Guide to calorie deficits

keishabruner

bump...thanks!

ladyhawk00

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ladyhawk00

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padigirl

Meep Meep Another Bump!:flowerforyou:

WIChelle

bumping so I can find it later!

bigfatpie

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idealisticdiva

Very Helpful!!

bonnienm

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rockabyesarojane

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dlambert11

Awesome explanation. Thanks!

arewethereyet

bumopopotomus:huh:

katschi

After decades of thinking that deprivation would get me to my goal (and obviously NOT reaching my goal) this is a scary concept for me to apply.

BUT ...

I'm trying really hard this time to get rid of the diet mentality and have patience with the process of losing this excess weight for good.
Part of that is being open to a different method and this is it.
I know someone who actually used this to overcome her weight problem. She went from 263 to 145 (so far ... she's still losing at 1600 calories per day!) I didn't listen to her almost 2 years ago when she laid out her plan for me. I thought she was mad! lol

Thank you for this.

bossmodehan

Thanks for info

wanna_be_fit

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ladyhawk00

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M
P

tlussier

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kristi223

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cmowat13

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IsMollyReallyHungry

Hello Folks,

So often people personal message me asking me if I think their calories are correct. It seems that people think there is some magical formula that only a very few can figure out. I see so many people on here just popping in numbers and following them heedless of what the numbers mean. I feel it's ULTRA important to know why MFP (and me, and a few others) gives you certain numbers. To that end I will try to empower YOU to be able to understand the basics about calories, calorie deficits, and why we recommend eating exercise calories. With this knowledge you should be able to easily figure out what your calories should be at for reasonable, healthy weight loss. So without further ado, lets get started.

1st things first, a few givens must be stated:

-Everyone's body is slightly different. ALWAYS keep in mind your numbers may not be exactly what MFP thinks simply because everyone's bodies all burn energy at a different rate. Tweaking may be needed.

- MFP's goals wizard is a "dumb" tool. That means it doesn't care whether a specific goal is healthy and/or right for you, it just subtracts the goal deficit from projected maintenance calories. This means that even if you shouldn't be trying for a 2 lb a week loss, MFP won't care, it will still try to help you get there.

-1200 calories is a generic number. It's not right for everyone. It's a baseline minimum given out as a floor by MFP based on prior research by the medical community. NOT everyone will need a minimum of 1200, very small people can go under, and bigger people need more.


OK with those facts firmly set in your mind (please go back and re-read the givens until you have them firmly planted in your skull!), we can continue. Figuring out your perfect deficit isn't magic, it's a few simple formula's base on some basic, worldwide standards, and generally with slight modefication, will work for just about anyone who (besides weight) is generally healthy.

Here's what you need:
Height, weight, age, activity level, sex

NOTE: activity level isn't as mysterious as it sounds. If you have a desk job, and do very little walking throughout the day and don't really perform any sports or physical activities, then you are sedentary, if you do some walking every day (or at least 4 days a week) or other light activity for at least 30 minutes cumulative at least 4 times a week, you are lightly active. If you do 60 minutes of light activity 5 days a week or do some kind of sport that requires walking or light jogging (say swimming or mailman or warehouse employee) then you are active, If you do a physically demanding activity (one that makes you sweat) for 4 days a week or more and for more than 1 hour a day, you are very active (like a coach that runs drills or you play volleyball). When in doubt, go down 1 level, you'd rather burn more than you think than less.

With all these numbers you can generate your BMI. Now I realize BMI is flawed, but for what we're doing it's good enough. After years on here, and doing lots and lots of research, I've been able to associate general BMI ranges with approximate goal levels. This works for about 80 to 85% of people out there (there's always a few that are outside the curve).

So now we can figure out where your goal should be.
Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle tone, and reducing fat. This means is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode)

With this quick guide you can figure out your goal rather easily. I know many people will say "I can't eat my exercise calories, I gain weight when I do". Well I have news for you, that's not correct. I submit this, if you eat your exercise calories and gain weight 1 of 3 things happened:
1 you were previously in starvation mode, and you upped your calories, and had an immediate weight gain, that's normal, to be expected, and necessary to get your body on track. Give it a month, that will stop, and you, once again, will begin to lose, but this time, in a healthy manner.
2 you incorrectly calculated something, either your exercise calories, your calorie intake, or you put in to large of a goal. Go back and check all your numbers.
3 you haven't given it enough time to work. This site promotes HEALTHY weight loss people. Healthy weight loss doesn't happen in days or weeks, it takes months and years. Each change you make in how you eat needs a month or more to work, be patient, give it time. It will happen.

And to everyone who has a trainer that doesn't agree with eating your exercise calories. I also submit this: In 90% of the cases (and I have talked to a LOT of trainers about this exact topic) they actually DO agree with this method, you just explained it wrong.
Just saying to a trainer "should I eat my exercise calories?" isn't enough, you have to explain to them that MFP already generates a deficit prior to any exercise, therefore the deficit will remain whether you exercise or not. Once you give them that idea, and you are relatively sure they understand the concept then I'll bet they change their tune.

I hope this helps, it's pretty straight forward if you've been here a while, and to you new guys, I recommend going to the message boards link, clicking on the "general diet and weight loss" area, and clicking on those first few posts that have the little mouse trap next to them, they are sticky and will always be there, and are a wealth of knowledge about this site, exercise calories, starvation mode...etc.

regards,

-Banks

Bump!! I found it Banks!!!

amydcarlson

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atomdraco

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Squible

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KanCrav

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liveagain

I am way late in reading this, but thank you!

KellyBurton1

bumping for a refresher

ladyhawk00

:flowerforyou:

Sammyk50

Bump for a friend

TerraGirl17

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kimeister

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shanna5

Great info, I just can't get my mentality to change. I've been told over and over again to stick to 1200 calories a day....with or without exercise, not to eat back calories. I have been stuck at my current weight (I'm 5 ft, 6 in, weigh 139 and have lost 16 pounds so far) and have been for several months. I gain a pound, lose a pound...over and over again. I cant get any lower than 138, very frustrating and depressing.

I read the post, along with others about increasing calories and eating back exercise calories - I think it makes sense, but how can I change my own mind??? I finally just changed the calories on MFP so I'm not staring at the 1200 all day (now it's up to 1320). I try to work out 6 days a week and burn at least 500 calories w/ each workout. If I eat back my calories, that would mean I have to be eating around 1800 calories a day??? Am I really going to lose weight??? I know something isn't working, so I should be open and excited to try something that will actually work, but such an increase in calories seems a bit much.

I need to change something b/c I am getting too depressed and frustrated and I'm afraid that I'm going to quit. I dont want to quit - I want to succeed (I want to be able to finally have a succes story), I just don't know how to get there

OK, sorry for the rant - not feeling so good about myself....