Simplest breakdown of how to lose a lb. a week...ever

MommyRobin

This helped me!

A pound of body fat equates to approximately 3500 calories. So if you have a calorie deficit of 500 calories (meaning that you burn 500 calories more than you eat each day) you would lose approximately one pound per week:

500 x 7 = 3,500

It's easy to see that a calorie deficit of 1000 calories would mean that you'd lose approximately two pounds per week. And that's a good number to remember, because two pounds a week is commonly accepted as the maximum rate of weight loss that is healthy.

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_pound.php


That breaks down to 500 calories per day, and the easiest way to do that is to do this combo move: each day, cut out 250 calories from your diet and burn 250 through exercise.

http://www.fitsugar.com/How-Lose-One-Pound-Week-6925344

Pebble321

And even easier still... let MFP do the maths for you!

If you put all your details into MFP, choose "lose 1 pounds per week" and eat the cals that MFP recommends plus the cals you burn through exercise - you should be well on your way.

blueivycarter

thats what i have been doing but i cant seem to lose. i eat about 1350 calories and burn about 800 a day and the scale hasnt moved in 2 months.

funkycamper

thats what i have been doing but i cant seem to lose. i eat about 1350 calories and burn about 800 a day and the scale hasnt moved in 2 months.

Then you're not following MFP as you are supposed to be eating back those exercise calories. Sounds counter-intuitive but it works. I broke a 2 month stall by upping my calorie intake. I keep upping my calories and I keep losing.

lisa28115

thats what i have been doing but i cant seem to lose. i eat about 1350 calories and burn about 800 a day and the scale hasnt moved in 2 months.

that seems like to few calories eaten and a whole lot of calories burned
sounds like you need to adjust your goals

Pebble321

thats what i have been doing but i cant seem to lose. i eat about 1350 calories and burn about 800 a day and the scale hasnt moved in 2 months.

I'm not surprised - your poor body is trying to survive on the 550 cals you have given it a day to run all the basic bodily functions like breathing, keeping your heart beating and your blood moving.
Your body probably needs at least 1300 cals just for these basic survival functions, and that's before you include walking, talking, working etc....
Rest assured that if you keep this up you will eventually lose weight, but your body will fight you all the way to hang onto the energy it needs to survive, and you certainly won't be healthy.

funkycamper

thats what i have been doing but i cant seem to lose. i eat about 1350 calories and burn about 800 a day and the scale hasnt moved in 2 months.

I'm not surprised - your poor body is trying to survive on the 550 cals you have given it a day to run all the basic bodily functions like breathing, keeping your heart beating and your blood moving.
Your body probably needs at least 1300 cals just for these basic survival functions, and that's before you include walking, talking, working etc....
Rest assured that if you keep this up you will eventually lose weight, but your body will fight you all the way to hang onto the energy it needs to survive, and you certainly won't be healthy.

And she'll lose valuable muscle class that could help keep her thinner. Losing muscle will make regaining weight much easier. And lead to higher body fat percentages to boot.

MommyRobin

And even easier still... let MFP do the maths for you!

If you put all your details into MFP, choose "lose 1 pounds per week" and eat the cals that MFP recommends plus the cals you burn through exercise - you should be well on your way.

I know MFP can do all the math for you. But, this is just a simple way to explain the easiest way to cut your calories, for beginners. My mom just started on her journey, and when I explained it to her with the 250/250 breakdown, she totally got it. I know how to do it, I've lost over 70 lbs. since April 2011.

fimary

It does not matter if I put in 0.5,1 or 2 lbs to lose MFP gives me same figure?
And it gives me a BMR of 1290?

susannamarie

It does not matter if I put in 0.5,1 or 2 lbs to lose MFP gives me same figure?
And it gives me a BMR of 1290?

Probably because your weight is pretty low already (to have a BMR of 1290). It won't put your calories under 1200.

taso42

It would follow then, that knowing one's TDEE is a critical factor for successful predictable weight loss.

TheFitnessTutor

Unless you weigh about 50 lbs you're not eating enough, you have metabolic damage. Some people would call this the starvation mode.

TheFitnessTutor

thats what i have been doing but i cant seem to lose. i eat about 1350 calories and burn about 800 a day and the scale hasnt moved in 2 months.

Then you're not following MFP as you are supposed to be eating back those exercise calories. Sounds counter-intuitive but it works. I broke a 2 month stall by upping my calorie intake. I keep upping my calories and I keep losing.

While this is a great sight with good general methods of attacking a caloric deficit, don't think that those prescribed numbers are always right or optimal. When i tell a client to come here I tell them to ignore what the computer tells them to do and I set up their protocol.

shakybabe

It would follow then, that knowing one's TDEE is a critical factor for successful predictable weight loss.

I still don't know my TDEE I don't know if I should be going with sedentary or lightly active to allow for fidgeting all day. (i get involuntary muscle movement which I think would be about same as fidgeting all day - an extra 300-400cals on top of BMR? )
Then I exercise as well on top of that another 500-800 cals a day.

I got recommended 1200 cos I'm sat all day (wheelchair user) but doesn't really reflect the amount of energy it takes me to do things due to my condition? Even eating exercise calories back with a sedentary base of 1200 I'm going to be constantly 300-400cals under NET?

davy1974

Where do you get a good MFP can you suggest a good website to look at?

Pebble321

And even easier still... let MFP do the maths for you!

If you put all your details into MFP, choose "lose 1 pounds per week" and eat the cals that MFP recommends plus the cals you burn through exercise - you should be well on your way.

I know MFP can do all the math for you. But, this is just a simple way to explain the easiest way to cut your calories, for beginners. My mom just started on her journey, and when I explained it to her with the 250/250 breakdown, she totally got it. I know how to do it, I've lost over 70 lbs. since April 2011.

Agreed, you explained it really well. I think a lot of people struggle with the concept of the calorie deficit, hopefully this will help them work it out.

veganbaum

And even easier still... let MFP do the maths for you!

If you put all your details into MFP, choose "lose 1 pounds per week" and eat the cals that MFP recommends plus the cals you burn through exercise - you should be well on your way.

I know MFP can do all the math for you. But, this is just a simple way to explain the easiest way to cut your calories, for beginners. My mom just started on her journey, and when I explained it to her with the 250/250 breakdown, she totally got it. I know how to do it, I've lost over 70 lbs. since April 2011.

Agreed, you explained it really well. I think a lot of people struggle with the concept of the calorie deficit, hopefully this will help them work it out.

But, as someone mentioned, a missing piece here is TDEE. If someone comes in and sets up their account to lose 1 pound a week, is given their calorie deficit, and then subtracts *another* 500 calories (which some people seem to do), that can be too large a deficit to be healthy, and they may actually not lose weight at all. If they figure out their TDEE, then they can create their own 500 calorie deficit.

CindyCountingCalories

Bump to read later...

creative1981

Okay I know I'm going to sound thick but what's TDEE?

fimary

It does not matter if I put in 0.5,1 or 2 lbs to lose MFP gives me same figure?
And it gives me a BMR of 1290?

Probably because your weight is pretty low already (to have a BMR of 1290). It won't put your calories under 1200.

no i am 162lbs with 42lbs still to go to get me just on the bmi 24.9.

beckijay29

thats what i have been doing but i cant seem to lose. i eat about 1350 calories and burn about 800 a day and the scale hasnt moved in 2 months.

I'm the same, I'm really struggling.

fimary

Pls can someone advise, my bmr on this site is 1285 x 1.2 = (office worker) = 1532, does that mean if i want to lose only 0.5lb a week i eat 1532- 500? that puts me below 1200??? but if i eat 1200 thats only a deficit of 332?
my doctor adviced 800 cals a day but everyone here diss's this??????

current weight 162lbs
woman
4ft 10
diary open


pls pls help

sarajo16

Great post, it makes sense however I just let MFP do all the work. I get 1200 per day, I exercise each day and I eat the calories MFP tells me I've earned. In terms of understanding weight loss in a simple sense this is a good explanation

SueD66

so i should eat what calories it tells me to, mmmm healthy calories, and then eat the calories i burn. I should then lose the 2 pounds a week that i want to. Is it really this simple? I see most people are not eatting their allowed calories day after day. I have not hit a wall yet and want to avoid avoid aviod this. Love all the feed back on this post.

MelanieAG05

Pls can someone advise, my bmr on this site is 1285 x 1.2 = (office worker) = 1532, does that mean if i want to lose only 0.5lb a week i eat 1532- 500? that puts me below 1200??? but if i eat 1200 thats only a deficit of 332?
my doctor adviced 800 cals a day but everyone here diss's this??????

current weight 162lbs
woman
4ft 10
diary open


pls pls help

Hi there

MFP calculates your maintenance calories at 1620, MFP calculates that to lose 1lb per week you should be eating 1620 less 500 which is 1120. This however is way too low so it will default to 1200 as a minimum. If you go to tools and calculate your BMR then I would recommend that you eat at least that which is what works for me. 1200 wasn't enough. My Maintenance is about 1700 and I have my goals set to lose half a pound per week which is 1490, my BMR is about 1300/1400 (depending on which calculation used!). I only eat about half of my exercise calories. If I ate them all I wouldn't lose weight.

This is just me though - and it took a lot of attempts to get it right. I read the forum topics to get different ideas for goal setting and the BMR idea seemed to make the most sense to me and it works for me. It is very confusing though!

PercivalHackworth

And even easier still... let MFP do the maths for you!

If you put all your details into MFP, choose "lose 1 pounds per week" and eat the cals that MFP recommends plus the cals you burn through exercise - you should be well on your way.

OR
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/510980-my-gift-excel-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-cut-build-and-ma
:glasses:

TourThePast

Pls can someone advise, my bmr on this site is 1285 x 1.2 = (office worker) = 1532, does that mean if i want to lose only 0.5lb a week i eat 1532- 500? that puts me below 1200??? but if i eat 1200 thats only a deficit of 332?
my doctor adviced 800 cals a day but everyone here diss's this??????

current weight 162lbs
woman
4ft 10
diary open


pls pls help

I'm the same height as you and can explain this clearly, I'm busy right now, but if you still don't understand it completely by tonight send me a note to remind me and I'll reply to this thread with some figures for you.

weightloss43154

I have started eating back my exercise calories now and i have started lossing weight again

quietHiker

EPIPHANY!!! Oooh....so the calories that MFP gives me should be what I eat every day because it already does the 500 calorie deficit to lose weight....so when I exercise and it brings me under my goal calories for the day,I should really eat more to up it to that goal....no wonder I'm not losing weight...I'm in starvation mode I think! Thanks for this helpful post!

ElizabethRoad

Pls can someone advise, my bmr on this site is 1285 x 1.2 = (office worker) = 1532, does that mean if i want to lose only 0.5lb a week i eat 1532- 500?

No, you need a 500-calorie deficit to lose one pound a week. If you want to lose half a pound a week, you eat 1532 - 250 = 1282.

OR, for the same results, eat 1532 and do 250 calories worth of exercise. It's still 1532 - 250 = 1282 net calories, but this way you get to eat more.

If you don't understand the math, the site will do it for you.

dovesgate

my doctor adviced 800 cals a day but everyone here diss's this??????

current weight 162lbs
woman
4ft 10
diary open

If you're on a medically supervised plan to eat 800 calories, then you should follow your doctors' recommendation. At 4'10 you are a small person and can eat less than MFP's default 1200 calories.