Guide to calorie deficits

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!