Deficit through activity or food?

stephe1987

Food is a better way to create a deficit.

Exercise is good too, but I wouldn't count on burning so many calories. MFP and gyms usually overestimate how much was actually burned. Studies show that an average person doing a typical form of cardio at a typical intensity will burn around 7-10 calories per minute. How many minutes do you plan on exercising? From Jillian Michaels' website: "when you exercise for more than two hours straight — even at a moderate intensity, your body releases stress hormones such as cortisol, which inhibits weight loss, causing your body to react by storing fat and retaining water out of self protection."

I would recommend eating at a deficit and then exercising between 30 and 90 minutes each day. The World Health Organization recommends 30-45 minutes per day, but some exercise DVDs will go closer to 90 minutes once you've completed all the activities for the day (e.g. two different DVDs from Beachbody).