Guide to calorie deficits

bizco

Bumping for later. Gotta go workout!

jodimitchell

Thanks

ladyhawk00

monkeyboy881

bump

xLissyx

bump

NitaCB

I am wondering if I must've usually been in 'starvation mode' because recently I've been trying really hard to actually eat all of my calories (hardly ever was before) and I've gained weight. It's not that I necessarily feel bigger but it's certainly showing on the scales. My instinctive reaction is to restrict majorly but clearly that doesn't work. So are you saying this gain is probably temporary as my body settles into what it should be operating in? It's just also that I run (starting to train for a marathon) and I do other cross-training too and sometimes I don't seem to be able to eat all my calories. True I'm definitely hungry but I feel like I'm eating heaps, especially compared to the people around me. I don't want people thinking I eat huge amounts. But like today, I burnt 846 calories running before breakfast, and I can't seem to make them up! I honestly have such a fear of eating all my calories because I am so afraid to trust that this weight gain is temporary.

ladyhawk00

I am wondering if I must've usually been in 'starvation mode' because recently I've been trying really hard to actually eat all of my calories (hardly ever was before) and I've gained weight. It's not that I necessarily feel bigger but it's certainly showing on the scales. My instinctive reaction is to restrict majorly but clearly that doesn't work. So are you saying this gain is probably temporary as my body settles into what it should be operating in? It's just also that I run (starting to train for a marathon) and I do other cross-training too and sometimes I don't seem to be able to eat all my calories. True I'm definitely hungry but I feel like I'm eating heaps, especially compared to the people around me. I don't want people thinking I eat huge amounts. But like today, I burnt 846 calories running before breakfast, and I can't seem to make them up! I honestly have such a fear of eating all my calories because I am so afraid to trust that this weight gain is temporary.

I'll let Banks address the weight gain. But I wanted to comment on the food aspect. Remember that you don't necessarily have to eat a lot more volume to increase cals. You obviously don't want to just be shoving in 800 cals worth of cupcakes, but you can increase cals with small changes.

Things like adding just 25-50 cals per meal/snack add up. And using natural oils (olive, canola) for good fats. Eat whole eggs instead of egg whites. Nuts are great way to get some good cals in a small amount of food. A good protein shake/bar can add a quick boost. You just need to look for healthy fats and good protein to get the cals higher. Good luck to you!

wellyourenotSKINNY

bump

TKelly06

bump

lotusfromthemud

:flowerforyou: Bump:flowerforyou:

SHBoss1673

I am wondering if I must've usually been in 'starvation mode' because recently I've been trying really hard to actually eat all of my calories (hardly ever was before) and I've gained weight. It's not that I necessarily feel bigger but it's certainly showing on the scales. My instinctive reaction is to restrict majorly but clearly that doesn't work. So are you saying this gain is probably temporary as my body settles into what it should be operating in? It's just also that I run (starting to train for a marathon) and I do other cross-training too and sometimes I don't seem to be able to eat all my calories. True I'm definitely hungry but I feel like I'm eating heaps, especially compared to the people around me. I don't want people thinking I eat huge amounts. But like today, I burnt 846 calories running before breakfast, and I can't seem to make them up! I honestly have such a fear of eating all my calories because I am so afraid to trust that this weight gain is temporary.

Well, I won't really comment on whether you were in starvation mode or not as I have no idea about your stats. But I will say that it takes time for the body to recover from a fasting state, when in that state the body puts an emphasis on fat storage, and remember, when you are in a fasting state, the amount of calories your body needs to stay where it is (homeostasis) has been reduced because it perceived the true (meaning a deficit that it can't make up via fat conversion and protein conversion along with ingested calories) energy intake (food you eat) at being to low. Therefore, in order to "reset" your maintenance calories back to where they should be, you need to consistently eat enough for a few weeks at least. While you are resetting your body, there is a chance that you will gain a few lbs. It depends on your individual body whether this happens and to what extent, and it also depends on how quickly and how much you raise your calories. The slower you do it, the less likely it is you will gain weight doing it. Once your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is back up to where it needs to be, you'll stop gaining, and you'll probably also notice increased energy levels, increased abilities with regards to exercise, and overall more alertness and better outward appearance (skin, hair, nails, coordination, and also a better immune system which means less colds and minor infections).

I will caution everyone that each of us is in a unique situation, and our bodies all react differently within certain guidelines. So what may take 1 person two weeks, may take another 6 days. While 1 person may gain 4 or 5 lbs, another may lose weight. It's all a complex calculation involving chemical output, hormones, genetics, age, sex, weight, height, body fat levels, and physical attributes. So just because I give a timeline, doesn't mean you'll conform to it exactly, I generally talk in averages simply because I can't speak to each person individually.

annpat28

bump

tamiller93

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)

So with my BMI being 27.2, it says I should only be shooting to lose 1/2 lb a week. Gosh that seems like such a small amount. You are saying if I bump up my weekly weightloss goal and my calorie intake goes down, I won't lose?

SHBoss1673

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)

So with my BMI being 27.2, it says I should only be shooting to lose 1/2 lb a week. Gosh that seems like such a small amount. You are saying if I bump up my weekly weightloss goal and my calorie intake goes down, I won't lose?

not necessarily, remember, this is very generic. A lot of it has to do with your personal stats, one of the largest variables is your age and how much body fat you have, the higher that number, the more likely you are to lose weight faster.

Here's the thing though, having a BMI of 27 means you probably don't have a ton of weight to lose (without looking I'd guess your goal is probably somewhere near 20 to 30 lbs or so? Depending on your height.). I'm not saying you won't lose with a larger deficit, I'm saying that it's probable that you're going to be very difficult to lose at a much faster rate than that, even if you raise your deficit, and in all likelihood, you'll lose at least some of that weight as lean body mass (muscle and lean tissue) which is bad, we don't want to lose muscle.
My whole goal is to try to give people information so they lose weight in a healthy manner, that they can use for long term success. You COULD lose weight faster than this, but the question isn't whether you can or not, it's whether that's healthy for someone in your situation.

Remember the other given. People that do unreasonable diets usually end up failing long term. Taking it slower, and giving your body time to adapt means there's less shock to the body, and that means it's easier in the long run. Plus, when you do switch from weight loss to maintenance, it's less dramatic, which avoids the other shock to the body, the dreaded switch from loss to maintenance, which many people have difficulty with (usually because they went screaming down the weight loss ladder and couldn't slow themselves.) Think of it like driving a car with bad breaks, you don't want to come up to that stop sign going 40 miles an hour then slam on the breaks, you want to ease off the gas 40 or 50 yards away and coast to a stop applying light pressure.

damcool

bump. thanks!

tamiller93

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)

So with my BMI being 27.2, it says I should only be shooting to lose 1/2 lb a week. Gosh that seems like such a small amount. You are saying if I bump up my weekly weightloss goal and my calorie intake goes down, I won't lose?

having a BMI of 27 means you probably don't have a ton of weight to lose (without looking I'd guess your goal is probably somewhere near 20 to 30 lbs or so? Depending on your height.). I'm not saying you won't lose with a larger deficit, I'm saying that it's probable that you're going to be very difficult to lose at a much faster rate than that, even if you raise your deficit, and in all likelihood, you'll lose at least some of that weight as lean body mass (muscle and lean tissue) which is bad, we don't want to lose muscle.

Correct. And I think after reading your post I just need to practice a little patience. Thank you for the info.

ladyhawk00

Bump

NitaCB

I am wondering if I must've usually been in 'starvation mode' because recently I've been trying really hard to actually eat all of my calories (hardly ever was before) and I've gained weight. It's not that I necessarily feel bigger but it's certainly showing on the scales. My instinctive reaction is to restrict majorly but clearly that doesn't work. So are you saying this gain is probably temporary as my body settles into what it should be operating in? It's just also that I run (starting to train for a marathon) and I do other cross-training too and sometimes I don't seem to be able to eat all my calories. True I'm definitely hungry but I feel like I'm eating heaps, especially compared to the people around me. I don't want people thinking I eat huge amounts. But like today, I burnt 846 calories running before breakfast, and I can't seem to make them up! I honestly have such a fear of eating all my calories because I am so afraid to trust that this weight gain is temporary.

Well, I won't really comment on whether you were in starvation mode or not as I have no idea about your stats. But I will say that it takes time for the body to recover from a fasting state, when in that state the body puts an emphasis on fat storage, and remember, when you are in a fasting state, the amount of calories your body needs to stay where it is (homeostasis) has been reduced because it perceived the true (meaning a deficit that it can't make up via fat conversion and protein conversion along with ingested calories) energy intake (food you eat) at being to low. Therefore, in order to "reset" your maintenance calories back to where they should be, you need to consistently eat enough for a few weeks at least. While you are resetting your body, there is a chance that you will gain a few lbs. It depends on your individual body whether this happens and to what extent, and it also depends on how quickly and how much you raise your calories. The slower you do it, the less likely it is you will gain weight doing it. Once your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is back up to where it needs to be, you'll stop gaining, and you'll probably also notice increased energy levels, increased abilities with regards to exercise, and overall more alertness and better outward appearance (skin, hair, nails, coordination, and also a better immune system which means less colds and minor infections).

I will caution everyone that each of us is in a unique situation, and our bodies all react differently within certain guidelines. So what may take 1 person two weeks, may take another 6 days. While 1 person may gain 4 or 5 lbs, another may lose weight. It's all a complex calculation involving chemical output, hormones, genetics, age, sex, weight, height, body fat levels, and physical attributes. So just because I give a timeline, doesn't mean you'll conform to it exactly, I generally talk in averages simply because I can't speak to each person individually.

NitaCB

Oops still getting the hang of how this works...
So here are a few stats to give you a picture. I have a BMI of 22 I think and I'm about 22-23% body fat. I checked back over the last 5 or so weeks that I've been using the diary and on average I'm usually about 200-300 calories under what I should be at for the day, and usually more if I've done a really long run because it burnt off so much. I think I've been in 'diet mode' for so long that its become a habit. I don't have a problem eating all my calories when I don't do any exercise in the day, but that hardly ever happens, especially now I've ramped up my training. Do you think I've probably been in starvation mode? Because since starting on MFP I haven't seen any loss whatsoever, even though I log every day. Maybe my problem is that I'm always under.

lodro

I take a "fasting state" as being on zero calories for a period of over 24 hours. A severe calorie deficit is not a fasting state in my book. And so any theories of what the body does coming back from a fasting state and applying them on severe calorie deficits and starvation mode that are caused by that are incorrect.

I've done fasts of 4 days for religious/spiritual purposes so I'm more or less acquainted with what the body experiences coming back from a fasting state. Contrary to popular belief, binging isn't part of that. Weight gain is, and some of that is fat, as fat is also what you lose while fasting for an extended period: it's not just muscle loss. So your body responds appropriately when you feed it again. As it should. Fat is not a bad thing on a body (or for a body)

SHBoss1673

I take a "fasting state" as being on zero calories for a period of over 24 hours. A severe calorie deficit is not a fasting state in my book. And so any theories of what the body does coming back from a fasting state and applying them on severe calorie deficits and starvation mode that are caused by that are incorrect.

I've done fasts of 4 days for religious/spiritual purposes so I'm more or less acquainted with what the body experiences coming back from a fasting state. Contrary to popular belief, binging isn't part of that. Weight gain is, and some of that is fat, as fat is also what you lose while fasting for an extended period: it's not just muscle loss. So your body responds appropriately when you feed it again. As it should. Fat is not a bad thing on a body (or for a body)

Could you refer back to which post you are talking about on this thread? I'm not sure what you are referring to. There's to many posts for me to go back and guess which one you are talking about.

As to the difference between a severe calorie deficit and fasting, they are essentially a difference in reaction severity only. Once your body reaches the level at which it cannot combine all it's resources to reach metabolic homeostasis, the process begins, whether that's with 0 incoming calories, or just enough so that combined nutritional intake, plus fat stores, plus glucose (and glycogen) stores, plus FFA's, plus protein cannot equal energy output, the body is designed to react, the only difference is the severity of that reaction, not the processes. I equate it, for the purposes of simplicity, as a electrical circuit with a breaker, once you trip that breaker, it doesn't matter how bad the surge is, it's still triggering the response. Granted it's not as black and white as that example, but that makes the point I believe. Maybe a more appropriate analogy would be a drain with a run off valve, not sure, I'll have to think of a correct analogy.

HisBeachgirl

First I want to thank you for taking the time to help so many of us that want to get healthy in a good way, but just aren't sure on the right way to do that. I'm very mindful of all the lies society tells us (women in general) and I try to avoid them. But at the same time I know I'm not as healthy as I could be, and I'd love to play basketball with my 13 year old and keep up with him!

That said, I have a question coming from this section of your original post.

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)

According to the BMI calculator my BMI is 25.3 and falls in the "overweight" category. (34yr old, 5'5", 152lb, female)
However in your break down 25.3 is in the healthy category (barely, but it is). I totally get that BMI isn't the end all of everything, it just happens to be the only generic tool we have available. But I'm concerned about setting my goals. I suppose the fact I'm labeled "overweight" (and since I'd like to loose 20pounds I feel it's accurate) has me wanting to aim for a loss of 1pound a week (which I always thought was a healthy goal). But in the guide lines you suggest, even a goal of 1/2 lb a week is perhaps more than I should expect.

I totally understand you don't know ALL about me, you're not a doctor, and your word isn't law. But after seeing too many friends on crash diets, and doing their own bodies more harm than good, I'm wondering if perhaps my own goals (1 pound a week) isn't so healthy any more. I'm frustrated with my apparent stand still in both pounds and inches, and just getting confused.

SHBoss1673

First I want to thank you for taking the time to help so many of us that want to get healthy in a good way, but just aren't sure on the right way to do that. I'm very mindful of all the lies society tells us (women in general) and I try to avoid them. But at the same time I know I'm not as healthy as I could be, and I'd love to play basketball with my 13 year old and keep up with him!

That said, I have a question coming from this section of your original post.

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)

According to the BMI calculator my BMI is 25.3 and falls in the "overweight" category. (34yr old, 5'5", 152lb, female)
However in your break down 25.3 is in the healthy category (barely, but it is). I totally get that BMI isn't the end all of everything, it just happens to be the only generic tool we have available. But I'm concerned about setting my goals. I suppose the fact I'm labeled "overweight" (and since I'd like to loose 20pounds I feel it's accurate) has me wanting to aim for a loss of 1pound a week (which I always thought was a healthy goal). But in the guide lines you suggest, even a goal of 1/2 lb a week is perhaps more than I should expect.

I totally understand you don't know ALL about me, you're not a doctor, and your word isn't law. But after seeing too many friends on crash diets, and doing their own bodies more harm than good, I'm wondering if perhaps my own goals (1 pound a week) isn't so healthy any more. I'm frustrated with my apparent stand still in both pounds and inches, and just getting confused.

noting everything above, I think you should banish weight from your goals. Do some measurements, set some fitness goals, and maybe have a body fat test done. That's my opinion. 25.3 is technically in the overweight category, but really, you're not overweight by that definition, that's the equivalent of one day drinking a few extra glasses of water. Seriously, if you really want it to be about healthy, forget the weight number, work on your body fat and performance. Obviously, this is all just my opinion, but if you were my client, this is what I would tell you.

HisBeachgirl

Thank you! Now to un-wash my brain so to say.

forty3fab

Great post! Thank you!

SHBoss1673

welcome.

ladyhawk00

Oh dear, it's been a week... BUMP!

jlsAhava

bump

EmelyJ

bump

BCXMC

>>>bumping