What should a good deficit figure be?

Redribbon73

Ho

I am on day 3 of counting calories and I wondered what the calorie deficit should be at the end of the day?

I read yesterday someone said the net calories should be less than the goal but how much less would be sufficient for weight loss to happen?

I am 143 lb I don't really know how much to loose a week I would like to loose about a stone. Thanks

KateK8LoseW8

If you have set up your account to lose weight (0.5-2 lb per week), your deficit is already included in your goal. Eat to your goal.

BigT555

with 14 lbs to lose set your goal to .5- 1 lb/week. the net calories shown by MFP should be 0 at the end of the day, your deficit is already included in that number

Zomoniac

382. Any less and you're likely to gain. Any more and you'll find yourself in starvation mode in seconds.

Chezzie84

382. Any less and you're likely to gain. Any more and you'll find yourself in starvation mode in seconds.

What are you banging on about? Stop chatting s*%t.
The difference should be as close to 0 as you can get because your deficit is already calculated.

Redribbon73

Yesterday I had 311 calories remaining but I ended my log for the day and went to bed so does that mean whatever calories are remaining I can go till 0? I thought I had to stay under it no matter what.

juggernaut1974

If you put in your weight loss goals and stats when you set up your MFP account, the calorie goal number already has the deficit figured in, so yes, you should eat as close to 0 remaining by the end of the day as you can.

If you're using another method to figure out your calorie goal, will need to know how you figured your goal to give proper advice.

BigT555

Yesterday I had 311 calories remaining but I need my log for the day and went to bed so does that mean whatever calories are remaining I can go till 0? I thought I had to stay under it no matter what.

you need to stay under MAINTENANCE calories, MFP already has a deficit worked into your calorie goal based off of your weight loss goal, so the number they give you is actually less than maintenance. you'll want to stay as close as possible to the number MFP gives you

MinnieInMaine

As others said, MFP includes a calorie deficit in your daily calorie goal so there is no need to come in under that number. They do the calculation for you based on how many pounds per week you said you'd like to lose as well as your personal info (height, weight, age, gender) and your activity level (not exercise, just normal daily activity). FYI, while they ask about exercise, this is not included in your calorie goal. When you workout, you should log that in your exercise diary and eat back at least half of the earned calories.

Redribbon73

@Ceoverturf no I don't use anything else to count calories actually all these different figures are new to me and I am a bit overwhelmed about them and what number needs to stay high or low lol
I am sure with help from all MFP here I will get the hang of it.

Redribbon73

I hope this works! I changed my activity to lightly active from fairly active and the calorie goal came down but after today's final log in I still have over 209 remaining! !

myfitnesspale3

I found it too obsessive to focus on daily totals, so I just try to make the weekly total (or AVERAGE DAILY) under the goal.

Chezzie84

When you put in your stats: height, weight, how much you want to lose, how active you are etc myfitnesspal calculates how many calories you need to eat to lose weight at your chosen weight loss per week.
This means you can eat all those calories and still lose weight.
If you log exercise, you create a greater deficit and you are then able to eat your exercise calories back.

So for example if I choose to maintain my current weight I would eat 2220 calories.
However to lose 1.5lb a week, I have to eat 1470 calories.
So as long as I stay under the 2100 calories I will lose weight.

Do not let your calorie consumption go below 1200 calories as in the long run it will not be sustainable or good for you.

Hope this helps.

Redribbon73

Thank you Chezzie and everyone else you have explained the numbers very well and it is a lot clearer now how I should go about this.