Guide to calorie deficits

thelgeson

bump and save

cardbucfan

Thanks for bumping this. Hadn't seen it and it's very helpful. I've got a question for you about activity level. I consider myself lightly active and that is how my activity level is set. I'm a stay home mom so spend a lot of time running (driving!) errands, picking up the house, and doing all that mom stuff. But I work out really hard 6 days a week. So should I change my level? I'm losing right now and feel just fine with the number of calories I have to eat each day and generally don't eat back all my exercise calories. (Reason being, I don't back out my existence calories from my HRM calories, I taste when I cook and like having a little cushion in case I don't figure food calories correctly). Thanks!

SHBoss1673

Thanks for bumping this. Hadn't seen it and it's very helpful. I've got a question for you about activity level. I consider myself lightly active and that is how my activity level is set. I'm a stay home mom so spend a lot of time running (driving!) errands, picking up the house, and doing all that mom stuff. But I work out really hard 6 days a week. So should I change my level? I'm losing right now and feel just fine with the number of calories I have to eat each day and generally don't eat back all my exercise calories. (Reason being, I don't back out my existence calories from my HRM calories, I taste when I cook and like having a little cushion in case I don't figure food calories correctly). Thanks!

it's really up to you. if you consider the exercise as part of your daily life, then you could (I stress could as opposed to should) set your activity level higher, but the problem with that is that it's less accurate than putting in your exercise calories manually. I.E. if you used your daily exercise as a way to boost your daily activity level, you can't still take those calories (or all of them at least) as extra, and since activity level is pretty generic, you're either going to be overestimating a bit or underestimating a bit. So I'd say leave it where it is, and just record the exercise calories.

cardbucfan

Thanks, I agree with that idea.

NMay50

Bump... Thanks for sharing!

Yarnpiggie

Thanks for this, and I think I have my head wrapped around it, but I just need to clarify one in thing in my brainzzzz) If I am eating my "goal" calories every day (let's say 1750) and i work out and burn calories (let's say 250 calories)... if i eat 2000 calories, in theory I am good right?

I understand that everybody's body is different and the tool is only as good as everybody being exactly the same. I am just trying to figure make sure that I am not supposed to be leaving a deficit on the tool of 1200 calories each day. (and I think I just answered my own question here. I think that if i were doing that, in theory I would only be getting 550 calories worth of food each day, right?)

Sometimes you have to get the crayons out and draw the picture for me...lol

lotusfromthemud

Thanks for this, and I think I have my head wrapped around it, but I just need to clarify one in thing in my brainzzzz) If I am eating my "goal" calories every day (let's say 1750) and i work out and burn calories (let's say 250 calories)... if i eat 2000 calories, in theory I am good right?



Sometimes you have to get the crayons out and draw the picture for me...lol

yes. The easiest thing is to let MFP do the math for you, and aim to "zero out" your goal every day. :flowerforyou:

Yarnpiggie

sweet! Thank you. That is what I have been doing (sort of... never quite to zero but that is what has been in my head) and suddenly panicked that I was doing it wrong.

ChellieIrish

This deserves another bump thanks for sharing :drinker:

jrobertson37

LUV YA BOSS!!! For explaining the different activity levels. I do have a desk job but i take the stairs, im constantly going back in forth to my boss' office, etc. On top of that i work out atleast 45-60 mins 4 times per week. Im doing kettlebells so i only work out 4 times. That thing wears my body out!!! By the way before i lost the weight i noticed that the more i exercised, the more i ate, the more weight i lost.

rayfromtx

Hey Banks-
I'm 14 lbs from my goal and none of my clothes fit. I will comfortably fit into 34 inch pants when I reach my goal. Right now they pull just a little so I'm waiting to buy them until I get a little smaller. I'm wearing ill fitting 38s right now and don't want to waste money on a bunch of 36s or tailoring. I am consistently losing 2 lbs a week. If I continue at this pace, in order to shorten the time I wear baggies, what am I doing to myself and how recoverable is it. I am otherwise a healthy male with a somewhat active lifestyle. I am a construction manager, walking the job most of the day.

cmriverside

SHBoss1673

Hey Banks-
I'm 14 lbs from my goal and none of my clothes fit. I will comfortably fit into 34 inch pants when I reach my goal. Right now they pull just a little so I'm waiting to buy them until I get a little smaller. I'm wearing ill fitting 38s right now and don't want to waste money on a bunch of 36s or tailoring. I am consistently losing 2 lbs a week. If I continue at this pace, in order to shorten the time I wear baggies, what am I doing to myself and how recoverable is it. I am otherwise a healthy male with a somewhat active lifestyle. I am a construction manager, walking the job most of the day.

14 lbs to go, you probably should be trying for less IMHO. But if you read this thread you probably already know that. You do what you gotta do, but 2 lbs a week with a small amount left means you're probably losing muscle mass in some form. If you don't do it to long it's not that big of a deal, you can always regain muscle. But you're not losing what you want, that's the point, you want to lose fat, not muscle. By doing it so fast, you're removing the good as well as the bad.

oreganoqueen

Thanks for rebumping this. Apparently my calorie deficit is probably too high (mfp set it to 500 a day when my BMI is 26.5). This is going to be interesting, most days I have enough trouble eating enough as it is. When I joined I really didn't think I'd be struggling to eat enough. *rolls eyes*

SHBoss1673

Thanks for rebumping this. Apparently my calorie deficit is probably too high (mfp set it to 500 a day when my BMI is 26.5). This is going to be interesting, most days I have enough trouble eating enough as it is. When I joined I really didn't think I'd be struggling to eat enough. *rolls eyes*

without knowing a lot more about you, I can't say whether 500 is correct for you or not. I will say that with a 26.5 BMI, if you conform to the standards (BMI is a seriously flawed calculation, and I HATE HATE HATE even using it, but it's the only real number you can easily attain that is even relevant), then you're right, it's probably a little high, not obscenely high though, maybe a couple hundred to high.

mymelody_78

BUMP

rwhite1510

bump

cmriverside

worth another read.

miss_amy

bumping to read later!

arewethereyet

worth another read.

yes it is........Hey C how ya doign?

cmriverside

worth another read.

yes it is........Hey C how ya doign?

Hey! I'm great, AWTY!

rayfromtx

I will reduce to 1.5 lbs per week. I'm almost in the 34" pants now. Thanks Banks

lotusfromthemud

Bumptastic post.

ejsmith7

bump

electromg

Thank you! It's interesting how you have a different deficit for each BMI group. I have a BMI less than 25, so I'm realizing even more that I need to put more focus in exercising than restricting food.

Pitterpatter

i'm learning lots from you!! thanks so much!!!

SHBoss1673

Thank you! It's interesting how you have a different deficit for each BMI group. I have a BMI less than 25, so I'm realizing even more that I need to put more focus in exercising than restricting food.

yes, with different FFM(Fat Free Mass, muscle, bone, other tissue) levels, the body releases chemicals at different rates, and has specific tolerances for nutritional deficiencies, which means you must focus on different types of nutrition. This is especially true for non-obese individuals. Creating a calorie deficit from your RMR(Resting Metabolic Rate) is not (in my opinion) a good idea if you are at or below healthy body fat levels (about 22% for women and about 15% for men). Rather I believe that people at those levels should be eating at a maintenance level and using exercise as a way to lose adipose tissue (fat), and even then, if you are exercising for extended periods, some of those calories should be eaten back to keep the total deficit small. Your body just can't handle large deficits IMHO if you are at a healthy body fat level.

Is this the fastest way to lose weight? No, but it does two very important things in my opinion. Firstly it teaches you how to eat healthy for life, I.E. not sacrificing your caloric amounts for the sake of losing weight. Second it allows your body to utilize fat oxidation as it's means of additional energy which means you aren't canabalizing muscle mass for energy, which means burning fat, which is the primary goal of the non-obese individual (I would hope).

mizyvee

bump

abeare

bump

Sherelly

I have been learning all this stuff. But haphazardly. Banks!! You are a genius, a saint, and an all around awesome person for putting it in one place for me. Yay me!