and you will start to lose weight because your body will start to consume fat to make up for the deficit. Now if you ate 2400 calories a day now you are 400 over your maintenance and you will start to gain weight.

RedRider230

Well that makes sense! Thank you

terbusha

The best way to figure out what calorie level is right for you is by a little trial and error. Start at some baseline, say 1600 cal/day. Eat that much everyday for a week (log all of your food honestly, your body will be honest with what you put in) and get in all of your exercises. After a week, if you don't lose enough weight (1-2 lbs), reduce your calories to 1500 cal/day and repeat. If you lose too much, increase your calories to 1700 cal/day and repeat

After a few weeks of this, you'll figure out the correct calorie level for you to lose weight at.

Allan

RedRider230

Thank you for the advice Allan, I will give that a try!

WBB55

I am very confused about how to calculate my calorie deficit! I tried the online calculators but I get weird numbers, lol...so I'm hoping someone can help me.
I'm 43 year old female, weigh 161lbs and am 5'5. It says my BMR is 1458.75. My best guess at calories burned each day are about 260 (through walking on the treadmill and pushups, crunches, etc) and I've been trying my best to stick with 1300 calories consumed each day. I've lost 2 lbs. in a week and a half so far.
I've been reading a lot of posts on here and a lot of people talk about the calorie deficit. Can anybody shed some light to a newbie about this? Thanks!

You're missing a bit in your calculations, if you're interested in figuring out the total number of calories you burn throughout the day. Many calculators start with your BMR, but then factor in an "activity" level. This is generally factored in by your job and lifestyle. So let's say all you do is sit on the couch (you never walk anywhere. never go shopping. never do housework). Your activity multiplier would be about 1.2. But let's say you're an admin assistant who stands some and makes copies and walks to lunch, and you have a couple young kids you chase around a bit in the evenings, then your multiplier might be closer to 1.35.

You take your BMR. Multiply it by your activity factor. (Let's say 1.35 in this case)

1458*1.35=1968

This is the estimate of your total calories burned throughout the entire day, but before exercise. So let's say you burn 250 calories by walking on your treadmill, then you total calories burned, or TDEE is 2218.

If you were to eat 1718 calories every day, this would result in about a 1 lb per week weightloss. The 1718 number is 2218 minus 500. If you eat at a 500 calorie deficit every day, that would add up to 3500 calorie deficit each week. 3500 calories is the standard number used for 1 lb of weight loss.

I use this calculator to estimate things like this.
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

RedRider230

Thank you very much, I'm starting to figure this out! LOL